Episodes
| Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20070106 | The Tinner's Corpse: A Crowner John Mystery
By Bernard Knight, dramatised by Arnold Evans.
Devon, 1195, and the effusive coroner Sir John de Wolfe, aided by his long suffering clerk, investigates mysterious murders among the complex relationships of the tin-mining community. And if this wasn't enough to occupy them, the unlikely duo need to address some personal issues.
Crowner John ....... John Labanowski
12th century coroner Sir John de Wolfe, aided by his clerk, investigates mysterious deaths Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | ||
| 1968: 4.4.68 | 20080329 | Jon Sen's play recalls the events of the last days of Martin Luther King's life. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| 1968: Let's Murder Vivaldi | 20080531 | New radio production of David Mercer's 1968 play about tangled relationships. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| 1989: The Shape Of The Table | 20091114 | Originally staged by the National Theatre in 1990, David Edgar's powerful play charts the dramatic and dangerous transition of a fictional eastern European country from hard-line communism to the beginnings of western-style democracy. It is 1989, crowds are gathering in the streets and the Soviets are refusing to send in the troops. The government is on its own and faces a stark choice - suppress the demonstrators or instigate reform. Pavel Prus ...... Tim McInnerny Josef Lutz ...... Henry Goodman Michal Kaplan ...... Jeremy Clyde Victor Spassov ...... Michael Elwyn Petr Vladislav ...... Jonathan Keeble Jan Matkovic ...... Robert Lister Andrei Zietek ...... Joseph Kloska Vera Rousova ...... Carolyn Pickles Jan Milev ...... Christian Rodska Victoria Brodskaya ...... Laura Matthews Monica Freie ...... Emerald O'Hanrahan Original music by Malcolm McKee Direcred by Peter Leslie Wild. By David Edgar. Crowds gather in the streets of a fictional eastern European country. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| A Christmas Carol | 20141220 | By Charles Dickens.
A new version of the seasonal classic adapted for actors, the BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Orchestra by Neil Brand and recorded before an audience in the BBC Maida Vale Studios.
Ebenezer Scrooge questions his ghostly guides and demands answers to the great questions we all face.
Director: David Hunter
Adapted for actors and orchestra by Neil Brand.
Music: The BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers. Conductor: Martin Andre. Producer: Ann McKay.
Charles Dickens's classic story, adapted for actors, singers and orchestra by Neil Brand. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| A Month in the Country | 20101120 | By J. L. Carr
WW1 survivor Tom Birkin spends a summer uncovering a medieval mural in the Yorkshire village of Oxgodby. Here he discovers treasures, riches he thought the war had blown away for ever.
Cast
Tom Birkin, a Londoner has survived the Great War but is left with a stammer, a nervous twitch, and vivid nightmares. He is given the summer job of uncovering an ancient wall-painting in the church of Oxgodby, Yorkshire. When he arrives he discovers that Charles Moon, is already there. Moon is trying to uncover the bones of a medieval ancestor of the local woman (now deceased) whose will stipulated that funds be allocated from her estate both for this and for Birkin's task, and to find out the reason for their burial outside the church grounds. The two men share their horrific war-time experiences over early morning cups of tea in Moon's tent, bonding in what soon becomes a strong, delicately understated, friendship.
The work on the wall-painting progresses and reveals an unusually painted figure. Meanwhile Birkin begins to fall in love with Alice, the beautiful wife of the cold and unsympathetic vicar. As the summer days pass Birkin becomes more enmeshed in village life, more drawn to Alice. He discovers anew the gifts of compassion and acceptance, of friendship and respect that he thought the Great War had obliterated. And finally the vital connection between Birkin's and Moon's tasks is revealed.
A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY was the last piece of work by award-winning playwright Dave Sheasby who died in 2010.
Shell-shocked WW1 survivor Tom Birkin finds welcome recovery in a remote Yorkshire village Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| A Month in the Country | 20101120 | 20120505 (R4) | By J. L. Carr
WW1 survivor Tom Birkin spends a summer uncovering a medieval mural in the Yorkshire village of Oxgodby. Here he discovers treasures, riches he thought the war had blown away for ever.
Cast
Tom Birkin, a Londoner has survived the Great War but is left with a stammer, a nervous twitch, and vivid nightmares. He is given the summer job of uncovering an ancient wall-painting in the church of Oxgodby, Yorkshire. When he arrives he discovers that Charles Moon, is already there. Moon is trying to uncover the bones of a medieval ancestor of the local woman (now deceased) whose will stipulated that funds be allocated from her estate both for this and for Birkin's task, and to find out the reason for their burial outside the church grounds. The two men share their horrific war-time experiences over early morning cups of tea in Moon's tent, bonding in what soon becomes a strong, delicately understated, friendship.
The work on the wall-painting progresses and reveals an unusually painted figure. Meanwhile Birkin begins to fall in love with Alice, the beautiful wife of the cold and unsympathetic vicar. As the summer days pass Birkin becomes more enmeshed in village life, more drawn to Alice. He discovers anew the gifts of compassion and acceptance, of friendship and respect that he thought the Great War had obliterated. And finally the vital connection between Birkin's and Moon's tasks is revealed.
A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY was the last piece of work by award-winning playwright Dave Sheasby who died in 2010.
Shell-shocked WW1 survivor Tom Birkin finds welcome recovery in a remote Yorkshire village Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| A Night with Johnny Stompanato | 20080712 | Jonathan Holloway's hard-boiled Hollywood drama is based on a true story.
One night in 1958, police were called to the home of 'sweater girl' Lana Turner. The actress's current boyfriend Johnny Stampanato lay in a pool of blood, stabbed to death by Lana's daughter Cheryl. At the subsequent inquest, Turner gave the performance of her life.
Lana Turner ...... Laurence Bouvard
Directed by Sara Davies.
Jonathan Holloway's drama is based on the story of the death of Lana Turner's boyfriend. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| A Slow Air | 20121201 | 20131108 (R4) | by David Harrower. Siblings Morna and Athol haven't spoken to each other for fourteen years. As they recount their troubled history, they tell the story of modern Scotland. Athol lives in Houston, round the corner from where the Glasgow Airport bombers planned their raid in 2007. He believes that only Scotland could produce such 'crap terrorists'. Dyed-in-the-wool SNP supporter Morna remembers the good old days of well-intended protest. As they talk, their differences - political, social, even musical - begin to seem less important. David Harrower is one of Scotland's leading playwrights. His work includes BLACKBIRD, KNIVES IN HENS and 365 as well as many adaptations and translations. BLACKBIRD was an astonishing tour de force and has received international acclaim. His play, GOOD WITH PEOPLE and his translation of Schiller's MARY STUART have recently been broadcast on radio. Director - David Harrower Producer - Gaynor Macfarlane. By David Harrower. Siblings Morna and Athol have not spoken for 14 years. Why not? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| A Special Kind Of Dark | 20120728 | 20130830 (R4) | A year ago Caspar was locked up and declared criminally insane. Finally he breaks his silence to reveal a deadly tale of love and politics. But is he telling the truth? A psychological thriller by Adrian Penketh. Directed by Toby Swift ***** Adrian Penketh has written a number of plays for Radio 4, including THE WATERBUCKS, which was shortlisted for the Imison Award, and an adaptation of Balzac's THE WILD ASSES SKIN which was runner-up for the Prix Italia in 2011. Paul Rhys and David Schofield star in Adrian Penketh's psychological thriller. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| A Voyage round My Father | 20070421 | A Voyage round My Father: John Mortimer's touching memoir of his early life and career. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Adam Thorpe, Devastated Areas | 20061111 | 20090606 (R4) | Adam Thorpe's play explores civilian grief during and after the Great War of 1914-1918 in three interweaving stories. In Berlin, a sculptress is working on a memorial statue to the volunteers; in the valley of the Somme a glazier is repairing the blown-out windows of a church; and on the Berkshire Downs a gardener tends his roses. Sofie - Eliza Langland Ernst - Finlay Welsh Reg - Richard Greenwood Jess - Lucy Paterson Auguste - Jimmy Chisholm Monsieur le Cur退 - Gareth Thomas Mrs Lombard - Noreen Leighton Colin - Matthew Pidgeon Pianist Leon Coates. Adam Thorpe's play explores civilian grief during and after the Great War of 1914-1918. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Agatha Christie - And Then There Were None | 20101113 | Ten guests are separately invited to an island by a person none of them knows very well, if at-all. When they arrive, it seems they have all been invited for different reasons. Nothing quite adds up.
An anonymous voice accuses each of them of having murdered someone. By the end of the first night, one of the guests is dead. Stranded by a violent storm and tormented by the nursery rhyme 'Ten Little Soldier Boys', the ten guests fear for their lives. Who is the killer? Is it one of them?
Agatha Christie's famous detective story without a detective. First published in 1939.
Vera Claythorne ...... Lyndsey Marshal
Dramatised by Joy Wilkinson.
'And Then There Were None' was named the world's favourite Agatha Christie novel in a poll in September 2015.
Director: Mary Peate
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.
Ten guests travel to an island. Each is an unconvicted murderer. None will leave alive. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Agatha Christie - And Then There Were None | 20101113 | 20130824 (R4) | Ten guests are separately invited to an island by a person none of them knows very well, if at-all. When they arrive, it seems they have all been invited for different reasons. Nothing quite adds up.
An anonymous voice accuses each of them of having murdered someone. By the end of the first night, one of the guests is dead. Stranded by a violent storm and tormented by the nursery rhyme 'Ten Little Soldier Boys', the ten guests fear for their lives. Who is the killer? Is it one of them?
Agatha Christie's famous detective story without a detective. First published in 1939.
Vera Claythorne ...... Lyndsey Marshal
Dramatised by Joy Wilkinson.
'And Then There Were None' was named the world's favourite Agatha Christie novel in a poll in September 2015.
Director: Mary Peate
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.
Ten guests travel to an island. Each is an unconvicted murderer. None will leave alive. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Agatha Christie - Endless Night | 20080830 | Lonely drifter Mike Rogers finally settles down when he meets young heiress Ellie Guteman. They build the house of their dreams in a beautiful and remote area, ignoring rumours of a curse.
With their arrival, however, the curse seems to come to life, and they find themselves in grave danger...
Joy Wilkinson's adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1967 psychological thriller.
Starring Jonathan Forbes as Mike, Lizzy Watts as Ellie, Sarah Stewart as Greta, Victoria Lennox as Mrs Lee, Chris Pavlo as Mr Constantine, John Rowe as Philpott, Joseph Tremain as Young Mike, Dan Starkey as Santonix and Thomas Brown-Lowe as Oscar.
Original music by Nicolai Abrahamsen.
Director: Sam Hoyle
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2008.
A complex tale of love, deception and comeuppance for an overambitious working lad. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| AL Kennedy - Confessions of a Medium | 20100313 | Starring Bill Nighy as Thomson and Robert Glenister as Mr. Parker. A gothic, shadowy, and darkly comic drama about illusion, delusion and desire. Based on a true story in 1870's London. Mr. Parker is a sincere and kind man in search of a higher meaning to life. He has moved from conventional religion to s退ances and spiritualism. He believes he's met his saviour in the guise of Mr. Thomson - a charming, erudite, and utterly mesmerising medium, but unbeknown to Parker, Thomson is a complete and utter fake.
DIRECTED BY PAULINE HARRIS
In 1870s London, Mr Parker is looking for more meaning to life, and then meets a medium. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| AL Kennedy - Confessions of a Medium | 20130301 | Starring Bill Nighy as Thomson and Robert Glenister as Mr. Parker. A gothic, shadowy, and darkly comic drama about illusion, delusion and desire. Based on a true story in 1870's London. Mr. Parker is a sincere and kind man in search of a higher meaning to life. He has moved from conventional religion to s退ances and spiritualism. He believes he's met his saviour in the guise of Mr. Thomson - a charming, erudite, and utterly mesmerising medium, but unbeknown to Parker, Thomson is a complete and utter fake.
DIRECTED BY PAULINE HARRIS
In 1870s London, Mr Parker is looking for more meaning to life, and then meets a medium. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Alan Ayckbourn - Man of the Moment | 20090411 | A new production of the dark comedy by Sir Alan Ayckbourn, to mark the occasion of the playwright's 70th birthday. A career criminal, who has written an autobiography and is now a television celebrity, agrees to participate in a reality TV show filmed at his Mediterranean villa.
Jill Rillington ...... Lisa Dillon
Directed by Martin Jarvis.
A criminal turned TV celebrity agrees to participate in a reality show. Dark comedy. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Alan Bennett, Denmark Hill | 20140927 | 20160402 (R4) | Alan Bennett's idiosyncratic take on the Hamlet story adapted for radio. Seen largely through the beady eyes of a 15 year old schoolgirl, this is Bennett in black comedy mode. The play is set in a leafy south London suburb, in the year of an election. Gwen's husband, Frank, lies ill in bed upstairs while downstairs Harriet, her daughter, is struggling with an essay on "Shakespeare's view of the family". In the aftermath of Frank's death we slowly realise we are being drawn into a strangely familiar story - a suburban Hamlet. In different guises here come Claudius, Gertrude, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Polonius and Ophelia. Even the players play their part. Denmark Hill was originally written as an uncommissioned TV/film screenplay in 1981/2. For whatever reasons, Bennett can't remember, he kept it in a drawer until it went with all his papers to the Bodleian library for archival storage. Honor Borwick urged Tristram Powell, with Bennett's permission, to search the archives. At last Powell unearthed the hand typed script. Denmark Hill is Bennett's own kind of observational comedy, the Hamlet connections are never heavy, just lightly touched on. It is narrated by Alan Bennett, directed by Tristram Powell, adapted for radio by Honor Borwick and produced by Marilyn Imrie. Written by Alan Bennett A Catherine Bailey Production for BBC Radio 4. Idiosyncratic take on Hamlet seen largely through the eyes of a 15-year old-girl. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. Alan Bennett's idiosyncratic take on the Hamlet story adapted for radio. Seen largely through the beady eyes of a 15 year old schoolgirl, this is Bennett in black comedy mode. The play is set in a leafy south London suburb, in the year of an election. Gwen's husband, Frank, lies ill in bed upstairs while downstairs Harriet, her daughter, is struggling with an essay on "Shakespeare's view of the family". In the aftermath of Frank's death we slowly realise we are being drawn into a strangely familiar story - a suburban Hamlet. In different guises here come Claudius, Gertrude, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Polonius and Ophelia. Even the players play their part. Denmark Hill was originally written as an uncommissioned TV/film screenplay in 1981/2. For whatever reasons, Bennett can't remember, he kept it in a drawer until it went with all his papers to the Bodleian library for archival storage. Honor Borwick urged Tristram Powell, with Bennett's permission, to search the archives. At last Powell unearthed the hand typed script. Denmark Hill is Bennett's own kind of observational comedy, the Hamlet connections are never heavy, just lightly touched on. It is narrated by Alan Bennett, directed by Tristram Powell, adapted for radio by Honor Borwick and produced by Marilyn Imrie. Written by Alan Bennett A Catherine Bailey Production for BBC Radio 4. Idiosyncratic take on Hamlet seen largely through the eyes of a 15-year old-girl. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Alan Garner - The Weirdstone of Brisingamen | 20111119 | Written by Alan Garner.
A much-loved story firmly rooted in an ancient landscape offers a thrilling and moving adventure.
Say 'Alderley Edge' to a lot of people and they'll think of footballers with their wives, living in grand mansions. But for a great many the words will conjure up wizards and a hundred knights sleeping in a cave for thousands of years.
Alan Garner used a local legend as the starting point for his bookThe Weirdstone of Brisingamen and the story is firmly set in the part of Cheshire that he knows so well. The book has been cherished by readers of all ages for fifty years.
Alan Garner's story,dramatised by Peter Thomson, is set on Alderley Edge and stems from a local legend of knights sleeping in a cave for hundreds of years, ready to awake and save the world from evil when the need comes.Wizards and dwarfs play their part, but it's two children who seem to hold the key to the future.
Dramatised by Peter Thomson
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
In Alderley Edge, local legend tells of sleeping knights ready to awake to save the world. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Alan Garner - The Weirdstone of Brisingamen | 20111119 | 20121123 (R4) | Written by Alan Garner.
A much-loved story firmly rooted in an ancient landscape offers a thrilling and moving adventure.
Say 'Alderley Edge' to a lot of people and they'll think of footballers with their wives, living in grand mansions. But for a great many the words will conjure up wizards and a hundred knights sleeping in a cave for thousands of years.
Alan Garner used a local legend as the starting point for his bookThe Weirdstone of Brisingamen and the story is firmly set in the part of Cheshire that he knows so well. The book has been cherished by readers of all ages for fifty years.
Alan Garner's story,dramatised by Peter Thomson, is set on Alderley Edge and stems from a local legend of knights sleeping in a cave for hundreds of years, ready to awake and save the world from evil when the need comes.Wizards and dwarfs play their part, but it's two children who seem to hold the key to the future.
Dramatised by Peter Thomson
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
In Alderley Edge, local legend tells of sleeping knights ready to awake to save the world. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Amelia Bullmore - The Middle | 20091212 | by Amelia Bullmore
Clare is the golden middle sister in a family headed by a formidable matriarch, Luca. Clare meets and quickly marries Martin, who falls just as much in love with her fun, sparky family. But Martin makes a mistake and sets in train a series of events which brings the family to its knees.
