Conversations from a Long Marriage: based on the beloved BBC Radio 4 comedy starring Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam

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Conversations from a Long Marriage won the Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Best Radio Comedy in 2020. Nominated for a Writers Guild Award 2023. Conversations from a Long Marriage is written by Jan Etherington and produced by Claire Jones. The production coordinator is Katie Baum, the studio engineer is Wilfredo Acosta and sound design is by Jon Calver. It is a BBC Studios Production. The show focuses on a couple who have been married for over 40 years. Children of the Sixties, they're still free spirits, drawn together by their passion for music - and each other. This book gives me hope ... that life and marriage might permanently include taking the absolute piss while simultaneously dancing in the kitchen' EMMA FREUD Conversations from a Long Marriage is written by Jan Etherington. It is produced and directed by Claire Jones. It is a BBC Studios Production.

Ken Bruce will join Greatest Hits Radio after more than three decades at Radio 2. Photograph: Bauer Media/PA This gives me hope that life and marriage might permanently include taking the absolute piss while simultaneously dancing in the kitchen’. EMMA FREUD In fact, she does none of those things, but instead is a keen year-round North Sea swimmer, and spends a lot of time roaming the Suffolk coast with her "superstar" English Setter, Jagger (named after the Rolling Stone). She's an active contributor to her local village community - she edited the village news for five years and now does the fete programme - volunteered for five years as a tour guide for Southwold Lighthouse, is patron of Halesworth’s Pear Tree Fund, and a regular contributor to INK Festival.Conversations from a Long Marriage is written by Jan Etherington and produced by Claire Jones. The production coordinator is Katie Baum, the sound engineer is Wilfredo Acosta and sound design is by Jon Calver. It is a BBC Studios Production. They’re a very clever couple – they work off each other feed off each other,” says Jan. “There’s a real strength in their relationship.” As well as clever, insightful writing, a large part of the magic of Conversations comes from the casting of Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam. Joanna, says Jan, agreed to do the part immediately she read the script, saying it was as though Jan had “listened at her window”. When Jan asked her who could possibly play her husband she suggested Roger – the man all her friends want to be married to. Jan spends just a few days each year with them, recording in a studio, but she says it’s clear they have fantastic chemistry and love working together. Details of organisations offering information and support with some of the issues in this episode are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam play a couple who have been married for over 40 years. Children of the Sixties, they're still free spirits, drawn together by their passion for music - and each other.

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I’ve always tried to write about what’s going on in my life, not necessarily telling verbatim stories from our lives but using them as a benchmark,” she says. “They say ‘write about what you know’, but I think it’s more ‘write about what makes you laugh’ because it’s very therapeutic, even if you’re going through a tough time, divorce or a trauma like Next of Kin. Most of the couples I’m writing about are bowling along, then there’s some huge trauma and they have to deal with it.” Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam return in the fourth series of Jan Etherington’s award-winning comedy, as a long-married couple in love with life and each other. This week, Roger’s formidable Auntie Hilda, ‘cut from the same starched underwear as Bertie Wooster’s Aunt Agatha’ announces she’s coming to live with them. Feisty but frail, she bonds instantly with Amy the dog, and is a hit with all their friends. But Amy’s squeaky pheasant alerts them to an emergency, and after a dash to hospital, a nightmare situation unfolds and spins out of control. This week, it seems everything is making Roger grumpy, including a neighbour putting out his bin on the wrong day; a car alarm in the night and a shortage of streaky bacon. Roger claims he’s ‘normal’ because ‘most men live lives of quiet desperation’ but Joanna discovers it’s her fault he’s feeling fed up. The delicious fruit of the writer, Jan Etherington’s experience of writing lots of TV and radio, blessed by being acted by Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam. Treasure this one, produced by Claire Jones. Unlike many a current Radio 4 ‘comedy’, this series makes people laugh’ GILLIAN REYNOLDS. SUNDAY TIMES