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For his 90th birthday, Bernard Cribbins looks back to Jimmie Chinn’s 2000 drama ‘Looks Like Rain’ in which he co-starred with Dora Bryan. After their mother’s death, Stan and Joyce unearth some strange, long-buried secrets.

Jimmie Chinn wrote this play specially for Bernard Cribbins and Dora Bryan. All three originally hail from Oldham and Jimmie Chinn captures perfectly the speech rhythms and idiosyncrasies of the area. He creates two totally engaging characters, each very different but drawn together by their mother’s death. After the funeral they start looking through their mother’s possessions during which they make some disturbing discoveries which only increases the tension between them. Both also know their unpredictable brother could return at any moment. As the play progresses the mood darkens as brother and sister become increasingly wary of each other.

When this play was first broadcast it proved so popular that Jimmie Chinn was commissioned to write two further plays about the same characters but this time with Roy Barraclough as the missing brother who also hailed from Oldham! Looks Like Rain is black humour at its very best with Bernard and Dora delivering wonderful pitch perfect performances which keep listeners glued to their radios and wanting more!

Director: Martin Jenkins

First Broadcast on Radio 4: 25th May 2000