91Èȱ¬

A solicitor's office has a new phone line connected, but the staff keep hearing a woman's voice on the phone. Engineer Frank Wilson is called to fix the problem, and gradually the disturbing story of the woman starts to emerge.

Originally broadcast in September 1952, You Must Listen was written by Nigel Kneale, one of the most admired English science-fiction writers of the last century. His Quatermass trilogy of science fiction serials continues to influence generations of admirers and filmmakers, among them Russell T Davies and John Carpenter.

But before The Quatermass Experiment established his television career, Kneale’s radio drama You Must Listen paved the way for what was to come. It explores many of the same themes that he later addressed in Quatermass, The Stone Tape and The Road, of the paranormal coming into collision with modern science.

No recording of the original version of You Must Listen is known to exist, but fortunately Kneale kept a copy of the script in his archives, and this new version has been recorded to mark the centenary of 91Èȱ¬ Radio Drama.

Cast:
Frank Wilson ...... Toby Jones
Mr Paley ...... Reece Shearsmith
Passion Fruit ...... Caroline Catz
Jill Prentice …… Jessie Cave
Macfarlane …… John Scougall
Test Clerk …… Jason Barnett
Supervisor …… Jacqueline King
Underground Inspector …… Dan Starkey
Operator …… Becky Wright

Written by Nigel Kneale
Editing and sound design by Charlie Brandon-King
Music by Evelyn Sykes
Produced and directed by Simon Barnard

A Bafflegab production for 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4