A new drama will revisit the life and legacy of former Ventnor resident, Phyllis Twigg, now believed to have written the world’s first radio drama.
The Truth About Phyllis Twigg, airing at 2.15pm, tells the story of Twigg’s children’s play, performed live on the newly formed BBC on Christmas Eve 1922 — more than a year before the work was officially credited as the first radio drama.
Twigg lived in Ventnor with her husband, Dr Garnet Twigg, and daughter Anne, and went on to write and broadcast children’s stories, design innovative merchandise and later became Britain’s first TV chef in 1936.
Her family’s Isle of Wight roots continue through the generations.
Twigg’s daughter Anne lived on the Island all her life, as has did her grandson Peter Grimaldi, known to many Islanders for his work as an ENT consultant at St Mary’s Hospital in Newport and as High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight, between 2006 and 2007.
The Island connection is central to the new production, as Twigg’s great‑great‑granddaughter, Flora Saner, appears in the cast, playing the role of young Anne.
She stars alongside Tamsin Greig, as Phyllis Twigg, alongside Rory Kinnear as Arthur Burrows, the early BBC pioneer, who helped shape the corporation in its fledgling months.
Carina Saner, who provided the family background, said the drama is of particular interest locally.
“We will be spending Christmas in Bembridge, so will be tuning in ourselves to ‘listen in’ from there on Christmas Eve,” she said.
The drama is written by Paul Kerensa, who visited the Isle of Wight in August to give a talk on the history of broadcasting at Bembridge Fort.
The family notes that Flora is a regular visitor to Bembridge, where her grandparents still live and where Carina grew up.
The programme spans both 1922 and the present day, exploring how Twigg’s pioneering work slipped into obscurity and how her authorship is now being rediscovered a century later.