Love Stories

The story follows Suyin, a doctor and writer, living and working in late 1940s Hong Kong. When Suyin meets British war reporter Mark, she embarks on a secret love affair that tests her relationship to her own Eurasian identity and divided loyalties. With a fierce sense of duty to China, and a difficult past, Suyin is forced to ask if their relationship could really survive outside of Hong Kong. And at what cost?

Originally published in 1952, this is a story of two societies on the cusp of change - colonial Hong Kong and feudal, revolutionary China – in a fresh adaptation for BBC Radio 4.

CAST

Suyin - Chipo Chung

Mark - Billy Howle

Adeline Palmer-Jones - Sarah Lam

Humphrey Palmer Jones/Third Uncle - Paul Courtenay Hyu

Robert Hung/William Monk - Daniel York Loh

Nora Hung/Suchen - Jennifer Lim

Suzanne/ Martha Monk - Elizabeth Chan

John Tam/Ribiero - Jon Chew

Fiona Manton - Ruth Everett

James Manton - Dickon Farmar

Mei..... Ivy Wong

Dramatised by Ming Ho

Directed by Anne Isger

Sound by Andy Garrett and Pete Ringrose

Production Co-ordination by Ben Hollands

A BBC Audio Production

A new dramatisation of Han Suyin's landmark novel of passion and revolution in Hong Kong.

Part One of a new dramatisation of Han Suyin's landmark novel of passion and revolution in Hong Kong. Starring Chipo Chung and Billy Howle.

The story follows Suyin, a doctor and writer, living and working in late 1940s Hong Kong. When Suyin meets British war reporter Mark, she embarks on a secret love affair that tests her relationship to her own Eurasian identity and divided loyalties. As the People's Republic is established in China, tensions in Hong Kong intensify, and Suyin is treated with increasing suspicion by the colonial elites. With the lines between West and East ever starker, are Mark and Suyin delaying the inevitable? And can Suyin reclaim the narrative of history?

Originally published in 1952, this is a story of two societies on the cusp of change - colonial Hong Kong and feudal, revolutionary China – in a fresh adaptation for BBC Radio 4.

CAST

Suyin - Chipo Chung

Mark - Billy Howle

Adeline Palmer-Jones/Mrs Cheng - Sarah Lam

Humphrey Palmer Jones - Paul Courtenay Hyu

Robert Hung/William Monk - Daniel York Loh

Nora Hung - Jennifer Lim

Suzanne/ Martha Monk - Elizabeth Chan

Sen/Ah Sun - Jon Chew

Fiona Manton - Ruth Everett

James Manton - Dickon Farmar

Mei..... Ivy Wong

Dramatised by Ming Ho

Directed by Anne Isger

Sound by Andy Garrett and Pete Ringrose

Production Co-ordination by Ben Hollands

A BBC Audio Production

A new dramatisation of Han Suyin's landmark novel of passion and revolution in Hong Kong

Part Two of a new dramatisation of Han Suyin's landmark novel of passion and revolution in Hong Kong. Starring Chipo Chung and Billy Howle.

Dramatist - Marcy Kahan

Lucy - Rosie Day

Charlotte - Rosie Cavaliero

Reverend Beebe - John Heffernan

Mr Emerson - Gerard McDermott

George - Luke Thallon

Eleanor Lavish - Leah Marks

Reverend Eager - Ewan Bailey

Miss Alan - Jessica Turner

Carriage driver/vendor - Alessandro Dowling

Morgan Forster - Daniel Ings

Pianist - Peter Ringrose

Director - Sally Avens

Forster's witty, sunlit story of Lucy Honeychurch's trip to Italy accompanied by her conventional cousin Charlotte.

Arriving at the Pension Bertolini they discover they have no view from their rooms; when another guest offers to swap rooms with them it sets off a train of events that causes Lucy to question the conventions of polite Edwardian society and open herself up to the passion and romance.

Rosie Day (Lucy Honeychurch) has been seen in 'Outlander' 'Living The Dream' and 'Real Love'. She is about to direct her first feature film.

