{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox company | name = Radio Drama Company | logo = BBC Logo 2021.svg | type = Company of actors | traded_as = | industry = Radio broadcasting | genre = | predecessor = Repertory Drama Company | successor = | founder = [[Val Gielgud]] | area_served = World | key_people = }}
The '''Radio Drama Company''' is a company of actors formed by the [[BBC|British Broadcasting Corporation]] (BBC) in 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War. It is sometimes referred to as '''RDC''', or '''the Rep''', a survival from its original name, the '''Drama Repertory Company'''.<ref>Gielgud (1957) p. 193</ref>
The cast of the company changes every six months, and auditions are held for the Carleton Hobbs Bursary, primarily for students graduating from drama courses, to recruit between four and six new members every year. There is also a Norman Beaton Fellowship to bring in actors from non-traditional backgrounds.
==History== The company has its origins in a short-lived BBC Repertory Drama Company formed in January 1930, but paid off after a few months. For some years [[BBC Radio]] and [[BBC Television]] simply hired all the actors they needed by the day. However, with the approach of the [[World War II|Second World War]], the key executive, [[Val Gielgud]], head of productions at BBC Radio, proposed that an in-house company of actors would be a useful thing to have in time of war. BBC Television was taken off the air on 1 September 1939 and did not return until some years later.<ref>[https://www.transdiffusion.org/2005/10/31/tvoff The edit that rewrote history], Russ J. Graham, ''Transdiffusion'', 31 October 2005, accessed 24 January 2018</ref> According to one source, in September 1939, with the war now declared, actors were hired for a new radio company and sent to live and work at the [[Wood Norton, Worcestershire|Wood Norton Broadcasting Centre]]. Some actors took their families with them and even their pets, Gielgud himself bringing his cats with him.<ref name=bbc>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/webarchive/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fblogs%2Faboutthebbc%2Fentries%2F2b92ec39-0126-45b7-90bb-f7c12e90e2fd 75 Years of the BBC Radio Drama Company], Rebecca Wilmshurst, BBC, 1 June 2015, accessed 15 January 2018.</ref> Another source states that this happened in 1940.<ref name=yearbook>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JviiCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA353 "Radio and audio book companies"], in Lloyd Trott, (Ed.) ''Actors and Performers Yearbook 2016'' (12th edition, London: Bloomsbury, 2015) pp. 353–354 {{ISBN|978-1-4742-3976-9}}</ref>
==21st century== In 2015, Rebecca Wilmshurst, BBC production executive for Radio Drama, wrote an article to celebrate the seventy-five years' existence of the company. In the course of this, she boasted that "If your radio script requires actors to be mice, ants, [[naiad]]s or [[dryad]]s, men [[Shapeshifting|morphing into hares]], maggots in a fisherman’s sack, or even a tray of fancy cakes – look no further than to the Radio Drama Company."<ref name=bbc/>
The cast of the company changes every six months. Auditions are held for the Carleton Hobbs Bursary, in memory of the veteran actor [[Carleton Hobbs]] (1898–1978), primarily for students graduating from drama courses, with the aim of recruiting between four and six new members of the Radio Drama Company every year. Those chosen receive a contract of employment for six months, and some runners-up are also offered work in particular productions.<ref name=yearbook/>
The company aims to build links with theatre companies all over Britain, to develop new talent for radio and also to encourage applicants for its Norman Beaton Fellowship, which has the aim of bringing in actors "from non-traditional training backgrounds" and ethnic minorities. It encourages applications by letter from actors wishing to be auditioned.<ref name=yearbook2>Lloyd Trott, (Ed.) ''Actors and Performers Yearbook 2015'' (11th edition, London: Bloomsbury, 2014), p. 574 {{ISBN|9781472571953}}</ref>
