The countdown begins

Hello secret email contingent

Work has been continuing apace to finish the ten-part documentary I am making with Whistledown Productions for BBC Radio 4. It is a landmark series (Whistledown only do landmark series) and I hope it has some effect.

If you’re not already an avid Radio 4 listener, now is the time to start switching over as the station trails (adverts) for The Great Post Office Trial start going out today.

The series begins on Monday 25 May at 1.45 (Episode 1 is called “The Imaginary Heist“) and continues at the same time each day for the next 10 working days. Please tell your friends.

The making of

Radio is a great medium, though remote working has posed some challenges, not least when we lost an exclusive remotely-recorded two hour interview into the digital ether and several hours trying to find it. We eventually had to re-record the whole thing word-for-word* a week later.

Another downside of remote working is that I am unlikely to hear any of the programmes before they go out. Obviously I am across all the scripts, and beavering away at the journalism, but once my contribution has been finalised, I record my part and send it off to someone else so they can fit it into the audio jigsaw before broadcast.

To that end I am listening intently to Radio 4 this week to hear what the trails I recorded parts for last week sound like. If you do hear one, please let me know when you hear it, just in case I missed it.

That’s it for now. The next bit of movement I’m expecting in this story is the Statement of Reasons from the Criminal Cases Review Commission as to why they think there was “abuse of process” in the prosecution of 39 Subpostmasters. There may well also be a few more Subpostmasters getting referred to the Court of Appeal. If that happens it’ll likely be next week.

But for now – retune your radios and attenuate your senses. The hour is nearly upon us.

Happy listening,

Nick

*not really.