- reviewed by Louise Badsey

Well, I've just been listening to a fantastic radio play - starring none other than Mr Pacey himself! Yes! I didn't even know it existed until a pen friend of mine mentioned it to me. The story is based on a Jeffrey Farnell novel (probably spelled wrong - I found this name at the beginning of the story). The first one is called "Black Bartlemy's Treasure" and is a pirate adventure, fully dramatised featuring Steven Pacey as Martin Conisby. Steven is the main character and also reads the story. What wonderful stuff indeed! He plays this amazingly heroic character, apparently 27 years old, who teams up with a group of pirates who are searching for Black Bartlemy's Treasure. Steven's character, Martin, is not interested in the treasure, but in vengeance against Brandon, Lady Brandon's father who killed his own father.

For those of you who love the heroic side of Tarrant, then this play is a must! It's a very heroic swashbuckling, romantic story. Martin shoots bad guys with his pistol when he's not fighting off salty sea men with his rapier! (sorry....) Then he falls for Lady Brandon, the daughter of his sworn enemy! The romantic stuff gets a bit OTT at times, but if you can handle a few "Ooh, you're so strong!" and "Oh my love, I do care for you so..."'s then it's well worth the effort. The most bizarre bit for me was when Lady Brandon accused Martin of "betraying her trust" when he pulled her close for a quick snog! How anyone could complain about being snogged by Steven Pacey, is beyond me!

The follow on story is called "Martin Conisby's Vengeance". The story continues, although it is also self-contained. I would say that it is not as good as the first one - the romantic stuff is a bit sloppier - there was one cracking line though that I just have to tell you. It was so good that I had to write it down immediately. Basically, Steven's character hadn't seen this female character for some time and so when he does eventually meet her again he comes out with the line "Oh deluding vision of sight long hoped for"! Ha! Ha! Great line, Stevie! I guess what he really meant was "Hiya love, I sure missed you lots!" Classic line. Although the first play was better, you just have to listen to the second one to find out what happens in the end!