The Radio Drama Company is a company of actors formed by the

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

(BBC) in 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War. It is sometimes referred to as RDC, or the Rep, a survival from its original name, the Drama Repertory Company. The cast of the company changes every six months, and auditions are held for the Carleton Hobbs Bursary, primarily for students graduating from drama courses, to recruit between four and six new members every year. There is also a Norman Beaton Fellowship to bring in actors from non-traditional backgrounds.

History

The company has its origins in a short-lived BBC Repertory Drama Company formed in January 1930, but paid off after a few months. For some years

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

and

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

simply hired all the actors they needed by the day. However, with the approach of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the key executive,

Val Gielgud Val Henry Gielgud CBE (28 April 1900 – 30 November 1981) was an English actor, writer, director and broadcaster. He was a pioneer of radio drama for the BBC, and also directed the first ever drama to be produced in the newer medium of te ...

, head of productions at BBC Radio, proposed that an in-house company of actors would be a useful thing to have in time of war. BBC Television was taken off the air on 1 September 1939 and did not return until some years later. According to one source, in September 1939, with the war now declared, actors were hired for a new radio company and sent to live and work at the Wood Norton Broadcasting Centre. Some actors took their families with them and even their pets, Gielgud himself bringing his cats with him.75 Years of the BBC Radio Drama Company
Rebecca Wilmshurst, BBC, 1 June 2015, accessed 15 January 2018. Another source states that this happened in 1940."Radio and audio book companies"
in Lloyd Trott, (Ed.) ''Actors and Performers Yearbook 2016'' (12th edition, London: Bloomsbury, 2015) pp. 353–354

21st century

In 2015, Rebecca Wilmshurst, BBC production executive for Radio Drama, wrote an article to celebrate the seventy-five years' existence of the company. In the course of this, she boasted that "If your radio script requires actors to be mice, ants,

naiad In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who embodied ...

s or

dryad A dryad (; , sing. ) is an oak tree nymph or oak tree spirit in Greek mythology; ''Drys'' (δρῦς) means "tree", and more specifically " oak" in Greek. Today the term is often used to refer to tree nymphs in general. Types Daphnaie Thes ...

s, men morphing into hares, maggots in a fisherman’s sack, or even a tray of fancy cakes – look no further than to the Radio Drama Company." The cast of the company changes every six months. Auditions are held for the Carleton Hobbs Bursary, in memory of the veteran actor

Carleton Hobbs Carleton Percy Hobbs, OBE (18 June 1898 – 31 July 1978) was an English actor with many film, radio and television appearances. He portrayed Sherlock Holmes in 80 radio adaptations in a series of a series of Sherlock Holmes radio dramas (opp ...

(1898–1978), primarily for students graduating from drama courses, with the aim of recruiting between four and six new members of the Radio Drama Company every year. Those chosen receive a contract of employment for six months, and some runners-up are also offered work in particular productions. The company aims to build links with theatre companies all over Britain, to develop new talent for radio and also to encourage applicants for its Norman Beaton Fellowship, which has the aim of bringing in actors "from non-traditional training backgrounds" and ethnic minorities. It encourages applications by letter from actors wishing to be auditioned.Lloyd Trott, (Ed.) ''Actors and Performers Yearbook 2015'' (11th edition, London: Bloomsbury, 2014), p. 574

Carleton Hobbs Bursary winners

Until 1997 two bursaries were awarded each year, in 1998 the number was increased to six, and then in 2003 it fell back to five and in 2004 to four.Carleton Hobbs Bursary winners
BBC, 17 June 2014, accessed 23 January 2018

Notable members

Bessie Love Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton; September 10, 1898April 26, 1986) was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned ne ...

(1898–1986) *

Norman Bird John George Norman Bird (30 October 1924 – 22 April 2005) was an English character actor. Early life Bird was born in Coalville, Leicestershire, England. A RADA graduate, he made his West End debut in Peter Brook's production of ''The Wi ...

(1924–2005) * Gladys Young (1887-1975) * Edward Kelsey (1930–2019) *

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(1931-2012)John Forrest: Actor, painter and magician who worked with David Lean and Lord Olivier
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 24 May 2012 *

Patrick Godfrey Patrick Lindesay Archibald Godfrey (born 13 February 1933) is an English actor of film, television and stage. Life and career Godfrey was born in Finsbury, London to Rev. Frederick Godfrey and Lois Mary Gladys (née Turner). In 1956 Godfrey ...

(born 1933) *

Jeremy Kemp Edmund Jeremy James Walker (3 February 1935 – 19 July 2019), known professionally as Jeremy Kemp, was an English actor. He was known for his significant roles in the miniseries '' The Winds of War'' and '' War and Remembrance'', the film ''T ...

(1935–2019) *

Ann Beach Ann Beach (7 June 1938 – 9 March 2017) was a British actress. She is perhaps best remembered for her supporting role as Sonia Barrett, the quirky next-door neighbour on the comedy ''Fresh Fields'', starring Julia McKenzie and Anton Rodgers. ...

(1938–2017) *

Nerys Hughes Nerys Hughes (born 8 November 1941) is a Welsh actress and narrator, known primarily for her television roles, including her parts in the BBC TV series '' The Liver Birds'' (1971-1978) and '' The District Nurse'' (1984-1987). Early life and e ...

(born 1941) * Petronella Barker (born 1942) *

Clive Merrison Clive Merrison (born 15 September 1945) is a Welsh actor of film, television, stage and radio. He is best known for his long running BBC Radio portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, having played the part in all 64 episodes of the 1989–1998 series o ...

(born 1945) *

Anthony Daniels Anthony Daniels ( ; born 21 February 1946) is an English actor and mime artist, best known for playing in 11 ''Star Wars'' films. He is the only actor to have either appeared in or been involved with all theatrical films in the series, and h ...

(born 1946) *

Carolyn Pickles Carolyn Pickles (born 8 February 1952) is a British actress from Halifax, England, who has appeared in West End theatre and on British television. She is known for playing DCI Kim Reid in ''The Bill'' and Shelley Williams in ''Emmerdale''. ...

(born 1952) *

Timothy Bentinck Timothy Charles Robert Noel Bentinck, 12th Earl of Portland, Count Bentinck of Waldeck Limpurg (born 1 June 1953), commonly known as Tim Bentinck, is an Australian-born British actor and writer, known for his long-running role as David Arche ...

(born 1953) * Janet Maw (born 1954) *

Joanna Monro Joanna Monro (born 1956) is a British actress and former television presenter who, in the 1980s, appeared on the BBC show ''That's Life!'' with Esther Rantzen. In 1974 she appeared in the ''Doctor Who'' story '' Planet of the Spiders'', followed ...

(born 1956) *

Alex Jennings Alex Michael Jennings (born 10 May 1957) is an English actor of the stage and screen who has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. For his work on the London stage, Jennings has received three O ...

(born 1957) *

Ben Onwukwe Benjamin Neil Paddock Onwukwe (born 21 August 1957) is a British actor. He is perhaps best known for appearing as Firefighter Stuart 'Recall' MacKenzie from 1991 to 2002 in '' London's Burning'', a dramatic television series first aired on th ...

(born 1957) *

Suzanna Hamilton Suzanna Hamilton (born February 8, 1960) is an English actress, notable for playing the role of Julia (1984), Julia in the Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984 film), 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell's classic novel, ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', as well ...

(born 1960) *

Adjoa Andoh Adjoa Aiboom Helen Andoh MBE (; born 14 January 1963) is a British actress. She is best known for her role as Lady Danbury in the Netflix Regency romance series ''Bridgerton'', since 2020. Other roles on television include appearances in two s ...

(born 1963) *

Stephen Tompkinson Stephen Phillip Tompkinson (born 15 October 1965) is an English actor, known for his television roles as Marcus in '' Chancer '' (1990), Damien Day in '' Drop the Dead Donkey'' (1990–1998), Father Peter Clifford in '' Ballykissangel'' (1996� ...

(born 1965) *

Emma Fielding Emma Georgina Annalies Fielding (born 7 October 1970) is an English actress. Early life and education The daughter of a British Army officer, Fielding spent some of her childhood in Nigeria, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Northern Ireland and other ...

(born 1966) *

Mark Bonnar Richard Mark Bonnar (born 19 November 1968) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Max in ''Guilt (British TV series), Guilt'', Duncan Hunter in ''Shetland (TV series), Shetland'', Bruno Jenkins in ''Casualty (TV series), Casualty'', ...

(born 1968) * Annabel Mullion (born 1969) * Jamie Zubairi (born 1972) * Lydia Leonard (born 1981) *

Joseph Kloska Joseph Anthony Kloska (born 1983) is an English actor. He began his career in radio, moving on to work in television, theatre, and film. Life Named after a Polish grandfather, Teofil Joseph Kloska, who had settled in England, Kloska was brought ...

(born 1983)Starting out with the BBC Radio Drama Company
BBC, 5 May 2015, accessed 15 January 2018 * Robert Lonsdale (born 1983) * Ella Smith (born 1983) * Emerald O'Hanrahan (born 1987) *

Elizabeth Rider Elizabeth Rider is an English actress. Her career is marked by diverse roles in numerous television dramas. Education She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she was awarded its Gold Medal. From there, Elizabeth joined th ...

References

;Citations {{reflist ;Works cited *

, ''British Radio Drama, 1922–1956'' (London, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1957)

External links

Carleton Hobbs Bursary winners
at BBC.co.uk
An Actor's Guide to Getting Radio Work
at spotlight.com Radio drama BBC Radio