Rosie Cavaliero (Charlotte) credits include: Gentleman Jack, Worzel Gummidge and she has just finished filming Undoing Martin Parker for BBC1

John Heffernan (Reverend Beebe) recently played Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the National and can be seen later this year in A Gentleman in Moscow.

Luke Thallon won the Clarence Derwent award for his performance in Leopoldstadt. He has recently been seen in Patriots at The Almeida Theatre

Forster's story of love and liberation as a young woman is transformed by a trip to Italy.

Dramatist - Marcy Kahan

Lucy - Rosie Day

Cecil - Samuel Barnett

George - Luke Thallon

Mrs Honeychurch - Jane Booker

Reverend Beebe - John Heffernan

Charlotte - Rosie Cavaliero

Freddy - Will Kirk

Mr Emerson - Gerard McDermott

Miss Alan - Jessica Turner

Sir Harry Otway - Ewan Bailey

Morgan Forster - Daniel Ings

Pianist - Peter Ringrose

Director - Sally Avens

Lucy Honeychurch has returned from a transformative trip to Italy to her native Surrey and tradition and family. She is soon engaged to the son of a family friend.

But Lucy can't shake off the intensity of her experiences in Italy and her encounter with the unconventional George Emerson who swept her up in his arms on an Italian hillside.

Forster's hugely enjoyable novel takes a satirical sideswipe at polite Edwardian society and makes a plea for tolerance and inclusion.

EM Forster's witty tale of love and liberation.

Levin loves Kitty, but has a rival in Count Alexei Vronsky. When Anna Karenina arrives in Moscow everything changes. Despite being married, Anna feels herself magnetically drawn to Vronsky. Will their desire be too powerful to contain?

ANNA KARENINA.....Kate Phillips

ALEXEI VRONSKY.....Alfred Enoch

ALEXEI KARENIN.....Rory Kinnear

KONSTANTIN 'KOSTYA' LEVIN.....Sacha Dhawan,

KATERINA 'KITTY' SHCHERBATSKAYA.....Anneika Rose

DARYA 'DOLLY' OBLONSKAYA.....Rosalie Craig

STEPAN 'STIVA' OBLONSKY....Adetomiwa Edun

COUNTESS VRONSKAYA.....Leah Marks

GUARD.....Hasan Dixon

Directed by Nadia Molinari

Sound design by Sharon Hughes

A BBC Audio Drama North Production

A powerful tale of love, desire, and transgression.

Anna and Vronsky embark on a passionate love affair but Anna's husband Karenin will not let her go without a fight. While Levin, heartbroken after Kitty's rejection, retreats to the country.

ANNA KARENINA.....Kate Phillips

ALEXEI VRONSKY.....Alfred Enoch

ALEXEI KARENIN.....Rory Kinnear

KONSTANTIN 'KOSTYA' LEVIN.....Sacha Dhawan,

KATERINA 'KITTY' SHCHERBATSKAYA.....Anneika Rose

DARYA 'DOLLY' OBLONSKAYA.....Rosalie Craig

STEPAN 'STIVA' OBLONSKY....Adetomiwa Edun

MIDWIFE..... Georgie Glen

PORTER.....Hasan Dixon

Directed by Nadia Molinari

Sound design by Sharon Hughes

A BBC Audio Drama North Production

A powerful drama of love, desire and transgression.

While Levin and Kitty celebrate their love, Anna and Vronsky are forced into exile to escape the harsh judgement of society. But Anna's increasing isolation has tragic consequences.

ANNA KARENINA.....Kate Phillips

ALEXEI VRONSKY.....Alfred Enoch

ALEXEI KARENIN.....Rory Kinnear

KONSTANTIN 'KOSTYA' LEVIN.....Sacha Dhawan,

KATERINA 'KITTY' SHCHERBATSKAYA.....Anneika Rose

DARYA 'DOLLY' OBLONSKAYA.....Rosalie Craig

STEPAN 'STIVA' OBLONSKY....Adetomiwa Edun

SERGEI 'SERYOZHA' KARENIN.....Rafferty Railton

THE NURSE/PRINCESS SHCHERBATSKAYA/MADAME KARTASOVA.....Georgie Glen

PRIEST/KUZMA/ PORTER.....Hasan Dixon

Directed by Nadia Molinari

Sound design by Sharon Hughes

A BBC Audio Drama North Production

A tragic tale of love, desire, transgression and retribution.

