Beatrice Colin Explained

Beatrice Colin
Birth Date:14 October 1963
Birth Place:London, England
Death Place:Glasgow, Scotland
Occupation:Novelist
Radio dramatist
Lecturer
Spouse:
  • Ewan Morrison
  • Paul Harkin
Known For:Novelist, radio dramatist and senior lecturer in creative writing

Beatrice Colin (14 October 1963 – 6 February 2019) was a British novelist, radio dramatist, and senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Strathclyde.[1]

Early life

Beatrice Colin was born in London on 14 October 1963. Her family moved to Lancashire and then to Glasgow, where she attended Dumbarton Academy and Park School for Girls, followed by the University of Glasgow in 1982, where she read English. There she formed the musical duo April Showers with Jonathan Bernstein – their single "Abandon Ship" reached 144 in the UK singles charts.[1] [2] [3]

Career

After graduating from the University of Glasgow, she worked as a journalist for the arts and features pages of publications including The Scotsman, Sunday Herald and The Guardian.

In her late twenties, she won a Radio 4 short story competition and started writing radio plays and adaptations.[4] [5]

She completed her PhD in creative writing at the University of Strathclyde in 2008.[5]

Novels

Short stories

For children

Radio plays

Radio plays written by Beatrice Colin
Date first broadcastPlayDirectorCastSynopsis
Awards
Station
Series
 [9] , and BBC Radio 4
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Bear Junction [10] [11] Read by Siobhan RedmondMiss Colleen learns to drive with the intriguingly mysterious Mr Podstovski. She isn't a very good pupil – but then he isn't a very good teacher.BBC Radio 4
Short Story
 [12] Liam Brennan, Deirdre Davis, Anne Kristen, Louise Ironside, Mark Cox, Margaret Clark and Owen KavanaghSet in about 1968, when the Apollo space missions were in the news. A young man from Oban comes to the big city to find work, and falls for a girl he meets...BBC Radio 4
Camisole [13] [14] Read by Tamara KennedyPenny was once the type of child who used to hide between her mother's fur coats. She stroked them like huge affectionate pets in the dark of the wardrobe. Now Penny runs a vintage clothing shop where she becomes intrigued by a regular customer called Mr Jamaica.BBC Radio 4
Short Story
 [15] Eliza Langland, Kathryn Howden, Emma Currie and Michael Perceval-MaxwellSet in France during the second World War. As the Germans advance, three women escape to a chateau in the Loire valley.BBC Radio 4
Afternoon Play
 [16] [17] Deirdre Davis, Mairl Gillespie, Derek McGhie, Gayanne Potter, Simon Tait and Paul YoungOn a small Scottish island in the 1950s, identical twins are forced by the imminent death of their father to confront a secret.BBC Radio 4
Afternoon Play
Mercury, Sulphur and Salt [18] Mark McDonnell, Vicki Liddelle, Eliza Langland, James Bryce, Crawford Logan, Jimmy Chlsholm and Ronald SimonBased on real events in 1527 Basel, in a shabby garret the famous physician Paracelsus and his mistress Sybille crouch over a crucible. Their life-or-death experiment is reaching the final stage, but outside in the winter night a search party is drawing ever nearer.BBC Radio 4
The Friday Play
 [19]
Dramatisation of Anita Shreve novel
Nancy Crane, Derbhle Crotty, Emma Fielding, Karl Johnson, Page Marshall, Isobel Middleton, Stuart Milligan and Simon ScardlfleldOn the night of 5 March 1873, two women, both Norwegian emigrants, were murdered on the Isles of Shoals. In the present day, a newspaper photographer discovers a cache of papers that appear to give an eyewitness account of the murders.BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Drama
King of Shadows [20]
Dramatisation of Susan Cooper novel
Buffy Davis, Sally Dexter, Tom George, Robert Glenister, Martin Hyder, Adam Sims and Andrew WoodallA magical adventure story set both in the present day and in Elizabethan England. Chosen to play Puck in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe, young American Nat Field travels to London. Visiting the theatre for the first time, he falls seriously ill. When he awakes, he finds that he has gone back 400 years in time. BBC Radio 4
Afternoon Play
Precious Bane [21]
Dramatisation of Mary Webb novel
Louise Breckon-Richards, Laura Doddington, Owen Teale, Julia Ford, Tom Goodman-Hill, Helen Schlesinger, Maggie Steed, Nigel Terry and Timothy WatsonPrue Sam is born "hare shotten" and it is this hare lip that is her "precious bane". She is torn between loyalty to her recklessly ambitious brother, Gideon, and a deep unexpressed love for the weaver Kester Woodseaves.BBC Radio 4
Classic Serial
Mapping the Heart [22] Gayanne Potter, Stuart Milligan, Monica Gibb, Paul Young and Lewis HowdenAn adventure story set in 1950 in the Brazilian rainforest. Scots-born Kristina Morrison is thrown together with opinionated American Ray Epstein when their light aircraft crashes in the jungle. Kristina finds herself torn between two men: Ray and her explorer father Felix.BBC Radio 4
Afternoon Play
Karl Johnson, Cressida Trew, Richard Katz, Susan Engel and Sam DaleIn 1969 a landmark court case was brought in the UK. A young Polish woman petitioned for her marriage to an elderly Warsaw academic to be annulled. The annulment was granted on the basis that the marriage had taken place under duress. He had married her to save her from imprisonment under the Polish communist regime.BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
Census 2011: The Suffragette's Party [23] Read by Melody GroveA story about principles and protest as a woman risks the wrath of her family by gathering with fellow suffragettes on census night 1911.BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Reading
 [24] Melody Grove, Finn den Hertog, Robin Laing, Liam Brennan, James Anthony Pearson and Rosalind SydneyHaving dropped out of high school and married at 16, the young Bonnie Parker is working as a waitress. Her life is about to change – when she meets Clyde Barrow.BBC Radio 4
15 Minute Drama
 [25] Claire Rushbrook, Steven Cree, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Ian Conningham and Sam DaleTensions are running high on the skeleton over-wintering crew on an Antarctic base – but why? BBC Radio 4
15 Minute Drama
 [26] Gary Lewis, Chris O'Reilly, Rosalind Sydney and Tom SmithCharon is the Ferryman on the river Acheron. His job is to ferry sinners across the river of woe and decide into which circle of Hell they should go. His son, Thomas, is determined to pursue a different career.BBC Radio 4
Afternoon Drama

