BBC Radio 4, 17 April 2010
This comedy-thriller, based around the theft of the Edvard Munch painting 'The
Scream' from the Munch Museum in Norway in 2004. It had all the elements of an Ealing film, as bumbling police
officers pursued criminals who were not quite aware of the magnitude of their actions. The police tried to use existing
procedures, but found that they were inadequate as a means to solve this crime; the criminals, on the other
hand, made a series of false moves, which made one wonder exactly how they hoped to get away with it.
The fact that there was little to choose between the police and criminals made me
think that the play was perhaps about something else. Was the theft of 'The Scream' part of a larger strategy, where
a group of life's misfits hoped to become famous for fifteen minutes? Or were they trying to wreak revenge on a police force
whom they distrusted beyond all measure? Whatever the reason, it was clear that Munch's painting exerted a powerful influence
over everyone. The director was Boz Temple-Morris.
