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Conversations from a Long Marriage: based on the beloved BBC Radio 4 comedy starring Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam

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Another woman who never lets you down is the excellent tech journalist Aleks Krotoski. As host of Radio 4’s The Digital Human she is full of delighted, doggedly earned knowledge about the virtual world, but also, vitally, she’s a great storyteller. Her scripts are consistently on point, and she delivers them with panache. The show focuses on a couple who have been married for over 40 years. Children of the Sixties, they're still free spirits, drawn together by their passion for music - and each other. This gives me hope that life and marriage might permanently include taking the absolute piss while simultaneously dancing in the kitchen’. EMMA FREUD It’s not the first time that Etherington creates a radio hit, but her writing didn’t always find its way to the screen. However, as she explains, times have changed: the creation of BBC Studios means the corporation’s radio and television production teams are liaising with each other again in an attempt to develop formats.

With series five commissioned, there's been talk of television, although, perversely for a writer, it’s not something Jan particularly wants to happen. The temptation in transferring it to TV would be to change it by introducing other characters, yet the USP of the series, she says, is two people having a conversation that nobody else can hear – that's what makes it intimate and real. Witty, big-hearted and a whole lot of fun, Conversations From A Long Marriage is a collection of eight scripts from the first two series of the Radio 4 comedy starring Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam, and will resonate with couples of any age - but especially those who are still dancing in the kitchen, singing in the car and trying to keep the passion alive.

All series

We join them as Joanna breathily compliments Roger - ‘How do you get it so perfect every time?’ His reply ‘Hot goose fat and regular tossing’ reveals that they are enjoying his signature roast potatoes. They’re spending a quiet Christmas with Peter and Sally but this snowballs into an extravagant houseparty when Peter is offered a rich friend’s country pile and invites other couples. Conversations from a Long Marriage is written by Jan Etherington and produced by Claire Jones. The production coordinator is Katie Baum, the sound engineer is Wilfredo Acosta and sound design is by Jon Calver. It is a BBC Studios Production. I’ve always tried to write about what’s going on in my life, not necessarily telling verbatim stories from our lives but using them as a benchmark,” she says. “They say ‘write about what you know’, but I think it’s more ‘write about what makes you laugh’ because it’s very therapeutic, even if you’re going through a tough time, divorce or a trauma like Next of Kin. Most of the couples I’m writing about are bowling along, then there’s some huge trauma and they have to deal with it.” As a one-off episode broadcast on Radio 4 on New Year’s Day, Conversations from a Long Marriage portrayed Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam as a married couple for over 40 years. Children of the Sixties, they were still free spirits, drawn together by their passion for music – and each other. The show followed their conversations that took them from the local café, to their kitchen table, taking in her resentment of new glasses – a symbol of ageing – and fury at being lectured by the dental hygienist. He had a dodgy knee and was on statins, and when they discussed the marriage break-up of their closest friends, Sally and Peter, there was jealousy and talk of affairs. She suggested there are advantages to single beds, separate holidays and wanted to go clubbing in Ibiza for her imminent ‘big’ birthday.

This week, it seems everything is making Roger grumpy, including a neighbour putting out his bin on the wrong day; a car alarm in the night and a shortage of streaky bacon. Roger claims he’s ‘normal’ because ‘most men live lives of quiet desperation’ but Joanna discovers it’s her fault he’s feeling fed up. When I look in the mirror, I want to shout 'OK, I know what it looks like on the outside but inside, I'm still Dancing in the Street, with Martha Reeves and the Vandellas'", she claims, insisting men aren't affected in the same way, until he recounts a poignant encounter, with a woman on a train. In this opening episode of the first series, they’re invited to a party with old friends but return home with a nagging question: “why didn’t you ask me to dance?” Once more, we are party to Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam’s Christmas plans, in Jan Etherington’s award-winning, two-hander comedy, produced by Claire Jones.Series 4 has now been written and will be recorded in December, to be broadcast in 2023. The six episodes have been provisionally scheduled to be aired in the 6:30pm slot on Wednesdays from 15th February. Written especially for Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam by award-winning comedy writer and journalist Jan Etherington. With her writing and life partner, Gavin Petrie, Jan has created several hit radio and TV series such as Second Thoughts, Next of Kin, Faith in the Future and The Change. Conversations from a Long Marriage is her first solo narrative comedy series. Her couples are always equal partnerships. “I hate the idea of dozy husbands who can’t work the dishwasher. All the couples I write about are equally strong - they support each other. If there are jokes about cooking it’s about her incompetence rather than his. But that’s not where the laughs come for me – I'm interested in the emotional strength of the couples, or the people I’m writing about. Vulnerability comes in different ways.” Written for Joanna Lumley by award-winning comedy writer and journalist Jan Etherington, who herself has been married for 35 years. Jan has created and written many long-running radio and television series with her husband Gavin Petrie (Second Thoughts, Next of Kin, Faith in the Future) and has written sketches for Radio 4’s Ayres on the Air, but this is her first solo-scripted, half-hour comedy. She says: “Conversations from a Long Marriage will resonate with couples of any age but especially those who are still dancing in the kitchen, singing in the car and trying to keep the passion alive.”

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