The Right Ingredients (2009)
Pat Davis
Starring: Jasmine Hyde, Joseph Cohen-Cole, Helen Longworth, Kate Layden
Directed by Tracey Neale
Broadcast on: BBC Radio 4 on 2 February 2010
On a quiet afternoon on a snowy afternoon in the Lake District I happened upon this radio play broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Lisa and Jake are married, and have a daughter, Lily. One afternoon, as Jake is returning home with Lily from a day out, there is a terrible accident and Lily is killed. Jake assumes responsibility, though it was not his fault, and is booted out by a distraught Lisa. Months pass and Lisa, venturing out for the first time, tries to go shopping but she has lost her list: a panic attack ensues and she is only calmed when a passerby tells her her shopping list is in the basket. Only it is not her list, but she decides to use it anyway. This begins an enabling and stabilising ritual: the search for and using of other peoples shopping lists. To do so stops her thinking. To do so begins to change her life. The Right Ingredients surprises, delights and saddens in equal measure.
The Right Ingredients, directed by Tracey Neale, is wonderfully produced, acted and written; it is one of those alchemic moments when everything simple works. We feel the summer sun, grieve with Lisa, and feel are hearts catching in our throats during the final minutes when she thinks she sees Lily again.
It is not often I listen to the afternoon play on Radio 4 – I’m at work most often when they’re on – but if this is the calibre of writing currently on the station, then I urge people to tune in. The Right Ingredients showcases how great radio plays can be. At the centre of this heartbreaking play is genuine emotion. It is just a shame that these productions are so fleeting in their appearance: seven days after its broadcast it will disappear from the BBC iPlayer service and might never be replayed. It is a testament to Pat Davis’s compassionate script that none of its elements overwhelm, it is indeed, made from the right ingredients. Listen to it while you can.
I agree with you wholeheartedly regrading the quality of this radio play. I am regularly astounded at the high quality of the BBC Radio Afternoon Play and this is no exception. From beginning to end the listener is drawn into the realities of the subject material through the nature of the script and the acting.