Snap: Clean Break or Clean Slate?: A BBC Radio 4 Comedy Drama

by Paul Mendelson, Rebecca Lacey (Narrator), Paul Venables (Narrator)

All three series of the BBC sitcom about a couple who've split up, but can't quite call it quits

When two people have history, how can they ever be history? That's the question facing Molly and Doug, who are separating after 16 years of marriage. He's moving out (albeit a mere three streets away), and she's moving on (just as soon as she can get her wedding ring off)—only somehow, they can't seem to stay away from one another.

Breaking up would be so much easier if it wasn't for the woes of their two teenage children, Doug's elderly mum's interference, and the sneaking suspicion that perhaps they shouldn't be divorcing at all.... Will the couple get closure and accept that their relationship is over, or can they find a way to rebuild their lives together?

Written by acclaimed scriptwriter Paul Mendelson (May to December, My Hero), this sparkling romantic comedy stars Rebecca Lacey as Molly and Paul Venables as Doug, with a full cast including Rebecca Front, Samantha Spiro and Robin Weaver.

Production credits

Written by Paul Mendelson

Produced by David Ian Neville

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 23 July-13 August 2003 (Series 1), 14 July-18 August 2004 (Series 2), 27 July-31 August 2005 (Series 3)

Cast
Molly - Rebecca Lacey
Doug/Shopkeeper - Paul Venables
Kaz/Michelle/Emma - Soumaya Keynes
Ryan - Jessie Sullivan
Dawn - Rebecca Front/Samantha Spiro/Robin Weaver
Scarlet/Mrs Johnston - Rebecca Front
Mrs Lonsdale/Annie/Mrs Dawlish/Lydia/Mrs Niarchos/Waitress/Mrs Luigi/Old lady - Marlene Sidaway
Ansel/Steve/Stallholder/Surgeon - Richard Firth
Raymond/Mr Silverton/TV announcer/Ernie/Alistair - Jonathan Tafler
Gwynneth - Jennifer Hill
Susan - Samantha Spiro
Eirwen/Waitress - Robin Weaver

Audible Audio

Published September 22, 2022

About the author

Paul Mendelson wrote stories at school when he should have been doing other things, but went on to become the, then, youngest ever playwright performed at the National Theatre, with his play, "You're Quite Safe With Me". This was followed by further work for theatre and, briefly, for television.

For twenty years, Paul has written on mind sports, such as bridge, poker and casino games, becoming the UK's best-selling author within his genre. He has contributed to magazines and newspapers worldwide, has a weekly bridge column in the Financial Times, and also writes interviews and features.

His debut crime novel, "The First Rule of Survival" was published in 2014, making the short-list of the CWA Golden Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year.
His second novel, "The Serpentine Road" was short-listed for several awards, including the CWA Gold Dagger again - an almost unheard of achievement - and received great acclaim in South Africa where it's political elements chimed with many that were in the news at the time.
Book 3, "The History of Blood" was published in July 2016, receiving accolades from reviewers in the national press in the UK, Eire and South Africa. It has been chosen as a Recommended Summer Read, Thriller of the Week and Thriller of the Month.
"Apostle Lodge" is his fourth novel set in Southern Africa, released for export on November 2017 and in the UK in February 2018, and it has received plaudits from around the world, hitting the top-ten Bestseller List in South Africa throughout the Christmas period.
Mendelson's fifth novel is set in England with a new detective.

Paul's novels now appear as audio books, Large Print books, and have been translated into French and German, with more languages to come, including Afrikaans (for the huge crime reading market in South Africa)

Each of the novels in the Vaughn de Vries series are set in Southern Africa, the novels allowing Paul's creative writing once again to come to the fore, and providing the perfect excuse to return to his beloved Cape Town to gain inspiration and time to write.

Paul lives in London (and, sometimes, Cape Town) with his two and four-legged family.