In this honest and tender memoir from 1958, Brendan Behan upends that public image. Without shying away from the harsh realities of life in prison, Behan tells the story of a stammering IRA rebel who, despite everything, finds true friends, and love, in an English borstal.

2023 marks 100 years since Brendan Behan's birth. This is Martin McNamara's fresh take on the acclaimed writer's memoir.

CAST

Brendan Behan - ¦.. Brendan Coyle

Young Brendan Behan - ¦.. Jonny Holden

Charlie - ¦.. Joseph Ayre

Rae Jeffs - ¦. Leah Marks

Governor Joyce - ¦. Ewan Bailey

Jock - ¦.. Connor Curren

The Sergeant - ¦.. Samuel James

The Priest - ¦.. Gerard McDermott

Dramatist - ¦.. Martin McNamara

Director - ¦.. Anne Isger

Production Co-ordinator - ¦.. Jonathan Powell

Sound - ¦.. Anne Bunting, Jenni Burnett, Ali Craig, Cal Knightley

A BBC Audio Production for BBC Radio 4

Brendan Behan's tender and true account of love and friendship in prison

Ian McEwan's celebrated novel is dramatised by Kate Clanchy.

Starring Blake Ritson, Hattie Morahan and Emma Cunniffe.

First published in 1997, Enduring Love resonates still, addressing urgent themes of loneliness, obsession, and the ways that trauma can burn a path through relationships.

In a famously gripping opening in the Chiltern Hills, a terrified child, alone in the basket of an air balloon, is being dragged away by a gusty wind. Joe and Clarissa abandon their romantic picnic and join a doctor and an unstable loner called Dylan in trying to help. The consequences are unimaginable.

Two distinguished actors, Blake Ritson and Hattie Morahan, a couple themselves, play the couple at the heart of this compulsive and haunting drama about love, guilt, grief and forgiveness.

Joe - ¦.. Blake Ritson

Clarissa - ¦.. Hattie Morahan

Dylan - ¦.. Cassian Bilton

Rachael - ¦.. Emma Cunniffe

Luke - ¦.. Gunnar Cauthery

Leo - ¦.. Zane Siddiqui

With specially composed music by Katharine Seaton, performed by Katharine Seaton (piano) and Constance Froment (flute).

Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling

Sound Designer: David Thomas

Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather

A Flare Path production for BBC Radio 4

Dramatisation of Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel about guilt, forgiveness and love.

1959. Stalin is dead; Soviet society has started to thaw; prisoners are being freed from the labour camps no-one talks about.

Ukrainian sculptor Kira lives a gilded life in Moscow, married to a respected Russian artist. She's just been given a huge commission that involves sculpting a rather attractive young electrician. Life is good.

But then her first husband returns after twenty years in the gulag - the only man she's ever loved...

It's time for Kira and her lovers to face both the past and the future.

Nekrasov's story takes us from the plush world of privileged Moscow to sultry rural Ukraine via post-WWII Kyiv in an examination of the corrosive legacy of repressed history.

Kira....Sharon Small

Vadim....Sandy Grierson

Nikolai....Michael Bertenshaw

Yurochka....Connor Curren

Lusha/Olga....Georgie Glen

Pankratikha/Varia....Helen Belbin

Nadia/Lida/Maria....Blanche Anderson

Lyoshka/NKVD officer....Dickon Farmar

Nekrasov/Sergei....Ewan Bailey

Written by Viktor Nekrasov

Dramatised by Ming Ho

Production Co-ordination by Jenny Mendez

Sound by Ali Craig, Keith Graham, Caleb Knightley, Peter Ringrose

Directed and produced by Abigail le Fleming

A BBC Audio Production

Ming Ho writes for stage, screen, and audio. Her play The Things We Never Said (BBC R4) won WGGB Best Radio Drama Award 2018. Other credits include: Riot Girls: Male Order (BBC Radio 4); EastEnders, Casualty (BBC TV), Heartbeat, The Bill (ITV), site-specific live audio drama, Citizens of Nowhere? (Chinese Arts Now/Southbank Centre), British People (The Uncertain Kingdom anthology), Royal Court Theatre Writers' Group, and commissions for Leeds Playhouse and Theatr Clwyd.

