Tristram Shandy: In Development

We're in the studios of Awesome Sauce, where an audio drama workshop - and podcast - is being recorded to thrash out a way of telling the bawdy, iconoclastic and impossibly digressive eighteenth century novel Tristram Shandy. It's an opportunity, says award winning producer Philippa Lauriston, to discover an entirely new way of doing radio drama. The creative team also includes the actors who will play the novel's main characters. And there is a rumour that a very famous actor will be joining the throng. Everyone has their own theories about how to approach this game-changing venture. What could possibly go wrong?

Tristram Shandy is a famous eighteenth century novel by Laurence Sterne. Ostensibly a picaresque about Tristram, its many hilarious digressions and bawdy interludes have made it a classic. It is also a satire on the act of telling a story - and a plea for people to be allowed to tell their stories in their own way.