Cry of the Bittern

BBC Radio 4; February 1999
Producers: Vanessa Whitburn and Peter Leslie Wild

Mist rising over the fens. The haunting cry of the nesting bittern. But not everything is as pristine as it appears to be. The protection of nature and the pursuit of progress collide in this 30 episode environmental thriller, commissioned for Radio 4’s daily serial by former Archers’ producer Vanessa Whitburn.

When Laura McLaren lands a much-needed job with the Environment Agency in Norfolk, her principal concern is the distance it involves from her fiancé Dean. But things soon change. And as she seeks to unravel the source of a mysterious contamination in a local water supply, Laura quickly discovers greater distances, deeper mysteries, concerns she had only previously dreamed about.

Starring Rachel Atkins, Ian Pepperell and Sean Baker, a TV treatment for The Cry of the Bittern won a Public Awareness of Science (PAWS) Drama Fund award in 1997.