Love, lust and loss. Soviet bestseller about Kira, a Ukrainian sculptor in Moscow.

Valentin is a revolutionary Marxist imprisoned for his political actions, Molina a gay window dresser imprisoned for his sexuality. Sometimes they talk all night long. In the still darkness of their Buenos Aires cell, Molina re-weaves the glittering stories of the film he loves, and Valentin listens. A tender relationship grows between them and they form a bond so intimate - and a relationship so profoundly affecting - that only the other can understand.

But Molina holds a secret - the promise of an early release if he can get his cellmate to talk. Will Molina turn informer or is he actually playing his own game at the expense of the authorities?

Set in Villa Devoto prison in Buenos Aires in 1975 during Argentina's Dirty War.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is written by Manuel Puig and translated by Allan Baker

Molina.....Kadiff Kirwan

Valentin.....Alfred Enoch

Warden.....John Lightbody

The bolero song 'Mi Carta' by Mario Clavell was re-arranged by Jules Maxwell

Sound design by Sharon Hughes

Produced and directed by Nadia Molinari

BBC Audio Drama North

Manuel Puig's classic stage play, translated by Allan Baker.

A redemptive love story between two prisoners, the apolitical window dresser Molina and the committed leftist guerrillero Valentin.

The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi) is an icon of Italian literature as well as the country's most popular novel. In it, engaged couple Renzo and Lucia attempt to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to be together.

Published in 1827, The Betrothed is the story of two lovers who want nothing more than to marry. Lombardy, their region of northern Italy, is under Spanish occupation, and when the Spaniard Don Rodrigo blocks their union in an attempt to have Lucia for himself, the couple are forced to resist his plots while beset by the hazards of war, bread riots and the machinations of a nameless crime lord .

Groundbreakingly popular in its day and hugely influential to succeeding generations, Manzoni's masterwork is so integral to contemporary Italian culture that it has never been out of print, and every schoolchild reads it to this day.

a bona fide canonical classic hiding in plain sight' - The Wall Street Journal

Lucia - .. Hiftu Quasem

Renzo - .. Ian Dunnett Jnr

Father Abbondio - .. Paul Higgins

Gabriel/Servant Boy - .. Joel Maccormack

Griso / Officer - .. Owen Whitelaw

Nibbio/ Ambrogio - .. Tunji Kasim

Agnese - .. Maureen Beattie

Brother Cristoforo - .. Ewan Bailey

Nameless / Old Friar - .. Jonathan Forbes

Rodrigo / Boss / Boatman / Traveller - .. Sandy Grierson

Gertrude / Gilda - .. Chloe Pirrie

Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane

Two lovers want nothing more than to marry. But it's not that simple.

Two lovers want nothing more than to marry but are prevented by a powerful lord and are forced to flee.

Lucia - ¦.. Hiftu Quasem

Renzo - ¦.. Ian Dunnett Jnr

Father Abbondio - ¦.. Paul Higgins

Gabriel/Servant Boy - ¦.. Joel Maccormack

Griso / Officer - ¦.. Owen Whitelaw

Nibbio/ Ambrogio - ¦.. Tunji Kasim

Agnese - ¦.. Maureen Beattie

Brother Cristoforo - ¦.. Ewan Bailey

Nameless / Old Friar - ¦.. Jonathan Forbes

Rodrigo / Boss / Boatman / Traveller - ¦.. Sandy Grierson

Gertrude / Gilda - ¦.. Chloe Pirrie

Prevented from marrying by Spanish overlord, Don Rodrigo, the young lovers have fled their village. Finding himself caught up in bread riots in Milan, Renzo has now escaped to safety with his cousin in Bergamo. Meanwhile Lucia has been kidnapped and is being held in the castle of the Nameless lord. But further disaster awaits.

