1. Close-Contact Paint-Based Combat Manoeuvres

Stressed out businessman Guy Starling, a middle aged man aged 45, for reasons quite unknown to him, is suddenly revisited by his imaginary childhood friend, Hennikay.

Starring Bill Bailey as Guy Starling.

After closing the biggest deal in the history of Maidstone, Guy’s boss decides to reward him with an adventure-based, corporate team-building day out, which has him running around the woods shooting paint pellets at middle managers.

Not only does Guy have to deal with his scheming, back-stabbing co-workers, desperate to ruin his career and steal his glory, he also has to cope with Hennikay, his imaginary childhood friend who has turned back up in his life and is stubbornly refusing to leave, running riot in the woods with a paint gun.

But as the paint splatters and the deals sour, Guy soon discovers that in the cut-throat world of grown-up business, the only person who he can trust is the 11-year-old boy he invented back in 1976.

Acclaimed comedian (and Strictly Come Dancing champion) Bill Bailey leads a cast which includes Dave Lamb and Elizabeth Carling in this warm, funny look at childhood, adulthood and some of the follies of modern life - where a man with a confused child in his head might just be the sanest person in the room.

Written by David Spicer.

Guy ..... Bill Bailey
Tony ..... Dave Lamb
Marika ..... Elizabeth Carling
Kallie ..... Hollie Edwin
Simon ..... Alistair McGowan
Hennikay ..... Max Pattison

Producer: Liz Anstee

A CPL production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in November 2022.