Writing Radio Drama

Radio - the Invisible Medium

Radio drama reaches millions of listeners via the BBC who produce a wide range of plays across Radio 4, Radio 3 and Radio 4 Extra with repeats on BBC Sounds, giving audience more opportunities to engage. 

Because the medium is relatively cheap compared to TV the new writer’s chances of getting a script commissioned are better. 

The genre has also undergone a revival as ‘audio theatre’ on apps like Audible. Podcasting and internet radio have  created platforms for those who want to produce and perform their own plays.

Although some writers regard radio as a route into TV, many love the unique flexibility of the medium, and its appeal to the imagination. It’s the most literary of the electronic media and gives the author more autonomy than TV, which is often more of a collective process. 

As an invisible medium, it also presents the challenges of signifying location, action, and character identity and has developed its own conventions to resolve these issues, inviting the listener to explore soundscapes and acoustic space.

Your Radio Play

Over the next five sessions, we'll explore some of the techniques of radio drama through listening and discussion. And we'll develop the groundwork for your radio project through written exercises and drafts.