Clare ..... Emma Cunniffe
Directed by Mary Peate.
A close family is brought to its knees by one momentary indiscretion. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Amelia Bullmore - The Middle | 20091212 | 20111105 (R4) | by Amelia Bullmore
Clare is the golden middle sister in a family headed by a formidable matriarch, Luca. Clare meets and quickly marries Martin, who falls just as much in love with her fun, sparky family. But Martin makes a mistake and sets in train a series of events which brings the family to its knees.
Clare ..... Emma Cunniffe
Directed by Mary Peate.
A close family is brought to its knees by one momentary indiscretion. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| An American Rose | 20120128 | 20120907 (R4) 20120303 (R4) | by Charlotte Jones The Kennedys were the most famous family in England when Joseph became American Ambassador in London. But daughter Rosemary's behaviour began to cause the family increasing concern. Produced by Claire Grove Directed by Sally Avens Award winning writer Charlotte Jones' play is inspired by the lives of two of JFK's sisters, 'Rosemary' Kennedy, who died in 2005, but underwent a prefrontal lobotomy aged 23 and Kathleen 'Kick' Kennedy who married the heir to the Duke of Devonshire. Charlotte's work includes 'Airswimming' and 'Humble Boy' for the National Theatre. She has written several plays for Radio. By Charlotte Jones. Chilling story of the tragic fate of Rosemary Kennedy, JFK's sister. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. by Charlotte Jones The Kennedys were the most famous family in England when Joseph became American Ambassador in London. But daughter Rosemary's behaviour began to cause the family increasing concern. Produced by Claire Grove Directed by Sally Avens Award winning writer Charlotte Jones' play is inspired by the lives of two of JFK's sisters, 'Rosemary' Kennedy, who died in 2005, but underwent a prefrontal lobotomy aged 23 and Kathleen 'Kick' Kennedy who married the heir to the Duke of Devonshire. Charlotte's work includes 'Airswimming' and 'Humble Boy' for the National Theatre. She has written several plays for Radio. By Charlotte Jones. Chilling story of the tragic fate of Rosemary Kennedy, JFK's sister. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| An English Tragedy | 20100508 | Based on actual events at the end of World War Two, this play by Oscar winner Ronald Harwood stars Derek Jacobi.
May 1945: victory in Europe, and a Labour landslide. English traitor John Amery is arrested in Italy and brought back to London for trial. If convicted, he faces the death penalty. But his father is a senior politician; surely the Establishment will look after its own...
The play charts the weeks leading up to the execution, following John's arrest in Italy and trial in London. Like a real-life Sebastian Flyte, he clutches his teddy bear, lies, boasts and jokes as the day of execution draws inexorably nearer. Meanwhile his distraught parents try everything in their power to save him.
John Amery was the Harrow educated son of Churchill's Secretary of State for India, Leo Amery. His brother Julian was later to become a prominent Conservative MP. A troubled man, who had been expelled from Public School and bankrupted as a young entrepreneur, John became a passionate fascist. He broadcast pro-Nazi propaganda during World War 2 and ran a programme recruiting British POWs to fight for Germany on the Eastern Front. Unlike his brother Julian, John was a wild boy - bisexual, hedonistic and unstable. Why?
Ronald Harwood's work as a screen writer includes The Pianist, which won him an Oscar for Best Screenplay and his films The Dresser and The Diving Bell and The Butterfly also won Oscar nominations.
John Amery ..... Geoffrey Streatfield
Written by Ronald Harwood
The producer is Frank Stirling, and this is a Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
By Ronald Harwood. The true story of Second World War traitor John Amery. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Annie Caulfield - The Von Trapps And Me | 20181106 | 20091003 (R4) | Annie Caulfield's comedy tells the famous story of the Von Trapp family singers from the perspective of the Princess Yvonne, the woman Captain Von Trapp jilted in order to marry Maria.
Princess Yvonne ...... Helen Froggatt
Directed by Mary Ward-Lowery.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
The famous story of the Von Trapps told from another perspective. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Arcadia | 20070630 | Tom Stoppard's acclaimed comedy, set in the early 19th and late 20th centuries. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Backtrack | 20070210 | A volunteer helper at a temporary centre for the homeless finds herself oddly interested in one of the down-and-outs, and for once allows herself to follow her instincts.
Starring Maxine Peake as Jan, Joseph Kloska as Fiz, Mark Straker as Matt and Marcella Riordan as Molly.
Director: Jane Morgan
Writer Jill Hyem (1937-2015) was a major contributor on BBC TV's serial 'Tenko'. This led to her writing for BBC Radio 2's daily soap 'The Dales', 'Waggoner's Walk' and a number of other single radio plays including 'A Shape Like Piccadilly' and 'Equal Terms'.
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2007.
A volunteer at a homeless shelter becomes intrigued by one of its residents. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Bar Mitzvah Boy | 20111112 | BAR MITZVAH BOY
A radio version of Jack Rosenthal's award-winning television play about a boy having his Bar Mitzvah - the ceremony in which a thirteen year old becomes a man in the Jewish faith.
At the tender age of thirteen Eliot Green is about to become a man - in the Jewish religion at least. In synagogue, in front of the whole congregation, he will read and sing in Hebrew from the Torah (the Hebrew scrolls) - this after a year of intensive tuition. Later he will enjoy receiving gifts from relatives and friends as he celebrates with them at his Bar Mitzvah party.
This play along with many others established the late Jack Rosenthal as one of Britain's best loved television writers. A master at creating characters that you could recognise and empathise with, his plays were always sharp and finely tuned with a rich helping of humour.
This new version of Bar Mitzvah Boy is specially adapted for radio by Jack's daughter, the playwright Amy Rosenthal.
Produced and directed by David Ian Neville.
Is 13-year-old Eliot Green ready to become a man in the Jewish faith? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Bar Mitzvah Boy | 20111112 | 20131004 (R4) | BAR MITZVAH BOY
A radio version of Jack Rosenthal's award-winning television play about a boy having his Bar Mitzvah - the ceremony in which a thirteen year old becomes a man in the Jewish faith.
At the tender age of thirteen Eliot Green is about to become a man - in the Jewish religion at least. In synagogue, in front of the whole congregation, he will read and sing in Hebrew from the Torah (the Hebrew scrolls) - this after a year of intensive tuition. Later he will enjoy receiving gifts from relatives and friends as he celebrates with them at his Bar Mitzvah party.
This play along with many others established the late Jack Rosenthal as one of Britain's best loved television writers. A master at creating characters that you could recognise and empathise with, his plays were always sharp and finely tuned with a rich helping of humour.
This new version of Bar Mitzvah Boy is specially adapted for radio by Jack's daughter, the playwright Amy Rosenthal.
Produced and directed by David Ian Neville.
Is 13-year-old Eliot Green ready to become a man in the Jewish faith? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Beast at Bay | 20071208 | Beast at Bay
Robin Glendinning's play tells the story of the publication of Boris Pasternak's classic 20th-century novel Dr Zhivago. Censored by the Soviet regime, the book was first published in Italy 50 years ago after the manuscript was smuggled out of the country. The book's appearance caused furore in the Soviet Union and a debacle followed when Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Directed by Tim Dee.
Robin Glendinning's play recalls the publication of Boris Pasternak's classic Dr Zhivago. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Beast at Bay | 20071208 | 20130125 (R4) | Beast at Bay
Robin Glendinning's play tells the story of the publication of Boris Pasternak's classic 20th-century novel Dr Zhivago. Censored by the Soviet regime, the book was first published in Italy 50 years ago after the manuscript was smuggled out of the country. The book's appearance caused furore in the Soviet Union and a debacle followed when Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Directed by Tim Dee.
Robin Glendinning's play recalls the publication of Boris Pasternak's classic Dr Zhivago. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Beat the Dog in His Own Kennel | 20080621 | By Gary Brown
In recently released secret documents it was revealed there was a plot initiated in the Middle East to kill the British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin just after the Second World War. In this fictionalised account, East End market trader Harry becomes caught up in these events and quickly finds himself out of his depth as he comes under the spell of a mysterious visitor from Palestine.
Harry - Jonathan Tafler
Director - Peter Leslie Wild.
By Gary Brown. A market trader becomes mixed up in a post-war terrorist plot. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Beat the Dog in His Own Kennel | 20080621 | 20101023 (R4) | By Gary Brown
In recently released secret documents it was revealed there was a plot initiated in the Middle East to kill the British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin just after the Second World War. In this fictionalised account, East End market trader Harry becomes caught up in these events and quickly finds himself out of his depth as he comes under the spell of a mysterious visitor from Palestine.
Harry - Jonathan Tafler
Director - Peter Leslie Wild.
By Gary Brown. A market trader becomes mixed up in a post-war terrorist plot. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Betrayal | 20120714 | 20170422 (R4) | Harold Pinter's acclaimed drama about a love affair and the intricate nature of deceit which is told in reverse time from its poignant ending to its thrilling first kiss. Emma ..... Olivia Colman Jerry ..... Andrew Scott Robert ..... Charles Edwards Waiter ..... Gerard McDermott Produced/directed by Gaynor Macfarlane Harold Pinter was born in London in 1930. His writing career spanned over 50 years and produced 29 original stage plays, 27 screenplays, many dramatic sketches, radio and TV plays, poetry, one novel, short fiction, essays, speeches, and letters. In 2005 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and, in the same year, the Wilfred Owen Award for Poetry and the Franz Kafka Award (Prague). In 2006 he was awarded the Europe Theatre Prize and, in 2007, the highest French honour, the L退gion d'honneur. He died in December 2008. Andrew Scott recently won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor. Harold Pinter's acclaimed drama about a love affair and the intricate nature of deceit. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. Harold Pinter's acclaimed drama about a love affair and the intricate nature of deceit which is told in reverse time from its poignant ending to its thrilling first kiss. Emma ..... Olivia Colman Jerry ..... Andrew Scott Robert ..... Charles Edwards Waiter ..... Gerard McDermott Produced/directed by Gaynor Macfarlane Harold Pinter was born in London in 1930. His writing career spanned over 50 years and produced 29 original stage plays, 27 screenplays, many dramatic sketches, radio and TV plays, poetry, one novel, short fiction, essays, speeches, and letters. In 2005 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and, in the same year, the Wilfred Owen Award for Poetry and the Franz Kafka Award (Prague). In 2006 he was awarded the Europe Theatre Prize and, in 2007, the highest French honour, the L退gion d'honneur. He died in December 2008. Andrew Scott recently won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor. Harold Pinter's acclaimed drama about a love affair and the intricate nature of deceit. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Betrayal - Plenty | 20080614 | David Hare's play contrasts the experiences of an Englishwoman helping the French Resistance during the Second World War with her life over the following 20 years. The drama offers a unique view of postwar history as well as making a powerful statement about changing values and the collapse of ideals embodied in a single life.
Susan Traherne ...... Miranda Richardson
Directed by John Dove.
David Hare's play contrasts the WWII experiences of an Englishwoman with her later life. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Blasphemy And The Governor Of Punjab | 20120908 | 20160401 (R4) | On 4th January 2011, self-made millionaire businessman and governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, was gunned down in the car park of a popular Islamabad market. He had been leading a campaign to amend Pakistan's blasphemy laws, after an illiterate 45-year-old Christian woman, Asia Bibi, from a village in his province had been sentenced to death for blasphemy. Within hours of his death, a Facebook fan page for the assassin Mumtaz Qadri had over 2000 members, before site administrators shut it down. When Qadri was transferred to jail, he was garlanded with roses by a crowd of lawyers offering to take on his case for free. President Asif Ali Zardari, an old friend of Taseer's, didn't go to the funeral for fear of inflaming public opinion. Leaders of state-funded mosques refused to say funeral prayers for the slain governor. The Interior Minister even gave an impromptu press conference announcing that he too would kill any blasphemer with his own hands. Using his extensive contacts in Pakistan, presenter Owen Bennett-Jones has interviewed Taseer's family and friends and the family of the assassin. He has also secured access to court documents including the killer's confession. The programme includes both interviews and dramatic reconstructions. Presented by Owen Bennett-Jones Sound Design - Steve Bond Executive Producer: Jeremy Skeet Director: John Dryden A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4. Gripping account of the murder of Pakistani politician and businessman Salmaan Taseer. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. On 4th January 2011, self-made millionaire businessman and governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, was gunned down in the car park of a popular Islamabad market. He had been leading a campaign to amend Pakistan's blasphemy laws, after an illiterate 45-year-old Christian woman, Asia Bibi, from a village in his province had been sentenced to death for blasphemy. Within hours of his death, a Facebook fan page for the assassin Mumtaz Qadri had over 2000 members, before site administrators shut it down. When Qadri was transferred to jail, he was garlanded with roses by a crowd of lawyers offering to take on his case for free. President Asif Ali Zardari, an old friend of Taseer's, didn't go to the funeral for fear of inflaming public opinion. Leaders of state-funded mosques refused to say funeral prayers for the slain governor. The Interior Minister even gave an impromptu press conference announcing that he too would kill any blasphemer with his own hands. Using his extensive contacts in Pakistan, presenter Owen Bennett-Jones has interviewed Taseer's family and friends and the family of the assassin. He has also secured access to court documents including the killer's confession. The programme includes both interviews and dramatic reconstructions. Presented by Owen Bennett-Jones Sound Design - Steve Bond Executive Producer: Jeremy Skeet Director: John Dryden A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4. Gripping account of the murder of Pakistani politician and businessman Salmaan Taseer. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Blinded by the Sun | 20080308 | Stephen Poliakoff's 1996 National Theatre play about a scientific fraud in a university. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Blithe Spirit | 20081213 | Bert Coules' adaptation of the Noel Coward comedy.
When writer Charles Condomine invites a medium to hold a seance at his country house, he receives a ghostly visitation from his dead first wife, to the chagrin of his very much alive second one.
Charles ...... Roger Allam
Directed by Philip Franks.
At a seance at his house, a writer receives a ghostly visitation from his dead first wife. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Bloody Sunday: Scenes from the Saville Inquiry, part 2 | 20100612 | Bloody Sunday remains one of the most controversial issues in Northern Ireland; it is over 12 years since Tony Blair announced an inquiry into the events of that day. Lord Saville's Report will be published on Tuesday the 15th June. Bloody Sunday: Scenes from the Saville Inquiry is a compelling and moving dramatisation based on the testimony of civilians and soldiers who were there.
Bloody Sunday: Scenes from the Saville Inquiry
Part two of a two part dramatisation of the Saville Inquiry into the events of Sunday the 30th January, 1972 - Bloody Sunday. Part two focuses on the testimony of the soldiers and ends with a former member of the Official IRA. The transcripts are edited but not re-written and the sequence of the evidence has not been altered.
IntroductionMark Penfold
Introduction and Radio Adaptation by Richard Norton Taylor
On the 29th of January, 1998 the then Prime Minister Tony Blair tabled the following resolution in the House of Commons.
"That it is expedient that a Tribunal be established for inquiring into a definite matter of urgent public importance, namely the events on Sunday, 30 January 1972 which led to loss of life in connection with the procession in Londonderry on that day, taking account of any new information relevant to events on that day."
It has been over 12 years since Tony Blair announced the inquiry under Lord Saville into the events of the 30th January, 1972 - Bloody Sunday. Evidence was heard between 1998 and 2005; Lord Saville's report will be published on the 15th June, 2010.
On Bloody Sunday, 13 civilians were killed by soldiers of the British Parachute Regiment who opened fire during a civil rights march. A 14th person died later as a result of their injuries.
The day after the incident, Edward Heath set up a public inquiry under the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery. Lord Widgery produced a report within 11 weeks of Bloody Sunday. The families of the victims considered it to be flawed and that it failed to establish the truth. In 1992, John Major stated that those shot should be regarded as innocent of any allegation that they were shot while handling firearms or explosives.
Pressure for a new inquiry reached a peak in 1997, after a sustained campaign by relatives of the 14 people who died. The families provided the Conservative Government with a new dossier and the Irish Government also sent that government a detailed assessment of new material including new eyewitness accounts, new interpretation of ballistic evidence and new medical evidence.
Bloody Sunday is considered to be a watershed that contributed to the resurgence of the IRA in 1972, the suspension of the Northern Ireland government in March 1972, and direct rule from London. Devolved government was eventually restored in May 2007.
The Bloody Sunday Inquiry is a 2-part radio adaptation of The Tricycle Theatre's production based on the transcripts of the Lord Saville's tribunal. The transcripts are edited to 2 hours of compelling drama as civilians and soldiers give their evidence about what happened on that day. The testimony is edited but not re-written and the sequence of the evidence has not been altered.
Nicolas Kent, Richard Norton Taylor and the Tricycle Theatre have led the way with this style of verbatim theatre. Previous productions for the BBC include: Half the Picture - the Scott Arms to Iraq Inquiry, Nuremberg - the 1946 War Crimes Trial, Srebrenica - the 1996 U.N. rule 61 hearings at the Hague, The Colour of Justice - The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, Justifying War - The Hutton Inquiry, & Called to Account: the indictment of Charles Anthony Lynton Blair for the crime of aggression in Iraq - a hearing.
