4. Going Home

Bill Bailey stars as Guy Starling, a middle aged man who, after 45 years, and for reasons quite unknown to him, is suddenly revisited by his imaginary childhood friend, Hennikay.

Things have come to a head for Guy. He has lost his job, he’s running out of money and, most worrying of all, his 11-year-old imaginary friend, Hennikay, is still a very permanent – and annoying – fixture in his life. No matter how hard he tries to persuade him that he doesn’t exist, he just can’t get him to leave.

And so in a last-ditch attempt to understand why his old friend has returned from his childhood and just what he wants, Guy decides to go back home to where it all started and see his Mum – who unfortunately for him, is not imaginary.

Over the years Guy has found that trips back to his boyhood home never go smoothly, but this one becomes spectacularly rocky. As mother and son share some uncomfortable home truths, family skeletons are dragged out of cupboards and Guy gets stuck in a bush.

As always, Hennikay is there to save the day and this time in the most unexpected way. Because, as he tells Guy, just because he’s imaginary, doesn’t mean he’s not real.

Written by David Spicer.

Guy …. Bill Bailey
Tony …. Dave Lamb
Marika …. Elizabeth Carling
Sheila …. Miranda Richardson
Hennikay …. Max Pattison

Producer: Liz Anstee

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