Harry’s Home was originally a play written by Hannah Puddefoot and staged for the first time in 2013 by amateur drama group Theatre at Baddow in Chelmsford, Essex as one of their TAB Studio productions.

Directed at the time by Helen Quigley, now B7 Media's Production Director, it made a personal impact: “I was looking for a short play to stage in Chelmsford on the theme of 'Memory' and by chance, was introduced to Hannah at a party. She told me about a play she'd written; Harry's Home. It was a perfect moment of serendipity and the premier took place in April 2013 with a cast made up of Theatre at Baddow's members in their Studio performance space.

I always felt Harry’s Home deserved a bigger audience – its subject matter, sensitive handling and relatable characters resonated with everyone who saw the small, original production, but I had neither the skills nor the experience to take it further back then. Ten years on, I finally feel I’ve acquired both - and I'm now of an age where it has even more resonance for me and the people around me. Both of my parents were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in the last two years. With a few professional radio dramas for BBC Radio 4 and Audible under my belt with B7 Media, I contacted Hannah to see if she’d be interested in adapting Harry... for audio. Fortunately she was!”

Paired with writer and script editor Colin Brake (EastEnders, Doctors, Bugs), Hannah extended and adapted Harry’s Home into a new drama for audio.

“My name is Harry Castle. Before I forgot.”

After an incident between his roommate and their carer at his assisted living flat, Harry unwillingly finds himself back home with his family; permanently busy and pre-occupied daughter Theresa and adult grandchildren Keith and Laurie. Distracted with their own lives, how can they possibly provide the support Harry needs?

Attempting to cajole the family into prioritising Harry is his care worker, Rob, who despite being painfully on the wrong end of a cricket bat during the flatmate incident, is still determined to help Harry settle back into his old home.

Even with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, Harry is not unaware of the disruptive impact his arrival has had. His capacity for navigating his new circumstances may have diminished, but for now he has retained his dry sense of humour.

As the pernicious disease slowly erases the man he used to be, a very different Harry is revealed. A fractious relationship with Theresa as she grew up has left her angry and resentful and Harry’s occasional outbursts and regressions are a stinging reminder of her youth.

One evening during a family meal, Harry fixates on the noisy crows on the roof, just as he often did before his diagnosis, and tries to tackle the problem in his old and impetuous manner. It’s a terrifying wakeup call for Theresa as she realises she must take the chance to rebuild her relationship with her father while he still remembers her.

Harry’s Home is an authentic, gently funny and emotional play touching upon the day-to-day realism of living with a dementia sufferer, and a reminder that whatever is slowly being lost, there may still be time left to mend old hurts, build bridges and create new memories for those who are left behind.

Dementia and Alzheimer's don't just impact individuals but families too, and many actors appreciate an opportunity to raise awareness of these diseases through their work.

We're delighted to have NICOLA BRYANT (Doctor Who) joining us as a Co-Producer on the project and also to play Harry's daughter Theresa: "I love the play. It’s sweet, poignant and full of well drawn characters. It’s great. When do we start?"

Nicola Bryant’s career spans over 35 years in theatre, television and radio and is best known for her role as the American companion Peri in Doctor Who opposite both Peter Davison and Colin Baker — a part she played for three years and continues to reprise in the Big Finish audio dramas. Other audio dramas include Dark Shadows, The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, Iris Wildethyme, The Confessions of Dorian Grey, The Companion Chronicles, UNIT, and Judge Dredd. She has also featured in one-off dramas Night of the Triffids and The Mervyn Stone Mysteries and for Audible the taut psychological thriller The Effect.

She has also made guest appearances in numerous television shows — most notably as Rowan Atkinson's niece in Blackadder's Christmas Carol — and also in Casualty; Cravings; Wild Seed; Animal Ark; Doctors; Holby City; Love in Hyde Park; My Family; Scoop; the award-winning comedy The 10 Percenters; and three series of The Biz.

Nicola's most controversial roles were playing the royal correspondent in the drama documentary on Princess Diana's inquest, There are Dark Forces, and playing God in The Theory of Everything. Nicola has also appeared in the BBC series New Blood, the mini-series The Promise, and as Lana in Star Trek Continues.

JOSHUA MANNING: Rob

Joshua hails from Edinburgh and graduated from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2011. Since then he featured in numerous radio dramas for the BBC, B7 Media, Big Finish and Almost Tangible. His work in drama has been nominated for several accolades including the BBC Audio Drama Award, New York Radio Award, Vox Award and One Voice Award. As well as voicing over a hundred audiobooks to date, he has voiced hundreds of characters in dozens of video game titles over the past decade, working with London’s biggest production studios. As a stage actor he has trod the boards on some of the UK’s most prestigious stages including The National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Chichester Festival Theatre and Manchester Royal Exchange.

Joshua played the laconic and mysterious Logan in our radio soap series Greenborne in 2021-22 and we’re thrilled he’s back with us again to play Rob in Harry’s Home.

He says "It's a privilege to be part of this story, highlighting the horrible affliction dementia poses and the struggles for all those involved. Care workers play a vital role in providing services which lighten the burden of families affected by dementia. Rob is a wonderful personification of the selflessness and kindness these people encapsulate daily, and I'm humbled to be playing him."

TIMOTHY BLORE: Keith

Tim comes from Essex and grew up a stone’s throw from where Harry’s Home was staged for the first time in Great Baddow, Chelmsford. He graduated from Drama Studio London in 2017 and has since worked in stage, screen and audio, having previously performed in over 20 different audio dramas for companies such as B7 Media, Audible and Big Finish.

As a stage actor he has performed at The Noel Coward Theatre in London’s West End as well as in numerous theatres in London and productions around the country. He has just returned from a short musical tour taking him to New York, Cyprus and London with his cello. His most notable screen work includes War Blade, Drained, The King’s Man, Rozkvet Colosseum for History/BBC and the recently released Rivals on Disney+.

Tim's no stranger to working with us B7 Media - You can also hear him as Cassiel in The Effect, in Theatre of the Damned as ham actor Jerome and as submarine Captain Gunther Piern in the  Wondery+ series Unsinkable:

“I’m delighted to be reuniting with Helen Quigley, Nicola Bryant and Andrew Mark Sewell for this heartfelt and important audio adaptation of Hannah Puddefoot’s play. I feel very lucky to have been asked to play Keith in Harry’s Home. The character himself is very relatable (not only because I am also a 32-year-old who has recently moved back home!) but also because, like all of the characters, he is rounded and flawed. There’s a poignancy and humour to the script which punctuates the family burden and distress caused by the disease and their situation. I can’t wait to get started with this wonderful team of creatives.”

 Laurie

_______________________________________________________________________________

Depending on the final amount raised, production will happen in stages.

STAGE 1: £6,750

This will cover studio hire, the writer, cast and studio manager fees for the recording session. Producer and Director fees are deferred until we reach the stretch goal.

If we're lucky and reach this early, we can create a STAGE 2 stretch goal of £10,685 (a further £3,950) to cover post-production, including a Sound Designer and a Composer for original music, fees from the Indigogo platform and any other costs where required for the rewards.

If we're even luckier, and we exceed our second target, any excess over the budget will be donated to charities of the Producers' choice.

______________________________________________________________________________