Testimony of soldiers and a former member of the Official IRA. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Bora Bora | 20080920 | What happened when Alec appeared as a young boy in a famously and mysteriously suppressed film called Bora Bora? It appears to have blighted his entire life while his brother went on to fame as an actor. Charlie, invading a painting holiday in Greece led by the older Alec, now an art-historian, is intent on unravelling secrets. Sir Derek Jacobi takes on the role of Alec in a play specially written for him by Lynne Truss. Cast: Alec Bosanquet - Derek Jacobi Tony Bosanquet - Corin Redgrave Margaret - Cheryl Campbell Charlie - Adrian Bower Rosa - Eve Pearce Jean - Jill Johnson With Stephen Critchlow and Rachel Atkins Producer/Director: Ned Chaillet A Watershed Production for Radio 4. By Lynne Truss. A painting holiday organised by an art historian is rudely disturbed. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Bora Bora | 20100821 | What happened when Alec appeared as a young boy in a famously and mysteriously suppressed film called Bora Bora? It appears to have blighted his entire life while his brother went on to fame as an actor. Charlie, invading a painting holiday in Greece led by the older Alec, now an art-historian, is intent on unravelling secrets. Sir Derek Jacobi takes on the role of Alec in a play specially written for him by Lynne Truss. Cast: Alec Bosanquet - Derek Jacobi Tony Bosanquet - Corin Redgrave Margaret - Cheryl Campbell Charlie - Adrian Bower Rosa - Eve Pearce Jean - Jill Johnson With Stephen Critchlow and Rachel Atkins Producer/Director: Ned Chaillet A Watershed Production for Radio 4. By Lynne Truss. A painting holiday organised by an art historian is rudely disturbed. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Boscobel | 20081129 | A tense and thrilling dramatisation of a real-life escape story from Ian Curteis, starring Simon Woods (Cranford, Rome) as King Charles II.
Defeated in battle following the execution of his father, the future Charles II must flee England or die.
Over a thrilling 40-day journey, young Charles has much to learn - how to live rough, how to evade capture and how to earn the kindness of strangers.
Ian Curteis is a prolific writer for radio and television. His most well known play is The Falklands Play, the story of how Margaret Thatcher's government went to war with Argentina, which was first broadcast on both Radio 4 and BBC 4 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Falklands War.
Cast:
Director: Dirk Maggs
Producer: Rebecca Pinfield
Historical thriller that follows the future Charles II after his father's execution. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Boscobel | 20081129 | 20100828 (R4) | A tense and thrilling dramatisation of a real-life escape story from Ian Curteis, starring Simon Woods (Cranford, Rome) as King Charles II.
Defeated in battle following the execution of his father, the future Charles II must flee England or die.
Over a thrilling 40-day journey, young Charles has much to learn - how to live rough, how to evade capture and how to earn the kindness of strangers.
Ian Curteis is a prolific writer for radio and television. His most well known play is The Falklands Play, the story of how Margaret Thatcher's government went to war with Argentina, which was first broadcast on both Radio 4 and BBC 4 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Falklands War.
Cast:
Director: Dirk Maggs
Producer: Rebecca Pinfield
Historical thriller that follows the future Charles II after his father's execution. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Boz Temple-Morris - Scream | 20100417 | SCREAM is a crime caper based on the extraordinary story behind the theft of Edvard Munch's expressionist masterpiece from an Oslo museum in 2004.
Oslo police are closing in on David Toska, the criminal mastermind behind an audacious cash robbery when two incompetent thieves burst into the Munch Museum in broad daylight and ask for directions to Norway's most famous painting. Amazingly, they emerge with two priceless paintings, The Scream and The Madonna.
Norway's no. 1 detective is pulled off the hunt for Toska and sent after the paintings. So begins a high profile and often bizarre game of cat and mouse as police attempt to track down these national treasures and arrest those behind the robbery.
But things don't run smoothly for robbers or the police as both begin to adopt increasingly unconventional tactics.
The play was written and directed by Boz Temple-Morris, in collaboration with investigative journalist Kris Hollington, and recorded entirely on location in Olso with many of Norway's leading actors. The exact circumstances of the recovery of the paintings have been shrouded in mystery since 2004 though new evidence has now emerged about the dealings between the police and their most wanted man.
Kjell: Christian Rubeck
Other parts were played by Siri Ingul, Catherine Gram, Lars Engebretsen, Endre Haukland, Josefine Coward, Bettina Fleischer and Axel Aubert.
Sound and music by Alisdair McGregor and Howard Jacques
Written by Boz Temple-Morris and Kris Hollington
Directed by Boz Temple-Morris
Scream is a Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4.
Crime caper based on the extraordinary story behind the theft of Edvard Munch's painting. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Breaking The Silence | 20070616 | Stephen Poliakoff's modern classic, set in post-revolutionary Russia. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Brian Friel - Translations | 20100904 | A new production of Brian Friel's masterpiece about language and power.
It's the summer of 1833. In a hedge-school in Donegal, the schoolmaster's prodigal son is about to return from Dublin. With him are two army officers. Their aim is to create a map of the area, and, in the process, replace the Irish place names with English equivalents. It's an act with unexpected and violent consequences.
Thirty years ago playwright Brian Friel and actor Stephen Rea founded the Field Day Theatre Company in Northern Ireland. A company that aimed to provide a 'fifth province' in which Ireland's political and social troubles could be explored and re-imagined. Translations was its first production and became an instant classic. To mark its anniversary, BBC Radio 4 has commissioned a new production, specially adapted for radio by Michael Duke.
Cast:
Yolland.....Samuel Barnett
Director: Kirsty Williams.
Donegal, 1833. Army map-makers plan to change the Irish place names to English ones. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Called to Account | 20070714 | Drama based on a play about Tony Blair's handling of Iraq by The Tricycle Theatre. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Calum's Road | 20131005 | Ian McDiarmid leads this drama inspired by the extraordinary true story of how, over a period of ten years, one man built two miles of road by hand (including passing places) on the Scottish island of Raasay, which lies just off the east coast of Skye.
Set in the 1960s and 1970s, Calum MacLeod desperately wanted to save his dying island community; with schools and medical services located more than a half day's journey away, people were finding it increasingly difficult to continue a way of life handed down to them by their ancestors.
Born in 1911, MacLeod came from a long line of tough, strong and hard-working Raasay folk. When the council repeatedly turned down his requests for a road to link the north of Raasay to the south he would not be beaten. Instead, he went to a second-hand bookshop and found a dusty volume written in 1910: "Road Making And Maintenance - A Practical Treatise for Engineers, Surveyors and Others" and his extraordinary ten year project began.
Colin MacDonald's drama is inspired by Roger Hutchinson's book of the same name.
Other parts are played by members of the cast
Dramatiser: Colin MacDonald.
Drama based on the true story of one Raasay man's road-building feat. Ian McDiarmid stars. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Calum's Road | 20131005 | 20140718 (R4) | Ian McDiarmid leads this drama inspired by the extraordinary true story of how, over a period of ten years, one man built two miles of road by hand (including passing places) on the Scottish island of Raasay, which lies just off the east coast of Skye.
Set in the 1960s and 1970s, Calum MacLeod desperately wanted to save his dying island community; with schools and medical services located more than a half day's journey away, people were finding it increasingly difficult to continue a way of life handed down to them by their ancestors.
Born in 1911, MacLeod came from a long line of tough, strong and hard-working Raasay folk. When the council repeatedly turned down his requests for a road to link the north of Raasay to the south he would not be beaten. Instead, he went to a second-hand bookshop and found a dusty volume written in 1910: "Road Making And Maintenance - A Practical Treatise for Engineers, Surveyors and Others" and his extraordinary ten year project began.
Colin MacDonald's drama is inspired by Roger Hutchinson's book of the same name.
Other parts are played by members of the cast
Dramatiser: Colin MacDonald.
Drama based on the true story of one Raasay man's road-building feat. Ian McDiarmid stars. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Carine Adler - Angel Maker | 20131207 | Angel Maker by Carine Adler
When penniless Hungarian Lili arrives in London with her young daughter, she is determined to use whatever means available to make the arrangement with her rich boyfriend Sam more permanent. A passionate tale of money, sex and the power they bring, set in 1950s London.
Producer/Director Charlotte Riches
Angel Maker is set in mid 1950s, post war London, a time when women had few choices and would be lost without a man to protect them. This was especially true for immigrants like Lili Weiss, a penniless, Jewish Hungarian, who comes to London with her young daughter Rosie in the hope of securing a brighter future for herself and her daughter by marrying Sam, a man whom she had a passionate affair with just after the war. As a development entrepreneur, Sam is rich and powerful and is making a name for himself in the higher echelons of London society. As a Jewish immigrant with no family and no money Lili is at the opposite end of this spectrum. Lili must use her sexuality and charm to encourage Max to go against the prejudice of London society and his own family to take her as his wife.
Lili arrives in London penniless, set on a permanent arrangement with her rich boyfriend. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Carine Adler - Angel Maker | 20131207 | 20150110 (R4) | Angel Maker by Carine Adler
When penniless Hungarian Lili arrives in London with her young daughter, she is determined to use whatever means available to make the arrangement with her rich boyfriend Sam more permanent. A passionate tale of money, sex and the power they bring, set in 1950s London.
Producer/Director Charlotte Riches
Angel Maker is set in mid 1950s, post war London, a time when women had few choices and would be lost without a man to protect them. This was especially true for immigrants like Lili Weiss, a penniless, Jewish Hungarian, who comes to London with her young daughter Rosie in the hope of securing a brighter future for herself and her daughter by marrying Sam, a man whom she had a passionate affair with just after the war. As a development entrepreneur, Sam is rich and powerful and is making a name for himself in the higher echelons of London society. As a Jewish immigrant with no family and no money Lili is at the opposite end of this spectrum. Lili must use her sexuality and charm to encourage Max to go against the prejudice of London society and his own family to take her as his wife.
Lili arrives in London penniless, set on a permanent arrangement with her rich boyfriend. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio | 20121215 | 20140921 (R4) | Carlo Collodi's classic tale of a wooden puppet who wants to be a boy dramatised by Linda Marshall Griffiths. When Geppetto's wooden puppet miraculously comes to life, Geppetto names him Pinocchio and imagines a bright future together. Pinocchio must understand what it is to be a boy and the first step is school. But danger and folly lurk around every corner and it is hard for Pinocchio to find the right path. The world is full of temptation, contradiction and fear. Will Pinocchio find his way to becoming a real boy? Original Music by Olly Fox Sound Design by Steve Brooke Directed by Nadia Molinari. Geppetto's wooden puppet miraculously comes to life. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. Carlo Collodi's classic tale of a wooden puppet who wants to be a boy dramatised by Linda Marshall Griffiths. When Geppetto's wooden puppet miraculously comes to life, Geppetto names him Pinocchio and imagines a bright future together. Pinocchio must understand what it is to be a boy and the first step is school. But danger and folly lurk around every corner and it is hard for Pinocchio to find the right path. The world is full of temptation, contradiction and fear. Will Pinocchio find his way to becoming a real boy? Original Music by Olly Fox Sound Design by Steve Brooke Directed by Nadia Molinari. Geppetto's wooden puppet miraculously comes to life. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Cause Celebre | 20110625 | The Old Vic Theatre's recent production of Terence Rattigan's gripping courtroom drama, directed by Thea Sharrock, starring Anne Marie Duff and Niamh Cusack. 2011 marks the centenary of Terence Rattigan's birth. Cause Celebre was originally a radio play, produced by the BBC in 1975. Rattigan was fascinated by a sensational murder trial at the Old Bailey in 1935 concerning an elderly architect allegedly killed by his much younger wife Alma and George, their handsome odd-job boy. The popular press had a field day - tales of sex, drugs, alcohol and gore were plastered across the papers. The play follows the course of the murder trial and its impact on Edith Davenport, the morally upright forewoman of the jury. Edith is forced to reconsider her initial condemnation of the life-affirming, morally relaxed Alma. Terence Rattigan is one of Britain's most popular 20th century dramatists. Cast: Joan Webster - Lucy Black Francis Rattenbury - Timothy Carlton John Davenport - Simon Chandler Croom-Johnson - Richard Clifford Christopher - Oliver Coopersmith Edith Davenport - Niamh Cusack Alma Rattenbury - Anne-Marie Duff Montagu - Rory Fleck-Byrne Tony Davenport - Freddie Fox Irene Riggs - Jenny Galloway Judge - Patrick Godfrey O'Connor - Nicholas Jones George Wood .......Tommy McDonnell Stella Morrison ....... Lucy Robinson Clerk of the court .....Tristan Shepherd Casswell ....... Richard Teverson Wardress ....... Sarah Waddell Sergeant Bagwell ....... Michael Webber Coroner ....... Tristram Wymark The play was directed by Thea Sharrock and produced by Polly Thomas for Sparklab, from the recent production by the Old Vic Theatre Assistant director: Eleanor While Original music: Adrian Johnston Executive producer: Melanie Harris Producer: Polly Thomas A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4. The Old Vic Theatre's recent production of Terence Rattigan's gripping courtroom drama. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Charlotte Jones - Humble Boy | 20070623 | Felix tries to come to terms with his father's death and mother's personal revelations. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Choice Of Straws | 20090919 | Dramatisation by Roy Williams of the novel by ER Braithwaite. 1960, London's East End: twins Jack and Dave Bennett are a happy-go-lucky, rootless pair. If they do occasionally rough-up a black guy it's just a game to them - until a victim in Whitechapel fights back and Dave pulls a knife. Jack - Harry Hepple Dave - Luke Norris Michelle - Gugu Mbatha-Raw Mum - Ellie Haddington Dad - David Hargreaves Ruth - Annabelle Dowler Mr Spencer - Alex Lanipekun Officer - Stephen Hogan Directed by Claire Grove. By ER Braithwaite. Jack faces up to life after the fatal stabbing of his twin brother Dave Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Christopher Lee - Air-Force One | 20131116 | Martin Jarvis directs a stellar American cast, headed by Stacy Keach, Glenne Headly, Susan Sullivan, Steven Weber - and introduced by Josh Stamberg - in Christopher Lee's extraordinary play.
On November 22nd, 1963, President John F Kennedy was assassinated by a sniper while riding in an open-topped limousine in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas.
What happened immediately after the assassination?
Theories explored in Lee's riveting drama are based on Federal, classified and academic research, diaries and recollections, and statements by Mrs Kennedy - a mix of substantiated and contested documentation. He focuses, first, on the hospital mortuary, and then aboard Air Force One where former Vice President Lyndon B Johnson insists that Judge Sarah Hughes conducts the 'swearing-in' before take-off. Also present in the overcrowded aircraft is Kennedy's widow, Jackie, in a state of shock, still covered in blood. The play becomes a tense thriller as surprising events occur on board.
Other parts: Tracy Pattin, Darren Richardson
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
What really happened after JFK's murder, in the hospital and on the presidential jet? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Christopher Lee - Air-Force One | 20131116 | 20150718 (R4) | Martin Jarvis directs a stellar American cast, headed by Stacy Keach, Glenne Headly, Susan Sullivan, Steven Weber - and introduced by Josh Stamberg - in Christopher Lee's extraordinary play.
On November 22nd, 1963, President John F Kennedy was assassinated by a sniper while riding in an open-topped limousine in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas.
What happened immediately after the assassination?
Theories explored in Lee's riveting drama are based on Federal, classified and academic research, diaries and recollections, and statements by Mrs Kennedy - a mix of substantiated and contested documentation. He focuses, first, on the hospital mortuary, and then aboard Air Force One where former Vice President Lyndon B Johnson insists that Judge Sarah Hughes conducts the 'swearing-in' before take-off. Also present in the overcrowded aircraft is Kennedy's widow, Jackie, in a state of shock, still covered in blood. The play becomes a tense thriller as surprising events occur on board.
Other parts: Tracy Pattin, Darren Richardson
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
What really happened after JFK's murder, in the hospital and on the presidential jet? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Christopher Reason - The Confessions of Caminada | 20131012 | The Confessions of Caminada by Christopher Reason
Jerome Caminada was a real life detective in nineteenth century Manchester. This drama is based on a real life case from his memoirs. It is 1889 and eighteen year old Charlie Parton has been convicted of murder of a respected local councillor. He faces execution but prominent social campaigner Mrs Annie Swinton knows the lad and refuses to believe he is guilty.
Caminada................................George Costigan
Manchester is gripped by an economic depression, the political atmosphere is febrile, there are demonstrations on the streets and crime is spiralling. Only this isn't 2013, it's the 1880s and the man keeping chaos at bay is Detective Inspector JEROME CAMINADA. Combining high principles with low cunning, he cracks down on both political dissent and criminality with single-minded ruthlessness. And yet for all his hard nosed pragmatism, he is capable of moments of insight, humour and compassion. The man is an enigma.
Drama based on a case from the memoirs a real-life detective in 19th-century Manchester. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Christopher Reason - The Confessions of Caminada | 20131012 | 20140725 (R4) | The Confessions of Caminada by Christopher Reason
Jerome Caminada was a real life detective in nineteenth century Manchester. This drama is based on a real life case from his memoirs. It is 1889 and eighteen year old Charlie Parton has been convicted of murder of a respected local councillor. He faces execution but prominent social campaigner Mrs Annie Swinton knows the lad and refuses to believe he is guilty.
