A surreal trip through a real life and trying times

I first caught this program just by catching the tail end of an episode on BBC radio 4. I was so intrigued by the use of the multiple storylines in play, the main character’s imaginary life, his real life, his memories, and his life as a sitcom, I found myself urgently tracking this series down. I was happy to find that the entire series was made available for distribution as I feared it might never be due to the extensive use of popular songs as an integral part of the story. While still periodically streamed on BBC 4X, this version allows one to hear all 3 series AND the bridging special as a continuous set (something that isn’t always possible on the BBC rebroadcast schedule.
Vent tells the story of a man (Ben - Neil Pearson) trapped in his own mind as a result of a major brain lesion. Ben narrates his troubled recovery through its various stages, coma, locked-in syndrome, and return to his home. Ben is a struggling writer who maps his life onto a theoretical sitcom that allows the story to broadly skewer the politics of healthcare and relationships. He is guided in his imaginary life by a thirty-something version of his 2 year old daughter (Blitz -Lesley Ash) , who as a product of Ben’s imagination, is an embodiment of Ben’s responsibilities and conscience.
Fiona Allen and Josie Lawrence as Ben’s wife (Mary) and mother respectively are brilliant and are a major part of the story’s real life time line. Flashbacks to Ben and Mary’s relationship are also part of the series framing that cements what on the surface might appear as fraught and even a mistaken love story as being strong enough for the situation it finds itself in.
On the whole the story is quite moving and it does in many ways achieve one of the fictional Ben’s goals of writing a great novel of ideas. Given that the series writer, Nigel Smith, created this series after suffering a coma from a serious brain lesion himself, this is probably not accidental. The series is sprinkled with cameo appearances of various personalities as Ben imagines them like Lord Byron, Disraeli, and Buzz Aldrin. While it may not handle these topics with the depth of a BBC radio 4 documentary, it does so with humor and a thorough distaste for pedantry - exemplified perhaps by Ben’s frequent forceful exits of an imaginary Tom Paulin from his dream world.
For the listener I would advise that outside of Ben’s health trajectory, this story is not linear. Frequent trips back in time through Ben’s memories and side trips through his imagined worlds requires careful listening. Each episode is more like a puzzle piece in the series that explains Ben’s journey from dreams to reality.
If I were to fault one thing with this version of the series is the lack of production information including episode (chapter) titles. As a result there are also no detailed credits from many notable guest voices and supporting cast such as Jo Martin as the ITC nurse. Other notable guest voices include Lucy Montgomery, David Mitchell, and Robert Webb. I would refer the curious to the BBC series page for more information

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