1. A Crumbling Edifice

Available for over a year

Ed is still mourning his beloved companion Elgar. Whilst being bombarded with mail from retirement homes. This week, his quest continues to try to find a new source of income to replace the one he’s lost from his writing class, whose third age students’ property wealth has become so vast they’ve all relocated to Dubai. Never one to be defeated, Ed applies for an ostler's job at The Countrywoman magazine and clears his storage cupboard to illegally sub-let it as an ‘opportunity for boutique capsule living’. He may be lucky and get a human being to live there – or maybe an actor. Ed Reardon, failed writer, master of the diatribe and a man with a never-ending capacity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory hits the milestone of his 20th anniversary on Radio 4. First broadcast in 2005 Ed Reardon continues to be a social commentator of considerable comic depth and the show attracts some of the UK’s finest actors with the roll call since its start including Jenny Agutter, Jonathan Bailey, Raquel Cassidy, Stephanie Cole, Monica Dolan, John Fortune, Sally Hawkins, Don Gilet and Maggie Steed. In series 16 the alumni are joined by Adrian Scarborough, Robert Powell, Stephen Mangan and Joe Thomas. Ed Reardon - Christopher Douglas Eli - Lisa Coleman Christos/Uncle Beastly - Simon Greenall Ping - Barunka O’Shaughnessy Shelia/Francesca - Nicola Sanderson Ross - Dan Tetsell Simon - Joe Thomas Written by Christopher Douglas Produced by Dawn Ellis Production Co-ordinator : Katie Baum Sound : Jon Calver & Alison McKenzie