Caminada................................George Costigan
Manchester is gripped by an economic depression, the political atmosphere is febrile, there are demonstrations on the streets and crime is spiralling. Only this isn't 2013, it's the 1880s and the man keeping chaos at bay is Detective Inspector JEROME CAMINADA. Combining high principles with low cunning, he cracks down on both political dissent and criminality with single-minded ruthlessness. And yet for all his hard nosed pragmatism, he is capable of moments of insight, humour and compassion. The man is an enigma.
Drama based on a case from the memoirs a real-life detective in 19th-century Manchester. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Cigarettes and Chocolate | 20080503 | Anthony Minghella's Giles Cooper Award-winning radio play.
Gemma's unexplained silence is the catalyst for a reaction amongst her friends and lovers both unfaithful and unrequited, which starts as mild irritation but becomes increasingly uncontrolled as her passive but forceful refusal to speak drives them to distraction.
Anthony Minghella's award-winning radio play. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Close The Coalhouse Door | 20120929 | Close the Coalhouse Door' by Alan Plater with songs by Alex Glasgow. Based on the stories of Sid Chaplin, with additional material by Lee Hall. Northern Stage and Live Theatre's production of the celebrated sixties political docudrama. An exhilaratingly furious, funny and ultimately moving ride through the strikes, victories and frustrations of British mining history, the play captures the political anger and fight for justice of ordinary people from the formation of the first Unions in 1831. At its heart beats the joyous, soulful music of Alex Glasgow, inspired by the anthems of working people. Musical arrangements and additional music by Sam Kenyon. Directed for the stage by Samuel West. Produced by Gary Brown Sid Chaplin's stories outline all the major strikes, victories and disappointments in British mining history from the formation of the first unions in 1830s all the way through to the 1960s. Alan Plater uses the dramatic device of a Geordie family celebration as a framework to tell this history whilst their own story unfolds in 1968. One son, Frank, has left behind the mines to study at university, while his brother John is a dissatisfied pitman. Frank brings home his liberated girlfriend free-spirited student Ruth who threatens to tear them apart in the central love story. The terrible thing about history, said Orwell, is how few names of its slaves have been preserved. Tenderly and furiously 'Close the Coalhouse Door' does a little to redress that injustice - The Observer. Alan Plater's 1960s political docudrama charting the miners' struggles for justice. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Conclave | 20081011 | Gripping drama by Hugh Costello.
After the short reign and mysterious death of Pope John Paul I, the election of a new Pope takes place in an atmosphere of high tension between opposing factions within the Vatican, including those who want to elect the first non-Italian Pope for over four hundred years.
Cardinal Franz Koenig ...... David Calder
With John Sandeman and Kristian Phillips.
Opposing factions within the Vatican meet to elect the successor to Pope John Paul I. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Craig Murray - Murder in Samarkand | 20100220 | David Hare's witty portrait of an unlikely hero, based on the memoir by Craig Murray.
Craig is proud to be sent as Ambassador to Uzbekistan, eager to work hard and also eager for fun. The combination takes him on a dangerous course both professionally and personally, and the stakes couldn't be higher.
Craig Murray ...... David Tennant
Piano by Michael Webborn
Produced by Ann Scott
Directed by Clive Brill
A Greenpoint production for BBC Radio 4.
Britain's new young Ambassador to Uzbekistan is shocked over government torture tactics. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Cry Hungary | 20081115 | The playwright draws on his own family's experiences in his drama Cry Hungary.
In October 1956, thousands of Hungarians rise up against the oppressive Soviet-backed government. Peter, a chosen son of the working classes, arrives in Budapest to study at the university. He falls in love with Eva, a committed communist.
When Peter becomes involved in the demonstrations, Eva finds her loyalties severely tested.
Peter Kovacs ...... Lee Ingleby
Director Toby Swift.
By Paul Viragh. In 1956, Peter, a student in Budapest, falls in love with Eva. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| David Dodge, To Catch A Thief | 20110108 | 20121214 (R4) | David Dodge's novel is a fast-paced, entertaining page-turner that was subsequently turned into a memorable film by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Now, Jean Buchanan's dramatisation brings it to radio. American John Robie is living quietly in the South of France, trying to put his career as a notorious jewel thief behind him. However, when a series of huge jewel thefts begins on the Riviera, targetting rich Americans, the police immediately suspect he's returned to his old ways. To prove his innocence, and trap the real thief, Robie must resort to subterfuge. But his plans go awry when the daughter of one of the rich American tourists takes rather too close an interest in him - and his past. An ex-jewel thief in France battles to prove his innocence. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| David Edgar - Something Wrong about the Mouth | 20070120 | London's Soho, 1958. A mysterious American wants to commission a portrait of a woman he can't produce, in a dress he can only describe, at an event which never happened.
David Edgar's love story told at the border between memory and fiction, trust and betrayal, East and West.
Gene Pew ...... Damian Lewis
Other parts played by Carolyn Pickles, ɀva Magyar, Kenneth Collard, Christine Kavanagh and Joseph Kloska.
Director: Jonquil Panting
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2007.
A man commissions a picture of an imagined event. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| David Edgar - Something Wrong about the Mouth | 20070120 | 20090516 (R4) | London's Soho, 1958. A mysterious American wants to commission a portrait of a woman he can't produce, in a dress he can only describe, at an event which never happened.
David Edgar's love story told at the border between memory and fiction, trust and betrayal, East and West.
Gene Pew ...... Damian Lewis
Other parts played by Carolyn Pickles, ɀva Magyar, Kenneth Collard, Christine Kavanagh and Joseph Kloska.
Director: Jonquil Panting
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2007.
A man commissions a picture of an imagined event. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| David Spicer, Kind Hearts And Coronets: Like Father, Like Daughter | 20120519 | 20130823 (R4) | Natalie Walter is pursuing a title and Alistair McGowan plays the seven members of a family standing in her way in a sequel to the famous Edwardian comedy by Roy Horniman. The action of this new radio sequel to a classic comedy takes place some years after the death of the 10th Earl of Chalfont, a man who has systematically murdered his family in order to inherit his title. The twentieth century rolls on and even against a backdrop of international conflict and revolution,an Earldom is still not to be sniffed at apparently. It is rather to be fought for by fair means and foul. There are at least eight claimants to the Chalfont title, all of them ruthless. The Gascoyne family is a big one, its sense of entitlement enormous, its appetite for violence impressive and the family resemblance at times uncanny. A fresh modern take on a great comic plot, this Saturday Play draws both on the Edwardian novel 'Israel Rank' by Roy Horniman for inspiration. David Spicer's entirely new version of this brilliantly simple story has something to offer both those who know the original and those who come to it for the first time. Written by David Spicer Producer: Frank Stirling A Unique production for BBC Radio 4. Unity is pursuing a title along with seven Gascoyne family members. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. Natalie Walter is pursuing a title and Alistair McGowan plays the seven members of a family standing in her way in a sequel to the famous Edwardian comedy by Roy Horniman. The action of this new radio sequel to a classic comedy takes place some years after the death of the 10th Earl of Chalfont, a man who has systematically murdered his family in order to inherit his title. The twentieth century rolls on and even against a backdrop of international conflict and revolution,an Earldom is still not to be sniffed at apparently. It is rather to be fought for by fair means and foul. There are at least eight claimants to the Chalfont title, all of them ruthless. The Gascoyne family is a big one, its sense of entitlement enormous, its appetite for violence impressive and the family resemblance at times uncanny. A fresh modern take on a great comic plot, this Saturday Play draws both on the Edwardian novel 'Israel Rank' by Roy Horniman for inspiration. David Spicer's entirely new version of this brilliantly simple story has something to offer both those who know the original and those who come to it for the first time. Written by David Spicer Producer: Frank Stirling A Unique production for BBC Radio 4. Unity is pursuing a title along with seven Gascoyne family members. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Death at the Desert Inn | 20070825 | By Marcy Kahan. Noel Coward sets off on an unexpected posthumous career as a detective. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Deep Down and Dirty Rock 'n' Roll | 20110514 | By Mark Davies Markham. Suggs stars in a drama set in the music industry. Once Carl was the tragic suicidal poet of the band Lost Youth. Fourteen years earlier Carl feigned a mysterious disappearance. If he comes out of hiding now Lost Youth are history.
Ed...Suggs
Music composed by Dave Gale
Ed (SUGGS) and Carl (BURN GORMAN) are two musicians in mid-life meltdown, who've been friends and rivals since primary school. Carl, the supposedly dead or missing poet of the band Lost Youth, has been in hiding for fourteen years. But with Lost Youth's comeback tour and new album imminent maybe he's about to be outed. Ed has been living the rock and roll life and he's in serious debt. If Carl comes out of hiding Lost Youth are history, and so is he.
SUGGS was a founder member of Madness, the ska revivalists who erupted out of Camden Town in the late '70's and became one of the greatest pop groups of the '80s. He presents a music show on Radio 2.
BURN GORMAN is best known for Torchwood. He also played Bill Sykes in Oliver in the West End
Mark Davies Markham writes hugely entertaining scripts for TV, theatre and radio. 'Taboo' the West End musical he wrote for Boy George was nominated for an Olivier Award . 'Eric' his recent play for the Liverpool Everyman was also about the music industry.
By Mark Davies Markham. Suggs and Burn Gorman star as musicians in mid-life meltdown. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Deep Down and Dirty Rock 'n' Roll | 20110514 | 20120113 (R4) | By Mark Davies Markham. Suggs stars in a drama set in the music industry. Once Carl was the tragic suicidal poet of the band Lost Youth. Fourteen years earlier Carl feigned a mysterious disappearance. If he comes out of hiding now Lost Youth are history.
Ed...Suggs
Music composed by Dave Gale
Ed (SUGGS) and Carl (BURN GORMAN) are two musicians in mid-life meltdown, who've been friends and rivals since primary school. Carl, the supposedly dead or missing poet of the band Lost Youth, has been in hiding for fourteen years. But with Lost Youth's comeback tour and new album imminent maybe he's about to be outed. Ed has been living the rock and roll life and he's in serious debt. If Carl comes out of hiding Lost Youth are history, and so is he.
SUGGS was a founder member of Madness, the ska revivalists who erupted out of Camden Town in the late '70's and became one of the greatest pop groups of the '80s. He presents a music show on Radio 2.
BURN GORMAN is best known for Torchwood. He also played Bill Sykes in Oliver in the West End
Mark Davies Markham writes hugely entertaining scripts for TV, theatre and radio. 'Taboo' the West End musical he wrote for Boy George was nominated for an Olivier Award . 'Eric' his recent play for the Liverpool Everyman was also about the music industry.
By Mark Davies Markham. Suggs and Burn Gorman star as musicians in mid-life meltdown. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Don Webb - Boots on the Ground | 20130202 | Danny Marks arrives at a Military Research centre. He's a volunteer for speed reaction testing; trying to improve reaction times under duress. His mate Billy Rogers was on the same course, but he's gone missing. Has he just done a bunk? Or is it something more sinister. A dark, contemporary thriller by veteran TV writer.
Don Webb is a hugely experienced TV and radio writer with credits stretching back to the early eighties. He has written for 'The Bill', 'Juliet Bravo', 'Rockcliffe's Babies' and 'Byker Grove'. His recent R4 plays include 'Right Place, Wrong Time' and 'A Bobby's Job'.
Danny Marks volunteers for speed reaction tests. A friend on the same course goes missing. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Don Webb - Boots on the Ground | 20130202 | 20140201 (R4) | Danny Marks arrives at a Military Research centre. He's a volunteer for speed reaction testing; trying to improve reaction times under duress. His mate Billy Rogers was on the same course, but he's gone missing. Has he just done a bunk? Or is it something more sinister. A dark, contemporary thriller by veteran TV writer.
Don Webb is a hugely experienced TV and radio writer with credits stretching back to the early eighties. He has written for 'The Bill', 'Juliet Bravo', 'Rockcliffe's Babies' and 'Byker Grove'. His recent R4 plays include 'Right Place, Wrong Time' and 'A Bobby's Job'.
Danny Marks volunteers for speed reaction tests. A friend on the same course goes missing. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Dover and the Claret Tappers | 20071006 | Comedy thriller by Joyce Porter about the kidnap of a police officer. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Dover and the Sleeping Beauty | 20100116 | Comedy thriller by Paul Mendelson, set in the 1960s, featuring Scotland Yard's most unwanted man, Chief Inspector Wilfred Dover, and his long-suffering gofer, Sergeant McGregor. A young woman, Isabel Slatcher, has been in an irreversible coma for months after being shot outside her local church in a small northern town. Now she has been smothered - murdered. Who killed her? Was it the person that shot her and why have they waited until now to complete their evil crime?
Chief Inspector Dover ...... Kenneth Cranham
Other parts played by the cast.
Directed by David Ian Neville.
By Paul Mendelson. Inspector Dover investigates when a girl in a coma is finally murdered. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Dover and the Sleeping Beauty | 20100116 | 20111203 (R4) | Comedy thriller by Paul Mendelson, set in the 1960s, featuring Scotland Yard's most unwanted man, Chief Inspector Wilfred Dover, and his long-suffering gofer, Sergeant McGregor. A young woman, Isabel Slatcher, has been in an irreversible coma for months after being shot outside her local church in a small northern town. Now she has been smothered - murdered. Who killed her? Was it the person that shot her and why have they waited until now to complete their evil crime?
Chief Inspector Dover ...... Kenneth Cranham
Other parts played by the cast.
Directed by David Ian Neville.
By Paul Mendelson. Inspector Dover investigates when a girl in a coma is finally murdered. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Dover and the Unkindest Cut of All | 20080809 | Comedy thriller by Joyce Porter, set in the 1970s, dramatised by Paul Mendelson.
Chief Inspector Dover's annual seaside break becomes a busman's holiday with the death of a local policeman. Was it suicide and was it linked to the recent murder of a well-known gangster? It's another strange case for Scotland Yard's laziest detective.
Chief Inspector Dover ...... Kenneth Cranham
Directed by David Ian Neville.
Comedy thriller by Joyce Porter, set in the 70s, featuring Scotland Yard's laziest sleuth. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Dover and the Unkindest Cut of All | 20080809 | 20111126 (R4) | Comedy thriller by Joyce Porter, set in the 1970s, dramatised by Paul Mendelson.
Chief Inspector Dover's annual seaside break becomes a busman's holiday with the death of a local policeman. Was it suicide and was it linked to the recent murder of a well-known gangster? It's another strange case for Scotland Yard's laziest detective.
Chief Inspector Dover ...... Kenneth Cranham
Directed by David Ian Neville.
Comedy thriller by Joyce Porter, set in the 70s, featuring Scotland Yard's laziest sleuth. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Dover Beats the Band | 20071013 | Comedy thriller by Joyce Porter, dramatised by Paul Mendelson.
Inspector Dover, with less than total enthusiasm, investigates the murder of a mild-mannered philatelist in a holiday camp. His sergeant, however, cares a bit too much. But as the investigation begins to uncover a sinister conspiracy, even Scotland Yard's laziest detective becomes determined to catch the killer.
Chief Inspector Dover ...... Kenneth Cranham
Other parts played by members of the cast.
Directed by David Ian Neville.
Comedy thriller by Joyce Porter about a murder in a holiday camp. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Dover Beats the Band | 20071013 | 20091205 (R4) | Comedy thriller by Joyce Porter, dramatised by Paul Mendelson.
Inspector Dover, with less than total enthusiasm, investigates the murder of a mild-mannered philatelist in a holiday camp. His sergeant, however, cares a bit too much. But as the investigation begins to uncover a sinister conspiracy, even Scotland Yard's laziest detective becomes determined to catch the killer.
Chief Inspector Dover ...... Kenneth Cranham
Other parts played by members of the cast.
Directed by David Ian Neville.
Comedy thriller by Joyce Porter about a murder in a holiday camp. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Dr Freud Will See you Now Mr Hitler | 20070331 | By Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran.
At the age of six, Adolf Hitler suffered from recurring nightmares. The village doctor recommended a child psychiatrist in Vienna, a young man named Sigmund Freud. Adolf's brutal father, however, wouldn't hear of it. But what if....
Adolf Hitler ...... Toby Jones
Directed by Peter Kavanagh.
Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran's play postulates an imaginary but historic meeting. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | 20070203 | By Robert Louis Stevenson.
When a London lawyer studies the last will of his old friend Dr Jekyll, his suspicions are aroused. Why has respectable Dr Jekyll left everything to sinister Edward Hyde?
Dr Jekyll ...... Adam Godley
Directed by Claire Grove.
When a lawyer studies the last will of his friend Dr Jekyll, his suspicions are aroused. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | 20070203 | 20090725 (R4) | By Robert Louis Stevenson.
When a London lawyer studies the last will of his old friend Dr Jekyll, his suspicions are aroused. Why has respectable Dr Jekyll left everything to sinister Edward Hyde?
Dr Jekyll ...... Adam Godley
Directed by Claire Grove.
When a lawyer studies the last will of his friend Dr Jekyll, his suspicions are aroused. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Dr Johnson's Dictionary of Crime: A for Assassin | 20080419 | Comic thriller by David Ashton.
Samuel Johnson and James Boswell tackle the teeming London underworld of 1781. How can a man who has shot another at point blank range be saved from the gallows, and how can the power and vested interest of a man highly placed in His Majesty's Government be defeated?
Dr Johnson ...... Timothy West
Directed by Marilyn Imrie.
A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 4.
