Review: Suspicious Minds by Tom Fowler

Every now and then a radio play comes along that reminds you just how inventive, engaging and affecting this medium can be. Tom Fowler’s Suspicious Minds is one of those plays: a fresh, engrossing comedy romance that you’d swear takes place in at least 4D rather than audio alone.

Mark and Fran are in a painful part of their relationship, with the romance (and the sex) having long gone, only to be replaced by boredom and resentment. Fran’s fling with Greg brings things to a head. The misery and uncertainty of being 28-ish and unsure whether you’re wasting your time – it’s all there, and some of it is concentrated into a non-moving train outside Slough.

In hopes of reigniting the spark, Mark spends his recent inheritance on a time-travel holiday. It’s a sign of the confident writing and the charming, vulnerable performances of the leads that this departure doesn’t seem at all weird. There’s one of those don’t-worry-about-that conversations regarding the possible problems of time loops and we’re off on the ‘budget romance’ option – first stop, ancient Rome, then to Derbyshire in 1813 for a somewhat strained dinner and disastrous hunting expedition.

It’s not at all difficult to go along with this conceit, partly because hard-working holiday rep Simon is there to ensure that everything stays on track – or gets ‘fixed’ when it doesn’t. There’s an English Philip K. Dick aspect to the way the story unfolds (but the play is more coherent than that comparison might suggest).

Personally, I could listen to Fran and Mark talking about why they don’t have sex any more till the cows come home. I love their evasions and the sense of doubt about what they’ve invested in the relationship – and whether it’s time to cut their losses.

And then we’re aboard the Titanic on that fateful night in 1912. Mark and Fran become separated, with Mark spiralling into 1920s Berlin and then acquiring a ‘staff pass’ that lets him roam through time at will. He uses this power to return to the beginning of his relationship with Fran, filming their dates with the intention of proving to her that they did share something special and valuable.

But as Mark follows his five-years-ago self around, he realises that he hasn’t been a very attentive or generous partner. He watches the relationship decline and it’s mostly his fault. Meanwhile (if that makes sense) Fran is in the bar on the Titanic and the iceberg is looming.

Somehow Simon manages to reunite Fran and Mark at new year’s in New York in 1945. It’s time for them to face the reality that their relationship is over. But wouldn’t you know it – there’s one more destination left in their time-travelling holiday and no one’s getting out of here without hearing Elvis deliver Suspicious Minds.

Suspicious Minds was originally developed for the Pleasance at the Edinburgh Fringe. The radio version was directed by Sasha Yevtushenko. The cast are terrific, especially Susannah Fielding and Tom Mothersdale as the leads.

This moment exists, but soon it will stop existing. Use it to start listening to Tom Fowler’s Suspicious Minds.

Review: For the Love of Leo by Michael Chaplin, Series 1

I promised a full series review of Michael Chaplin’s For the Love of Leo, so here it is...

I enjoyed the series, which is well written, acted and directed. The characters were believable and the poshness of the milieu was cunningly disguised by setting the story in Scotland. I didn’t mind the canny radio trick used to resolve the sub-plot about housekeeper Sadie’s living arrangements (it’s easy to hide a spare empty house on radio). But I was disconcerted by daughter Laura’s sudden return from Antarctica and immediate retreat to the bathroom – surely she’d have phoned ahead?

The really unusual thing about this series is its structure. There are only four parts to a series that feels like it was meant to be six or more. While Leo’s investigation into Tamsin’s car accident is set up at the beginning of the series, Leo does little to follow it up. And then there’s a sudden return to the intrigue, courtesy of an anonymous call, right at the end.

Leo dallies with a different woman in each of the episodes and it’s hard to see why they’re attracted to him, or why their brief involvement with Leo tends to resolve the issues they’re having in their personal lives. Leo’s charming and talented and all, but he seems mostly bemused by the women. It’s as if each episode has a special guest whose main task is to distract Leo or help him inch his way back to normality after his sudden bereavement.

The suspended mystery at the heart of this drama will doubtless be addressed again in the next series. I hope they make more progress with it, though. I hope also the social range of Leo’s female visitors widens.

For the Love of Leo was directed by Marilyn Imrie and is a Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4.