meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Drama of the Week

Statue

Drama of the Week

BBC

Drama, Fiction

3.91.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A new short story by Emma Smith-Barton, read by Mia Khan.

Just after giving birth, Sadia turns into a statue. At least, that’s how she feels. One moment she’s reaching out to pull the curtains shut, and the next she’s frozen to the spot. All she can do is look out of the window – and try to understand what’s happening to her.

Emma Smith-Barton’s short stories have appeared in Mslexia and the Bristol Short Story Prize anthology. Her first novel, The Million Pieces of Neena Gill, was shortlisted for the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize, the Branford Boase Award, and the Romantic Novelists' Association Debut Romanic Novel Award.

Reader: Mia Khan

Sound: Catherine Robinson

Producer: Fay Lomas

A BBC Audio Drama Wales Production

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is the shocking moment English football has been dreading.

0:05.0

My name is Moses Swaybu and I used to be a professional footballer.

0:08.5

But then I got in deep with organised crime and became a match fixer operating in the English League.

0:14.0

A match fixing investigator has highlighted two matches he says appear to have

0:19.0

suspicious betting patterns.

0:21.0

How honesty are you going to be with me?

0:22.3

This is 100%.

0:23.0

Join me. Sports Strangers Crimes presents. Confessions of a Match mixer.

0:28.0

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:30.0

BBC Sounds, Music, radio podcasts.

0:35.0

This is Drama of the Week.

0:38.0

Statue by Emma Smith Barton,

0:47.0

Red by Mea Khan.

1:00.0

The sky is black and the moon as bright as a brand new penny by the time the baby falls asleep. Sardia listens to the quiet now that the Cryin has finally stopped.

1:05.0

She lowers her babies curled up body into the cot and breathes a sigh of relief.

1:11.0

She's tired, so tired, her bones ache.

1:16.0

Reese is already asleep, so instead of collapsing into bed like she wants to,

1:21.0

she heads downstairs to turn everything off. She's slow on the stairs. It's

1:26.9

difficult to walk. Her sea section scar fresh, raw, her insides wobbly.

1:35.6

And somehow the pain seems to be spread in.

1:40.1

First it was to her thighs and barely, now the sting spreads to her chest.

1:46.0

In the living room she moves slowly across the soft cream rug to shut the curtains. She flinches as the pain spreads further, pierces her toes. She doesn't

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.