Travel

Alex Lowe is 82 year old Barry, who invites an audience to his weekly lunch club where he scrutinises themes close to his heart.

With club secretary Hilary to rein him in, and club treasurer Peter providing support on the civic hall piano, this is the ultimate life-style guide for an ageing nation.

In this opening session, Barry responds to a question about travel for the over 60s and relates his disastrous holiday experiences on a cruise ship and at an activity holiday.

Barry is a cockney moved to the suburbs during the war. He is not given to looking at the old days through rose coloured spectacles, and is well up to speed with current trends. A seemingly harmless old boy, he lures people into a false sense of security, delivering hilariously stinging rebukes or erudite assessments of how the world is treating the over 60s.

Stand-up comedy crossed with sitcom, the show plays out in real time as if we are eavesdropping on a civic hall meeting group.

Written by Alex Lowe and Alex Walsh-Taylor

Barry ...... Alex Lowe
Hilary ...... Stephanie Cole
Peter ...... Philip Pope

Producer: Alex Walsh-Taylor
Executive Producer: Kevin Dawson

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in April 2016.