 [27]
Dramatisation of Muriel Spark novel

Shauna Macdonald, Alexandra Mathie, Robert Jack, Robin Laing, Cesare Taurasi, Georgie Glen, Alasdair Hankinson and Karen BartkeLise, an enigmatic young woman travelling alone to a European city in search of "the one". We assume that she is seeking a lover but in fact she is searching for the man who will murder her.BBC Radio 4

Grey Evening [28]

Read by Cal MacAninchAn achromatic artist is exposed in this witty story inspired by D H Lawrence's poem.BBC Radio 4
 [29] , and BBC Radio 4
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Theatre

Stage plays written by Beatrice Colin
Date Title Director Cast Synopsis Theatre
Company
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 [30] When three female journalists arrive at a health spa on an isolated island, they expect a few days of relaxing detoxification. But this is no ordinary holiday destination, as they quickly discover. As lust, regret and betrayal all threaten to crack their fragile equilibrium, the women come face to face with what brought them there and why.Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
Stellar Quines Theatre Company
Tron Theatre, Glasgow
Stellar Quines Theatre Company

Film

Personal life

Colin married Ewan Morrison in 1996; the couple had two children, Theo in 1998 and Frances in 2001. Their marriage ended in 2003.

She met Paul Harkin, a lecturer, in 2008; they married in 2016.

Colin was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2016, from which she died in 2019 aged 55.[1]

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/17448663.obituary-beatrice-colin-writer-and-teacher Obituary: Beatrice Colin, writer and teacher – Gaynor Macfarlane, The Herald, 21 February 2019
  2. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PdI4I3_JKpI Abandon Ship by April Showers – YouTube
  3. https://www.discogs.com/April-Showers-Abandon-Ship/release/838848 Abandon Ship by April Showers – Discogs
  4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5d52c5CQmYzTrx8hJFh3jZq/bbc-radio-young-writers-25-years-on BBC Radio Young Writers: 25 Years On
  5. https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/beatrice-colin-talks-about-febrile-new-york-she-uncovered-her-latest-novel-set-jazz-age-1729028 Beatrice Colin talks about the febrile New York she uncovered for her latest novel, set in the Jazz Age – The Scotsman, 19 March 2010
  6. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/books/review/Peed-t.html Weimar Screen Star – Mike Peed, New York Times, 14 Sept 2008
  7. http://us.macmillan.com/tocapturewhatwecannotkeep/beatricecolin/9781250071446 To Capture What We Cannot Keep by Beatrice Colin – MacMillan Publishers
  8. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/books/review/paris.html Paris – Nancy Kline, New York Times, 3 Feb 2017
  9. BBC – – '
  10. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0886ywb BBC – Short Story – Bear Junction
  11. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/c9c88549973946219719f7257e8a3122 BBC – Radio Times – Short Story: Bear Junction
  12. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/6e3f665c928240b8b573e8bd58c115f1 BBC – Radio Times – The Electric Angel
  13. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b093m6rj BBC – Short Story – Camisole
  14. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/2e9d04f79a2f4bfabd87b925d02344dc BBC – Radio Times – Short Story: Camisole
  15. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/38676a153f584fc88082b7b2d5864de1 BBC – Radio Times – Afternoon Play: The Maids of Orleans
  16. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0075rly BBC – Afternoon Play – The Rocks Below
  17. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/f0fe00e397e84c009940ea8d4e7087bb BBC – Radio Times – Afternoon Play: The Rocks Below
  18. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/7640222a48bf49a7a3559cfa93849c80 BBC – Radio Times – The Friday Play: Mercury, Sulphur and Salt
  19. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/d68414aeae854c429b8a78c8a99cdad5 BBC – Radio Times – Woman's Hour Drama: The Weight of Water
  20. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/576ffca1790e4816b9d644beb4cd70f4 BBC – Radio Times – Afternoon Play: King of Shadows
  21. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/7640222a48bf49a7a3559cfa93849c80 BBC – Radio Times – Classic Serial: Precious Bane
  22. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5a2d667e82154596b9f4f89d2d109d7c BBC – Radio Times – Afternoon Play: Mapping the Heart
  23. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zlk0f BBC – Afternoon Reading – Census 2011: The Suffragette's Party
  24. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038xmcz BBC – 15 Minute Drama – The True Story of Bonnie Parker
  25. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b050zpwr BBC – 15 Minute Drama – The Ice Wife
  26. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09gkkvp BBC – Afternoon Drama – The Ferryman’s Apprentice
  27. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09lxpyd BBC – Classic Serial – The Vital Spark: The Driver’s Seat
  28. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b493vp BBC – The Poet and the Echo – Grey Evening
  29. BBC – – '
  30. Web site: The Past is not a Place – Stellar Quines Theatre Company . 30 October 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120304231356/http://www.stellarquines.com/production.php?p=11 . 4 March 2012 . dead .