Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tamsin Greig, Rory Kinnear, Aja Dodd, Amit Shah, Will Harrison-Wallace, Haydn Watts, Flora Saner, Hannah Brine.

Names are unavoidably erased from history, some through the sheer fact that not everybody can be remembered, and some because they have found a way to work under the auspices of a nom de plume, of hiding in plain sight so that the creative can have autonomy over their work whilst also holding onto the privilege of privacy. For writers and artists, it can lead to a thought of losing out on the credit where it was due, the public only adoring the name, and not the person behind it, gripping hard on to concealment at the cost of recognition.

The light-hearted nature of Paul Kerensa’s The Truth About Phyllis Twigg is in stark contrast to the message performed, a woman who wrote what is highly considered to be the first ever radio drama ever heard over the wireless, and no less on the fledgling service provided by the B.B.C, and who in succeeding in bringing mass enjoyment to the children of the country at Christmas, found her own voice away from being a part time secretary to her doctor husband on the Isle Of Wight to becoming a woman of literary substance; and all it cost was her name.

Starring Tamsin Greig, Rory Kinnear, and Aja Dodd, The Truth About Phyllis Twigg is a truth revealed and a reminder of what good those in Broadcasting House were capable of in those early days of radio. The sense of charm flows easily as the robustness of insight that is delivered in writing a constant wrong of women not being credited for their contributions, their discoveries, or their efforts in what was always called a man’s world.

The B.B.C. still holds a special place for millions around the world, its innovation, its dedication to certain subjects and ethos, and whilst it has suffered under constant political dramas and underfunding, whilst the deadly scourge of damaging associations and the element of the inhuman evil in terms of some of its more sacred cows went unpunished, unreported, and almost unrepentant in its defence of some, the sense of educating, informing, and entertaining laid down by its guiding principle still holds true, still has a place in society, and one that is defended in The Truth About Phyllis Twigg.

An enjoyable tale for the festive period by Paul Kerensa, a memory of tales told in a more innocent age, but one, in plain sight, unveiling a message of the writer’s quandary, to be true to your name or respect your own privacy. 

Ian D. Hall