By David Ashton. Samuel Johnson and James Boswell tackle the London underworld of 1781. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Dr Johnson's Dictionary of Crime: A for Assassin | 20080419 | 20100130 (R4) | Comic thriller by David Ashton.
Samuel Johnson and James Boswell tackle the teeming London underworld of 1781. How can a man who has shot another at point blank range be saved from the gallows, and how can the power and vested interest of a man highly placed in His Majesty's Government be defeated?
Dr Johnson ...... Timothy West
Directed by Marilyn Imrie.
A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 4.
By David Ashton. Samuel Johnson and James Boswell tackle the London underworld of 1781. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Dr No | 20080524 | A distinguished cast, headed by Toby Stephens and David Suchet, takes part in this 'radio movie' of Ian Fleming's 1958 novel, dramatised by Hugh Whitemore.
Bond is sent to investigate a strange disappearance on the island of Jamaica, and discovers that the heart of the mystery lies with a sinister recluse known as 'Dr No'. Another chance to hear this classic Bond adventure - the first in Radio 4's ongoing all-star series.
Cast:
Original music by Mark Holden and Sam Barbour
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Toby Stephens and David Suchet star in a dramatisation of Ian Fleming's novel. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Dr No | 20080524 | 20110806 (R4) | A distinguished cast, headed by Toby Stephens and David Suchet, takes part in this 'radio movie' of Ian Fleming's 1958 novel, dramatised by Hugh Whitemore.
Bond is sent to investigate a strange disappearance on the island of Jamaica, and discovers that the heart of the mystery lies with a sinister recluse known as 'Dr No'. Another chance to hear this classic Bond adventure - the first in Radio 4's ongoing all-star series.
Cast:
Original music by Mark Holden and Sam Barbour
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Toby Stephens and David Suchet star in a dramatisation of Ian Fleming's novel. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Educating Rita | 20091226 | By Willy Russell. The relationship between a feisty working-class OU student and her tutor Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Educating Rita | 20091226 | 20121208 (R4) | By Willy Russell. The relationship between a feisty working-class OU student and her tutor Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Erich Kaestner - Emil and the Detectives | 20091017 | Dramatisation by Katie Hims of the comic children's detective novel by Erich Kaestner.
Country boy Emil Tischbein, up from Neustadt for the first time, enlists the aid of hundreds of Berlin street boys to help him catch a thief.
Emil ...... Joshua Swinney
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Country boy Emil enlists the aid of Berlin street children to help him catch a thief. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Erich Kaestner - Emil and the Detectives | 20091017 | 20110522 (R4) | Dramatisation by Katie Hims of the comic children's detective novel by Erich Kaestner.
Country boy Emil Tischbein, up from Neustadt for the first time, enlists the aid of hundreds of Berlin street boys to help him catch a thief.
Emil ...... Joshua Swinney
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Country boy Emil enlists the aid of Berlin street children to help him catch a thief. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Fay Weldon - The Weather Girl | 20130608 | A new comedy drama by Fay Weldon, specially commissioned for BBC Radio 4.
Dr Pania Abbott, a clinical psychologist, is assigned to assess a young woman on remand in prison. Abigail turns out to be a startlingly untypical prisoner as she begins to reveal the background to her appalling crimes and her own troubled life.
Abigail is played by Amy Nuttall (Ethel Parks in Downton Abbey) and previously a long term star of Emmerdale.
Rachel Pickup plays Dr Abbott. She is a regular on TV and her theatre roles this year include Olivia in Twelfth Night and Persephone in Airswimming.
Jane Bertish, who plays prisoner officer Christa, was Jocasta in Oedipus at Edinburgh's Lyceum Theatre, Mother in Tales from the Vienna Woods at the National Theatre, and Carole Findlater in Mike Newell's film Dance With a Stranger.
Writing in The Guardian, Clare Clark said"Experimental in form, and vernacular in style, (Fay Weldon's) work is distinguished not only by her virtuosity as a writer but by her fearlessness, her refusal to accept orthodoxies" - and this new drama by Weldon is typically transgressive, challenging the vague certainties of our moral framework and depicting a world of selfishness, vaulting ambition and petty vengeance.
Director: Roland Jaquarello
Produced by John Taylor
A psychologist sent to assess a female prisoner is plunged into a disturbing amoral world. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Feluda: The Mystery of the Elephant God | 20070929 | Satyajit Ray's Bengali detective Feluda investigates the theft of a statuette of Ganesh. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Five Days in May | 20101106 | Written by Matthew Solon. Under extreme pressure and suffering from lack of sleep, the politicians argued and negotiated. There was nothing inevitable about a Conservative Liberal Democrat coalition. Revealing key moments of the negotiations, the drama unpicks what went on behind closed doors and shows how an allegiance between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat gradually formed, and how it withstood the resignation of Gordon Brown.
Based on pain-staking research, this is a must-listen 60-minutes - a compelling and entertaining dramatic retelling of the most extraordinary British election outcome in 70 years.
Cast:
Other parts are played by Charlotte Longfield, Wilf Gilmour and members of the cast.
Play about the tense negotiation following the 2010 General Election. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Five Days in May | 20101106 | 20110521 (R4) | Written by Matthew Solon. Under extreme pressure and suffering from lack of sleep, the politicians argued and negotiated. There was nothing inevitable about a Conservative Liberal Democrat coalition. Revealing key moments of the negotiations, the drama unpicks what went on behind closed doors and shows how an allegiance between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat gradually formed, and how it withstood the resignation of Gordon Brown.
Based on pain-staking research, this is a must-listen 60-minutes - a compelling and entertaining dramatic retelling of the most extraordinary British election outcome in 70 years.
Cast:
Other parts are played by Charlotte Longfield, Wilf Gilmour and members of the cast.
Play about the tense negotiation following the 2010 General Election. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Four Quartets | 20140118 | Jeremy Irons reads Four Quartets by T.S.Eliot.
Four Quartets is the culminating achievement of T.S. Eliot's career as a poet. While containing some of the most musical and unforgettable passages in twentieth-century poetry, its four parts, 'Burnt Norton', 'East Coker', 'The Dry Salvages' and 'Little Gidding', present a rigorous meditation on the spiritual, philosophical and personal themes which preoccupied the author. It was the way in which a private voice was heard to speak for the concerns of an entire generation, in the midst of war and doubt, that confirmed it as an enduring masterpiece.
With an introduction by Michael Symmons Roberts, Lord David Alton and Gail McDonald.
Jeremy Irons reads TS Eliot's four linked meditations. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Four Quartets | 20140118 | 20150207 (R4) | Jeremy Irons reads Four Quartets by T.S.Eliot.
Four Quartets is the culminating achievement of T.S. Eliot's career as a poet. While containing some of the most musical and unforgettable passages in twentieth-century poetry, its four parts, 'Burnt Norton', 'East Coker', 'The Dry Salvages' and 'Little Gidding', present a rigorous meditation on the spiritual, philosophical and personal themes which preoccupied the author. It was the way in which a private voice was heard to speak for the concerns of an entire generation, in the midst of war and doubt, that confirmed it as an enduring masterpiece.
With an introduction by Michael Symmons Roberts, Lord David Alton and Gail McDonald.
Jeremy Irons reads TS Eliot's four linked meditations. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Frances Byrnes, Belle Amie | 20110813 | Original sequel to Guy de Maupassant's novel Bel Ami - have the years tamed amoral charmer, Georges Duroy? Frances Byrnes' witty take on 19th century French politics, romance and double dealing. The hero of the story, Georges Duroy, nicknamed Bel Ami by the women he uses, will trample over anyone for money and power. Blessed with good looks and confidence, he is unstoppable. He meets his match in Clothilde de Marelle, the pleasure seeking bored wife of an older businessman. In this new sequel by Frances Byrnes, we rejoin our hero and his lover as middle age looms. Age has taken its toll on both, but their passion is as vivid as ever. Then, when Bel Ami's father in law dies and tells his daughter, Suzanne, that her husband has slept with her mother, mid life crisis explodes. Bel Ami seeks solace with the virtuous, church going Laurine, Clothilde's daughter, and makes one last bid to refind his lost youth in a mad dash to Africa, where he has launched an ill advised military campaign. Clothilde is furious and sets out to thwart him, but first she must overcome her daughter's conviction that Bel Ami's holy conversion is for real. The writer Guy de Maupassant is one of the finest short story writers of the 19th century. The dramatist Frances Byrnes is an award winning radio producer and writer. She won a Sony in 2008 for her Radio 4 feature, Now Wash Your Hands. Georges Duroy/Bel Ami ............Jonathan Slinger Clothilde de Marelle................Emma Fielding Suzanna....................Rhiannon Oliver Laurine......................Sarah Ovens Renard......................Rhys ap Hywel Mme Walter....................Nicky Rainsford Producer Polly Thomas Executive producer Kate McAll A BBC Cymru/Wales production. Has age tamed ruthless 19th-century charmer Georges Duroy? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Frances Iles - Before the Fact | 20130420 | Emilia Fox, Ben Caplan and Patricia Hodge star in a dramatisation of the novel that Alfred Hitchcock based his film, 'Suspicion' on.
Set in the early 1930s, Emilia Fox plays the part of Lina - a girl in her late twenties, from a wealthy family. In danger of becoming a spinster, life changes for the better when Lina meets Johnnie Aysgarth, a charming stranger who proposes marriage. Johnnie saves Lina from a boring life with her parents and whisks her off on an extravagant honeymoon. But on their return Lina begins to discover that Johnnie is not all he seems. His gambling threatens to ruin them but is her growing suspicion that he is also a murderer founded on reality or her imagination?
BEFORE THE FACT
Producer/Director: David Ian Neville.
Lina agrees to marry a charming stranger, but is he all that he seems? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Frances Iles - Before the Fact | 20130420 | 20140530 (R4) | Emilia Fox, Ben Caplan and Patricia Hodge star in a dramatisation of the novel that Alfred Hitchcock based his film, 'Suspicion' on.
Set in the early 1930s, Emilia Fox plays the part of Lina - a girl in her late twenties, from a wealthy family. In danger of becoming a spinster, life changes for the better when Lina meets Johnnie Aysgarth, a charming stranger who proposes marriage. Johnnie saves Lina from a boring life with her parents and whisks her off on an extravagant honeymoon. But on their return Lina begins to discover that Johnnie is not all he seems. His gambling threatens to ruin them but is her growing suspicion that he is also a murderer founded on reality or her imagination?
BEFORE THE FACT
Producer/Director: David Ian Neville.
Lina agrees to marry a charming stranger, but is he all that he seems? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Frank Marcus - The Killing of Sister George | 20090425 | John Tydeman's adaptation of the stage play by Frank Marcus. The audience ratings for the popular daily serial Applehurst are on the slide. Will the leading character have to be sacrificed to save the show?
June Buckridge (Sister George) ...... Sarah Badel
Directed by John Tydeman.
When actress June Buckeridge is axed from a soap, it affects more than just her career. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Goodbye | 20131019 | Lizzie and Jen first met in childhood and have been best friends ever since, sharing everything; their hopes, fears and all the pivotal moments of their lives. Jen has been beside Lizzie to witness her marriage to Matt and the birth of their children Cissy, Maddy, and Billy, while Lizzie has been Jen's shoulder to cry on for as long as she can remember.
When Lizzie is diagnosed with Breast Cancer their worlds are turned upside down. Together the friends negotiate the stages of her treatment and see their friendship tested and redefined in ways they could not have predicted. As a young mother Lizzie struggles to come to terms with the effects of the disease on her family and her body, while Jen finds herself, for the first time, hiding a secret from Lizzie, unable to confide in the friend she desperately wants to support.
And when they learn that Lizzie doesn't have much time left, they struggle to do the hardest thing of all. To say Goodbye.
An extraordinary story of friendship by Morwenna Banks, starring Olivia Colman as Lizzie and Natascha McElhone as Jen.
Some of the drama was based on writing by Deborah Keily before her death from Breast Cancer.
A stellar cast also includes Darren Boyd, John Simm and Alison Steadman.
The drama is dedicated to Deborah, Victoria, and Bethany.
Morwenna Banks is a writer, actress and performer who first became known for co-writing and appearing in four series of Chanel 4's cult sketch show 'Absolutely'. She has appeared in numerous television comedies, dramas and films.
An extraordinary story of friendship and farewells from Morwenna Banks. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Great Escape: The Justice | 20130413 | 20140316 (R4) | In the spring of 1943, a group of Air Force officers began work on an ambitious plan to tunnel their way out of a German POW camp called Stalag Luft Three. A year later the tunnel was ready and seventy-six made their escape. All but three were recaptured, but fifty were then systematically executed on orders from German High Command. This much was made internationally famous by Hollywood in the film The Great Escape, which mixes a meticulous depiction of the tunnelling plan with highly fictionalised American characters on motorbikes. But there is a stranger part of the story which starts where the film leaves off, and reveals the real history behind the nation-building legend. The British Government vowed to avenge the murders, and within weeks of the war's end, sent RAF investigators into the ruins of Germany, with orders to track down the killers, and bring them to exemplary justice. Award-winning dramatist Robin Brooks and internationally best-selling novelist Robert Radcliffe tell the extraordinary story of the escape, the murders, and the postwar manhunt in the chaos of divided Germany, through the eyes of one of the senior investigating officers: a straightforward by-the-book detective from Blackpool CID. Producer/Director - Jonquil Panting. Stephen Tompkinson stars in the story of the post-war manhunt to avenge the Great Escape. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. In the spring of 1943, a group of Air Force officers began work on an ambitious plan to tunnel their way out of a German POW camp called Stalag Luft Three. A year later the tunnel was ready and seventy-six made their escape. All but three were recaptured, but fifty were then systematically executed on orders from German High Command. This much was made internationally famous by Hollywood in the film The Great Escape, which mixes a meticulous depiction of the tunnelling plan with highly fictionalised American characters on motorbikes. But there is a stranger part of the story which starts where the film leaves off, and reveals the real history behind the nation-building legend. The British Government vowed to avenge the murders, and within weeks of the war's end, sent RAF investigators into the ruins of Germany, with orders to track down the killers, and bring them to exemplary justice. Award-winning dramatist Robin Brooks and internationally best-selling novelist Robert Radcliffe tell the extraordinary story of the escape, the murders, and the postwar manhunt in the chaos of divided Germany, through the eyes of one of the senior investigating officers: a straightforward by-the-book detective from Blackpool CID. Producer/Director - Jonquil Panting. Stephen Tompkinson stars in the story of the post-war manhunt to avenge the Great Escape. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Hattie Naylor - J'Accuse | 20090613 | By Hattie Naylor. Dramatisation inspired by a newspaper article written by Emile Zola in response to the Dreyfus Affair of the 1890s, when a Jewish army officer was persecuted and wrongly imprisoned by the French military and judicial establishment. Louis Gregori gives a right-wing and nationalistic perspective on the events that led him to believe that the murder of the guiltless Dreyfus was the correct and only action.
Louis ...... Mark Heap
Directed by Pauline Harris.
Inspired by an article written by Emile Zola about the Dreyfus Affair. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Hattie Naylor, The Forgotten | 20120602 | A young girl emerges from a forest after a nameless war, knowing nothing of where she has come from or where she has been. She finds the local doctor, Charonne, trapped in the briar. After she has freed him he takes her back to his village where she lives in secret in his house. But she has been spotted by the villagers who wish to call Charonne to account for his conduct in the war. As the pressure on Charonne mounts he disappears into a familiar story in which the young girl takes a leading role. Questions of guilt, memory and responsibility are all raised in The Forgotten, Hattie Naylor's dark retelling of the story of The Sleeping Beauty. The play stars Tim McMullan as Charonne, Ruth Mitchell as Sylvanne and Laura Greenwood as Ireena. Cast: Anton ...... John Biddle Ireena and Rosa ...... Laura Greenwood Young Charonne ...... Harry McEntire Charonne ....... Tim McMullan Sylvanne ....... Ruth Mitchell Marie ....... Sally Orrock Writer: Hattie Naylor Director: Paul Dodgson A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Headlong | 20130119 | Toby Jones, Gina McKee, Tim McInnerny and Denise Gough in Robin Brooks' adaptation of Michael Frayn's novel.
Martin is asked to value some paintings and, though he's no expert, he is immediately sure one of them is a priceless missing masterpiece.
With over-reaching ambition, he sets about acquiring it without telling the owner what he thinks he has found and rapidly gets in so deep that he puts everything at risk - even his marriage, even the painting itself.
Directed by Clive Brill
A struggle to lay hands on a long-lost materspiece. Adapted from Michael Frayn's novel. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Hedda Gabler | 20130309 | Ibsen's classic drama of passion and desperation. Directed by Psyche Stott from the Old Vic production, starring Sheridan Smith and Adrian Scarborough. Brian Friel's version of Hedda Gabler throws new light on its two female archetypes - Hedda, the beautiful trapped and doomed heroine; and Thea, the less socially admired, yet much freer, new woman. Both women ultimately take their fate into their own hands, in very different ways. The play is set in the drawing room of the richly appointed new home to which George Tesman has brought his bride Hedda, after a lengthy honeymoon, spent mainly visiting research libraries for his current study on 'domestic craft and husbandry as practised in Holland and parts of Belgium in the tenth century'. The very different aspirations of husband and wife are soon apparent as a stream of visitors - family, friends, past lovers, and current admirers - visit them. Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th century Norwegian playwright, often referred to as 'the father of realism'. His works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm and The Master Builder. Brian Friel is a multi award winning Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. Friel is best known for plays such as Philadelphia, Here I Come! And Dancing at Lughnasa. Directed by Psyche Stott from the Old Vic production. Producer: Polly Thomas Executive producer: Melanie Harris A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4. Ibsen's classic drama of passion and desperation. Starring Sheridan Smith. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Hombre | 20130323 | By Elmore Leonard
As a tribute to Elmore Leonard, who died last month, a repeat of an adaptation of his classic Western novel.
