Radio Plays & Play Scripts

Plays Broadcast on BBC Radio 4

Radio plays written by David Gooderson:

• The Killing of Mr Toad (1984)
• Walk or Die (1992)
• Waste of Glory (1994)
• Death of a Village (2003)
• Hector (2004) (originally titled So Great a Crime)

The Killing of Mr Toad (1984)

Adapted by David from his stage play (The Killing of Mr Toad). Selected as one of the best radio plays in 1984 by The Daily Telegraph.

Walk or Die (1992)

When Burma fell to the Japanese in 1942, the only hope of survival was to walk through the Hukawng Valley to India.

We really believe that these British soldiers escorting refugees out of Burma in 1942 are being plagued by swollen rivers, rotting corpses, blistering heat, sucking leeches and malevolent mud.

The Times

An effective gripper

The Independent

Waste of Glory (1994)

David’s stage play about the First World War padre “Woodbine Willie” (War! Lies! And a Packet of Fags!) adapted for radio.

A remarkable play

The Church of England Year Book

It was the virtue of Gooderson’s script that he let us see the chinks of doubt in the armour of certainty.

Tom Gardiner, Church Times

Death of a Village (2003)

During a terrible storm in January 1917 the Devon fishing village of Hallsands was washed away and its people left homeless. Today only ruins remain beneath the coastal path. This was more than a natural disaster, it is a story of man’s interference with the balance of nature, of private greed and bureaucratic incompetence.

Hector (2004)

Hector was originally titled So Great a Crime.

Hector Macdonald, a crofter’s son, became a Major-General in the British army and was sent to Ceylon in 1901 as General Officer Commanding. Though married, he was accused of homosexual acts with ‘native’ boys and rather than face a court-martial he shot himself. But was he guilty? Or were the charges pure fabrications inspired by jealousy and class prejudice? The play sifts the facts and comes to an astonishing conclusion.

Highly commended by the BBC audience research panel.

The play was staged in 2013 at the Finborough Theatre, London. Awarded a substantial grant from Creative Scotland, the play went on a national tour in autumn 2015.