Bold programming by the powers-that-be at Radio 4 meant it was possible to listen to all seven episodes of Ayeesha Menon’s adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children in a single day on Tuesday, exactly 70 years since independent India was born, and Pakistan created. Four and three-quarter hours of meticulously crafted drama (directed by Tracey Neale and Emma Harding) ingeniously slotted into episodes of different lengths throughout the day, some just 15 minutes, others a full hour (the adapter having to create and sustain pace in a variety of ways to suit the different lengths).
Such cavalier treatment of the schedule would have been unthinkable a few years ago; there’d have been an outcry from listeners following any attempt to do away with a weekly favourite, even if just for that day. But we’re all so used to digital flexibility now, gorging ourselves whenever we want on boxed sets and downloads.
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