John Russell has been raised as an Apache. Now he's on his way to live as a white man. But when the stagecoach passengers learn who he is, they want nothing to do with him. That is, until outlaws ride down on them and they must rely on Russell to lead them out of the desert.
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko
Sound Design: Colin Guthrie
Elmore Leonard's classic western about John Russell, a white man raised by Indians. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Hombre | 20130323 | 20130927 (R4) | By Elmore Leonard
As a tribute to Elmore Leonard, who died last month, a repeat of an adaptation of his classic Western novel.
John Russell has been raised as an Apache. Now he's on his way to live as a white man. But when the stagecoach passengers learn who he is, they want nothing to do with him. That is, until outlaws ride down on them and they must rely on Russell to lead them out of the desert.
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko
Sound Design: Colin Guthrie
Elmore Leonard's classic western about John Russell, a white man raised by Indians. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Honour | 20070224 | By Joanna Murray-Smith and starring Diana Rigg and Martin Jarvis. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Ian Buchan, A Change In The Willows | 20110507 | Toad is back on a spending spree and dismissive of his friends - until he needs their help for a rather irritating ghost problem! Ratty finds himself flooded out of his river side home by rising river levels. Mole tries to understand the link between the pang in his stomach and the desire all animals have to be amongst their own kind. And good old Badger is upset that nobody listens to him and his friends take him for granted. Cast: Toad - Tim McInnerny Mole - Stephen Mangan Ratty - Julian Rhind-Tutt Badger - Andrew Sachs Dove - Issy van Randwyck Sheep .....Ian Buchan Mole 2 - Yolanda Kettle Mole 3 - Ilker Kaleli Mole 4 - Jonathan Sayer Mole 5 - Natalie Carrington Written by Ian Buchan Director: Eoin O'Callaghan Producer: Julian Stevens An Artists Studio production for BBC Radio 4. Toad, Badger, Mole and Ratty embark on an all new adventure along the riverbank. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Ian Curteis - The Falklands Play | 20020406 | 20070407 (R4) | Controversial account of how Margaret Thatcher's government went to war to regain the Falkland Islands in 1982.
Starring Patricia Hodge as Margaret Thatcher MP, John Standing as William Whitelaw MP, Michael Cochrane as Nicholas Ridley MP, Clive Merrison as John Nott MP and Robert Hardy as Sir Anthony Parsons.
The BBC commissioned the TV play from writer Ian Curteis in 1986, but notoriously shelved it for 16 years because of its pro-Thatcher stance ahead of a general election. The decision to halt it was taken by then BBC 1 Controller Michael Grade, creating a press furore over claims of bias and censorship.
A TV version was also produced for BBC Four with Patricia Hodge once again portrayed Margaret Thatcher.
Directed by Jeremy Howe.
First heard on Radio 4 2002.
Ian Curteis's play of how Thatcher's government went to war to regain the Falkland Islands Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| If I Should Go Away | 20070818 | Owen Sheers's play reveals how casualties of war are emotional as much as physical. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| If Only | 20140607 | The volcanic ash cloud of April 2010 strands a Labour spin doctor, a Tory MP and a Lib Dem party worker in Malaga airport. As they struggle to get back to the UK, they speculate about the outcome of the forthcoming election and a pact is formed. Four years later they meet again, on 4 August 2014, and the pact begins to unravel.
Originally produced for Chichester Festival in 2013, David Edgar's provocative and witty play is a fiction rooted in fact that projects ahead to imagine what might be the final consequences of the Coalition government - which in itself seemed so unimaginable only four years ago.
David Edgar is long-established as a political playwright whose credits include Destiny, Pentecost, Playing With Fire and The Shape of the Table, as well as the multi-award-winning adaptation of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby for the Royal Shakespeare Company. As he was writing If Only, he found that events in the real world, such as the rise of UKIP, were running ahead of what he had imagined so had to keep rewriting: the radio version has been updated since the Chichester production last year and will be recorded only just before broadcast.
Director Alison Hindell
BBC Cymru Wales production.
David Edgar's tongue-in-cheek drama about the rise, and possible fall, of the Coalition. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| In Praise Of Love | 20110618 | A number of Terence Rattigan's plays e.g. The Winslow Boy, Separate Tables, The Deep Blue Sea, Cause Celebre were triggered by real incidents - and In Praise of Love is no exception. In the mid-1950s his friend, Rex Harrison, told him that his wife, the talented Kay Kendall, was dying of leukaemia, but she but she didn't know and he would never tell her. Twenty years later Rattigan wrote this, his very last stage play, which was produced in 1973 and subsequently on Broadway, with Rex Harrison himself in the lead, triggered by this true event. The play is precisely what the title says it is - but it doesn't praise youthful passion; it praises mature, spiritual love and devotion. Within the play a character says that the English vice is never to show emotion. Each of the two middle-aged spouses withhold information from the other to protect their partner. But each knows the truth - Lydia, the wife, is dying of an incurable disease and only an American friend is told the true facts by both of them. Of course we, the audience, know their secrets too, and therein lie our tears. The critic Harold Hobson called it 'the most moving expression of love that I have ever seen on a stage...a compact heart-breaking masterpiece'. Cast: Lydia Cruttwell - Sarah Badel Sebastian Cruttwell - Martin Jarvis Mark Walters - Kerry Shale Joey Cruttwell - James Joyce Director: Celia de Wolff A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4. A successful novelist knows his wife's secret, but she doesn't know that he knows. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| India and Pakistan '07: Feluda the Golden Fortress | 20070804 | An adventure for Satyajit Ray's famous Bengali sleuth Feluda, specially recorded in Mumbai Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| India and Pakistan '07: Husud | 20070811 | Samina Baig's tale of sibling rivalry, jealousy, forbidden passion and murder. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Insignificance | 20070609 | Terry Johnson's story of an extraordinary confrontation in a New York hotel room in 1953. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Jack Shaefer, Shane | 20130330 | 20140228 (R4) | Jack Shaefer's classic western novel is adapted by Frances Byrnes. A mysterious horseman, all dressed in black and wearing a six shooter, rides into an isolated valley in Wyoming. Call me Shane, he says. He's a skilled gunslinger, and soon finds himself drawn into a conflict between homesteaders Marian and Joe Starrett and ruthless cattle baron Fletcher, who wants to force the Starretts off the land. Marian is caught between the strong, dependable husband whom she loves, and the lean, handsome stranger whom she needs if she's to save her family. Recorded by Mark Holden Post production by Nigel Lewis With music by Fernando Macias-Jimenez Produced and Directed by Kate McAll The Oscar winning film 'Shane' starred Paramount idol Alan Ladd in the title role, with Jean Arthur as Marian and Van Heflin as Joe. Although the story of 'Shane' is fictional, elements of it are based on the 1892 Johnson County War between the small settlers in Wyoming and the bigger, wealthier ranchers. Homesteader Marian is caught between her dependable husband, and a mysterious stranger. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. Jack Shaefer's classic western novel is adapted by Frances Byrnes. A mysterious horseman, all dressed in black and wearing a six shooter, rides into an isolated valley in Wyoming. Call me Shane, he says. He's a skilled gunslinger, and soon finds himself drawn into a conflict between homesteaders Marian and Joe Starrett and ruthless cattle baron Fletcher, who wants to force the Starretts off the land. Marian is caught between the strong, dependable husband whom she loves, and the lean, handsome stranger whom she needs if she's to save her family. Recorded by Mark Holden Post production by Nigel Lewis With music by Fernando Macias-Jimenez Produced and Directed by Kate McAll The Oscar winning film 'Shane' starred Paramount idol Alan Ladd in the title role, with Jean Arthur as Marian and Van Heflin as Joe. Although the story of 'Shane' is fictional, elements of it are based on the 1892 Johnson County War between the small settlers in Wyoming and the bigger, wealthier ranchers. Homesteader Marian is caught between her dependable husband, and a mysterious stranger. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Jake Liebowitz: A Life in Film | 20130810 | A new play by Oscar-winning writer Frederic Raphael about successful American film director Jake Liebowitz, charting the auteur's long career, and drawing on Raphael's own experience of writing for the cinema.
With Eleanor Bron as Alexandra Crawley and William Hope and Jake Liebowitz.
Jake Liebowitz disappears unexpectedly from his home in France, presumed dead by drowning. His friend Alexandra Crawley, a film critic who has followed the ups and downs of his career, presents a look back at his movies. But will she find the truth about his death in the films?
From his days as a kid with a movie camera in Brooklyn, on to Chicago, and finally to Hollywood, where he catches the end of the Golden Age, the play explores five decades of American film-making, through Jake's fast-talking, often shocking lens.
Directed by Dirk Maggs
Charting the auteur film director's long career following his mysterious disappearance. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Jake Liebowitz: A Life in Film | 20130810 | 20150214 (R4) | A new play by Oscar-winning writer Frederic Raphael about successful American film director Jake Liebowitz, charting the auteur's long career, and drawing on Raphael's own experience of writing for the cinema.
With Eleanor Bron as Alexandra Crawley and William Hope and Jake Liebowitz.
Jake Liebowitz disappears unexpectedly from his home in France, presumed dead by drowning. His friend Alexandra Crawley, a film critic who has followed the ups and downs of his career, presents a look back at his movies. But will she find the truth about his death in the films?
From his days as a kid with a movie camera in Brooklyn, on to Chicago, and finally to Hollywood, where he catches the end of the Golden Age, the play explores five decades of American film-making, through Jake's fast-talking, often shocking lens.
Directed by Dirk Maggs
Charting the auteur film director's long career following his mysterious disappearance. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| JB Priestley - An Inspector Calls | 20100529 | By J. B. Priestley
The Birlings are celebrating the engagement of their daughter Sheila when a police Inspector calls. Each member of the family is questioned about their relationship with a young woman, Eva Smith. And they each have to face up to their role in her tragic story.
Inspector Goole ... Toby Jones
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer.
An affluent family's celebration is disrupted by a police inspector's visit over a suicide Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| JB Priestley - An Inspector Calls | 20100529 | 20120421 (R4) | By J. B. Priestley
The Birlings are celebrating the engagement of their daughter Sheila when a police Inspector calls. Each member of the family is questioned about their relationship with a young woman, Eva Smith. And they each have to face up to their role in her tragic story.
Inspector Goole ... Toby Jones
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer.
An affluent family's celebration is disrupted by a police inspector's visit over a suicide Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| John Fletcher - The Shocking Tale of Margaret Seddon | 20070721 | Frederick and Margaret Seddon take wealthy Mrs Barrow into their Islington home as a lodger. During the scorching summer of 1911, Mrs Barrow dies, leaving all her money to Fred, but suspicions are aroused.
Was her death caused by the heatwave, or the 'English Cholera' - or could arsenic-laced fly papers have something to do with it?
John Fletcher's Edwardian murder story is based on real events.
Margaret Seddon ...... Lynne Seymour
Director: Kate McAll
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1997.
John Fletcher's Edwardian murder story is based on real events. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| John Fletcher - The Shocking Tale of Margaret Seddon | 20070721 | 20090926 (R4) | Frederick and Margaret Seddon take wealthy Mrs Barrow into their Islington home as a lodger. During the scorching summer of 1911, Mrs Barrow dies, leaving all her money to Fred, but suspicions are aroused.
Was her death caused by the heatwave, or the 'English Cholera' - or could arsenic-laced fly papers have something to do with it?
John Fletcher's Edwardian murder story is based on real events.
Margaret Seddon ...... Lynne Seymour
Director: Kate McAll
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1997.
John Fletcher's Edwardian murder story is based on real events. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| John Godber, September In The Rain | 20110903 | 20120928 (R4) | Jack and Liz are in Blackpool for one last time. John Godber's classic stage play tells the touching and funny story of a marriage through a lifetime of holidays together. Directed by Toby Swift John Godber is one of the country's most successful and prolific playwrights. Famously he was identified as the third most performed playwright in the UK after Shakespeare and Alan Ayckbourn. September in the Rain, written very early in his career, dates from 1983 and drew heavily on his grandparents' relationship. A play for two actors, it was originally performed by the author and his now wife, Jane. They resume their partnership for this radio production many years after last performing it together. A couple's relationship through a lifetime of holidays in Blackpool. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Jonathan Holloway - The Kane Conspiracy | 20101002 | In 1941 Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane, now regularly voted top in critics' and audience polls, picked up nine Oscar nominations and was already being spoken of as a work of genius. But there were powerful forces lobbying hard against it, not least among them William Randolph Hearst, the media mogul on whom the story is based, and FBI supremo J Edgar Hoover.
As the Oscar nominations are announced, Welles suffers an uncharacteristic attack of anxiety. And not without cause: FBI supremo J.Edgar Hoover has tasked a small-time FBI agent, Special Agent RB Wood, with making sure the film doesn't triumph at the Oscars ceremony. Hearst has banned any mention of the film across his media empire, RKO, the distributor, is looking shaky, and while the movie plays to capacity houses in art-house cinemas, no major theatres or cinema chains will take it. A chance encounter in an elevator leads to a highly charged head-to-head between Hearst and Welles when the two men lay their cards on the table. At the ceremony in February 1941 the film only wins one Oscar, and Welles' reputation in America never recovers.
Only the character of Agent Wood is imagined, although he is based on a documented but shadowy figure mentioned in the FBI archives. And it is Wood who finally confronts Welles with the uncomfortable truth about the film: in hijacking Hearst's life for Citizen Kane, Welles has replaced it with his own.
Orson Welles.........Jeff Harding
Written by Jonathan Holloway
Drama about the dirty tricks campaign against Citizen Kane and its creator Orson Welles. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Jonathan Holloway, The Kane Conspiracy | 20120127 | In 1941 Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane, now regularly voted top in critics' and audience polls, picked up nine Oscar nominations and was already being spoken of as a work of genius. But there were powerful forces lobbying hard against it, not least among them William Randolph Hearst, the media mogul on whom the story is based, and FBI supremo J Edgar Hoover. As the Oscar nominations are announced, Welles suffers an uncharacteristic attack of anxiety. And not without cause: FBI supremo J.Edgar Hoover has tasked a small-time FBI agent, Special Agent RB Wood, with making sure the film doesn't triumph at the Oscars ceremony. Hearst has banned any mention of the film across his media empire, RKO, the distributor, is looking shaky, and while the movie plays to capacity houses in art-house cinemas, no major theatres or cinema chains will take it. A chance encounter in an elevator leads to a highly charged head-to-head between Hearst and Welles when the two men lay their cards on the table. At the ceremony in February 1941 the film only wins one Oscar, and Welles' reputation in America never recovers. Only the character of Agent Wood is imagined, although he is based on a documented but shadowy figure mentioned in the FBI archives. And it is Wood who finally confronts Welles with the uncomfortable truth about the film: in hijacking Hearst's life for Citizen Kane, Welles has replaced it with his own. Orson Welles.........Jeff Harding J. Edgar Hoover........Toby Jones Herman Mankiewicz.....John Guerrasio William Randolph Hearst...Peter Marinker George Schaefer.......Garrick Hagon Agent Wood..........Val Jobara Radio Interviewer.......Paul Mundell Written by Jonathan Holloway Producer: Sara Davies. Drama about the dirty tricks campaign against Citizen Kane and its creator Orson Welles. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Jonathan Myerson, Reykjavik | 20141004 | 20160409 (R4) | 11th October 1986: the height of the Cold War, enough missiles to detonate the planet two thousand times over. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev meet at Gorbachev's request for a one-day, informal chat, at the (some say haunted) Hofdi House near Reykjavik. But in the small brown room where they meet, Gorbachev suddenly blindsides the Americans: out of the blue, he offers 50% cuts in all missiles - and he'll sign today. The White House team is catastrophically unprepared for this - no one predicted it. But Reagan sees how he can really achieve something.... and within hours they are talking the most colossal cuts in nuclear warheads, aiming to reach zero missiles within ten years. How did this happen? How did it fail? Drawing on both American and Russian transcripts of every word said between the two leaders, Jonathan Myerson's gripping drama explores the pressures on both sides, moment by moment, as the deal grows bigger and bigger, and the drama shifts from measured words at the negotiating table, to the panic, graft and invention of the two diplomatic teams outside the room. Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting Images courtesy of the Ronald Ronald Reagan Library. Rollercoaster drama about the surprise Reagan-Gorbachev summit in 1986. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. 11th October 1986: the height of the Cold War, enough missiles to detonate the planet two thousand times over. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev meet at Gorbachev's request for a one-day, informal chat, at the (some say haunted) Hofdi House near Reykjavik. But in the small brown room where they meet, Gorbachev suddenly blindsides the Americans: out of the blue, he offers 50% cuts in all missiles - and he'll sign today. The White House team is catastrophically unprepared for this - no one predicted it. But Reagan sees how he can really achieve something.... and within hours they are talking the most colossal cuts in nuclear warheads, aiming to reach zero missiles within ten years. How did this happen? How did it fail? Drawing on both American and Russian transcripts of every word said between the two leaders, Jonathan Myerson's gripping drama explores the pressures on both sides, moment by moment, as the deal grows bigger and bigger, and the drama shifts from measured words at the negotiating table, to the panic, graft and invention of the two diplomatic teams outside the room. Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting Images courtesy of the Ronald Ronald Reagan Library. Rollercoaster drama about the surprise Reagan-Gorbachev summit in 1986. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Journey into Space: Frozen in Time | 20080412 | A tribute to Charles Chilton's iconic 1960s series Journey into Space. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Killing the Butterfly | 20090620 | In Colin MacDonald's romantic thriller, two murder witnesses are put under police protection pending the High Court trial. But something goes badly wrong and they have to flee for their lives,
Barker ...... Simon Tait
Two murder witnesses are put under police protection pending a High Court trial. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| L Frank Baum - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | 20091219 | The story made famous by the iconic 1939 musical film is given a distinctly different treatment in Linda Marshall Griffiths' dramatisation which reinstates some of the events and characters of L Frank Baum's classic book.
