One of the many good things about radio drama is that, in comparison to more expensive sound and vision media, the turn around time from conception to completion can be rather short. For the past year or two BBC's Radio 4 The Afternoon Play slot has had a few plays set in and dealing with the current depression. It is that TV and movies get money to produce from wealth and therefore does not want to face the current crisis other than making fun of the trashy poor, or that they have projects still involved in years of development?
The production money for Radio 4 drama content comes from the BBC which is not chained to corporate dreams of profit or from the wealthy with excess cash that they might not wish to be used to provide us with a look at the dark side of the status quo.
The Reluctant Millionaire by Wendy Oberman is one of these post depression dramas. Here we visit a hairdresser whose business is down and debt unmanageable. Finding a lost winning lottery ticket brings a moral dilemma to the hairdresser and her war vet husband. Wounded war veterans might be another topic corporate media might be reluctant to look into, especially when we continue the ask soldiers to go over there in endless costly wars. This play does not preach. It's just a little story about normal people struggling to get by.
