Wally K. Daly was a prolific, award-winning dramatist, whose TV writing credits included Casualty, Juliet Bravo and Doctor Who. He also wrote 38 radio plays during his 30-year career, across a range of genres including comedy, horror and science fiction.

Presented here is a collection of twelve of Daly’s BBC Radio plays which demonstrate the breadth of the writer’s range.

2004 – Out of a chaotic society generated by crime and violence steps a new Prime Minister with a mission, preaching a high-tech vision of a crime-free nation.

625Y – Research scientist Kate Brown makes a dramatic discovery in her laboratory about human genes. Scientists try to hang on to the news that they’ve found a way to extend human life. First the politicians, and then the people, find out. Very quickly things turn very nasty. Intriguingly imagines what would happen if a research scientist discovered a gene that could determine a man or a woman’s natural lifespan.

A Plague of Goodness – An American evangelist’s message is having a devastating effect in the United States. He asks to come to Britain. Will he be allowed in? What is the reason for his success? What influence do his wife and chief agent have?

For I Have Sinned – Bernard Cribbins plays an elderly priest who is haunted by the memory of one particular confession which has such a profound effect on him it makes him question his faith and his deepest held beliefs. As he struggles with his sense of failure and inadequacy he shares his innermost thoughts with the listener. He is confessing to us. This powerful monologue with its mix of dark humour and raw emotion led to the play, performance and production being nominated for a Sony award. With an introduction from Bernard in conversation with the director Martin Jenkins.

Grigorii Efimovich Rasputin – Almost the Truth – By Wally K Daly. Has history been unjust to Rasputin? Was he anything more than a “mad monk”, unbridled lecher, and evil influence on the Russian royal family?

Love to Hate – A stalker and his victim confront each other in court. During the course of the trial they both have to relive years of fear and rejection.

Nightmare World – A world-wide power failure brings chaos and terror to earth, and a curious transformation. Gary Henderson and old man Jenkins head up a mountain road to Hill House every November 13th. But on their ascent this year, the mountain begins to shake like hell on earth. And Gary? He meets himself coming back… As a worldwide power failure brings chaos and terror to Earth, one town in every country undergoes a curious and startling transformation.
Gary Henderson …… James Laurenson

Time Slip – Paul Williamson arrives home, only to find himself already there. What exactly is going on?

What’s Stigmata? – ‘Stigmata, the marks of the cross, traversing a void of nearly 2,000 years to be occasionally manifested on the bodies of the worthiest of believers – the only problem being that it’s accidentally hit me, the greatest non-believer of all time.’ A well-behaved atheist finds that he has been left with the marks of The Cross……why has God singled him out? And what happens when the ‘greatest non-believer of all time’ develops mystical powers?

Whistling Wally’s Son – In 2010, playwright Wally K Daly revisited his home town of Middlesbrough and went to the area where he had grown up in Grangetown, all of which had virtually disappeared. Most of the local industry had gone together with all the surrounding housing, school and pubs. Daly’s play recalls the street in which he lived, his earliest war time memories, the people he knew, their fears and tragedies, the ‘sessions’ in bombed houses and the return of his father from a prisoner of war camp. He remembers in particular his love for his mother and the death of his father, Whistling Wally and how these events from his childhood had a profound effect on his writing career.

Without Fire – When Phillip gives up smoking, he gets a little bit tense – in the end it’s not just his friends, relatives and colleagues who urge him to return to the habit, even his doctor agrees with them.

Yesterday’s Dreams – Two former lovers meet on the anniversary of a wedding that never happened in an encounter that is angry, affectionate and terrifying for both.