British Comedy Guide
Jailbird Lover. Copyright: BBC
Jailbird Lover

Jailbird Lover

  • Radio comedy drama
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2012
  • 1 episode

Comedy drama. A lonely bachelor fulfils his relationship needs by writing to long-term women prisoners. Until one of them turns up. Stars Charles Dale, Claire-Louise Cordwell, Suzanne Packer, Iestyn Jones and Manon Edwards

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Press clippings

Radio Times review

If you take your comedy with a touch of the dark, this delicious farce from Craig Hawes could be just the ticket. It follows the misadventures of Gwilym (Charles Dale), 40-something and never been kissed, whose lonely bachelor existence is spiced up only by the passionate letters he secretly writes to various female prisoners around the world - from Barbara in Holloway to Consuelo, who languishes on Death Row in Tennessee.

This commitment at a distance suits Gwilym just fine, however, so it comes as something of a shock when newly-released Layla (Claire-Louise Cordwell) turns up, anxious to make real the desires that Gwilym expressed in his letters. What follows is a beautifully constructed tale full of light and shade that even has enough room for a Carry On-style "is-that-a-harmonica-in-your-pocket" gag.

Tony Peters, Radio Times, 22nd March 2012

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