Problems of the Prostate & Other News …

As some of you will already know, towards the end of last year I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, for which I’m currently having treatment at University College Hospital, London. The cancer is quite aggressive [9 out of a possible 10 on the Gleason Scale], but has still not managed to breach the capsule of the prostate itself. Because of the position of the tumour, surgery is not an option, so I’m following a proven course involving on-going hormone treatment and chemotherapy, both of which have begun, with radiotherapy to follow later in the year. The care I’ve been receiving is excellent and I’m feeling very positive about the eventual outcome.

These kinds of treatments are exhausting though, and there are times, during the chemotherapy especially, when your blood count is low and you’re particularly liable to infection. [Chemo kills the good cells along with the bad!] With this in mind, I’ve decided to set aside the plans that were in place to mark the publication of Body & Soul in April, and kick up a bit of a shindig when the paperback appears, most probably early next year.

The book itself, however, the fourth in the Frank Elder series, will duly be published by William Heinemann on April 19th, and the first in the series, Flesh & Blood, has just been re-released as a fine-looking Arrow paperback.

Elsewhere, and even as I write this, producer David Hunter and his team of actors are ensconced in a BBC Radio Drama studio, doing their best to make sense of my final two scripts for the Inspector Chen series for BBC Radio 4, Enigma of China & Shanghai Redemption. No transmission dates as yet, but, be assured, I will pass them on as soon as available.

And finally, just when I was thinking it would never happen, BBC Radio 4 Extra are repeating the mammoth undertaking that was mine and Shelley Silas’ dramatisation of Paul Scott’s magnificent Raj Quartet. Starring the likes of Anna Maxwell Martin, Lia Williams and Benedict Cumberbatch before he was, well, Benedict Cumberbatch, the programmes were originally broadcast in 2005 and have not been heard since. Each is broadcast three times a day and then available for a month or so on the BBC Radio iPlayer.

If you want to find out more about prostate cancer, this is an excellent place to go.