A Suffolk writer who is the creative and writing genius behind a series of TV and radio sitcoms is today launching a book of scripts from her award-winning BBC Radio 4 comedy, which stars two famous actors.
Jan Etherington, who lives in Walberswick, is launching ‘Conversations From A Long Marriage - the scripts!’ at Southwold Books, in High Street.
The book is based on the comedy Conversations From A Long Marriage, starring Joanna Lumley and Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre actor Roger Allam as a long-married couple still passionate about life and each other.
The radio series, which first aired at Christmas 2018, takes a lively look at how a couple communicate after 30 years of marriage and shows how they continue to enjoy each other’s company and yet still have the capacity to drive each other insane.
The inspiration for the sitcom, now in its fourth series, came from Jan's own life experiences and, although it is not autobiographical, there are scenes and elements which have been drawn from her own long relationship with husband and writing partner Gavin Petrie.
She said: “It’s an affectionate look at how relationships work over a long period of time and how people drive each other mad and then make up and rediscover why they first fell for one another all those years ago.”
The couple in Conversations are nameless, which Jan explained was an intentional move as she did not like the ‘radio convention where characters’ names are casually dropped into the dialogue,’ while she wanted to give her couple a ‘universal’ feel, with people able to recognise themselves in the characters.
Jan has always written comedy, having started young contributing to her school magazine.
Her early career, as a journalist, began on music magazines and continued through features, humorous columns and star interviews for major newspapers and magazines.
She has also contributed travel, features and comment articles to many national newspapers and magazines, including a monthly column to the EADT’s Suffolk magazine.
During the 1990s, she wrote, along with her husband, well-loved TV series, including ITV show Second Thoughts, starring Lynda Bellingham, James Bolam and Belinda Lang and the BBC series Next of Kin, starring Penelope Keith and William Gaunt.
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