Lucia - .. Hiftu Quasem

Renzo - .. Ian Dunnett Jnr

Father Abbondio - .. Paul Higgins

Gabriel - .. Joel Maccormack

Griso / Bartolo - .. Owen Whitelaw

Nibbio / Medical Officer - .. Tunji Kasim

Agnese - .. Maureen Beattie

Brother Cristoforo - .. Ewan Bailey

Nameless /Scribe - .. Jonathan Forbes

Rodrigo / Father / Borromeo - .. Sandy Grierson

Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane

Prevented from marrying, the young lovers have been forced to go their separate ways.

Prevented from marrying by Spanish overlord, Don Rodrigo, the young lovers have been forced to go their separate ways.

Lucia - ¦.. Hiftu Quasem

Renzo - ¦.. Ian Dunnett Jnr

Father Abbondio - ¦.. Paul Higgins

Gabriel - ¦.. Joel Maccormack

Griso / Bartolo - ¦.. Owen Whitelaw

Nibbio / Medical Officer - ¦.. Tunji Kasim

Agnese - ¦.. Maureen Beattie

Brother Cristoforo - ¦.. Ewan Bailey

Nameless /Scribe - ¦.. Jonathan Forbes

Rodrigo / Father / Borromeo - ¦.. Sandy Grierson

Childhood friends, fisherman Peter Quilliam and eminent lawyer Phillip Christian are both in love with Kate Cregeen. Kate loves Pete, but her father is against the match, forcing Pete to seek his fortune abroad. When false news comes of Pete's death, Kate becomes involved with Philip, but Pete's return leads to conflict - an unhappy marriage, a tussle for a child, and the creation of a fictional life.

Catherine Harvey's adaptation focuses on the heart of Thomas Hall Caine's novel - the love triangle between Kate, Philip and Pete - while drawing on the strong sense of community and legend that are present in the original novel, their story told here by a narrator played by Rakie Ayola.

Hall Caine's story mixes humour and pathos, juxtaposing the personal and the mythic. Its themes have a strong modern resonance - fate, love and loss, the guilt of betrayal, the conflict of friendship and desire, the effects of marrying the wrong man for the right reasons, and whether advancement and ambition should be pursued at any cost - ultimately suggesting that sacrifice is necessary to obtain happiness.

With a cast including several native Manx actors and partly recorded on the Isle of Man, The Manxman draws on the distinctive soundscape of the island as well as the unique accent and dialect of the island's people.

Shennaghee the Storyteller - Rakie Ayola

Kate Cregeen - Evie Killip

Pete Quilliam - Benjamin Karran

Philip Christian - Tom Ward-Thomas

Caesar Cregeen / Peter Christian of Ballawhaine - Stephen Bent

Grannie Cregeen - Annie Kissack

Ross Christian / Doctor / Parson / Governor - Will de Renzy-Martin

Auntie Nan - Aalin Clague

Young Pete - Rafferty McKenna

Young Phil - Finn Franklin

Young Kate - Aalish Kilgallon

Young Ross - Ned Hampton

Other parts were played by Phil Gawne, John Dog Callister, Winnie Callister, Bill Corlett, Richard Corlett, Greg Joughin, Chris Sheard, Chloe Woolley, and members of the cast.

Sound designer: Iain Mackness

Music: David Kilgallon, Kiaull Manninagh, Phynnoderee, Caarjyn Cooidjagh, Cairistìona Dougherty, Skeeal, and The Albert Players

The Manxman was recorded partly on location in the Isle of Man.

Production adviser: Annie Kissack

Special thanks to Culture Vannin, The Bunscoill Ghaelgagh, The Albert Hotel and Maughold Church.

Directed by Iain Mackness

Produced by Ashley Byrne and Kurt Brookes

Adapted from the novel by Thomas Hall Caine by Catherine Harvey

A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4

The Manxman is a love triangle set on the Isle of Man in the 1890s

A love triangle leaves a woman torn between desire and duty, facing the consequences of betrayal. The Manxman is set on the Isle of Man in the 1890s.