Laura's Diary was a feature on The Scott Mills Show on BBC Radio 1. Laura Sayers, the show's assistant producer, had her teenage diaries read out on air by her sister Mary, who had found them at the family home in York. It began in October 2005 and ran over five seasons, each one picking up Laura's life a little further on. The diaries were published as a book on 30 November 2006.
Each season below has a short summary. The full entry-by-entry write-ups are on the season pages, and all the audio we have is in the downloads at the bottom of this page.
Season 1: York, 1993
Mary read the first season in an American accent. Laura is at school in York and torn between two boys, Jamie and Andy. She works out she is 88% compatible with Jamie, thinks of him every time she hears Boom Shake the Room, and looks up his address in the phone book. Her dad keeps fining and grounding her for things like leaving her lamp on in daylight and the hairdryer plugged in.
At a party in September she ends up getting off with Andy on a bridge, and spends the rest of the season unable to choose between them. It peaks at a charity sleep-out at the youth club, where she spends the night next to Jamie and calls it the best night of her life.
Read the Season 1 diary entries
Season 2: college, April 1996
Three years on, Laura is at college and has a crush on her piano teacher, Anthony. The season follows a few weeks of lessons, coded notes about him (LMF, WMF and others Mary couldn't explain on air), a new blonde hairdo and a plan to win him over with Shed 7 tickets.
He agrees to go to the gig, then asks if he can bring his girlfriend. The season ends with a poem Laura wrote about it.
Read the Season 2 diary entries
Season 3: summer 1997
Laura is working at a hotel before starting university. Her brother Henry's bandmate in Monster Sunshine, Ben, has a crush on her. Their first night out goes well, Ben dedicates a song to her at a gig and gives her his plectrum, and they're together by the time she moves into her room at Glasgow University in September.
This season also produced the ex box: Laura brought in a box of things Ben had given her, which led to listeners calling in to have their own ex boxes destroyed. The clip is on the Season 3 page.
Read the Season 3 diary entries and hear the ex box clip
Season 4: Glasgow, autumn 1997
Laura's first term at Glasgow. She struggles with noisy neighbours and new flatmates, gets off with her flatmate Alan without telling Ben, and on a night out in Southside meets a well-known man the show could only call Mr X. She whisks Ben off to Skegness, where she tells him she loves him and he replies that he knows.
She starts a show on student station Subcity Radio, rows with Ben on the phone about his friend Jenny, and on 19 November gets a letter from him ending the relationship. The season closes with Laura listening to Counting Crows, and the team later got Ben himself on the phone to Scott.
Read the Season 4 diary entries
Season 5: York, summer 1998
The final season, The Final Chapter, aired in October 2006, with Mary now known on the show as Fox Mary. Laura is home from Glasgow for the summer and back with Ben. Her dad objects to Ben using the shower; Laura objects to her dad's nightshirt.
Then she hears Ben say "Charlotte", his friend Callum's girlfriend, in his sleep. When she asks him about it, he says it means nothing, but tells her he wants to be single when he starts university. Laura books her highlights, vows to be the best girlfriend ever, writes to Melanie C for advice, and tells Callum that Charlotte has been flirting with Ben, which she admits she exaggerated.
The final entry, from 11 September 1998, is a pregnancy scare. Laura cried in the studio as Mary read it, and the series ended there. Mel C never replied.
Read the Season 5 diary entries
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