Secrets and Lies: Candour

Drama of the Week

BBC

Fiction, Drama

3.7 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2026

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When a system falters, who finds the courage to speak the truth?

Maya, a young first-time mother, Jo, an overwhelmed trainee GP on rotation, and Kate, a fiercely principled hospital chaplain find their lives unexpectedly intertwined following a birth that doesn't go to plan.

Part of the Secrets and Lies season, Al Smith's drama pulls back the curtain on a labour ward under intense pressure, exploring what happens when real lives fall between the cracks of an overstretched healthcare system. It explores responsibility, courage, silence and the fragile trust that holds patients and professionals together.

KATE......Christine Bottomley JO.....Anneika Rose MAYA.....Sade Malone SUE.....Jenny Platt BEN.....Darren Kuppan JOHN....Graeme Hawley RAY.....James Quinn

Written by Al Smith Directed by Nadia Molinari Sound Design and Technical Production by Sharon Hughes Production Co-ordinator - Ben Hollands Technical Producer - Kelly Young Casting Manager - Alex Curran Medical Advisors - Fran Bennett and Joe Lee

A BBC Studios Production for BBC Radio 4.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:06.7	A group of men ran in with machetes.
0:09.8	I'm Livy Haydock, and from BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 live, this is gangster.
0:16.7	The story of Georgie Pye.
0:19.2	The scene of the killing near a Chinese bookshop is being flooded with detectives.
0:23.1	Welcome to the world of the triads.
0:25.7	If the triads are coming out of you, you're done.
0:27.5	Where loyalty is sworn in blood.
0:30.9	Gangster.
0:31.8	The story of Georgie Pye.
0:33.6	Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:36.0	This is Drama of the Week.
0:42.3	I'm Mike. This is my wife, Jenny.
0:46.9	We had a non-invasive prenatal test at the Darleston last year,
0:50.8	which came back positive for Edward's syndrome.
0:54.4	We chose to end the pregnancy.
0:57.1	We later learned our test sample had been mixed up with someone else's.
1:02.4	I'm so sorry.
1:04.8	Hi, my name's Wendy.
1:07.5	My son died at 38 minutes after a delayed labour.
1:12.3	I'm sorry for your loss.
1:15.4	Hello, my name's Ash.
	...

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