When a tornado strikes Dorothy's farmhouse in Kansas, she is lifted to the magical world of Oz where she embarks upon a terrifying and perilous journey to find her way back home.
Immediately she makes some powerful enemies by accidentally killing the Wicked Witch of the East and claiming her silver shoes. Desperate to return home her adventure takes her to the City of Emeralds to meet the Wizard of Oz.
On the way she makes some new friends, a Scarecrow, a Tin Woodman and a Lion who have their own reasons for wanting to see the Wizard. Pursued by the frightening Kalidah beasts, the violent Flying Monkeys and the all seeing Wicked Witch of the West will they make it to the Emerald City and have what they most desire?
DOROTHY.............Amelia Clarkson
Original Music by Olly Fox.
Director: Nadia Molinari
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2009.
Linda Marshall Griifiths' dramatisation of L Frank Baum's iconic tale. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| L Frank Baum - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | 20091219 | 20111225 (R4) | The story made famous by the iconic 1939 musical film is given a distinctly different treatment in Linda Marshall Griffiths' dramatisation which reinstates some of the events and characters of L Frank Baum's classic book.
When a tornado strikes Dorothy's farmhouse in Kansas, she is lifted to the magical world of Oz where she embarks upon a terrifying and perilous journey to find her way back home.
Immediately she makes some powerful enemies by accidentally killing the Wicked Witch of the East and claiming her silver shoes. Desperate to return home her adventure takes her to the City of Emeralds to meet the Wizard of Oz.
On the way she makes some new friends, a Scarecrow, a Tin Woodman and a Lion who have their own reasons for wanting to see the Wizard. Pursued by the frightening Kalidah beasts, the violent Flying Monkeys and the all seeing Wicked Witch of the West will they make it to the Emerald City and have what they most desire?
DOROTHY.............Amelia Clarkson
Original Music by Olly Fox.
Director: Nadia Molinari
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2009.
Linda Marshall Griifiths' dramatisation of L Frank Baum's iconic tale. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Lambeth Palace | 20090404 | Dark comedy by Christopher William Hill imagining the politics behind the scenes in the run-up to the selection of a fictional Archbishop of Canterbury. How far will an ultra-Establishment conservative and a barely-believing liberal go to win the top job in the Church of England?
Michael Lombard ...... Alex Jennings
With Kirsty Wark and Jonathan Dimbleby as themselves.
Other parts played by Janice Acquah, Matt Addis and Paul Rider.
Directed by Mary Peate.
A tale of politics and manoeuvring in selecting a fictional Archbishop of Canterbury. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Lanark | 20141101 | Dramatisation of Alasdair Gray's cult classic by Robin Brooks with Alasdair Gray.
First published in 1981, Lanark changed the face of Scottish literature for a generation and propelled the visual artist Alasdair Gray into the literary limelight.
It's a modern masterpiece that spans three worlds in four books, and tells the connected stories of Duncan Thaw - a student at Glasgow's Art School in the 1950s - and Lanark - a man who wakes to find himself in an unspecified period in the strange yet familiar place, Unthank.
Unthank is a city with no sun and no sense of time. It's an endless present, but there are ways to escape - people disappear mysteriously, others succumb to the strange diseases this peculiar form of hell generates. Lanark's escape will take him into another circle of hell where he'll hear the story of a life that was once his and where the life he now lives will change forever.
Starring Sandy Grierson, Melody Grove and Siobhan Redmond, with a guest appearance by Alasdair Gray.
Directed by Kirsty Williams.
Adaptation of Alasdair Gray's cult novel, telling the stories of Duncan Thaw and Lanark. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Lanark | 20141101 | 20151107 (R4) | Dramatisation of Alasdair Gray's cult classic by Robin Brooks with Alasdair Gray.
First published in 1981, Lanark changed the face of Scottish literature for a generation and propelled the visual artist Alasdair Gray into the literary limelight.
It's a modern masterpiece that spans three worlds in four books, and tells the connected stories of Duncan Thaw - a student at Glasgow's Art School in the 1950s - and Lanark - a man who wakes to find himself in an unspecified period in the strange yet familiar place, Unthank.
Unthank is a city with no sun and no sense of time. It's an endless present, but there are ways to escape - people disappear mysteriously, others succumb to the strange diseases this peculiar form of hell generates. Lanark's escape will take him into another circle of hell where he'll hear the story of a life that was once his and where the life he now lives will change forever.
Starring Sandy Grierson, Melody Grove and Siobhan Redmond, with a guest appearance by Alasdair Gray.
Directed by Kirsty Williams.
Adaptation of Alasdair Gray's cult novel, telling the stories of Duncan Thaw and Lanark. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Last Night, Another Soldier | 20090801 | By Andy McNab. Eighteen-year-old Briggsy is just three weeks into his first posting in Afghanistan and is thrilled to be part of the action. But when his Rifle Section loses a man in battle, Briggsy is forced to confront the realities of war.
Briggsy ...... Russell Tovey
Directed by Vernee Samuel.
By Andy McNab. An 18-year-old soldier has to confront the realities of war in Afghanistan. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Leverage | 20110326 | By Simon Passmore. A city banker is found dead in an opulent apartment. At the funeral, his former girlfriend Helen is unexpectedly questioned about when she last saw him. Did he mention computer files, or give her anything as a keepsake? Helen's suspicions mount as she retraces his last movements. Her discoveries put her in the firing line. A fast-paced, psychological thriller. Cast: Helen . . . . . Claire Foy David . . . . . Blake Ritson Mark . . . . . Charlie Cox Kendra . . . . . Sally Orrock Clare . . . . . Joanna Monro Jamie . . . . . Nyasha Hatendi Ray . . . . . Sean Baker Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko A taut, character-driven conspiracy thriller by one of radio's leading writers of thrillers. Like the television hit State of Play, Simon Passmore has created an intelligent plot for grown-ups: writhing with twists and heavy on menace. This will be compelling Saturday afternoon entertainment. David and Helen, a professional couple in their mid-twenties, are shocked when Jamie, an old friend from university, dies unexpectedly. At the funeral, they meet Mark, another mutual friend. Mark implies that he works for Special Services, and tells them that Jamie, a high-flying investment banker, may have killed himself - and that his bank has been under investigation. Did Jamie contact the couple before he died? As Mark teases out information, Helen begins to suspect he is not entirely innocent. Mark's questions turn into threats, and people start getting hurt. David and Helen find they must expose a murder before it's too late. The lead roles are played by three top young British actors. Claire Foy is Helen. Claire's recent TV credits include lead roles in The Promise (Channel 4) and Little Dorrit (BBC). Charlie Cox is Mark. Charlie's credits include lead roles in the films Stardust, Moby Dick and The Merchant of Venice, and TV roles include the Duke of Crowborough in Downton Abbey. Blake Ritson plays David. Blake's recently starred in Roger Michell's production of Rope at the Almeida; on TV in Emma (BBC), Upstairs Downstairs (BBC), and Romantics (Company Pictures). He has been playing the lead in Radio 4's four-week serial The Far Pavilions (Feb 2011). Writer Simon Passmore has had a string of recent successes on radio with Accomplices, Offshore and Going To Ground. As a TV drama producer, he has a track-record of making top quality TV drama for the BBC and Channel 4. Simon Passmore's fast-paced psychological thriller. Starring Claire Foy. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Lewis Carroll, Alice Through The Looking Glass | 20121222 | By Lewis Carroll, dramatised by Stephen Wyatt It's mid-winter, the snow is falling against the window, and Alice is learning how to play chess but then, on a whim, she goes to the mirror and pretends her black kitten is the Red Queen and suddenly everything changes ... With Jim Al-Khalili, Roger McGough, Jenni Murray, Jane Garvey, Eric Robson, Pippa Greenwood, Peter Donaldson, Kirsty Young, Andrew Marr, Evan Davies, Garry Richardson & Melvyn Bragg. This dramatisation brings out the intellectual spine of Lewis Carroll's classic story - while losing none of the fun. When Alice crashes through the looking glass she enters a world set out like a giant chess board and discovers science, maths, poetry, riddles, and wordplay. It is instantly entertaining and tantalizingly offers the listener more than meets the ear. In this fast-moving and surrealist world, Alice has to decode the bizarre rules of the mirror-world. If Alice can get to The Eighth Square she will be Queen. Lewis Carroll is ever present. He sets out the chess game for Alice, teasing the listener into having an overview of his story and exploring the ideas within it. On her chess journey Alice will meet the Red & White Queen, Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledee and Tweedledum (who might be more familiar than the listener can possibly imagine) and the Red & White Knights. But there's a twist here - Alice will also discover that Radio 4 can be found on the other side of the glass. Published for Christmas 1871 this story is the mirror image of Alice In Wonderland: the characters are chess pieces instead of cards. It is Winter rather than Summer and time runs backwards. Tim Burton's film was 'inspired' by Lewis Carroll's books but it wasn't Lewis Carroll's book. This is a chance for the Radio 4 listeners to discover the real thing and show them why this classic appeals to philosophers, linguists and chess fans, prefaced Modernism, has provoked a wealth of academic study, and in doing so remind them of the bits they loved in childhood (and the bits they've forgotten). Mathematician Carroll, prefaced his book with a chess problem. It is claimed the game is a part of a sequence of numbers - that Alice's journey is code - that Carroll was flirting with numerology and esotericism. It is intriguing because Carroll loved number games and puzzles. He was frighteningly clever. He regularly invented things. You could say he was the Mark Zuckerberg of his time. Alice's fantastical story collides with Radio 4, as she crashes a giant game of chess. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Little Nell | 20080823 | Simon Gray's play is inspired by Claire Tomalin's book The Invisible Woman, the story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens. The lies Nelly told to protect the secret of her relationship with the great author had lasting and damaging effects.
Sir Henry Dickens ...... Philip Voss
Pianist ...... Charlotte Brennan
Directed by Jane Morgan.
Simon Gray's play is inspired by Claire Tomalin's book The Invisible Woman. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Little Platoons | 20110604 | by Steve Waters Separated from her partner, Martin, and disillusioned with teaching at the west London comprehensive which their son Sam attends, Rachel's looking for an outlet for her evangelical zeal. More out of curiosity than conviction, she goes to a pilot meeting of a free-school initiative headed by middle-class Nick and Lara. Only to find herself embroiled in a mix of private and public rows that exposes the confusion that surrounds the subject of how we can best educate our children. Rachel de Witt - Claire Price Martin - Richard Henders Nick Orme - Andrew Woodall Lara Orme - Susannah Harker Parvez Akhtar - Christopher Simpson Polly Tyneham - Joanne Froggatt Samuel - Otto Farrant Marcus - Kerron Darby Amitha - Mandeep Dhillon Sadie - Holli Dempsey Brandon - Joe Cole Directed for stage by Nathan Curry Produced by Jeremy Mortimer This radio production is presented with the original cast from the Bush Theatre production which premiered earlier this year. Reviews for the Bush Theatre production: [Little Platoons] wittily exposes the confusion that surrounds the subject of how we best educate our children.... **** Michael Billington, Guardian I can't recall a more urgently satirical local play at this address in all the wonderful 38 years of its existence. It's also a witty paradigm of subsidised theatre in its subject matter: a middle-class initiative born of self-interested motives using public money. Perfect. **** Michael Coveney, Whatsonstage.com. By Steve Waters. A witty satire about Free Schools. With Claire Price and Richard Henders. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Lockerbie on Trial | 20090829 | With the Lockerbie bombing once again in the news, another chance to hear Peter Goodchild's dramatised reconstruction of the extraordinary story of one of the longest, costliest and most complicated trials in legal history.
Few would have predicted the verdict in February 2001, when Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was convicted and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah acquitted of blowing up Pam Am flight 103. The prosecution are sure they have got their men, but a succession of witnesses who prove to be CIA double agents, convicted terrorists and arms dealers with shady histories begin to undermine a case which is skilfully and passionately contested by the defence.
Presented by Sheena MacDonald.
With Ian McDiarmid, Denis Lawson and Hugh Fraser.
Peter Goodchild's dramatised reconstruction of the Lockerbie bombing trial. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Love, etc | 20130504 | By Julian Barnes
All those years ago, the feckless and witty Oliver betrayed his life-long friendship with Stuart, wrecked his marriage, stole Gillian his wife and then moved to France. There, in an attempt to ease Stuart's misery and her own conscience Gillian staged a violent incident calculated to convince Stuart that her marriage to Oliver is a disaster.
But now Oliver and Gillian are back in London and have two daughters. There isn't much money but they are happily jogging along when Stuart, now a successful entrepreneur with an unsuccessful marriage behind him, suddenly returns from the USA, re-enters their lives and life begins to take an unexpected turn for all of them.
WRITER
DRAMATIST
Julian Barnes's absorbing tale of betrayal and revenge wrapped within humour and despair. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Love, etc | 20130504 | 20140711 (R4) | By Julian Barnes
All those years ago, the feckless and witty Oliver betrayed his life-long friendship with Stuart, wrecked his marriage, stole Gillian his wife and then moved to France. There, in an attempt to ease Stuart's misery and her own conscience Gillian staged a violent incident calculated to convince Stuart that her marriage to Oliver is a disaster.
But now Oliver and Gillian are back in London and have two daughters. There isn't much money but they are happily jogging along when Stuart, now a successful entrepreneur with an unsuccessful marriage behind him, suddenly returns from the USA, re-enters their lives and life begins to take an unexpected turn for all of them.
WRITER
DRAMATIST
Julian Barnes's absorbing tale of betrayal and revenge wrapped within humour and despair. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Lucy Gannon - Topaz | 20131026 | In Lucy Gannon's comic drama, Brian Cox stars as the unfortunate 19th century poet, William Topaz McGonagall.
In the face of widespread ridicule at his lack of talent, MacGonagall dreams of rescuing his reputation by seeking royal patronage. He decides to walk from Dundee to Balmoral to see Queen Victoria, accompanied by his long-suffering son, Billy. A desperate desire for fame and celebrity has almost destroyed McGonagall's life - but if he can meet her Majesty his fortunes would be transformed.
Other parts are played by the cast.
Producer/director: Bruce Young.
An unfortunate 19th-century poet walks from Dundee to Balmoral to seek Queen Victoria. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Lynne Truss, Giving Up The Ghost | 20081206 | By Lynne Truss. In a house full of carbon monoxide, firefighter Scott gets separated from his colleagues and begins to experience the last terrible moments of his friend Jacko's life, who had died in similar circumstances eight months earlier. Scott - Adrian Bower Alan - Struan Rodger Philip - Jeff Rawle Giggsy - Joe Absolom Mike - Brendan Charleson H/Jacko - Richard Nichols Lucy - Sara McGaughey Directed by Kate McAll. Dreaming of a dead colleague, firefighter Scott must confront his biggest fear. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Lynne Truss, Giving Up The Ghost | 20130315 | By Lynne Truss. In a house full of carbon monoxide, firefighter Scott gets separated from his colleagues and begins to experience the last terrible moments of his friend Jacko's life, who had died in similar circumstances eight months earlier. Scott - Adrian Bower Alan - Struan Rodger Philip - Jeff Rawle Giggsy - Joe Absolom Mike - Brendan Charleson H/Jacko - Richard Nichols Lucy - Sara McGaughey Directed by Kate McAll. Dreaming of a dead colleague, firefighter Scott must confront his biggest fear. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Mark Davies Markham - The Liberty of Norton Folgate | 20130209 | London's rich past as a melting pot of cultures is one of the themes of Madness's 2009 album - The Liberty of Norton Folgate, which has inspired Mark Davies Markham's play. Gazi and Sitara have been serving full English breakfasts at the Union Caf退 on London's Norton Folgate for thirty years. But now the council have served a demolition order, and it looks as if their son Aki's girlfriend's father, Ralph Burke, is behind the plan to develop the site. No one is going to let the Union go without a fight, and soon Gazi and Sitara find that they have the support of pop royalty in the form of Suggs, Chas Smith and Mike Barson from Madness.
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer
Mark Davies Markham writes scripts for TV, theatre and radio. 'Taboo' the West End musical he wrote for Boy George was nominated for an Olivier Award . 'Eric' his recent play for the Liverpool Everyman was also about the music industry.
