Owls

A radio drama (BBC Radio 4).

My research interests and creative practice centre on innovative ways in which nature writing can adapt to different media. While researching for a radio documentary script on the island of Islay – part of a series of landscape and sound portraits called the Sounds of Britain on BBC Radio 4 – I was told an extraordinary story which I thought required a radio drama format. I was interested because of its unrecorded history and for its connection between tragedy and landscape which had left an indelible impression on the place. With support from the BBC Natural History Unit, a radio drama based on this story was pitched to the BBC’s drama commissioner and accepted. This was the first time NHU Radio had a drama commission. The drama developed my research interests into nature writing through an investigation into the darker side of nature: isolation, alienation, incest and tragic death in a beautiful wild landscape which, far from being a neutral backdrop to the story was the key to understanding the tragedy. Owls was a ground-breaking collaboration for both BBC drama, natural history broadcasting and was a unique production. It was recorded on location with actor Jimmy Yuill and local children; the script, written and narrated by me, was part of a creative collaboration between myself leading wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, and senior radio producer Sarah Blunt of the BBC Natural History Unit. The broadcast received around a million listeners. Apart from opening up an area of research practice for me, Owls made a significant contribution to radio drama through innovation and collaboration.