Moving...

Hello! I've decided to move my blogging over to my website, so this blog is unlikely to be updated.
Check out https://alexinbrum.wordpress.com/ for my latest news.

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From Abridge to Albert Square via Moseley

Moseley writer Tim Stimpson has had an amazing twelve months. He’s played a major part in the ground-breaking, headline-grabbing Rob and Helen storyline on the Archers, which led to an Outstanding Contribution award for the soap at this year’s BBC Audio Drama Awards. And now, after fourteen years in Ambridge, he’s turning his hand to another much-loved, but very different British soap, EastEnders. Tim came to Birmingham University in 1998, where then-Editor of the Archers, Vanessa Whitburn taught a module. Her advice was to “pester someone who can help you”, and Tim took her at her word, pestering her into giving him work experience on the show, then invitations to script meetings then opportunities to write trial scripts. His persistence paid off and in 2003 he was asked to be a part of the Archers writing team, where he’s been ever since. In contrast, Tim’s move to EastEnders was a lot less calculated. In 2016 Sean O’Connor, the then-Editor of the Archers, took over the helm...
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Theatre Review: A Christmas Carol

A festive favourite with a contemporary kick and a large slug of rum.  In December 1853, Charles Dickens stood in Birmingham Town Hall and gave his first  dramatic reading of the story that has come to symbolise Christmas more than any other. Since that night, it has been retold in countless ways - for the stage, for radio, on television and in films - each version a different take on the classic tale of ghosts and greed, love and loss, regret and redemption. Just a stone’s throw from where Dickens gave his story its first performance, Birmingham Repertory Theatre are marking the festive season with a musical version of ‘A Christmas Carol’. If you’re fond of the familiar then you won’t be disappointed with this production. There’s ‘humbug’ aplenty, a feast of frock coats and bonnets, foggy London streets and an achingly adorable Tiny Tim. Much of the dialogue is taken from the original novella and the plot plays out as you would expect. But this production is cer...
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Feature: Stations I Have Known

Because I commute, because my job takes me all over the country and because I don't have a car I spend a lot of time on trains. I spend almost as much time waiting at stations. This experience has led me to the inevitable conclusion that Milton Keynes Central is the most evil place on earth.  Initial impressions are deceptive - like most things in Milton Keynes the building is a massive, shiny, sqare edifice with an enormous, triumphant, swastika of a rail symbol dominating its front. It proclaims modernity, status, efficiency. But like many things with an appealing appearance, what lies behind is cold, empty and without soul.  There are two types of rail passenger, and MKC lets them both down. Sometimes I am Type Number One, racing to catch a train in the nick of time.There is panic in my mind - it's the last train, I'll miss my connection, the shops will be closed, I'll be too late for the play/dinner/cinema/that film on Channel 4 I've been waiting months to s...
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