A Taste for Death BBC Radio Play: All the News to Date

For those who haven’t read the previous posts, here is all the news to date on the Radio 4 production of A Taste for Death.
Note: all new information will be updated in this post; scroll to the bottom for updates. 

Scroll to the bottom for the episode guide.

The brand-new dramatisation of Peter O'Donnell's fourth Modesty Blaise novel will be broadcast on the Radio 4 "15 Minute Drama" slot over the five weekdays of the week before Christmas, 17–21 December. The episodes will be available online as they are broadcast, and for up to a week afterwards.

The script has been written by bestselling crime author Stef Penney (author of ‘The Tenderness of Wolves’). The music was composed specially for the programme by Will Gregory, and has been recorded by the National Orchestra of Wales.

Stef Penney's adaptation has to fit the time available for the broadcasts, which means that some things have had to be cut and others handled in a different way. However, the production is in good hands: Stef has been a devoted fan of Peter O’Donnell's work for many years, and Kate McAll, the BBC Executive Producer who is handling the production, is one of the most respected producers in radio drama.  They have worked together on other literary dramatisations.

CAST LIST
Modesty Blaise: Daphne Alexander
Willie Garvin: Carl Prekopp
Sir Gerald Tarrant:  Alun Armstrong
Steve Collier: Geoffrey Streatfeild
Dinah Pilgrim: Samantha Dakin
McWhirter: Alex Ferns
Delicata:  Sam Dale
Sir Harold Presteign: Nigel Anthony
Skeet: Jeff Mash

Daphne Alexander as Modesty Blaise	Carl Prekopp as Willie Garvin	Alun Armstrong as Sir Gerald Tarrant
Geoffrey Streatfield as Steven Collier	Samantha Dakin as Dinah Pilgrim	Alex Ferns as McWhirter
Sam Dale as Delicata	Nigel Anthony as Presteign	Jeff Mash as Skeet

NEW: Daphne Alexander was on BBC Radio London today (December 11), on the Robert Elms show. You can listen to the program on the BBC iplayer (fast forward to 2:35.35 for the interview).

Also, the BBC website now has some promotional videos for the radio play:

Stef Penney will be doing a live interview on Woman's Hour on the first day of the broadcasts, 17 December. Woman's Hour is immediately before the 15 Minute Drama slot, 10 - 10.45am London time

EPISODES
Go to the Radio 4 iPlayer schedule, or follow the links below to access the episodes:

• Episode 1: Monday December 17
• Episode 2: Tuesday December 18
• Episode 3: Wednesday December 19
• Episode 4: Thursday December 20
• Episode 5: Friday December 21
• Omnibus Edition (all episodes): Sunday December 23

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A Taste for Death: Press release from Souvenir Press

(which sounds a bit better than 'Souvenir Press Press Release')

Souvenir Press will be reprinting A Taste for Death to tie in with the radio play. You can view their press release here, and below is the Modesty Blaise page from their catalogue (click image to enlarge).

Unfortunately, it looks like not all of the Modesty Blaise books are being reprinted; two are still out of print.

Unbelievably, the 2001 paperback reprint of The Impossible Virgin is selling for as much as US$298 on Amazon.com! (I've paid less than that for first edition vintage paperbacks!) I'm not sure why Souvenir Press isn't reprinting the entire series.

But on the plus side... 16 days until the radio play airs!
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A Taste for Death: BBC Announcement

The BBC has finally announced the A Taste for Death radio play, with an almost-full cast list (noticeably absent: McWhirter).

The cast list:
Modest Blaise - Daphne Alexander
Willie Garvin - Carl Prekopp
Sir Gerald Tarrant - Alun Armstrong
Simon Delicata - Sam Dale
Steve Collier - Geoffrey Streatfeild
Dinah Pilgrim - Samantha Dakin

More “A Taste for Death” News: Willie Garvin

This just in: the role of Willie Garvin will be played by… Carl Prekopp.

Prekopp has been in countless BBC radio plays, including Wuthering Heights and David Copperfield.

You can hear his voice in this interview clip.

And the countdown is on... only a few weeks until the radio play airs!

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Update on A Taste for Death Radio Play

More news about the BBC radio production of A Taste for Death...

The dramatisation will be broadcast on the Radio 4 “15 Minute Drama” slot over the five weekdays of the week before Christmas, 17–21 December. The episodes will be available online as they are broadcast, and for up to a week afterwards.

The music was composed specially for the programme by Will Gregory, and has been recorded by the National Orchestra of Wales.

There was a question in from a Modesty fan who wanted to know how the play will be fit into five 15-minute slots; below is the answer.

Stef Penney's adaptation has to fit the time available for the broadcasts, which means some things have had to be cut and others handled in a different way. However, things are in good hands: Stef has been a devoted fan of Peter O’Donnell's work for many years, and Kate McAll, the BBC Executive Producer who is handling the production, is one of the most respected producers in radio drama.  They have worked together on other literary dramatisations.

Daphne Alexander will play Modesty Blaise

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New BBC Radio Play of A Taste for Death

BIG news, everyone... the BBC is producing a radio play of the Modesty Blaise novel A Taste for Death. The play will be serialised on Radio 4 in December (yes, this year!)

The script has been written by bestselling crime author Stef Penney (author of ‘The Tenderness of Wolves’), and Daphne Alexander has been confirmed for the part of Modesty Blaise.

I'll post any more details as I get them... stay tuned!