Rory Kinnear

Tim McInnerny, Rory Kinnear and David Warner lead an awesome cast in Jeremy Front's adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's classic newspaper satire.

The new Classic Serial is Evelyn Waugh's abidingly comic novel, adapted by clever Jeremy Front (who, among many other things, also does the Charles Paris mysteries on this network). Rory Kinnear plays William Boot, an obscure young country scribe mistaken by mighty newspaper publisher Lord Copper (David Warner) for urbane and experienced reporter John Boot and sent off to report on a war in far-off Ishmaelia. Boot, often thought to resemble the great Bill Deedes in his early days on Fleet Street, flounders out of his depth, gets much wrong but, in the wicked world which surrounds him, somehow shines through.

Sam (Rory Kinnear) is a director of an advertising agency. His actress girlfriend Gemma (Tamsin Greig) has gone off to film a soap opera in New York. He sets off, of course, to film his next commercial there too, finds he has a possible rival (Kerry Shale) and ends up in jail, pouring out his troubles to his distinctly under-impressed cell mate. Can we be sure of a happy ending? Well, it is Christmas. This is the first radio play by Peter Souter, creative director of a real-life major ad agency, directed by comedy whizz Gordon House.