Someone Like You
Broadcast Monday 21 to Friday 25 December 2009 (Woman's Hour Drama)
Charles Dance leads the cast as the Storyteller in dramatisations of five darkly comic short stories by Roald Dahl taken from his anthology, Someone Like You.
By turns bizarre and amusing, Dahl's tales are savagely funny demonstrations of the greed and barbarism lurking beneath the surface of some supposedly respectable people.
Dramatised by Stephen Sheridan
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
160/44; 80 MB; sound quality excellent
1 - Man from the South
While on shore leave in Jamaica, a young marine agrees to a bizarre wager with an elderly South American.
Storyteller ...... Charles Dance
Old Man ...... Andrew Sachs
Marine ...... Danny Mahoney
Girl ...... Donnla Hughes
Spanish Woman ...... Rachel Atkins
2 - Skin
Set in post-war Paris. A down-and-out stumbles into an exhibition of paintings by celebrated artist Chaim Soutine. As a young man, he had known Soutine and allowed him to tattoo a portrait on his back. When he shows his tattoo in the gallery, he is inundated with offers to buy it.
Storyteller ...... Charles Dance
Old Drioli ...... John Evitts
Young Drioli ...... Tom Bevan
Soutine ...... Rob Heaps
Josie ...... Donnla Hughes
Art Collector ...... David Collings
Gallery Owner ...... Ian Masters
3 - Lamb to the Slaughter
When Patrick Maloney tells his wife that he's leaving her, she hits him with the leg of lamb she was about to defrost for supper - and accidentally kills him.
Storyteller ...... Charles Dance
Mary Maloney ...... Lorelei King
Patrick/Sam/Noonan ...... Kerry Shale
O'Malley ...... Tom Bevan
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William Gallagher, Radio Times reviewer: It's Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected, but under another name and... on the radio. Good, because that TV show always had you looking for the twist instead of enjoying the ride. And the stories are even better if no one's put that title back in your head. Er, sorry. Perhaps Wednesday's Lamb to the Slaughter will make some of you smile, but all five are tense...
Replies
Thanks Rik.
4 - Dip in the Pool
A passenger on an ocean liner hopes to win a sweep-stake predicting how far the ship will travel in the next 24 hours. He stakes everything he has on the shortest possible distance.
Storyteller ...... Charles Dance
Mr Botibol ...... John Baddeley
Mrs Renshaw/Maggie ...... Rachel Atkins
Purser ...... Nicholas Boulton
Auctioneer ...... Chris Stanton
Old Woman ...... Jean Trend
5 - Nunc Dimittis
Charles Dance appears as a slighted lover who plots an elaborate revenge on his society girlfriend.
Storyteller ...... Charles Dance
Gladys Ponsonby ...... Sarah Badel
John Roydon ...... Jonathan Keeble
Janet de Pelagia ...... Katie Scarfe
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