==Carleton Hobbs Bursary winners== {{Main|List of Carleton Hobbs Bursary winners}} Until 1997 two bursaries were awarded each year, in 1998 the number was increased to six, and then in 2003 it fell back to five and in 2004 to four.<ref name=bbc2>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/soundstart/roll.shtml Carleton Hobbs Bursary winners], BBC, 17 June 2014, accessed 23 January 2018</ref>
==Notable members== <!--sort by year of birth--> {{Col-begin}} {{Col-break}} *[[Bessie Love]] (1898–1986)<ref>Gielgud (1957), p. 194</ref> *[[Norman Bird]] (1924–2005)<ref name=yearbook/> *[[Gladys Young]] (1887–1975)<ref>Gielgud (1957), p. 123</ref> *[[Edward Kelsey]] (1930–2019)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[John Forrest (actor)|John Forrest]] (1931–2012)<ref name=Independent>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-forrest-actor-painter-and-magician-who-worked-with-david-lean-and-lord-olivier-7786238.html John Forrest: Actor, painter and magician who worked with David Lean and Lord Olivier], ''[[The Independent]]'', 24 May 2012</ref> *[[Patrick Godfrey]] (born 1933)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[Jeremy Kemp]] (1935–2019)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[Ann Beach]] (1938–2017)<ref name=yearbook/> *[[Nerys Hughes]] (born 1941)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[Petronella Barker (actress, born 1942)|Petronella Barker]] (born 1942)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[Clive Merrison]] (born 1945)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[Anthony Daniels]] (born 1946)<ref name=yearbook/> *[[Carolyn Pickles]] (born 1952)<ref name=yearbook/> *[[Timothy Bentinck]] (born 1953)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[Janet Maw]] (born 1954)<ref name=yearbook/> *[[Joanna Monro]] (born 1956)<ref name=yearbook/> {{Col-break}} *[[Alex Jennings]] (born 1957)<ref name=yearbook/> *[[Ben Onwukwe]] (born 1957)<ref name=yearbook/> *[[Suzanna Hamilton]] (born 1960)<ref name=yearbook/> *[[Adjoa Andoh]] (born 1963)<ref name=yearbook/> *[[Stephen Tompkinson]] (born 1965)<ref name=yearbook/> *[[Emma Fielding]] (born 1966)<ref name=yearbook/> *[[Mark Bonnar]] (born 1968)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[Annabel Mullion]] (born 1969)<ref name=bbc2/> * [[Jamie Zubairi]] (born 1972) <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2017/05/inspector-chen-case-of-two-cities|title=Inspector Chen: A Case Of Two Cities|website=BBC|access-date=25 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/jamiezubairi1/status/1348061564868431873|title=Congratulations! I got to work with the RDC for 3-4 years doing the inspector Chen series. Every one was really warm, welcoming and they showed me the ropes, especially how to "poppadom" your script pages|date=10 January 2021|access-date=25 December 2021}}[[Wikipedia:SPS|{{sup|[''self-published'']}}]]</ref> *[[Lydia Leonard]] (born 1981)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[Joseph Kloska]] (born 1983)<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/webarchive/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fblogs%2Faboutthebbc%2Fentries%2F3659b637-bec6-4ee5-87b8-8e3b72692ca7 Starting out with the BBC Radio Drama Company], BBC, 5 May 2015, accessed 15 January 2018</ref> *[[Robert Lonsdale]] (born 1983)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[Ella Smith (actress)|Ella Smith]] (born 1983)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[Emerald O'Hanrahan]] (born 1987)<ref name=bbc2/> *[[Elizabeth Rider]]<ref name=bbc2/> {{Col-end}}
==References== ;Citations {{reflist}}
;Works cited * [[Val Gielgud]], ''British Radio Drama, 1922–1956'' (London, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1957)
==External links== *[https://www.bbc.co.uk/soundstart/roll.shtml Carleton Hobbs Bursary winners] at BBC.co.uk *[https://www.spotlight.com/news-and-advice/tips-and-advice/an-actors-guide-to-getting-radio-work/ An Actor's Guide to Getting Radio Work] at spotlight.com
[[Category:Radio drama]] [[Category:BBC Radio]]