BBC Radio 4, June 11 2018

David and Ruth are focusing on their daughter’s wedding – or at least, they should be. But things are getting increasingly out of control, both in their lives and in the wider community…

Martin Jameson’s five part drama is the central focus of this year’s Dangerous Visions season, running Monday to Friday afternoon. This first part, of necessity, has quite a lot of information to provide to the listener, and it’s to Jameson’s credit that it very rarely feels like an infodump – various different means are used to bring us up to speed, with a montage of news bulletins at the end of the episode a very effective way of demonstrating with soundbites just how quickly things are slipping out of anyone’s control.

The same applies to a large extent with David and Ruth’s own lives: their three children are all demanding in different ways, with their youngest coping with Further Education alongside his Downs Syndrome. David’s trying to get out of an affair, is worried that his wife might choose her Scots roots over him, and is getting increasingly desperate over work. And everyone, but everyone, wants cash – because no one trusts computerised funds any more. The two tracks run in parallel for the majority of the episode, as events escalate north of the Border… but then they crash into each other with a vengeance.

Jameson presents a very credible picture of a country where decisions are made between the lesser of two evils – and draws you quickly into both the domestic and the national dramas.

Verdict: A strong start to something that feels all too credible. 8/10

Paul Simpson