''Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting'' was a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

situation comedy show written by and starring Linda Smith. It ran for two series of six episodes each from July 2001 until July 2002. Set in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

, where Smith herself lived, ''A Brief History of Timewasting'' concerned the struggle of a single woman to fill the day, helped by her inept, sugar-loving, live-in builder Chris (

Chris Neill Chris Neill (born 1968) is a British comedian, producer, and writer who features regularly on BBC Radio 4 Margaret John Margaret John (14 December 1926 – 2 February 2011) was a Welsh, BAFTA award-winning actress, known for her role as Doris O'Neill in ''Gavin & Stacey''. Early life Born in Swansea, as a child she wanted to be a nurse or vet, but she could ...

), and minicab driver Worra (

Femi Elufowoju Jr Oluwafemi Elufowoju Jr. (; ; born 31 October 1962) is a British born, Nigerian raised performance practitioner working across the creative industries After Alton Kumalo's Temba Theatre Company, he is the second theatre director of African desc ...

). Supporting roles were played by

Jeremy Hardy Jeremy James Hardy (17 July 19611 February 2019) was an English comedian. Born and raised in Hampshire, Hardy studied at the University of Southampton and began his stand-up career in the 1980s, going on to win the Perrier Comedy Award at the Ed ...

and

Martin Hyder Martin Hyder (born 1961) is an English people, English actor and writer. Profile Hyder was educated at Abingdon School leaving in 1980. He has worked closely with the BBC since 2000 contributing and appearing in BBC Radio and BBC Television. His ...

. Many familiar voices from Radio 4, including then-chief announcer

Peter Donaldson Peter Ian Donaldson (23 August 1945 – 2 November 2015) was an English newsreader on BBC Radio 4. Early life Donaldson was born in Cairo, Egypt, and moved to Cyprus in 1952 at the time of the overthrow of King Farouk. He was a frequen ...

, ''

Thought for the Day ''Thought for the Day'' is a daily scripted slot on the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4 offering "reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news", broadcast at around 7:45 each Monday to Saturday morning. Nowadays lastin ...

'' regular

Rabbi Lionel Blue Lionel Blue (6 February 1930 – 19 December 2016) was a British Reform rabbi, journalist and broadcaster, described by ''The Guardian'' as "one of the most respected religious figures in the UK". He was best known for his longstanding work wit ...

, and ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...

'' stalwart

Jenni Murray Dame Jennifer Susan Murray, (''née'' Bailey; born 12 May 1950) is an English journalist and broadcaster, best known for presenting BBC Radio 4's ''Woman's Hour'' from 1987 to 2020. Early life Murray was born in Barnsley, West Riding of Yorks ...

, appeared as themselves. The programme's page on the Radio 4 website says that the show was set in an East London

tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently ...

, but details of Chris's building work demonstrate that Linda and Betty lived in neighbouring

terraced house In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

s. Following Smith's death in 2006, Jeremy Hardy revealed that Linda had been working on a third series.

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

References

External links

BBC Radio 4 pageModern (less informative) BBC page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting BBC Radio comedy programmes 2001 radio programme debuts BBC Radio 4 programmes

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

References

Further reading

External links