British Comedy Guide
Man Of The Moment. Copyright: Jarvis and Ayres Productions
Man Of The Moment

Man Of The Moment

  • Radio comedy drama
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2009
  • 1 episode

2009 production of Sir Alan Ayckbourn's dark comedy about a career criminal who agrees to participate in a reality TV show filmed at his villa. Stars Tim Pigott-Smith, Alex Jennings, Lisa Dillon, Janie Dee, Damian O'Hare and more.

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Key details

Genre
Comedy Drama
Broadcast
2009
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Episodes
1
Stars
Tim Pigott-Smith, Alex Jennings, Lisa Dillon, Janie Dee, Damian O'Hare, Ella Smith, Alan Shearman, John Baddeley and more
Writer
Alan Ayckbourn
Director
Martin Jarvis
Producer
Rosalind Ayres
Company

As part of BBC Radio 4's tribute to Sir Alan Ayckbourn (who turned 70 in April 2009) the station broadcast this dark comedy set around, and in, the swimming pool of a Mediterranean villa.

Vic Parks is, apparently, the man of the moment - a vicious criminal who, having spent nine years in jail for a botched bank robbery, has written his autobiography and is now a popular television celebrity.

Spending time in his idyllic Mediterranean villa, he has agreed to appear, poolside, on a television reality show called Their Paths Crossed.

The programme's producer, Jill Rillington, plans to reunite Vic with the bank clerk, Douglas Beechey, whose actions unwittingly foiled Vic's robbery and led to his time in prison.

Jill hopes to exploit the irony that, although Douglas had a brief 15 minutes of fame, the man who has found lasting celebrity is the villain. But the proposed documentary starts to free-fall and events take an extraordinary turn around the swimming pool.

Additional details

Production
Studio

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Saturday 11th April 2009 at 2:30pm on BBC Radio 4
Episode length
90 minutes
All previous repeats
  • Sunday 6th April 2014 at 4:00am on Radio 4 Extra
  • Saturday 5th April 2014 at 4:00pm on Radio 4 Extra
  • Saturday 5th April 2014 at 6:00am on Radio 4 Extra

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