5. The Hearing

Available for over a year

In a specially commissioned five-part serial, award-winning novelist Rachel Joyce tells the story of Elmer and Gertie, an eccentric and fiercely independent elderly couple living in a dilapidated cottage on the marsh outside a village in the Devon countryside. Gertie prefers animals to children, and she has a mouth that could strip paint. They have kept themselves to themselves for years, until a letter arrives which will change their lives. Elmer’s brother and his wife have both died, leaving Elmer the legal guardian of their small child. Anyone who lives within a five mile radius knows how unsuitable they are to look after a child. But Elmer senses they are being offered something precious. Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, The Music Shop, Miss Benson’s Beetle, Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North, and most recently The Homemade God. Her books have sold millions of copies worldwide. Her writing career began in radio drama and she has written many afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4, as well as major novel adaptations. Following a sold-out run at the Chichester Festival Theatre, the musical of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (‘pitch perfect’, The Times) opens this month in the West End, and this month also sees the paperback publication of The Homemade God (‘extraordinarily compelling', The Guardian). The reader, Paul Venables, grew up in Devon, where this story is set. Since training at Central School of Speech and Drama he has had a successful career in theatre, television, film and radio. On Radio 4 he played Henry in The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, and had lead roles in Portrait of a Lady and The Professor. He is married to Rachel Joyce, and is currently playing Jakob in The Archers. Producer: Sara Davies Production Hub Co-ordinator: Dawn Williams Sound Designer : Matt Bainbridge A Pier production for BBC Radio 4