Approaching the fourth and latest documentary podcast I’ve researched, written and presented for The London Society, of which I am a trustee, posed some interesting challenges.
Its subjects were to be five linked yet distinctive neighbourhoods that sit between the City of London and the West End: Clerkwenwell, Farringdon – the latter arguably a subdivision of the former – Holborn, Bloomsbury and St Giles. How would you structure a script that told a single story about them all? What would be the script’s unifying theme?
Eventually, I settled on taking the listener on a sort of east-to-west wander from one Elizabeth line station, Farringdon, to the next one, Tottenham Court Road. As for the theme, that would be examining how best to achieve what some call “good growth” in those areas, perhaps by pursuing what happens to be the guiding principle of The London Society itself – valuing the past, looking to the future.
It was a joy, as always, to work on the project with top BBC Radio 4 producer Andrew McGibbon, who is patient, painstaking, enormously talented and has again made the final result as polished, engaging and easy on the ear as anything you might tune into on the wireless (despite me talking all the way through it). It is 38 minutes long. Listen to it HERE.
PS: The podcast was very kindly funded for The London Society by the Central District Alliance business improvement district, which draws its membership from the five London areas explored. The London Society, as always with these arrangements, retained full editorial control. If you would like to join the society, DO IT TODAY!