Flying the Flag is a BBC Radio 4 sitcom set in a British embassy in the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. It ran for four series, aired from 1987 to 1992, which have been repeated numerous times.
Synopsis
Created during the Cold War, this BBC Radio 4 sitcom chronicled the vagaries of diplomatic life in a fictitious eastern-bloc country. Dinsdale Landen starred as the British ambassador, with Peter Acre (as First Secretary William Frost) and Moir Leslie (as Helen Waterson, the embassy's typist and secretary) as his assistants, and Stephen Greif as the US ambassador.
Later series moved with the times as the country embraced perestroika.
Cast Regular Cast Her Majesty's Ambassador Mr McKenzie - Dinsdale Landen William Frost - Peter Acre Helen Waterson - Moir Leslie Spiro Wineberg, United States Ambassador - Stephen Greif Colonel Surikov - Christopher Benjamin
Production Writer - Alex Shearer Producer - Pete Atkin (s.1-2), Neil Cargill (s.3)
Episode list SeriesEpisodeTitleFirst broadcastAdditional cast11Favours20 April 1987Brown - Milton Johns, Bryant - Stuart Organ2Weather Problems27 April 1987Yakov Korovin - Michael Bilton, Mikhail Korovin - Jonathan Kydd3Notes From The Underground4 May 1987Yakov Korovin - Michael Bilton, Eugenia - Sue Broomfield4Compromising Positions11 May 1987Mrs Poonskey - Margaret Ward5Here In The Western World18 May 1987Yakov Korovin - Michael Bilton, Mikhail Korovin - Jonathan Kydd6Spy Story25 May 1987Mrs Newton - Susie Brann, George Summers - Peter Howell21The Bread And Butter10 March 1988Harris - Stephen Rashbrook2The Space Race17 March 1988Olaf - David Goodland3A Tooth For A Tooth24 March 19884The Opium Of The People31 March 1988Morris - John Baddely5No Sudden Moves7 April 1988Keith - Richard Pearce6Political Flu14 April 1988Shelkov - Paul Gregory, Nesterov - Peter Craze7A Taste Of Democracy21 April 1988Frank Burton MP - Alan Dudley, Gerald Calder-Browne MP - Richard Tate8Submarine Diplomacy28 April 1988Captain Warner - David Goodland31Whose Rubbish Is It Anyway?20 November 19902Our Own Correspondent27 November 1990Henry Treebling - John Grieve3The Comrade Connection4 December 19904A Loss Of Marbles11 December 19905Cool Heads18 December 1990Hutchins - Norman Bird6Cultural Exchange25 December 1990Grub - Julian Dutton41Spiritual Values16 June 19922In Custody23 June 19923As Unequal As Others30 June 19924Little Extras7 July 1992Duncan Bridges - Peter Whitman5Endangered Species14 July 19926No Special Treatment21 July 19927The Pretenders28 July 1992Sharon - Elaine Lordan, Dave - Simon Schatzberger8End Of Term4 August 1992
See also Ambassadors (TV series) epguides.com radiolistings.co.uk