Post by charmbrights on Jan 21, 2015 14:47:38 GMT
The current Radio 4 crime drama The Corrupted is based on the characters from G.F.Newman's novel Crime and Punishment, emphasising the former and largely suppressing the latter. This series of ten episodes occupies the 14:15 to 15:00 slot every weekday afternoon for two weeks. Spanning six decades, the saga plots the course of one dedicated criminal family against the back-drop of the underworld extending its influence to the very heart of the establishment, in an uncomfortable relationship of shared values. Prospering with the help of venal bankers, and growing ever more devious, the protagonists strive to take their 'firm' from running illicit clubs where they entertain politicians, police and judges (all of whom without exception are depicted as corrupt), to armed robbery as their modus vivendi.
The author
G.F.Newman had very strong and sometimes controversial views (though not today on the BBC) on a variety of subjects, and these are reflected in his choice of subjects for writing. He had little faith in conventional medicine, believing that alternative therapy is far more effective. He claimed that doctors were not interested in prevention, and were too close to the interests of the major pharmaceutical companies in just releasing ever more powerful drugs. He did acknowledge the benefits of nursing though, and in The Nation's Health, a newly qualified doctor goes to work at an NHS hospital - with her training taking her through the hospital's various departments, her idealistic aspirations come under threat.
He was also not impressed by the police service. He joked that he would rather see community members wearing pink uniforms working to prevent disturbances in their own areas.
He was also a devout vegan, and when producing or directing television programmes insisted that no meat at all is consumed on the sets. He said he had no problem with the act of eating flesh in itself, but it was the attitude that because one species is stronger or more sophisticated than another it has the right to kill it which he was strongly against. Therefore if an animal died of natural causes and someone wanted to eat it he would have no problem with that.
Claiming to have no political allegiance to either left or right wings, he once considered starting his own party on his passionate issues, but realized that getting over 600 strong candidates who completely agreed with all his views would be too tough.
In summary one of the trust-nobody-in-office loony left so beloved of the BBC. No wonder he has been given seventeen hours of air time.
