Author:Annie Caulfield,Paul Chahidi,Paul Mundell,Carl Prekopp,Osi Okerafor,Sal Osbay,Hakan Silahsiz
Mahmoud the barber has exchanged Basra for Istanbul where his old friend Sergeant - now Captain - Billy has ended up as Military Attaché. After witnessing a traumatic attack on duty in Kabul, squaddies Kev and Damon opt for a bit of escapism. Damon fancies himself as a secret agent and is obsessed with James Bond. He persuades his mate to join him in visiting Istanbul's famous ‘From Russia with Love’ film locations. First stop: Electra King's house. But they discover they're not cut out to follow in Bond's footsteps and Billy and Mahmoud have to pick up the pieces when an unofficial trip to the Basilica Cisterns goes spectacularly wrong. Billy tries to give the soldiers some worldly wisdom to take back to the front: survival skills more useful than anything they'd learn on the parade ground. By turns funny, exciting and poignant, the play gets under the skin of life as a soldier. ‘On the Field: On Leave’ stars Paul Chahidi as Mahmoud and Paul Mundell as Billy. Also amongst the cast are Carl Prekopp, Osi Okerafor, Sal Osbay and Hakan Silahsiz. Directed by Mary Ward Lowery. Originally broadcast as the ‘Afternoon Play’ on 28 September 2010.
Smith’s performance is exactly as I’ve come to expect from him – flawless and exuberant when playing the Doctor, and inventive when it comes to breathing life into new characters
—— http://www.doctorwhoreviews.co.ukSmith and Corbett prove an excellent match when it comes to reading the narrative and portraying the various protagonists... writer James Goss has succeeded in creating... one of the strongest audio stories in the range
—— http://www.huntspost.co.ukStephen Fry is one of the great originals ... This autobiography of his first twenty years is a pleasure to read, mixing outrageous acts with sensible opinions in bewildering confusion ... That so much outward charm, self-awareness and intellect should exist alongside behaviour that threatened to ruin the lives of innocent victims, noble parents and Fry himself, gives the book a tragic grandeur and lifts it to classic status
—— Financial TimesHe writes superbly about his family, about his homosexuality, about the agonies of childhood ... some of his bursts of simile take the breath away ... his most satisfying and appealing book so far
—— ObserverThis is one of the most extraordinary and affecting biographies I have read . . . Stephen is . . . painfully honest when trying to grapple with his ever-present demons, and often, as you might expect, very funny
—— Daily MailThe writing is rhapsodic, intoxicated and very touching
—— Mail on Sunday[A] wonderful, self-lacerating autobiography
—— Humphrey Carpenter, Sunday TimesHe has produced a remarkable autobiography . . . It makes gripping, sometimes unbearably sad, sometimes confusing reading . . . exhilarating, humane, zany, literary
—— SpectatorNo one can make you feel quite like Stephen Fry can . . . Funny and tormentedly frank
—— Time OutHugely enjoyable . . . compulsively readable . . . Fry is excellent on the details of memory, too, and always able to embellish them with effortless erudition . . . this engaging, engrossing read is as honest a portrait of a young liar as one could hope to read
—— ScotsmanHe is bubbly, funny and charming, and he gives his fans plenty of material if they want to speculate on why he is both so gifted and so wayward
—— The TimesThe jokes . . . transcend the complexes of the joker, turning the Stephenesque into a national as well as a family treasure
—— GuardianNot so much an autobiography, more a way of life; discursive, funny, sometimes almost unbelievably sad, opinionated, nostalgic and very infectious
—— Claire Rayner, New StatesmanFry can be funny about anything
—— Good Book GuideSo charming and so acute that one cannot help forgiving him
—— Daily ExpressYou need to read this - period
—— Fact