Synopsis

The Radio Rooms - Synopsis

Christopher Barlow is obsessed with radios, cocaine and snowstorms, and
he has done terrible, unspeakable and implausible things.

The Radio Rooms covers a single day.The story opens as he is waiting to
move out of his flat in his beloved East End. He is consumed with guilt
and failure over the suicide of his former girlfriend, Alison, the loss
of his career as a flash entertainment promoter and his drug addiction.
An all-or-nothing character with little self-understanding, he is
convinced that his only hope is to move away and insinuate himself into
someone else's life, that of his new girlfriend, Ruby.

The story is interwoven with two main threads. The first covers
Christopher's parents' marriage, their move away from their East End
home in search of a brave new world and Christopher's 1960s upbringing
in a race-torn, bleak and isolated Essex new town. The second story
charts Alison's depression and suicide, which begins during the holiday
of a lifetime in the New World and culminates in America in the
immediate aftermath of 9/11.

As Christopher waits, his new plans begin to unravel. A snowstorm
prevents his removal van from arriving, he receives a threatening visit
from his drug dealer and at the last minute, the buyer of his flat
pulls out of the deal. However, during the course of the day, he has
the opportunity to rethink his life and realises for the first time
that it can be rebuilt without escaping from everything he loves.