Richard Tyrone Jones's Big Heart. Richard (Richard Tyrone Jones). Copyright: Top Dog Productions
Richard Tyrone Jones's Big Heart

Richard Tyrone Jones's Big Heart

  • Radio stand-up / sitcom
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2013
  • 3 episodes (1 series)

A Radio 4 show mixing sitcom and real-life storytelling to tell the tale of how, on his 30th birthday, poet Richard Tyrone Jones had a heart failure. Stars Richard Tyrone Jones, Nigel Barrett and Katie Bonna.

Key details

Genres
Stand-Up, Sitcom
Broadcast
2013
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Episodes
3 (1 series)
Stars
Richard Tyrone Jones, Nigel Barrett and Katie Bonna
Writers
Richard Tyrone Jones and Paul Birtill
Producer
Nick Walker
Company

Richard Tyrone Jones - healthy, gym-going poet, man about town and aspirant womaniser - finds himself, on his 30th birthday, stricken by an unexpected present: heart failure. Confined to hospital with a dilated, literally-big heart, stuck on drugs and drips and forced to cope with curious medical procedures and even curiouser fellow patients, will he die, or will he be doomed to life in a mobility scooter at home with his parents in Dudley?

Or maybe he can pull through with the help of poetry, cod philosophy, and friends - nihilistic Sophia, who tries to cheer his spirits with books by Houellebecq and Lovecraft, and his dour Welsh publisher / solicitor Jacob, who is in charge of his will but might actually sell more books if he dies. And will having a Big Heart shrink his romantic possibilities?

Half-way between a sitcom and real-life storytelling, and based on Richard's Wellcome Trust supported solo show which toured in 2012, each episode illuminates a different aspect of the experience of illness and facing your own mortality with a sense of humour.

Richard Tyrone Jones is a poet, writer and director of 'Utter!" spoken word, and director of spoken word at the Edinburgh Festival Free Fringe.

Additional details

Production
Studio

Website links

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Sunday 14th July 2013 at 7:15pm on BBC Radio 4
Most recent repeats
  • Sunday 4th August 2013 at 5:30am on Radio 4 Extra - Episode 3
  • Saturday 3rd August 2013 at 5:30pm on Radio 4 Extra - Episode 3
  • Friday 2nd August 2013 at 10:00pm on Radio 4 Extra - Episode 3

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