Bernard Kops: A BBC Radio Collection

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Born and brought up in the East End of London, Bernard Kops came to fame in the late 1950s as part of British drama’s ‘New Wave’. A lyrical chronicler of Jewish family life, he is often compared to Arnold Wesker and Harold Pinter, though his work is more sentimental and surreal.

In a 50-year career, he wrote 10 novels, numerous poetry collections, two autobiographies and over 40 stage, TV and radio plays. Included here are some of his most popular pieces, beginning with two East End tales of love, loss, friendship and community, and , both featuring Kops himself as the narrator.

An adaptation of his famous stage play, , about the treacherous, anti-Semitic poet Ezra Pound, is followed by a selection of original radio dramas including , the five-part serial and a two-parter featuring the trials and tribulations of a Yiddish theatrical troupe, and .

Next up are more plays specially written for radio: (commissioned to mark Kops’ 80th birthday), and . Also featured are , centring around an ageing publisher’s attempts to seduce a young poetess; and , his 1982 radio drama about an East End factory owner facing bankruptcy which was later adapted for the theatre.

Concluding this collection are a quartet of vintage plays from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s that have not been broadcast since they first aired: and .

Showcasing the range and prodigious output of an extraordinary talent, these 19 dramas star a wealth of leading actors, among them and

With thanks to Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle



Production credits
Written by Bernard Kops
Text copyright © 1959 (The Street Game), 1963 (The Lemmings), 1964 (The Dark Ages), 1979 (Bournemouth Nights; I Grow Old, I Grow Old), 1980 (Over the Rainbow), 1981 (Ezra), 1982 (Simon at Midnight), 1984 (Trotsky Was My Father), 1988 (Kafe Kropotkin), 1990 (Congress in Manchester), 1993 (Soho Nights), 1996 (The Jericho Players), 1998 (The Jericho Players: Rogues and Vagabonds), 2000 (Falling in Love Again, The Anarchist Bed and Breakfast), 2006 (The Lost Love of Phoebe Miles), 2008 (Whitechapel Dreams), 2010 (Harry and the Angels)
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