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Fourble

One Chord Wonders

Five plays about punk, by Frank Cottrell Boyce
from archive.org

ONE CHORD WONDERS is a series of 5
plays by top British screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce. The series looks at the
'punk generation' three decades later, with each play telling a different, but
connected, story. The series is based on the fictional premise that in March
1977 punk band the Adverts performed a gig in Camberley to an audience of 27
people. Over 30 years later, someone is trying to bring those 27 people back
together again for a reunion. Featured actors include Pauline Quirke, Doon
Mackichan, Sian Reeves, Richard Ridings, Danny Webb, Manjinder Virk, Sam Dale, Dan
Starkey and Fenella Woolgar.


The series begins
with 'Parallel Lines', the story of
Julie, the singer in an ageing Blondie tribute band. An invitation to the
reunion of the audience at the 1977 Adverts gig brings some skeletons dancing from
the cupboard.


'Blitzkrieg Bop': In 1977, self-styled
Mo Motormouth was writing a punk fanzine. Now she's doing the travel news for a
radio station. An attempt to re-launch her ailing career brings unwelcome
attention from some of her 'livelier' listeners.


'Damned, Damned, Damned': Hardman Mick's
career in the music business imploded after a brush with an over-enthusiastic
fan. Now in prison, can he find salvation in his treasured memories of 'that
night' in 1977?


In 'This is the Modern World' an unlikely
pilgrimage to Camberley forces eco-toilet pioneer and ex-'anarcho-punk' Muttley
to be reunited with his former self.


The final
play, 'Television's Over', takes us
back 34 years to where it all begin; the day punk heroes the Adverts arrived at
the Police Club in Camberley. Many of the characters we have met in earlier
plays are there in their teenage guise. At the centre of it all is Adam, a
young lad in desperate need of something to believe in.


Director/Producer
... Toby Swift

First
broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in April 2011.

  1. Parallel Lines (51.5Mb)
  2. Blitzkrieg Bop (64Mb)
  3. Damned, Damned, Damned (64.6Mb)
  4. This is The Modern World (64.7Mb)
  5. Television's Over (64.6Mb)

MP3 files hosted by archive.org.