Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | The Lottery | 20121028 | 20121027 (R4) | Stacy Keach reads Shirley Jackson's celebrated story, The Lottery, first published in the New Yorker in 1948. The inhabitants of a small farming community in Vermont gather each year for what we begin to realise is a frightening local lottery. American author Shirley Jackson's work has been described as the 'literature of psychological suspense'. Writing from the 1940s into the 1960s, her style of 'creeping unease' was hugely popular, initially with readers of magazines such as Collier's, Good Housekeeping, Harper's, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and Woman's Home Companion. After Jackson's early death in 1965, at the age of 48, her story collections began a marked revival of interest in her work. In recent years she has received increasing attention from literary critics and a new generation of readers. Her deceptively simple, apparently realistic style, often cloaking chilling or darkly hidden agendas, has influenced writers like Neil Gaiman, Stephen King and Nigel Kneale among others. Director: Martin Jarvis Producer: Rosalind Ayres A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4. An exciting day for the inhabitants of a small American farming community. Series of short stories by the American author Shirley Jackson |
| 02 | Trial, By Combat | 20121104 | Martin Jarvis directs Joanne Whalley in a tale of loneliness and mysterious pilfering at a humble boarding house - or is this actually a strange method of seeking companionship? American author Shirley Jackson's work has been described as the 'literature of psychological suspense'. Writing from the 1940s into the 1960s, her style of 'creeping unease' was hugely popular, initially with readers of magazines such as Collier's, Good Housekeeping, Harper's, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and Woman's Home Companion. After Jackson's early death in 1965, at the age of 48, her story collections began a marked revival of interest in her work. In recent years she has received increasing attention from literary critics and a new generation of readers. Her deceptively simple, apparently realistic style, often cloaking chilling or darkly hidden agendas, has influenced writers like Neil Gaiman, Stephen King and Nigel Kneale among others. Director: Martin Jarvis Producer: Rosalind Ayres A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4. Martin Jarvis directs Joanne Whalley in a tale of loneliness and mysterious pilfering. Series of short stories by the American author Shirley Jackson | |
| 03 | The Villager | 20121111 | Series of short stories by the American author Shirley Jackson, who wrote in a style of 'creeping unease' from the 1940s until her death in 1965. Miss Clarence's visit to an apartment in Greenwich Village, New York, gives her an unexpected insight into other people's lives as well as her own. Read by Glenne Headly. A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4. Miss Clarence's visit to Greenwich Village gives her an insight into other people's lives. |