Ed Reardon's Week
- Radio sitcom
- BBC Radio 4
- 2005 - 2025
- 100 episodes (16 series)
Radio sitcom following curmudgeonly 50-something writer Ed Reardon, and his flawed attempts to escape poverty via literary success. Stars Christopher Douglas, Lisa Coleman, Philip Jackson, Barunka O'Shaughnessy, Stephanie Cole and more.
- Continues tomorrow on Radio 4 at 2:15pm with Series 16, Episode 3
- Catch-up on Series 16, Episode 2
Episode menu
Series 9, Episode 1 - The Personal Statement
Further details
He's back. Despite many thwarted attempts at literary success and a lifetime of scrimping and scraping to keep mind, soul and cat together, the curmudgeon's curmudgeon can never be kept down for long.
Ed Reardon once more finds himself grabbing at whatever scraps his agent, Ping, throws his way, with his only source of regular income coming from teaching the increasingly savvy and adventurous pensioners their module in short story writing. Jaz Milvane continues to be his nemesis, somehow making money out of mad schemes whilst Ed makes nothing and his love life remains, like his payment of utility bills, erratic to say the least.
As we renew our acquaintance with Ed we find him grovelling to his former girlfriend Fiona, claiming to be a 'changed man'. But as she quite rightly points out, he's still wearing the same socks and sandals. As Ed tries to get back into her good books, he finds himself retiring from the writing trade and applying for real jobs. So it is, he writes a personal statement and attends his first interview for a salaried position since, well, ever...
Broadcast details
- Date
- Monday 11th November 2013
- Time
- 11:30am
- Channel
- BBC Radio 4
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
| Christopher Douglas | Ed Reardon |
| Philip Jackson | Jaz Milvane |
| Barunka O'Shaughnessy | Ping |
| Stephanie Cole | Olive |
| Geoffrey Whitehead | Stan |
| Alison Steadman | Pearl |
| Jenny Agutter | Fiona |
| Melanie Hudson | Interviewer |
| Nicola Sanderson | Waitress |
| Christopher Douglas | Writer |
| Andrew Nickolds | Writer |
| Dawn Ellis | Producer |
Press
Just seeing the title will be enough for true fans of Ed Reardon. They need not read on. Their favourite show has returned. But for those who've never encountered the cynicism, dry asides and borderline-psychotic vitriol of Mr Reardon, now is the time to get acquainted.
Reardon is the comic creation of Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas (who plays him) and as the ninth series opens our hero is down on his luck - again. The gas and electricity have been switched off, he doesn't have a penny to his name and his fingers are too big to type on the minuscule keypad of his phone - "Sunday" comes out as "dimfat", a result that will resonate with many adult readers.
And so he turns to his now ex-girlfriend Fiona (played by Jenny Agutter), arriving at her house in a state of total self-abasement, which lasts as long as it takes for her to offer him some lunch. She agrees to consider taking him back if he gets a proper job and this is where his old rival Jaz Milvane (Philip Jackson) comes to the rescue.
There's money to be made from Harry Potter and though Ed declares he'd rather hang himself with a Hogwarts' scarf than contribute any more money to JK Rowling, he's soon dressing up as a porter at King's Cross station. Next he's persuading Japanese students to stuff £20 notes into his satchel before they "board" the Hogwarts Express.
This is not just funny, it's comic genius.
Jane Anderson, Radio Times, 11th November 2013