SICKNESS has a soundtrack. Over the last 10 days I’ve been moaning and groaning because of a kidney stone. As a result, the soundtrack of my life this week has mostly been myself cursing and crying. So, thank the lord for Radio Royal, the hospital radio station at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, for giving me something else to concentrate on during my visits there when the pain got too much.
Between the spasms and painkillers I caught a country music hour and some familiar 1970s classics (Wings, Judie Tzuke). It was a familiar background blast of normality. A reminder that the world is going on and if I’m lucky I’ll get the chance to rejoin it at some point. Soon, hopefully. Kidney stone permitting.
When I was fit to listen to the radio from choice this week I was drawn to darkness. Last Sunday on Radio 4 Kavita Puri presented the first part of Three Million. It is the story of the Bengal Famine which saw the death of three million people - British citizens at the time - during the Second World War.
It’s something of an overlooked tragedy, Puri pointed out. “There’s no memorial anywhere to them. Not even a plaque.”
What caused their deaths? Puri’s clear, impressive series spelt out the reasons - war, colonialism, racism, cyclones, crop destruction and rising prices. The result was widespread starvation.
“There were dead people all over Calcutta,” Pamela Dowley-Wise, now 97, recalled. She described vultures dropping down to feed off them.
What does starvation smell like? A bit like nail polish remover, Puris explained in the second episode. This series, now all available on BBC iPlayer, is harrowing but essential.
On Monday morning on Radio 4 the latest episode of The Gatekeepers - about the impact of social media on elections in 2016 - was hardly cheerful listening either. Jamie Bartlett’s series is a reminder of just how vulnerable to “bad actors” democracy is. The fear is that elections in 2024 will be the sequel.
Any hope anywhere this week? Well, Samantha Morton turned up on Woman’s Hour also on Radio 4 on Monday morning to celebrate winning the BAFTA Fellowship. Hurrah. That said, when she got the email from BAFTA, Morton told Barnett she thought it must be a mistake.
Morton dedicated the award to every child in care today. She had herself grown up in the care system and it’s taken her a long time to shake off feelings that she doesn’t belong in her chosen profession. And yet Morton is one of the truly great actors of her generation.
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“I’ve done every job imaginable, pretty much, on a film set,” she told Barnett. “And there’s been times when I’ve had incredible highs and then there’s been times when I’ve been unemployable due to people saying I was difficult to work with. Difficult meaning I would say no if somebody wanted me to take my bra off on set because they wanted to see my nipples. Difficult because I would challenge the way that a set was being run at times, when people were not being treated very well or crew’s hours were too long.”
The BAFTA Fellowship therefore felt like vindication, she admitted.
The bra situation was a real scenario, Barnett asked her? “Absolutely. On a set in front of the entire crew.”
In her BAFTA speech Morton said plainly she believed in God. “It’s not cool to talk about faith,” the actor admitted on Woman's Hour. But it helped her to survive in an abusive care system.
And also, she added, she had come to realise that hate doesn’t work.
“I was very angry when I was 14 with everything and it just didn’t get me anywhere … So, loving other people and believing everybody has a right to be here, no matter who you are, what you do, what you’ve done. Forgiveness certainly meant I was able to survive and move forward.”
Still, Morton was scathing about the state of the care system in the UK (“not fit for purpose") and the level of arts funding (she’s not a fan of the current Westminster government). And asked the inevitable question about Harvey Weinstein, she was quick to remind us that Weinstein was not the only “bad actor” in Hollywood at the time.
“You’ve got to remember that there was a huge amount of other individuals that behaved atrociously, really up until the mid-2000s … Many, many individuals. I was fired from one movie because I wouldn’t go for dinner with the studio execs wearing a skirt.”
And where are we today? “We have spoken up now,” Morton said. “Things are changing.”
Let’s hope so.
Listen Out For: One Person Found This Helpful, Radio 4, 6.30pm, Monday
Something unusual happened this week. I found myself laughing while listening to a Radio 4 comedy panel show. This new show hosted by Frank Skinner is worth half an hour of your Monday evening.
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