On Christmas Eve 1922, Britain's first original radio drama The Truth About Father Christmas by Phyllis Twigg was broadcast on the early BBC.

On Christmas Eve 2025, Britain's latest radio drama The Truth About Phyllis Twigg is broadcast on BBC Radio 4, bringing back to life a little of that first radio play, the tale behind it, and fictionalising some of the quest to help give credit where credit's due.

This new drama for Radio 4 is produced by B7 Media and written by Paul Kerensa, who also hosts this podcast - so yes after 111 episodes we've finally brought some of the early BBC story (in this unofficial non-BBC podcast - for tis not made by/with/under them) to today's BBC. Thanks if you've listened to or supported the podcast in any way, as it's all helped make it happen. It takes a village! You are that village. Thanks, village!

Episode 72 of this podcast told the tale of Phyllis, and how her achievement as first radio dramatist (we can talk about the American one from a year earlier) seemed to fade from history books as Richard Hughes and his A Comedy of Danger gradually took over as 'first radio drama'. Hmm, what an oddity.

With neither a recording nor a surviving script, it was nice to discover a short story version of The Truth About Father Christmas, under Phyllis' pen name - so with that, I pitched the idea to radio drama producer Helen Quigley of B7 Media, and she pitched it to Radio 4's Drama Commissioning Editor - who gladly agreed there was a tale to tell.

So on the day this podcast lands, so does our radio drama. We're proud of it - we hope you like it. If you don't, that's fine too. It's not perfect, but it's out there! #JusticeforPhyllis - and that's the goal, hopefully via some festive entertainment for your ears.

On this accompanying podcast (unofficial - as it's not BBC), I chat to the cast, crew and descendants of Phyllis Twigg the writer and Arthur Burrows the voice behind Father Christmas, and the man who commissioned her in the first place.

So on this bumper episode, you'll hear:

Helen Quigley - director

Tamsin Greig - who plays Phyllis Twigg

Rory Kinnear - who plays Arthur Burrows

Will Harrison Wallace - who plays Mr White

Aja Dodd - who plays Jenny Adams

Carina Saner - great-granddaughter and biographer of Phyllis Twigg

Nick Heal - grandson of Arthur Burrows

Philippa Heal - great-granddaughter of Arthur Burrows

Neil Brand - composer

...Thanks to them and many more for making possible this new drama about the first drama.

Oh and you'll also hear the 7min reading of the prose version of The Truth About Father Christmas, voiced by Carina Saner, Flora Saner (great-granddaughter and great-great-granddaughter of Phyllis) and myself (no relation!).

Thanks to ME London hotel for sharing the recording with us - we recorded it for them, and they've been playing daily in their Atrium, as they're pretty much on the site of the first BBC studio, where that first radio drama began.

I advise you listen to The Truth About Phyllis Twigg first - if it's still on BBC Sounds as you find this podcast. If you can't or haven't, you'll still find plenty in this podcast. It was a joy to make.

And as I'm working on the biography of Phyllis with her great-granddaughter Carina (Publishers? Get in touch...), the quest continues...

SHOWNOTES:

Next time, Episode 112: Father Ronald Knox's Broadcasting the Barricades - the BBC's Pre-War of the Worlds Radio Scare of 1926

More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

As this podcast lands, it's 75 years to the day since the first 'God slot' on the BBC Light Programme. It was first called Five to Ten, and is now Pause for Thought on BBC Radio 2.

Podcast host Paul has been Pausing for Thought for over a decade, with Chris Evans, Zoe Ball and Scott Mills, and was recently asked to present a history of Pause for Thought to a roomful of Pause for Thoughters, the Radio 2 boss, and today's Breakfast Show host Scott Mills. So a version of that is on this episode, with some golden oldie clips, including Ray Moore and Derek Jameson. And even a bit of Steve Wright, because why not.

It's a mini-sode ahead of our Christmas special, so we look ahead to that, with a little more info on Paul's upcoming Radio 4 drama about the first radio drama, The Truth About Phyllis Twigg.

The companion episode will be next time on the podcast, but for now there's info on where in London you can go to listen to the story version of that original radio drama - ME London, the hotel on the site of Marconi House and the BBC's first studio. You can go this December, and listen to our exclusive recording, by, Paul, Carina Saner (Phyllis' great-granddaughter) and Flora Saner (Phyllis' great-great-granddaughter).

...And if you can't make it to London, we'll play it for you on the next episode. 

A little too on our moment-by-moment timeline of British broadcasting - we're in November 1923 and it's GK Chesterton from Manchester, a Welsh talk from Wales, the first radio novel, and some comments in the Radio Times on the benefits of radio opera.

