Broadcast > Radio

RADIO

“The poet and dramatist Michael Symmons Roberts is an outstanding writer, whom radio has done much to nurture.”

Sunday Times – Paul Donovan


DRAMA includes…

BBC Radio 4 commissioned drama – ‘Brimstone’ – for ‘Afternoon Play’ – 2000

BBC Radio 4 commissioned drama – ‘Cleaning the Pipes’ – for ‘Fact to Fiction’ – 2006

BBC Radio 3 commissioned drama – ‘Soldiers in the Sun’ –  2007

[WINNER OF CLARION AWARD, SHORTLISTED FOR MENTAL HEALTH AWARD]

BBC Radio 4 commissioned drama – ‘Worktown’ – for ‘Afternoon Play’ – 2008

BBC Radio 4 commissioned drama – ‘Breath’- adaptation of MSR’s novel for ‘Friday Play’ – 2008

BBC Radio 3 commissioned drama – ‘Idylls of the King’ – adaptation of Tennyson poem – 2009

BBC Radio 4 commissioned drama – ‘A Man in Pieces’ – for ‘Afternoon Play’ – 2010

BBC Radio 3 commissioned drama – ‘Migrant Mother’ – for ‘Drama on 3’ – 2010

BBC Radio 4 commissioned drama – ‘Crimes of Mancunia’ – for ‘Afternoon Drama’ – 2011

BBC Radio 4 commissioned drama – ‘Songs and Lamentations’ – for ‘Classic Serial’ – 2012

BBC Radio 4 commissioned drama – ‘The Sleeper’ – for ‘Saturday Play’ – 2013

BBC Radio 4 commissioned drama – ‘The Flea’ – for ‘Afternoon Drama’ – 2013

 

POEMS include…

2002: Radio 4 commission – ‘Last Words’ – poem to mark 1st Anniversary of 9/11, performed by Sir Antony Sher, with music by John Harle.

2000 : Radio 4 / World Service commissioned poem for Hiroshima Day – ‘A Fearful Symmetry.’ Performed by actress Fiona Shaw and tenor Robert Tear, with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra playing music by James Whitbourn.

[WINNER OF PREMIER SANDFORD ST MARTIN BROADCASTING AWARD]

2000 : Radio 2 commission – ‘Behold the Man’ – 6 part biography of Jesus. Performed by Derek Jacobi, repeated on BBC World Service.

2001 : Radio 4 commission – ‘The Wounds’ – poem for Good Friday, performed by Simon Russell-Beale, with music by James Whitbourn.

2002 : Radio 4 commission – ‘The Hurricane’ – poem for Pentecost, performed by Fiona Shaw, with music by James Whitbourn.

2004: Radio 4 commissioned poem – ‘Crossing the Dark Sea’ in collaboration with composer James Whitbourn, to mark D-Day anniversary. Performed by Christopher Eccleston and Katherine Jenkins.

2003: Radio 4 commissioned poem – ‘White Nights’

2003: Radio 4 commissioned poem for ‘Today’ programme on National Poetry Day.

Plus commissioned poems for Radio 3’s ‘The Verb’ including…

2013: Miss Molasses – to mark the move of ‘The Verb’ to Salford.

 

FEATURES include…

1999 : Radio 2 commission – ‘Anno Domini’ – 11 part history of Christianity in Britain, performed by Derek Jacobi.

2002 : Radio 4 commission – ‘A Higher Place’ – writer and presenter of series on Sacred Mountains of the world.

2002: Radio 2 commission – writer and presenter of ‘Landscape of Remembrance’, on the poets of the First World War.

2002: Radio 4 commission – ‘Keeping the Feast’

2003: Radio 4 commission – ‘Hound of Heaven’ – on the Victorian poet Francis Thompson.

[CELTIC FILM FESTIVAL AWARD – SHORTLIST]

2003: Radio 2 commission – ‘The Good Book’ – 6 part series on the Bible. Winner of the Premier Award at the Jerusalem Trust Awards 2004.

2003: Radio 4 commission – ‘The Chair’ – on Welsh poetry.

2003: Writer & presenter of ‘The Cross’ – documentary on Radio 4.

2004: Writer of Radio 2 six part series ‘Sacred Nation’ – a history of multi-faith Britain, presented by Christopher Eccleston

2008: Writer and presenter of ‘Elegy’ – feature about the history and meaning of the poetic elegy.

2009: Writer and presenter of ‘Utopian Pessimist’ – feature about Simone Weil.

2013: LS Lowry – writer and presenter of feature on Tate retrospective for Radio 4.