First of all, if you haven’t already heard it, dash over right now to the BBC Radio Player and listen to last Wednesday’s first episode of the second series of Ed Reardon’s Week.
Ed Reardon is quite the funniest creation I’ve heard (or seen) in some time; a writer by trade, although he has trouble making ends meet. He did once write an episode of Tenko, and had his first novel made into a blockbuster film by his friend Jaz. But now times are tough, and in between writing books to order like Pet Peeves or Jane Seymour’s Household Hints, he’s struggling to turn in scripts for Holby City, or write The Old Lock Keeper’s column for his local free newspaper.
This book is basically the first series of the Radio 4 comedy. Quite why Radio 4 insisted on broadcasting it at 11.30am rather than the somewhat better 6.30pm slot is a question I don’t entirely understand. It’ll certainly get a 6.30pm repeat, but it deserves the bigger audience from the outset.
Ed is a fantastic creation, lovingly crafted. He lives with his cat, Elgar, and has a family from a previous marriage that seems a little estranged. He plays in a jazz band with his old mucker Jaz, even though he’s insanely jealous of the big-time director who bastardised his novel for a movie tear-jerker.
Sadly BBC Audio haven’t seen fit to release the first series on CD, so you’ll, er, just have to find someone who might have some mp3s if you want to hear the first series.
And in the meantime, get listening to the second series – Wednesdays at 11.30am, Radio 4.