(This WAS going to be an episode about the first BBC Armistice broadcast - but with all the above to tell more immediately, I decided to hold back the Armistice episode till the New Year. I know - it's not November - but we have a timeline to follow. In early 2026)

SHOWNOTES:

Next time: Episode 111: The Truth About The Truth About Phyllis Twigg - our new radio drama about the first radio drama.

More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

In October 1923, first BBC General Manager John Reith wrote to both 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, inviting the Prime Minister and the King to broadcast on the near year-old BBC. Both refused.

In November 2025, 17th BBC Director General Tim Davie resigned because... well we're still trying to find out exactly why. Again, politics is at play - though it's difficult to know if that's at the White House, the House of Commons or Broadcasting House.

Dr Tom Mills, sociologist at Aston University and author of The BBC: Myth of a Public Service, joins us to whizz through 17 Directors General, their own politics and their battles with politics.

Meet:

John Reith, Frederick Ogilvie, Cecil Graves, Robert Foot, William Haley, Ian Jacob, Hugh Greene, Charles Curran, Ian Trethowan, Alasdair Milne, Michael Checkland, John Birt, Greg Dyke, Mark Thompson, George Entwistle, Tony Hall and Tim Davie.

(Add some 'sirs' and 'lords' in there - I've only de-titled them here as we're often talking about them while they were DG, and it's confusing who was appointed what and when. No disrespect intended)

All men, you may notice. There are a few women in this tale too - though not many, and usually by such names as Margaret Thatcher and Mary Whitehouse.

It's a complex tale - I hope we make it less so for you.

Oh and we have news of your festive audio treat - coming soon (to Radio 4!)

SHOWNOTES:

Next time: Episode 110: The first BBC Armistice broadcast.

More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

On 12 November 1925, the BBC broadcast one of its most bizarre programmes yet:

'MASS TELEPATHY: An Experiment in Thought Reading in which every Listener will be invited to assist'

On 12 November 2025, we present a dramatic re-enactment, based on newspaper articles of the day, and brought to life with a cast of marvel and a guest radio drama producer.

Appropriately, the one believer on the celebrity panel was the first BBC dramatist - Phyllis Twigg. We first landed on this story on episode 72 of this podcast, exploring her tale, her innovations and her interest in spiritualism.

Alas no one else on the panel took it seriously. Like The Celebrity Traitors of 1925, a bunch of celebs (a Shakespearean actress, a panto star, the BBC's drama critic, the BBC's Director of Education, an MP, and so on) gathered in a fancy hotel with a gothic atmosphere and played a spooky game around a table, with a glass or two of fizzy rosé.

Or is it more Derren Brown: Mind Control?

Either way, the celebrity jury mostly played it for laughs - and enjoyed the hospitality of the Savoy Hotel a little too much. The listeners weren't happy - especially those taking it seriously at home, beaming their thoughts into the ether.

With no recording, we bring it to life for the first time in a century. In exactly a century.

If you enjoy this dramatisation, do let us know (paul at paulkerensa dot com) and/or consider joining us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa - if you like it, and if we can afford to, we'll do more like this, in and amongst our regular episodes - which right now is meant to be telling the tale of November 1923. We'll pick that up next time... For now, we have a centenary drama to bring you! So concentrate your thoughts, open your mind, and open a bottle. They did.

MASS TELEPATHY: RE-ENACTED

THE CAST

Sir Alfred Robbins - Adrian Mackinder

Cecil Lewis - Will de Renzy-Martin

Lady Tree - Helen Lloyd

Zena Dare - Natalie Chisholm

Phyllis Twigg - Carina Saner (playing her own great-grandmother)

Dorothy Warren - Marta da Silva

Lt Commander Kenworthy MP - Will Harrison Wallace

James Agate - Paul Kerensa

J.C. Stobart - Anthony Hewson

Roger Eckersley - Anthony Rudd

Written by Paul Kerensa

Produced/Directed/Edited by Helen Quigley

A Soundliness co-production with the British Broadcasting Century

1. Letter - K:

James Agate IOU

Dorothy Warren, F then G, then K

Lady Tree Z

Miss Zena Dare G

Kenworthy B 

2. Day - Saturday:

Four guessed Sunday, one Friday

3. Number - 7:

49-13-300-13-19-33-9400

4. Playing card - Three of Diamonds:

Stobart – 4 of Diamonds. Others failed to follow suit...

5. Shape - Triangle:

Circles or polygons, a shilling (Lady Tree), a rugby ball... and an isosceles triangle (Dorothy Warren)

6. Uncategorised - The Game of Bridge:

Charlie Chaplin? Lamp on the Cenotaph? A banjulele? A white leghorn pullet?

