When We Meet Again

When We Meet Again

About When We Meet Again

When We Meet Again is an original eight-part radio play researched, written, performed and produced by MCS pupils and staff. Drawing inspiration from original accounts – including those in the MCS archives and David Bebbington’s Goodbye Shirley – it draws on the striking parallels between the ‘Phoney War’ period from September 1939-May 1940 and our current circumstances amid the Covid19 lockdown – a period of waiting, with movement curtailed, foodstuffs disappearing from the shelves and normal life disrupted.

Episodes will be available every Friday, launching with the first instalment on Friday 8th May (VE Day). 

Episode 8 | Destinations

May Day, 1940. Ronnie experiences the magic of May Morning from the top of Magdalen tower, but political tensions spill over when a workers’ march is attacked by students. Peggy and Jan meet soon after, just as the ‘Phoney War’ ends with Hitler’s sudden invasion of the Low Countries and France. As the world of 1940 descends into total war, Beth’s world in 2020 begins to emerge from the lockdown. There is even the promise of a new romance…

Episode 7 | All At Sea

Peggy has been transferred to RAF Rudloe Manor, and is rising to the challenge of her new, top-secret war work. In Oxford, Jan and Bill are preparing for May Day while Scotty isn’t getting any better in the MCS sick bay. Ronnie decides to take drastic action to track down Captain Scott. Meanwhile, Beth is trying to track down friends from her grandmother’s past.

Episode 6 | Journeys

Beth is alarmed when Mr Jacobs seems to be less communicative than usual. In 1940, Peggy prepares for her transfer to a secret Radar base, but Amy and Lettuce give her a hard time. Ronnie, meanwhile, concocts a plan to help his friend Scotty, who is suffering from pneumonia.

This episode of ‘When We Meet Again’ is dedicated to Dame Vera Lynn, to the sweetheart that lifted the hearts of heroes and continues to today.

Episode 5 | Surprises

It’s the end of the Michaelmas term and Ronnie is facing spending the Christmas holidays with new arrivals at home. The girls have a night off and head into Oxford for a dance, where Peggy bumps into someone familiar. Beth checks in with Mr Jacobs and has a difficult conversation with Tomas.

Episode 4 (Bonus) | ‘Watcha Gonna Do When The Music’s Gone’

‘Watcha Gonna Do When The Music’s Gone’ is an original composition by student of the MCS Music Department, featured in episodes 2 & 4 of ‘When We Meet Again’ an original production written, performed and produced by the students of Magdalen College School.

Episode 3 | New Friends

Episode 2 | Beginnings

Beth is excited to tell her university friends about the discovery of her grandmother’s diary, but they’ve got other things on their minds. She decides to sign up for a local volunteering scheme to help the isolated and elderly. Meanwhile, in 1939, Peggy travels into Oxford and bumps into a young undergraduate called Jan; Ronnie is making friends and getting into trouble at MCS and Peggy has to tell her dad that she’s been accepted into the WAAF.

Stay tuned after the show for a post credit: bonus scene, straight from the cutting room floor.

Episode 1 | Home

Beth is stuck at home in isolation. Her mum is a key worker and Beth misses her university friends. She’s discovered her grand-mother’s diary from 1939 and is drawn into Peggy’s world. It’s late September, war has broken out and Peggy has resolved to volunteer. Meanwhile young Ronnie Pollitt from Peggy’s village is starting life as a chorister at Magdalen College School.