Editing Clare in the Community (section)

== Radio series ==

In 2004 a radio sitcom, co-written by David Ramsden and produced by Katie Tyrrell, was made for BBC Radio 4, starring Sally Phillips as Clare and [[Alex Lowe (actor)|Alex Lowe]] as her husband Brian. Repeats have also been broadcast on BBC7 (now Radio 4 Extra). Series 1 to 5 have been released on CD by BBC Audio.  Series 6 was broadcast in 2010.  Series 7 was broadcast in 2011. The first series won the Bronze Comedy Award at the 2005 Sony Radio Awards.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?year=2005 |title=The Sony Radio Academy Awards Winners 2005 |access-date=2 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415154712/http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?year=2005 |archive-date=15 April 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The series occasionally breaks the [[fourth wall]], with references to (for instance) a comic strip in ''The Guardian''{{'}}s social-work supplement which (the somewhat humourless) Clare does not understand, an old schoolmate of Brian's named [[Richard Lumsden]] who wanted to be an actor but was never heard of again, and [[Nina Conti]] (as Nali) being given the line "It's not like I'm a [[ventriloquist]]." The final series in particular breaks the fourth wall in nearly every episode, with Clare and Brian trying to remember how old their son is now in the first episode (reflecting how his age fluctuates slightly in different series), Joanie believing (or realising) that she is trapped in a pre-scripted comedy series, "comedienne and ventriloquist Nina Conti" being a member on the panel of a (fictional) episode of ''[[Any Questions?]]'' that Clare and Mrs. Singh attend, and in the final episode, where Nali (played by Conti) is seemingly a terrorist holding Clare hostage, she comments, in each relevant voice, that she could just as easily be Maggie or various other characters that Conti has voiced over the course of the series.

Clare often brings home her work problems which is just one of the main reasons why her relationship with Brian struggles. They often attend couples-counselling classes. Clare not only wears the trousers in their relationship but her self-centred neglect of Brian stresses him out. He often talks to his libertine friend and fellow schoolteacher Simon about her.

Clare's fellow social workers are often involved in her storylines. These include the rich yet unhygienic gay man Ray; Megan, Clare's Scottish single mother-of-one former student. Helen, the laziest of the workers, is played by three actresses over the series; in series 6 team leader, Irene, a black woman, is replaced by Libby, "an Aussie and a lesbo—and proud of both".

Although she has a son Clare leaves her child duties primarily to her husband Brian and Nali. Despite their child, both continue to argue and have problems in their relationship. In series 9 Clare leaves Brian only to return to him in the series finale after her love interest has shown little knowledge of who she is.

Simon Elmes called it "an instant hit, capturing the PC tone of our times".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NlUP9X4wTMYC |title=And Now on Radio 4: A Celebration of the World's Best Radio Station |date=10 November 2009 |access-date=2019-10-15 |isbn=9780099505372 |last=Elmes |first=Simon |location=London |publisher=[[Arrow Books]]}}</ref>  ''[[The Stage]]'' reviewed series 8 positively, praising the first episode as "a brilliant opener", and after the series finale calling it "the best comedy on radio" and Phillips "the mistress of comic timing".<ref>{{cite news |last=Petty |first=Moira |url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/tv-radio/2013/01/radio-review-eustace-diamonds-reluctant/ |title=Radio review: The Eustace Diamonds; The Reluctant Spy; Second Body; Clare in the Community |newspaper=[[The Stage]] |date=4 January 2013 |access-date=2019-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128235349/http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/tv-radio/2013/01/radio-review-eustace-diamonds-reluctant/ |archive-date=28 January 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Petty |first=Moira |url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/tv-radio/2013/02/radio-review-the-liberty-of-norton-folgate-the-wind-in-the-willows-mrs-updike/ |title=Radio review: The Liberty of Norton Folgate; The Wind in the Willows; Mrs Updike |newspaper=[[The Stage]] |date=18 February 2013 |access-date=2019-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714225818/http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/tv-radio/2013/02/radio-review-the-liberty-of-norton-folgate-the-wind-in-the-willows-mrs-updike/ |archive-date=14 July 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The twelfth series was trailed as the final series.<ref>BBC Radio 4 trailer for the twelfth series. Accessed 22 September 2019.</ref>