undone series one
Undone was a
script I originally wrote in 2002 for Radio
Light Entertainment under producer Claire Jones,
but we weren't able to get a recording commissioned. I wrote a pilot
episode and plotted a
couple of other stories, but like so many
projects, after its rejection, developmental
drift happened where it's quietly moved on from, because something new
needs attention.
Shiny!
Like some mossy abbey ruins the previously cool
idea kind of gets forgotten. But in 2005
Colin Anderson mentioned that BBC 7 were looking
to commission some sci-fi comedy for the 7th
Dimension strand and I remembered Undone. I had
written some sketches for his innovative and
exciting Milk Run show for Radio 1 and we had
made a pilot for a romantic comedy series called
Branches in 2004.
In late 2005 we heard a pilot programme for
Undone had been commissioned and would we please
now go and make the show. Yikes. The abbey ruins
have a use.
First off we had to find a young comedy actress
to play the lead role of Edna Turner. She had to
be bright and funny and inquisitive, bolshy at
times, scared at others. I had seen a show
called Pray
for the Souls of Martha and Veronica at
the Edinburgh Fringe in 2005 and met one of the
actresses after the show. This was Sarah
Solemani, and I knew she’s be excellent as Edna.
Just the right mix of confidence and sensitivity
– the sort of things she showed again when she
arrived in paint-spattered jeans and charmed
loads of jaded hacks at the Radio Christmas
party. Duncan Wisbey was the man of many voices
in Dirty Fan Male, another show I saw at
Edinburgh 2005 and he had the versatility and
charm to be kind Carlo and poky Billy. I would
play Tankerton and well, that was that.
Episode
1 - Mind The Gaps
Edna Turner
has just moved to London to work on a
listings magazine and is naturally
excited. Her boss is the friendly Carlo
and while her bedsit isn't exactly a
palace, she gets down to work. An
encounter at a music club with the strange
Tankerton Slopes leads her to travel to
the bizarre parallel city of Undone and a
mission to send radical TV developer
Marlboro Fagpacket back home.
Starring
Sarah Solemani, Duncan Wisbey, Dan
Antopolski and Ben Moor.
Produced by Colin Anderson.
We
recorded the pilot in January 2006 without
knowing whether BBC7 was going to commission
any more episodes. So it’s the most
naturally self contained of the shows.
Edna arrives, meets Billy, Carlo and
Tankerton and is sucked into the world of
Undone. It all plays very neatly as an Alice
in Wonderland crossed with Neverwhere
crossed with Buffy crossed with lots of
other things. I guess I’ve been influenced
by a lifetime of sci-fi so I can be accused
of ripping off any number of things for
either the overall plot or individual
scenes, but I would hope the show comes over
as pretty different to a lot of the radio
out there right now. We wanted to make a
light scifi comedy drama that takes the
listener on a journey and I think the pilot
achieves that nicely.
As a half hour of radio, Mind the Gaps, (I
didn’t think of titling the episodes
un-something until way later) is gentle and
absorbing. Virtually everything was recorded
on location in and around the Primrose Hill
house of Marijke, the assistant producer.
She also did wonderful catering! Dan
Antopolski was extremely funny as Marlboro,
very unworldly. Sarah was just perfect as
Edna – she brought so much more to the role
than was on the page. And Duncan’s dual
performance was great too. I was OK as
Tankerton, but I think I get a little more
bearable as the series progresses.
First broadcast - BBC 7 - 2nd October 2006
Episode
2 - Unappreciated
Edna learns
more about Undone while putting together an
issue of Get Out on her own. So she hardly
has time to help Tankerton chase a naughty
dog who steals sausages.
Starring
Sarah Solemani, Duncan Wisbey, Montserrat
Lombard, Tim Key and Ben Moor.
Produced by Colin Anderson.
Episode 2
works kind of as a second pilot for the
series. It develops the Edna/Tankerton
relationship, shows her at work and
introduces a couple of characters who become
important later on. As such it does its job
fairly well and answers a few questions the
listener may still have after the first
episode, but overall I think I could have
done it better. The chase sequence with the
dog and the two pages is a bit
clumsily written but there are some
nice moments running through. Duncan plays
the dog as if he was born to the part and
anyone who knows him would agree. Sarah is
very funny in the Heckhole sequence, in fact
she’s very funny throughout. Kate and Grant
turn up for the first time but oh so
briefly. Tim Key is the shop owner too here –
but in his performance he decided that
character wears a moustache which I think
you can really hear if you listen very
carefully. Really.
I liked the Escher stuff in the script – we
all feel like those monks sometime – Sarah
played those bits beautifully. I was sorry
we had to lose Carlo for a lot of the
episode – I love what Duncan does with him
but it was important to set Edna’s job up
and see her under a little pressure. The
in-store closed circuit illustration would
have been a bigger thing, but the first
draft of the script was way too long so like
a lot of the series, it became a moment that
is under-explained but adds to the
weirdness.
