Kate Chisholm

Campaign trail

Classic Serial (BBC Radio 4)

issue 14 June 2008

Just when you thought it was safe to come out, here he is again. Still on Radio Four but in a surprising new guise; not performing but acting. On Sunday afternoon, John Prescott, MP, took a leading role as ‘The Policeman’ in the Classic Serial. Or rather he gave us nine economical lines in a very wordy dramatisation of Robert Tressell’s 1914 campaigning novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. But they were nine rather good lines. Prezzie’s got a natural radio voice. Clear, with a naturally high decibel level. He never has to force it. He also didn’t have to put on the regional accent demanded of his part. I would almost say they were the best nine lines in the hour-long drama. Said with purpose and from an actor truly inhabiting his part: ‘What you say may be all right or it may not…’

It was strange to hear a group of house builders and decorators bemoaning their lot, as if they were the underdogs.

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