How Does That Make You Feel? Series 1-10: The BBC Radio 4 Comedy Drama

by Shelagh Stephenson, Rebecca Saire (Narrator), Marcella Riordan (Narrator)

Psychotherapist Martha is reasonably compassionate, but deep down she's losing patience. It seems all her clients want to be something they are not, and it's driving them (and her) out of their minds.

There's Richard Fallon MP, who's convinced that promotion to the front bench is being denied him because of his obese son and a wife who lost all patience with him 20 years ago.

Genres: Audiobook

Audible Audio

Published October 11, 2018

About the author

Shelagh Stephenson was born in Northumberland and read drama at Manchester University. She has written several original plays for BBC Radio. These include Darling Peidi, about the Thompson and Bywater murder case, which was broadcast in the Monday Play series in 1993; a Saturday Night Theatre, The Anatomical Venus, broadcast in the following year; and Five Kinds of Silence (1996), which won the Writer's Guild Award for Best Original Drama. Her first stage play, The Memory of Water, opened at the Hampstead Theatre, London, in July 1996, and her second, An Experiment With An Air Pump, joint winner of the 1997 Peggy Ramsay Award, opened at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in February 1998. Also Life is a Dream, and Through a Glass Darkly in 2004.

Reviews

[Shima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listen to this for:
-People getting themselves into bizarre situations in the pursuit of fame and fortune.
-Humor around contemporary issues, from healthy eating to flat-earthers.
-A not-so-real, but nonetheless amusing representation of psychotherapy.
-Satanism, British MP's, Men's equality party, Steel doors, Secret internet identities and Canabilism.

Do not listen to this if:
-You're triggered by eating disorders.
-You want to listen to it all in one go. It gets repetitive.
-You want an actual conclusion.

My thoughts: 3.5 stars
I listened to this like a book, but it really doesn't work so well in that format. Especially towards the end, the structure of the sessions and the content starts feeling too repetitive, and if you think of it as a book, you'd likely be taken aback when it just suddenly ends. There is no real conclusion.
However, as amusing little episodes, it's kind of fun. It starts off more realistic with a few different characters coming into therapy for problems that you could more or less see in daily life, but over the course of the story, it leans more toward the bizarre stories and caricaturish characters. So depending on your tastes and expectations, you might end up heavily preferring the first or the second half.

[The .Mail · Rating 5 out of 5]

This makes me laugh so so much. The author has some marvellous insights into our foibles ( vanity, gullibility, refusing to listen, deluding yourself etc. etc.) as human beings. The lines are brilliantly delivered by great actors.The absurdity of some of the situations they get themselves into may seem far fetched but if you' ve heard Marion Keyes' s story about turning up at central London bash dressed as Joan of Arc maybe they're not so outlandish.

Being there done that...Richard Fallon telling his dinner companion they're not suited then finds out her daddy owns half of some rural county and he wonders if he wasn' t too hasty in his judgement.

It might not have universal appeal but if you' ve been round the block a bit you' ll recognise a bit of yourself in this and certainly have seen some of the characteristics in others.

I know we've got some good podcasts now but thank god for Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra for producing stuff like this in the first place. Again kudos to Shelagh Stephenson.

Well worth the outlay and if you' ve got a credit on prime choose this.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant. Some infuriating characters, given depth and sufficient back story as time goes on - each deeply flawed. And then there's Roger Allam's character. Again flawed, but so engaging in his own way. He seems to stumble through life as an MP, with things constantly going wrong for him, due to reasons entirely out of his control. He thinks deeply about life and you can't help but feel sorry for him, especially when he gets upset. But he is also incredibly funny - this I put this purely down to Roger Allam's performance. He is 5 stars, I could listen to him all day.

[El · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could be a bit silly and far-fetched at times but I really enjoyed listening to it. It was perfectly read by the cast of actors and held my attention right to the end. At times I was rolling my eyes but somehow that didn't prevent me from looking forward to switching my MP3 player on again for the next chapter. Highly recommended.

[Ann Mwangi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend recommended this as an audio book when I shared that I was struggling with another bestseller written by a therapist. I enjoyed this and literally did LOL more than I should have!

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is so clever written and brilliantly performed. Genuinely funny but also poignant in parts.
Highly recommend.