First broadcast - BBC 7 - 3rd October 2006
Episode
3 - Unrivalled
All Edna wants is to be a good friend to Kate and rather more than that with Grant. But after an evening at the theatre things take a turn for the worse.
Starring Sarah
Solemani, Duncan Wisbey, Montserrat Lombard, Tim
Key, Emma Kennedy and Ben Moor.
Produced by Colin Anderson.
My personal
favourite episode of the series for many
reasons. The script was a lot of fun to write,
has the neatest structure, and has a couple of
lines I love. We had to cut back the early scene
at Smart Alec's for reasons of length but it
contained a sequence that really explained why
Tankerton does what he does. It was to do with
the amount of weirdness London can cope with and
comparing it to the amount of crime an economy
needs to make it work – we might try and find a
space for it another time. Montserrat Lombard
was just brilliant as Kate, Edna’s less
imaginative ‘twin’ – she and Sarah had worked
together before and their scenes were excellent.
Tim Key was also fantastic – ambiguous and nice
but he played Grant with a smart edge I liked.
And Emma Kennedy got Jemima just right – dry and
dismissive – and that’s her with the happy
cooking video too. Duncan, as ever, great,
especially with the burning phone. And Colin’s
production is top notch – some lovely sweeps
between the realities here.
Troubled eggs previously featured in the stage
show Poppy Day.
The segment at Grant’s play was originally going
to be longer, but it features flies which may be
a set up for episode 5 (I say ‘may be’, I mean
is). Kate’s speech to Edna about her having made
Undone all up is literally the midpoint of the
entire series and gets the listener to question
it too – everything you think you know hinges on
this moment. The two actresses played this
beautifully. And the old lady scenes are just
great.
First broadcast - BBC 7 - 4th October 2006
Epsiode
4 - Unfamiliar
Starring Sarah Solemani, Duncan Wisbey, Emma Kennedy, Kevin Eldon, Richard Herring and Ben Moor.
Produced by Colin Anderson.
Episode 4 was originally written when the show was first mooted about 4 years ago and has a couple of problems which I totally blame myself for. You know what they are. Saying that, the story rattles along and this episode means a lot to me because of the cast Colin assembled. I first performed with Emma and Richard in the Oxford Revue of 1988 and one day I’ll tell the story of how that all came about. I have remained one of the biggest fans ever since and they have repaid my nerdiness with way much kindness and friendship and so when they agreed to be in a show I had written I was literally smiling with happiness. Kevin Eldon, as well as being Britain’s funniest Buddhist, is a friend who I travelled around America with back in the 1990s. Needless to say all three were brilliant in the show. Sarah was lovely in this episode too and Duncan’s performance as the Undone Carlo was another highlight.
The NISOA features here for the first time – it is mentioned also in Coelacanth which isn’t a bad thing as it suggests both stories happen in my own private universe, a place that nobody whatsoever has termed MOORLAND. The faceless bureaucrats’ plan would become clearer in the second series, as would the truth about Edna’s father, hinted at here. The boyband tunes were composed by Duncan who sang them to me and then I mauled them for the BBC audience. I thank you.
First
broadcast - BBC 7 - 5th October 2006
Episode
5 - Unravelled
Starring Sarah Solemani, Duncan Wisbey, Tim Key and Ben Moor.
Produced by Colin Anderson.
Endings suck, especially when you know you want some things to be resolved and not others. I loved writing these stories and I wanted Edna to find some answers and discover more questions, some of which we could explore in a second series. The return of Grant, the visit to Tankerton’s flat and a mirror sequence to the pilot where Edna runs out of the office gave some closure to the characters. And getting the two Carlos to meet and chat was a delight. Duncan was brilliant here (and that’s him playing the rehearsal room piano by the way for Grant – the man is a marvel). Sarah was just great as Edna as well – the fear, the awe, blooming great. And Tim Key makes Grant almost the hero of the piece. Colin’s talent shines through here too – the flies, obviously great, but that final moment is spine chilling.
When we heard the series was to be five episodes (including the pilot) I knew I wanted a sci-fi climax to the story. A few of the seeds for this episode were planted previously, but simultaneously the script has a bit of a rush to get to the action and an odd ploddiness of pacing. Tankerton’s wedding subplot should have either been emphasised much more or dropped completely – as it is it’s a bit wasted, but of course there was thought behind it (series 2. . .). But I think overall it's a good way to end the series, not so much a cliff hanger, but a cliff teeterer. I wanted audiences to want to know what happens next, but the final few moments provide a certain conclusion (relating back to what Kate accused Edna of in Episode 3) that I think listeners can make their own resolution to the overall plot.
First
broadcast - BBC 7 - 6th October 2006
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