Paul Jones is a Liverpool writer who won the most recent Alfred Bradley Bursary Award. His winning play Patterdale quickly went into production and was broadcast in February.
Patterdale started life as a short story I wrote in 2015 - part of a collection set in neighbouring roads in south Liverpool.
I’ve always written but didn’t commit until my forties. I did night school classes with the , took an degree (unfinished) which led to me having some short stories published and then studied a Creative Writing MA. None of these courses are essential but I find it helpful being in an environment where writing is treated with respect.
During the first lockdown, I was midway through John Yorke’s screenwriting course when I saw on ±«Óãtv Writersroom's opportunities page that the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award was reopening. Patterdale had a strong central voice and I decided to adapt the story as a radio play. I wrote it like a film script but was constantly on the lookout for moments when sound would benefit the story – a bird’s wings, a swing park, a door being kicked in.
The application process was simple – I already had a ±«Óãtv account from previous submissions to ±«Óãtv Writersroom. I answered a few basic questions then uploaded the script. I found out a few months later I’d been shortlisted. I worked with two assistant producers in developing Patterdale, Lorna Newman and Jess Mitic. We batted the script back and forth and their input was essential. Writing is obviously a solitary business, but their critiques and suggestions helped make it stronger.
There were 5 writers in the final and I was surprised and pleased to hear my name called out – the award comes with a £5000 prize and a 12-month mentorship with a ±«Óãtv Radio Drama producer. Jess Mitic called straight afterwards to congratulate me. I then spoke to Pauline Harris, the director, who told me the play was scheduled for broadcast just two months later – an unusually quick turnaround.
I only wanted native Liverpudlians as the dialect is rooted in local knowledge. The production team found the children via local drama groups, and Pauline was open to my suggestions for the adult actors and in understanding the need for authenticity. I turn a programme off if I hear a dodgy accent, so this was vital.
At the readthrough on the first morning Patterdale ran 15 minutes short – it’s a pacy play but this took everyone by surprise as the word count/page count was usual. I sat in the recording suite with Pauline and Sharon Hughes (Shush), the sound engineer, writing new scenes and passing Pauline new bits of script, while Simon Highfield supported the actors inside the studio. Pauline also contributed ideas for key scenes and line changes while trying to direct. This made the process stressful at times, but Pauline and Shush remained remarkably calm. Monday evening was spent looking through previous drafts of the script for scenes that with a bit of rewriting could be worked back into the play.
Handing your work over to other people is like watching your child go off to school for the first time, and like an over-anxious parent it was hard to let go. Now I’ve listened a few times and have a little distance, I can see it for what it is - a standalone drama that read well on the page but didn’t complete its journey until the actors and production team brought it to life - excellent performances and direction, sound design that deepened the world both inside and outside Tommy’s head, and music that helped drive the story forward.
Patterdale was broadcast last month on Radio 4 and was selected as Drama of the Week.
Over the past year I’ve written another radio play, adapted from a story in the collection I was working on a few years back, a comedy-drama for theatre, and two television scripts.
Winning the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award was a huge surprise and a terrific confidence-booster. I’m grateful to Alfred’s family for continuing his important work in supporting new voices and to ±«Óãtv Radio 4 Drama for enabling those voices to be heard.
If you’re thinking of writing a radio play, do it. What have you got to lose?
Listen to Patterdale on ±«Óãtv Sounds
Download and read Paul Jones' original script for Patterdale from our script library