SHOWNOTES:

Next time: Episode 109: Reith invites the PM and the King on the air - and other Directors-General over the century...

More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

October 1923: The BBC's on-air critics go national...

These aren't critics OF the BBC (there were - and are - plenty of those), but critics ON the BBC - a literary critic, a music critic, a drama critic, a film critic... Think Front Row, Barry Norman, The Old Grey Whistle Test, but decades earlier.

These weekly shows went national via simultaneous broadcasting - SB - and the BBC's London-centric regular programming started to take over the regional schedules.

On London 2LO from 14 June 1923 - and nationally on Thursdays from 18 October - was music critic Percy Scholes.

On London 2LO from 18 July - and nationally on Fridays from 19 October - was film critic G.A. Atkinson ('Seen on the Screen').

On London 2LO from 8 August - and nationally on Wednesdays from 17 October - was drama critic Archibald Haddon ('News and Views of the Theatre'), and later James Agate.

On London 2LO from 3 September - and nationally on Mondays from 15 October - was literary critic John Strachey.

And in more recent years, we add comedy criticism to the list - with some comedy writers. James Cary has written BBC sitcoms for TV and radio, inc his own Bluestone 42, Hut 33, Think the Unthinkable, and for others Miranda, My Hero, My Family and more. He joins us with his opinions on comedy, the BBC, and what he'd do if he were DG.

And Miranda Hart - once our boss (I also wrote for the show Miranda) - joins us in a conversation I had for my previous podcast, The Heptagon Club (a podcast of conversations with 7 guests per episode - it was exhausting, so I stopped, for the simpler task of chronicling the history of the BBC...)

And our latest clue to our audio festive treat. Ooh...

SHOWNOTES:

Next time: Episode 108: An Evening of Mass Telepathy - a centenary dramatic re-enactment of a lost legendary broadcast! 

More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

SHOWNOTES:

Next time: Episode 107: The early BBC criticism programmes: Drama, Music, Film, Books...

More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

SHOWNOTES:

Next time: Episode 106: The launch of 6BM Bournemouth, and an interview with radio futurologist James Cridland.

More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

SHOWNOTES:

Next time: Episode 105: The launch of Aberdeen 2BD. Advance reading: see Gordon Bathgate’s book Aberdeen Calling: https://amzn.to/4pi9FBW

More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

Back in 1923, between SB and RT - that's 'Simultaneous Broadcasting' (networking nationally via landline) and The Radio Times (the BBC listings mag still had the 'The' back then), a month went by...

...But did nothing happen in that month? Of course not!

So between these two bigger landmarks, on this episode we bring you some smaller but notable ones. Also on the Beeb in Aug/Sept 1923:

(Thanks to Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker for most of these)

...I think that's everything we cover. You don't have to listen now...

Oh but wait! Then you'd miss our amazing guest. Conductor and arranger of note (and of notes) Gavin Sutherland has a new album out of old TV themes: The Next Programme Follows Shortly. It's a joy.

Hear Gavin guide us through half a dozen or so tracks, from Grandstand to the Channel 4 ident, from the first song on television to the secret code hidden in The Two Ronnies theme.

Have a listen, buy his album - and enjoy our chat. And the first cat on radio. Miaow.

SHOWNOTES:

Next time: Episode 104: The Radio Times is launched!

More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

On 29 August 1923, the BBC officially launched SB: Simultaneous Broadcasting. 

They'd been testing SB for months, via crossed lines and cross conversations with the General Post Office. It would dramatically change the shape and big idea of what broadcasting was and could be. Using landlines, they linked stations - so a Covent Garden concert could be heard nationally for the first time, as other stations gave over the schedules to big concerts, or news bulletins, or... whatever London wanted. Generally speaking.

Yes, other stations could take over too - Birmingham or Glasgow might offer a concert of play. But questions were asked, even back then, of whether listeners would prefer their regular local programming, or news/concerts from the capital.

Oh but we can provide you big stars, said the Programme Department. It's a move forward. But a move backward for local programming, alas - even if it was pitched to them that they could enjoy a night off. Hmm...

As we explore and unpack that, we also welcome a guest - Mary Englsh, who began at the BBC in 1973 as a studio manager, wrote for The Two Ronnies, and nearly bled over Margaret Thatcher thanks to an editing accident.

We hear from her, including the timely observation that the BBC perhaps win trust by "broadcasting their defeats". (In the week this podcast lands, the BBC has broadcast two of their defeats - with news reports about their Gaza documentary and Gregg Wallace. Would another channel amplify their failures quite so much? Should they? Answers on a postcard...)

SHOWNOTES:

Next time: Episode 103: Aug/Sept 1923 - Rob Roy and the first cat on radio!

More info on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio