Alphonse and Emina have become lovers. His desire to please her makes him drop his guard and appear in public places. As a double act they go to local villages, beginning to make money and plans for the future: until the past catches up with them...

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By chance, young dancer Emina meets equally youthful, trumpet-playing soldier Alphonse in a barn in the mountains of war-torn Southern Spain. They are both innocent and experienced in entirely different ways. Initially wary, they tell each other stories that weave fact and fiction. She lies and he believes her. He tells the truth and she mistrusts him. But when he plays and she dances, they understand each other perfectly.

Original Music - David Sutton Anderson
Trumpet - Anthony Aarons
Saxophone - Melanie Henry

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After the dramatic series of arrivals and events at the Knap on marriage engagement night in Part 1, the triangle of relationships between Sally Hall, her ex sister-in-law Helena, and Farmer Charles Darton becomes tangled still further by marriage, death, and more courtship interloping.

The path to an eventual denouement highlights the problematic position of women in 19th Century Victorian society, reflecting protofeminist themes that are present in many of Hardy’s major works.

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On a dark night, Farmer Charles Darton and his friend Japheth Johns are riding on their way to The Knap to meet Sally Hall, Charles' bride-to-be. Losing their way is the prelude to a series of unexpected arrivals and events that potentially changes lives forever.

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Having ended Part 1 with his business plan "in the air", Jimmy 'Skiver' McIver at last gets the backing and support of his old school friend and businessman Roger Soul and Denise, Roger's glamorous PA. They launch the dry cleaning business with a fanfare.

Sadly, the venture has attracted renewed attention from loan shark Mo Greensmith, who has hatched a dastardly plan of deceit and revenge-by-extortion on Roger Soul - with Jimmy as "piggy in the middle"! As events quickly turn disastrous, and caught between a big rock and a very hard place, 'Skiver' lives up to his name and flees.

But will it be enough to save his skin?

Part 2 of 2

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Jimmy ‘Skiver’ McIver is back! Last heard from in “Ashes to Ashford”* sunning himself on a Caribbean beach, “Crudely, Badly, Cheaply” takes us back 15 years to less lucky times for our feckless Cockney wheeler-dealer.

In Part 1 of the prequel, Jimmy bumps into old school mate and businessman, the decidedly-successful Roger Soul and pitches a money-making idea for a dry cleaning business to him. But with no stake of his own to put in, Jimmy embarks on a risky road that attracts the possibly dangerous attention of Maureen ‘Mo’ Greensmith, the “formidable” local loan shark.

With only the support of Fred and Lemmy at the Dog and Duck pub, what could possibly go wrong for ‘Skiver’ this time?

*(Parts 1 and 2 of “Ashes to Ashford” are available on this podcast)

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On a dark, stormy Victorian night atop a Wessex hill, Shepherd and Mrs Fennel are holding a christening party at their cottage for a second-born child. Proceedings are interrupted by the consecutive arrival of three strangers to shelter from the elements. One of these men is not who he seems – but which one is it?

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There 's nothing like a good biblical story...and this is NOTHING like a good biblical story!

Mary Poppins jokes aside, this is a short story relating how Pharoah Contraraoh fared whilst trying to Make Egypt Great Again (MEGA). It contains one or two ripe parallels for our 21st century world - delivered with humour.

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