TALKING ABOUT BRIAN DESMOND HURST

On Sunday 6th October I'm talking about working with the Irish-born film director Brian Desmond Hurst on his memoirs. This follows a showing of his hugely successful Dangerous Moonlight at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith.

Details here.

MEMOIRS OF A MIDGET

My dramatisation of Walter de la Mare's Memoirs of a Midget is currently being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Atmoospherically directed by Martin Jenkins and beautifully acted by Emma Fielding and Robert Glenister it remains one of my favourite dramastisations for radio.

My adaptation of Memoirs is also included in an Audible collection of De La Mare.

ANNE-MARIE DUFF ON A HOUSE CALLED INSANITY

In the 27th July to 2nd August edition of Radio Times, Anne-Marie talks about Elsy Borders and A House Called Insanity.

SEASON 25 DR WHO BLURAY

The next Dr Who Bluray collection is Season 25 which contains Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Sadly the folk who put this together didn't think it was worth talking to the writers.

NEW FROM CUTAWAY COMICS

News from Cutaway Comics:

What a great listen this trio of tales is from

@doctoryatt with lovely work from Sean Mason, Bron Edge and so many of the

@ComedySportz_UK

Manchester team! Oh and Ian Reddington as Krogagnon. So much fun. It's coming with the PT merch packs soon. Just two more things to arrive.

A HOUSE CALLED INSANITY

First BBC Press Release -

A House Called Insanity

27 July, 3pm - 4pm

Anne-Marie Duff stars as Elsy Borders, the working-class heroine whose remarkable true story deserves to be far better known. Even though she became a national figure in the late 1930s, no play celebrating her achievements has ever been written - until now.

The wife of a South London cabby (played by Karl Davies), Elsy did something a working-class woman was not supposed to do, breaking the rules and conventions of acceptable behaviour. Determined to expose the poor quality of workmanship in house-building which continues to resonate today with scandals such as Grenfell Tower, she took the unprecedented step of refusing to pay her mortgage, owing to the dire state of their new, but poorly-built, house on an estate in Kent. When the building society responded by suing for repossession of the house which the family had by now christened Insanity, Elsy counter-claimed for damages.

The fight was on…

With contributions from Stella Etheridge, Jeremy Tagg and Phillipa Tagg who are current residents of the Coney Hall Estate where Elsy lived.

Stephen Wyatt is an award-winning dramatist with many audio dramas to his name. He also now lives close to the house which the Borders family named Insanity, so knows the area and the history well. He brings Elsy vividly to life.

Martin Jenkins has directed many of Stephen’s plays and dramatisations over many years. He has been directing radio plays for more than 55 years.

THE WORLD AND HIS WIFe - ON KINDLE

For the first time The World and His Wife is available on Kindle.

What happens when love turns sour and becomes a thirty-year public battle? Find out in this funny and dramatic Victorian scandal — a brilliant historical fiction novel by Doctor Who writer Stephen Wyatt. Available now: https://amzn.to/3x7d542
Also available as an audiobook starring Clive Mantle and Carla Mendonça from AUK Studios.

THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE: PRESS RELEASE.

Here's the press release from AUK:

CLIVE MANTLE & CARLA MENDONÇA STAR IN ‘THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE’ AUDIOBOOK

WRITTEN BY ACCLAIMED ‘DOCTOR WHO’ WRITER STEPHEN WYATT

AUDIO DRAMA STARS CLIVE MANTLE (GAME OF THRONES, ROBIN OF SHERWOOD) AND CARLA MENDONÇA (CORONATION STREET)

AUDIOBOOK AND NOVEL AVAILABLE NOW

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rekmowned British actors Clive Mantle and Carla Mendonça star in ‘The World and His Wife’ — a new audiobook based on the novel of the same name by acclaimed Doctor Who writer Stephen Wyatt.

‘The World and His Wife’ is a quirky piece of historical fiction. A very Victorian scandal, which is also unequivocally a Stephen Wyatt story. The book follows Rosina Wheeler and Edward Bulver-Lytton and their truly dysfunctional marriage. Real-life couple Clive Mantle (Game of Thrones, Robin of Sherwood, Holby City) and Carla Mendonça (Coronation Street, My Parents Are Aliens, So Awkward) took on the roles of the also real-life spouses and had a good time performing them with some relish.

The new audiobook, produced by AUK Studios, and the re-released novel, published by Oak Tree Books, are available now.

Clive Mantle and Carla Mendonça

Clive Mantle and Carla Mendonça had this to say about their alter egos in this audiobook: "What a baffling couple! How they possibly endured a relationship and marriage for even a day or two is totally beyond us. It makes our only squabbles about whose turn it is to empty the dishwasher sound a little mundane in comparison." 

Stephen Wyatt

Writer Stephen Wyatt added:  “Edward and Rosina Bulwer Lytton (who disagree about everything else) are delighted by the performances of Clive Mantle and Carla Mendonca in this dramatisation of their long-standing marital feud which was the talking point of mid-Victorian society,” He continues: “Stephen Wyatt is even more delighted than Edward and Rosina.”

About ‘The World and His Wife’

In 1828, the beautiful Rosina Wheeler married one of Victorian England's most successful and prolific writers, Edward Bulwer-Lytton. What followed shocked and entertained the public for over thirty years.

After their marriage broke down, Rosina refused to be silenced. She pursued her husband with a single-minded and very public campaign to prove she was in the right. She even interrupted her husband's election campaign to denounce him to the assembled voters. Edward responded by threatening to have her committed to a lunatic asylum.

But that was only the beginning.

The novel draws freely on Edward and Rosina's own words. Both have a convincing story to tell - except that they disagree about everything.–

The clever structure of ‘The World and His Wife’ lends itself incredibly well to an audio release. Stephen, an experienced radio dramatist, has always felt that their “true story told by two unreliable narrators” needs telling in sound as well on the page. Stephen Wyatt adds: “Barnaby Eaton-Jones‘s skilful audio production has brought to life this fascinating but appalling couple.”

As a standalone listening experience or complement to Wyatt’s novel, ‘The World and His Wife’ is hard to beat.

‘The World and His Wife’ is available now as an audiobook, in paperback, and digitally.

Praise for ‘The World and His Wife’

“This account of the peculiar hell of an unhappy Victorian marriage is an exhilarating read.” --Katherine Mezzacappa, Historical Novel Society

 “A masterpiece of a mismatched Victorian marriage - read it! And laugh and weep at the same time.” - -Christie Dickason, author of 'The Dragon Riders', 'The Firemasters Mistress' and 'The Noble Assassin'

“Stephen Wyatt's wit, erudition and mastery of narrative are ideally suited to this corking tale of twisted love, obsession and revenge.” – Andrew Cartmel, author of the best-selling ‘Vinyl Detective’ series, and co-author of 'The Rivers of London' comic books.

A

THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE

Out now! Clive Mantle and Carla Mendonca star in a dramatisation of my novel about the tortured marriage of Edward and Rosina Bulwer Lytton Details can be found on Audible and Amazon.

Also available for the first time on Kindle -

ICE HOT!

My copies arrived yesterday. I've contributed an intro and a story called Build Biceps for Happiness. For more details visit the Obverse Books website.