Before Tony Cliff became a radio drama producer, he was a leader writer and theatre critic on the Morning Telegraph in Sheffield when Peter Tinniswood and David Nobbs were on its sister paper, the Star. Tony created a far more ambitious radio version of Tinniswood's Sheffield-set novel I Didn't Know You Cared than the highly enjoyable near-sitcom later made for television. The novel is told through the thoughts of a baby in a pram, a challenge avoided by TV but met brilliantly by Tony; he cast an actor who found an extraordinary little, but far-from-twee, voice for the infant's alarming insights. He ushered many of us into radio, and then the pub, with kindness, respect and an unerring ear for the fake.
