Exemplar

I’ve been working on a crime serial for BBC Radio 4. It’s called Exemplar and it’s about a forensic audiologist: i.e., someone who helps solve crimes by analysing sound. Jess Carter is our main protagonist but she’s accompanied - somewhat against her wishes - by a trainee, Maya. Her expertise in all things audio lead her to some unexpected conclusions though, as the series progresses, she finds she has to solve problems that are closer to home…

This wasn’t my idea at first. The amazing sound designers and composers Ben and Max Ringham had this idea but hadn't written much (especially for radio). I was brought in to advise and help develop the project and then, very flatteringly, they liked my ideas so much they brought me on board to help write. I ended up writing episodes 2 and 5 and as show runner for the whole series, which means that I led on story lining the whole series and each episode - working of course with Ben and Max - and gave notes and did some tweaking of every episode. But, to be crystal clear, it was a completely collaborative process and Ben and Max are superb collaborators: seemingly ego-free, happy to keep coming up with ideas (and to have them turned down), hard working, creative and enormous fun to spend time with.

The show has a fantastic core regular cast of Gina McKee and Shvorne Marks (pictured), and Fenella Woolgar (who has done loads of my radio plays), but we’ve had a terrific series of guest stars too, most strikingly Juliet Stevenson who gives a magnificent performance as a charismatic alt-right politician in episode 3.

It went out weekly from Friday 19 August 2022 and the whole series dropped on BBC Sounds at the same time. It’s 5 x 30’ episodes.