The Tinker's Daughter

Stonewall's CEO, Ruth Hunt shares her unforgettable LGBT moments with Gay Britannia season host, Ben Hunte.

Followed by:

Patrice Chaplin's The Tinker's Daughter

In Edwardian England, Meriel lives a life of privilege on her family's country estate. Her isolated existence is enhanced by the lack of love from her parents, who wanted a son. Then she becomes obsessed by a local girl - a relationship which starts innocently develops into her first love-affair...

Sadly this drama was not kept in the BBC archive, so we're indebted to a BBC Radio 4 Extra listener who recommended a repeat and luckily found her cassette copy in her attic which has been digitised for broadcast.

Stars Deborah Makepeace as Meriel, Zelah Clarke as Amy, Richard Pasco as Papa, Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Mama, Sheila Grant as Louisa, Pauline Letts as Aunt Charlotte, Sandor Eles as Prince Ferdinand, Brian Smith as Horace, Clare Travers-Deacon as Cecilia, Ronald Herdman as Wallace and Garard Green as Butler/Soames

Producer: Cherry Cookson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1986

The 'Gay Britannia' season on 4 Extra celebrates LGBT history in Britain for the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality.

Produced for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Peter Reed.