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Flying the Flag

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Flying the Flag
GenreComedy drama
Running time30 minutes
Country of originUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Language(s)English
Home stationBBC Radio 4
StarringDinsdale Landen
Peter Acre
Moir Leslie
Created byAlex Shearer
Written byAlex Shearer
Produced byPete Atkin
Neil Cargill
Original release20 April 1987 –
4 August 1992
No. of series4
No. of episodes28
Audio formatStereophonic sound

Flying the Flag was a BBC radio sitcom set in a British embassy in the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. It ran for four series, aired from 1987 to 1992, which have been repeated numerous times.

Synopsis

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Created during the Cold War, this BBC Radio 4 sitcom chronicled the vagaries of diplomatic life in a fictitious eastern-bloc country. Dinsdale Landen starred as the British ambassador, with Peter Acre (as First Secretary William Frost) and Moir Leslie (as Helen Waterson, the embassy's typist and secretary) as his assistants, and Stephen Greif as the US Ambassador.

Later series moved with the times as the country embraced perestroika.

Cast

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Regular Cast

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  • Her Majesty's Ambassador Mr McKenzie - Dinsdale Landen
  • William Frost - Peter Acre
  • Helen Waterson - Moir Leslie
  • Spiro Wineberg, United States Ambassador - Stephen Greif
  • Colonel Surikov - Christopher Benjamin

Production

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Episode list

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Series Episode Title First broadcast Additional cast
1 1 Favours 20 April 1987 Brown - Milton Johns, Bryant - Stuart Organ
2 Weather Problems 27 April 1987 Yakov Korovin - Michael Bilton, Mikhail Korovin - Jonathan Kydd
3 Notes From The Underground 4 May 1987 Yakov Korovin - Michael Bilton, Eugenia - Sue Broomfield
4 Compromising Positions 11 May 1987 Mrs Poonskey - Margaret Ward
5 Here In The Western World 18 May 1987 Yakov Korovin - Michael Bilton, Mikhail Korovin - Jonathan Kydd
6 Spy Story 25 May 1987 Mrs Newton - Susie Brann, George Summers - Peter Howell
2 1 The Bread And Butter 10 March 1988 Harris - Stephen Rashbrook
2 The Space Race 17 March 1988 Olaf - David Goodland
3 A Tooth For A Tooth 24 March 1988
4 The Opium Of The People 31 March 1988 Morris - John Baddely
5 No Sudden Moves 7 April 1988 Keith - Richard Pearce
6 Political Flu 14 April 1988 Shelkov - Paul Gregory, Nesterov - Peter Craze
7 A Taste Of Democracy 21 April 1988 Frank Burton MP - Alan Dudley, Gerald Calder-Browne MP - Richard Tate
8 Submarine Diplomacy 28 April 1988 Captain Warner - David Goodland
3 1 Whose Rubbish Is It Anyway? 20 November 1990
2 Our Own Correspondent 27 November 1990 Henry Treebling - John Grieve
3 The Comrade Connection 4 December 1990
4 A Loss Of Marbles 11 December 1990
5 Cool Heads 18 December 1990 Hutchins - Norman Bird
6 Cultural Exchange 25 December 1990 Grub - Julian Dutton
4 1 Spiritual Values 16 June 1992
2 In Custody 23 June 1992
3 As Unequal As Others 30 June 1992
4 Little Extras 7 July 1992 Duncan Bridges - Peter Whitman
5 Endangered Species 14 July 1992
6 No Special Treatment 21 July 1992
7 The Pretenders 28 July 1992 Sharon - Elaine Lordan, Dave - Simon Schatzberger
8 End Of Term 4 August 1992

See also

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