London Nights - Episode 2

Writer Andrea Levy presents the second of ten anthologies of short pieces for radio that capture a certain off-beat spirit of London. In the second programme: a railway runs through it... Trains are one of the most audible heartbeats of the capital, threading their way through the suburbs above ground and pulsing millions of commuters deep beneath the London clay, from the outer fringes to the centre and the centre to the fringes. Writer Claire MacDonald remembers an unexpected and uplifting chance encounter on a commuter train, while Jonathan Glancey's guests in the nightly Pairs in Squares feature find themselves on Page 19, Square 2J on the London streetmap - featuring the railway hub that is Old Oak Common.... Also on the menu, London's bikers pause for a cuppa in Epping Forest and free-runner Dan takes a leap across the city's night-time rooftops. Andrea Levy was born in London and holds the city close to her heart; her experience growing up here as a black Londoner pervades her novels and is the thread woven through this mix of the day-to-day and the nocturnal... of pieces taking a sidelong glance as well as a more direct approach. A blend of poetry and prose, of the factual and the fictional that together make up this diverse and diverting nightly series. Executive Producer: Simon Elmes.