Drama of the Week – Details, episodes & analysis

James Fritz's award-winning drama about the UK prison system returns with two contrasting stories of release, told from the perspective of prisoners and staff alike.

In this first episode, a prisoner (who listeners met in Series 1) leaves with his paperwork signed and a discharge grant in his pocket, convinced his prayers have been answered. What he doesn't know is that a single clerical error, buried for years in a box of court paperwork, means he should never have been let out at all. As an overstretched prison scrambles to find him, the press whips up a manhunt and ministers demand a name, one question echoes from the courtroom to Whitehall: how could something like this happen?

Written by James Fritz

Lee ..... Carl Prekopp Yas ..... Yasmin Mwanza Clare ..... Maddy Lenny Jenny ..... Emma Handy Carly ..... Laura Dos Santos Rihanna ..... Rebekah Murrell Prison Director ..... Ben Crowe The Box Officer ..... Harry Myers Toby/Reverend ..... Joe Jameson Minister ..... Ian Dunnett Jnr

Production Team: Producer and Director, Tracey Neale Sound Design, Keith Graham, Sam Dickinson and Andrew Garrett Production Co-Ordinator, Ben Hollands

A BBC Studios production.

James Fritz has won the Imison and Tinniswood Awards, Best Single and Best Series at the Audio Drama Awards, and Gold and Bronze at the ARIAs. For his theatre work he has won the Critics' Circle Award and the Bruntwood Prize, and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. He is under commission to the RSC, on attachment to the National Theatre, and is currently writing a TV drama and adapting his play The Flea into a feature film.

James Fritz's award-winning drama about the UK prison system returns with two contrasting stories of release, told from the perspective of prisoners and staff alike.

In this first episode, a prisoner (who listeners met in Series 1) leaves with his paperwork signed and a discharge grant in his pocket, convinced his prayers have been answered. What he doesn't know is that a single clerical error, buried for years in a box of court paperwork, means he should never have been let out at all. As an overstretched prison scrambles to find him, the press whips up a manhunt and ministers demand a name, one question echoes from the courtroom to Whitehall: how could something like this happen?

Written by James Fritz

Lee ..... Carl Prekopp Yas ..... Yasmin Mwanza Clare ..... Maddy Lenny Jenny ..... Emma Handy Carly ..... Laura Dos Santos Rihanna ..... Rebekah Murrell Prison Director ..... Ben Crowe The Box Officer ..... Harry Myers Toby/Reverend ..... Joe Jameson Minister ..... Ian Dunnett Jnr

Producer and Director, Tracey Neale Sound Design, Keith Graham, Sam Dickinson and Andrew Garrett Production Co-Ordinator, Ben Hollands

A BBC Studios production.

James Fritz has won the Imison and Tinniswood Awards, Best Single and Best Series at the Audio Drama Awards, and Gold and Bronze at the ARIAs. For his theatre work he has won the Critics' Circle Award and the Bruntwood Prize, and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. He is under commission to the RSC, on attachment to the National Theatre, and is currently writing a TV drama and adapting his play The Flea into a feature film.

Returning to Swansea after the blitz, Dylan Thomas is overwhelmed by memories of his childhood and adolescence.

From summers at Fern Hill, to failed camping trips on the beach; from plagiarised poetry to drunken first love, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog is a story of what it is to grow up.

Comic, nostalgic, with a host of vivid characters, Dylan Thomas’s masterpiece is adapted by Joe Dunthorne (Submarine, Children of Radium) and stars Gerran Howell (The Pitt) as Dylan Thomas.

Based on the short stories by Dylan Thomas

Adapted by Joe Dunthorne

Dylan Thomas… Gerran Howell

Aunt Annie/Gwyneth/ Mrs Evans/ Mother… Carys Eleri

Uncle Jim/ Mr Thomas/ Mr Matthews/ Mr O’Brien… Ben Addis

Mrs Williams/ Mrs Thomas/ Mrs Franklin/ Female Stranger… Melanie Walters

Dan Evans… Iwan Davies

Lou/Jean/Nancy… Mia Khan

Brazell/ Gwilym/ Older Sidney… Jacob Ifan

George Hooping/ Barman… Gwïon Morris Jones

Skully/ Chauffeur/ Male Stranger… Shaheen Jafargholi

Young Dylan… Leon Raphael Mullins

Young Sidney…. Toby Founds

Production Co-Ordinator… Eleri McAuliffe

Sound Design by Rhys Morris

Produced and directed by Fay Lomas, BBC Audio Drama Wales