The Incomplete Recorded Works
of a Dead Body
Re-Imagined Radio EXTRA
March 31, 2007
Fictional found sound storytelling
"The Incomplete Recorded Works of a Dead Body" was presented by BBC Radio 3's The Wire, March 31, 2007. Written by Ed Himes, London screenwriter and playright best known for his work on the Dr. Who series. Directed by Jessica Dromgoole, the radio drama is innovative in developing "fictional found sound storytelling" as it follows "Babak Beyrouti, famous Iranian sound recordist and agoraphobic, braving London, England, in his quest for lost love." Other themes include the nature of art, sound, decay, aspiration, and loneliness.
Awarded Best Radio Drama (Original) at 2007 Prix Italia, Italy's premiere radio and television awards ceremony. Described in Radio Times as a "... blackly comic fictional documentary which combines a collage of deliberate recordings, from police surveillance tapes to an unfinished installation piece on pigeons."
LISTEN to "The Incomplete Recorded Works of a Dead Body"
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Contents
The March 31, 2007 performance of "The Incomplete Recorded Works by a Dead Body," written by Ed Himes, on BBC Radio's The Wire. Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Cast
Khalid Abdalla as Babak Beyrouti
Ameet Chana as Dale P. Malone
Elaine Lordan as Lily
Saikat Ahamed as Vikram
John Dougall as Gurney
Mark Straker as Gabrielli
Anthony Glennon as Staple 4
Jasmine Callan as Simone
Credits
Written by Ed Hime
Produced and Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Significance
Himes' radio drama won the 2007 Prix Italia prize for Best Radio Drama (Original). According to Ben Dowell, writing for The Guardian, Hime, a playright, had never heard a radio drama before writing this work.
Background
Broadcast on "The Wire," BBC Radio 3, March 31, 2007, 21:30
Repeated July 19, 2008, 21:00
60 minutes
Resources
Dowell, Ben. BBC celebrates
four Prix Italia wins. The Guardian, 1 Oct. 2007.
More than a century of BBC Radio and Audio Drama- Highlights from 1922 to 2023. Narratives written by Professor Tim Crook, Goldsmiths University of London and author of Writing Audio Drama, Routledge 2023.
Radio 3 Drama and Readings, 2007
The Wire. BBC Radio 3.