Inspired by, and starring members of, Madness - a tale of London's melting pot of cultures Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Mark Davies Markham - The Liberty of Norton Folgate | 20130209 | 20150704 (R4) | London's rich past as a melting pot of cultures is one of the themes of Madness's 2009 album - The Liberty of Norton Folgate, which has inspired Mark Davies Markham's play. Gazi and Sitara have been serving full English breakfasts at the Union Caf退 on London's Norton Folgate for thirty years. But now the council have served a demolition order, and it looks as if their son Aki's girlfriend's father, Ralph Burke, is behind the plan to develop the site. No one is going to let the Union go without a fight, and soon Gazi and Sitara find that they have the support of pop royalty in the form of Suggs, Chas Smith and Mike Barson from Madness.
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer
Mark Davies Markham writes scripts for TV, theatre and radio. 'Taboo' the West End musical he wrote for Boy George was nominated for an Olivier Award . 'Eric' his recent play for the Liverpool Everyman was also about the music industry.
Inspired by, and starring members of, Madness - a tale of London's melting pot of cultures Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Mark Lawson - Suspicion for 10 Voices | 20130622 | Written by Mark Lawson.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, England was a protestant country standing alone against formidable European and papal enemies. Fear of a Roman Catholic fifth column was rife. But when William Byrd, Elizabeth's favourite composer, is arrested and charged with placing secret papist messages within the music of the Chapel Royal, the court is shocked and panic takes hold among the recusant community.
Byrd's dense polyphony is dissected and decoded and it seems sedition is undeniable. But the composer has a powerful protector - one whom not even Walsingham dare countermand.
Starring Simon Russell Beale as Byrd and Anton Lesser as Walsingham.
Musical Director: Neil Brand
A Big Fish production for BBC Radio 4.
Composer Will Byrd is charged with coding papist messages in the music of the Chapel Royal Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Mark Lawson - Suspicion for 10 Voices | 20130622 | 20140314 (R4) | Written by Mark Lawson.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, England was a protestant country standing alone against formidable European and papal enemies. Fear of a Roman Catholic fifth column was rife. But when William Byrd, Elizabeth's favourite composer, is arrested and charged with placing secret papist messages within the music of the Chapel Royal, the court is shocked and panic takes hold among the recusant community.
Byrd's dense polyphony is dissected and decoded and it seems sedition is undeniable. But the composer has a powerful protector - one whom not even Walsingham dare countermand.
Starring Simon Russell Beale as Byrd and Anton Lesser as Walsingham.
Musical Director: Neil Brand
A Big Fish production for BBC Radio 4.
Composer Will Byrd is charged with coding papist messages in the music of the Chapel Royal Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Marks & Gran - Von Ribbentrop's Watch | 20081108 | By Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran.
Wine shop owner Gerald desperately needs money: his business is failing and the landlord has raised the cost of the lease. When he inherits a watch that used to belong to wartime Nazi Joachim Von Ribbentrop he believes that his financial troubles are over. But it sparks conflict with his wife and brother, who question the ethics of the potential sale.
Gerald ...... Allan Corduner
A Jewish merchant discovers that a family heirloom has a sinister Nazi provenance. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Marks And Gran, Love Me Do | 20121013 | by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran As the world faces nuclear extinction two Americans trapped in London find themselves thrown together in the countdown to the Cuban missile crisis. Dorothy - Miranda Raison Shack - Adam James Richard - Stephen Hogan Candice - Susie Riddell Lindsay - Christine Kavanagh Patrick - Stephen France Marie - Francesca Spencer Martin - Patrick Brennan Jonathan - Don Gilet Dentist - Joe Sims General Power - Robert Blythe Lady Compton - Christine Absalom Chris Schenkel - Paul Stonehouse Comic - Adam Nagatis Other parts played by Eleanor Crooks, Sarah Thom and Will Howard. Director - Sally Avens The Cuban missile crisis took place fifty years ago. For thirteen days in October the world teetered on the brink of nuclear destruction. Our Saturday Drama, by the writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, is a love story from the time when everyone thought the world was about to end. When Dorothy arrives in England from Kansas to attend the friend of a wedding she finds herself the only American there apart from 'Shack' who works at the American Embassy. But she soon finds herself arguing with him over his flippant attitude to life and specifically Dorothy's marriage. But when she finds herself caught up in the crisis it is Shack who comes to her rescue and struggling to come to terms with the enormity of what's happening to the world they find themselves falling in love. The writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran are responsible for such hits as Birds of A Feather, The New Statesman and Shine on Harvey Moon. Their last radio play 'Von Ribbentrop's Watch' met with great acclaim. The play stars Miranda Raison who won acclaim for her roles in Spooks and Vexed and on stage as Anne Boleyn. Adam James plays Shack and appeared in 'Band of Brothers', Rome and Doctor Who as well as numerous stage appearances. by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. A love story set during the Cuban missile crisis. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Master Class | 20090131 | Joseph Stalin invites Prokofiev and Shostakovich to the Kremlin for a music lesson. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Master Harold And The Boys | 20110115 | On a wet and windy 1950s afternoon in the St George's Park Tea Room, Port Elizabeth, waiters Sam and Willie are practising their dance steps, unaware that the owner's son, Hally, who grew up with them, is about to change their relationship forever. Athol Fugard's semi-autobiographical play asks who is really the master - and who the boys? Recorded on location in South Africa. Sam - Wiseman Sithole Hally - Andrew Laubscher Willie - Sizwe Msutu Director: Marion Nancarrrow This new production of Fugard's masterpiece, which opened on Broadway in 1982 and subsequently won the Drama Desk, London Critics' Circle and London Evening Standard awards for best play, has been recorded on location in South Africa with a South African cast. Athol Fugard introduces the play himself, from his home in America, the country where it was first performed and talks movingly about its first performance in South Africa, about why he wrote it and about himself as its central character, performing an act which he says he will regret 'until his dying day'. Recorded in Cape Town, the new cast includes Wiseman Sithole, best known in South Africa for his role as Lucky in the TV drama series 'Shooting Stars' and nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 'Glass Roots'; Andrew Laubscher in his second role for radio, recorded whilst starring in the comedy 'Is It Because I'm Jack?' at the On Broadway Theatre, Cape Town and Sizwe Msutu, well-known in South Africa for his roles as Detective Inspector Hlomla in the SABC1 TV drama series 'Interrogation Room' and in the Xhosa film 'Goodbye Bafana'. A new production of Athol Fugard's award-winning masterpiece, recorded in South Africa. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Melissa Murray - Theremin | 20090103 | Theremin by Melissa Murray
Leon Theremin, gifted inventor and reluctant spy, is forced to find a way to bug the US Embassy in London. Now he has to save himself and his former lover from both the CIA and the KGB.
Theremin: Tom Hollander
Directed by Marc Beeby.
After bugging the US Embassy, inventor Leon Theremin must avoid both the CIA and the KGB. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Melissa Murray - Theremin | 20090103 | 20101009 (R4) | Theremin by Melissa Murray
Leon Theremin, gifted inventor and reluctant spy, is forced to find a way to bug the US Embassy in London. Now he has to save himself and his former lover from both the CIA and the KGB.
Theremin: Tom Hollander
Directed by Marc Beeby.
After bugging the US Embassy, inventor Leon Theremin must avoid both the CIA and the KGB. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Menna Gallie, Strike For A Kingdom | 20120630 | 20130705 (R4) | By Menna Gallie Dramatised by Diana Griffiths It's 1926 and in the small Welsh valleys village of Cilhendre, the miners are on strike. When the local mine's manager is found dead, the murder investigation begins to expose the tensions and secrets of this close knit community. Paul Rhys stars in a new adaptation of Menna Gallie's classic novel. First published in 1959, Strike for a Kingdom was Menna Gallie's first book. Menna grew up in a small village in the Swansea valley which serves as a template for the fictional Cilhendre. She was six at the time of the miner's strike, though deeply affected by its impact on her community. Strike for a Kingdom is two things: It's a darkly engrossing murder mystery that keeps you guessing until the end. But it's also a beautifully poetic evocation of a close knit community struggling to survive in a world of extreme poverty. Directed by James Robinson A BBC Cymru Wales production. As its residents struggle to survive, the Welsh village of Cilhendre is rocked by murder. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. By Menna Gallie Dramatised by Diana Griffiths It's 1926 and in the small Welsh valleys village of Cilhendre, the miners are on strike. When the local mine's manager is found dead, the murder investigation begins to expose the tensions and secrets of this close knit community. Paul Rhys stars in a new adaptation of Menna Gallie's classic novel. First published in 1959, Strike for a Kingdom was Menna Gallie's first book. Menna grew up in a small village in the Swansea valley which serves as a template for the fictional Cilhendre. She was six at the time of the miner's strike, though deeply affected by its impact on her community. Strike for a Kingdom is two things: It's a darkly engrossing murder mystery that keeps you guessing until the end. But it's also a beautifully poetic evocation of a close knit community struggling to survive in a world of extreme poverty. Directed by James Robinson A BBC Cymru Wales production. As its residents struggle to survive, the Welsh village of Cilhendre is rocked by murder. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Michael Dobbs - A Family Affair | 20091128 | On 22nd November 1990, following dissention in the Conservative ranks and an equivocal leadership ballot, Margaret Thatcher made the dramatic decision to offer her resignation as prime minister. Michael Dobbs' play follows Thatcher's last traumatic days in power, seen from the perspective of her husband, Denis, and her family.
Margaret Thatcher ...... Clare Higgins
Directed by Roland Jaquerello
A Fiction Factory production for BBC Radio 4.
Michael Dobbs' play follows Margaret Thatcher's last traumatic days in power. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Michael Frayn - Skios | 20130112 | On the Greek island of Skios, guests of a celebrated foundation prepare for the yearly lecture, given by scientific guru Dr Norman Wilfred. He turns out to be surprisingly charismatic. In fact he's not Dr Wilfred but a handsome chancer called Oliver Fox who has allowed himself to be misidentified.
Meanwhile sexy Georgie, awaiting Oliver, is trapped in a remote villa with the real Dr Wilfred; he has lost his luggage and himself.
In 'Skios', skilfully dramatised by Archie Scottney, an international cast delivers us to the outer limits of hilarity. Martin Jarvis says: 'A joy to direct. Much laughter in studio and on location as we recorded Michael Frayn's philosophic farce of pretension, delusion and mislaid identity.'
Dramatised by Archie Scottney
Identity swap and absurdity on a sunlit Greek island. But where is the real Dr Wilfred? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Michael Hastings, Tom And Viv | 20081227 | Benedict Cumberbatch stars in the heart-breaking story of TS Eliot's marriage to Viv Haigh-Wood. Michael Hastings' best known play charts the turbulent, doomed marriage of the young TS Eliot and the charismatic Vivienne Haigh-Wood. This moving, highly-charged study has been described as 'one of the most important plays of the 20th century'. Stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Tom, Lia Williams as Viv, David Haig as Maurice and Judy Parfitt as Rose. Adapted and directed by Peter Kavanagh. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2008. Tom ............... Benedict Cumberbatch Viv.................. Lia Williams Maurice..............David Haig Rose............... Judy Parfitt Charles............ John Rowe Louise..................Emily Randall Janes............... Chris Pavlo Dr Todd............ Gunnar Cauthery Barrister............. Jonathan Tafler Adapted and directed by......Peter Kavanagh. The nightmare, turbulent marriage of TS Eliot and Vivienne Haigh-Wood. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Michael Hastings, Tom And Viv | 20120114 | Benedict Cumberbatch stars in the heart-breaking story of TS Eliot's marriage to Viv Haigh-Wood. Michael Hastings' best known play charts the turbulent, doomed marriage of the young TS Eliot and the charismatic Vivienne Haigh-Wood. This moving, highly-charged study has been described as 'one of the most important plays of the 20th century'. Stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Tom, Lia Williams as Viv, David Haig as Maurice and Judy Parfitt as Rose. Adapted and directed by Peter Kavanagh. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2008. Tom ............... Benedict Cumberbatch Viv.................. Lia Williams Maurice..............David Haig Rose............... Judy Parfitt Charles............ John Rowe Louise..................Emily Randall Janes............... Chris Pavlo Dr Todd............ Gunnar Cauthery Barrister............. Jonathan Tafler Adapted and directed by......Peter Kavanagh. The nightmare, turbulent marriage of TS Eliot and Vivienne Haigh-Wood. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Michael Morpurgo, Private Peaceful | 20120204 | Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo dramatised by Simon Reade with music by Coope Boyes and Simpson. In WW1 over 300 British soldiers were executed by firing squad, some for desertion and cowardice. Many were traumatised by shell-shock. Some 90 years later they received posthumous pardons from the British Government, after a campaign helped by Michael Morpurgo's novel Private Peaceful . Recorded on location in Iddesleigh - the Devon village where the book is set with Michael Morpurgo playing the Vicar and Nicholas Lyndhurst Seargent Hanley The Organist was Marjorie Cleverdon Music - Coope Boyes and Simpson. Directed on location by Susan Roberts. Brothers Tommo and Charlie's journey from a Devon childhood to the horrors of WWI. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Michael Morpurgo, Private Peaceful | 20120922 | Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo dramatised by Simon Reade with music by Coope Boyes and Simpson. In WW1 over 300 British soldiers were executed by firing squad, some for desertion and cowardice. Many were traumatised by shell-shock. Some 90 years later they received posthumous pardons from the British Government, after a campaign helped by Michael Morpurgo's novel Private Peaceful . Recorded on location in Iddesleigh - the Devon village where the book is set with Michael Morpurgo playing the Vicar and Nicholas Lyndhurst Seargent Hanley The Organist was Marjorie Cleverdon Music - Coope Boyes and Simpson. Directed on location by Susan Roberts. Brothers Tommo and Charlie's journey from a Devon childhood to the horrors of WWI. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Mike Bartlett - The Right Honourable | 20131102 | By Mike Bartlett. Nerys Jones, at 28, is the youngest MP in the House of Commons. In her first week she signs up for an introductory tour of Parliament and is surprised to find her tour guide is a very senior politican. At first he seems to be playing some sort of game and she's not sure what it is, but soon she is drawn into a web of intrigue which tests everything she stands for.
Starring Peter Firth and Alexandra Roach (the young Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady), this is fresh political storytelling from Mike Bartlett, one of the most thought-provoking playwrights in Britain today. His TV series, The Town (December 2012), was nominated for a Breakthrough Talent BAFTA. His 2013 play Bull received excellent reviews at the Sheffield Crucible and transferred to New York. His 2012 dramatisation of Chariots of Fire directed by Ed Hall at Hampstead had an extended season in the West End.
Directed by Claire Grove
The youngest MP in the House of Commons is drawn into a web of political intrigue. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Mike Bartlett - The Right Honourable | 20131102 | 20140801 (R4) | By Mike Bartlett. Nerys Jones, at 28, is the youngest MP in the House of Commons. In her first week she signs up for an introductory tour of Parliament and is surprised to find her tour guide is a very senior politican. At first he seems to be playing some sort of game and she's not sure what it is, but soon she is drawn into a web of intrigue which tests everything she stands for.
Starring Peter Firth and Alexandra Roach (the young Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady), this is fresh political storytelling from Mike Bartlett, one of the most thought-provoking playwrights in Britain today. His TV series, The Town (December 2012), was nominated for a Breakthrough Talent BAFTA. His 2013 play Bull received excellent reviews at the Sheffield Crucible and transferred to New York. His 2012 dramatisation of Chariots of Fire directed by Ed Hall at Hampstead had an extended season in the West End.
Directed by Claire Grove
The youngest MP in the House of Commons is drawn into a web of political intrigue. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Mike Walker - Spitfire! | 20100911 | A moving drama by Mike Walker about the most famous British fighter aircraft in history, first broadcast in September 2010 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Framed by recollections from veteran
Inspired by real people and real events, the drama traces RJ Mitchell's design from creation to legend and the fortunes of two young pilots who join a frontline Spitfire squadron just as the Battle of Britain begins.
Many factors were important in the Battle, but it was the excellence of the Spitfire which most famously evened the odds in the fight against the Luftwaffe. Mike Walker's drama takes us close to this magnificent aircraft
Technical Advisor: Patrick Bishop
Producer/Director: Amber Barnfather
Moving drama by Mike Walker about the most famous British fighter aircraft in history. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Mike Walker - Spitfire! | 20100911 | 20120804 (R4) | A moving drama by Mike Walker about the most famous British fighter aircraft in history, first broadcast in September 2010 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Framed by recollections from veteran
Inspired by real people and real events, the drama traces RJ Mitchell's design from creation to legend and the fortunes of two young pilots who join a frontline Spitfire squadron just as the Battle of Britain begins.
Many factors were important in the Battle, but it was the excellence of the Spitfire which most famously evened the odds in the fight against the Luftwaffe. Mike Walker's drama takes us close to this magnificent aircraft
Technical Advisor: Patrick Bishop
Producer/Director: Amber Barnfather
Moving drama by Mike Walker about the most famous British fighter aircraft in history. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Mike Walker - The Biggest Secret | 20040605 | 4 Extra Debut. In the early hours of 5 June 1944, Captain Rob Collins, who is languishing in hospital, receives a call that will take him on a journey through England that will change his life.
Mike Walker's play is an epic journey across England poised on the edge of a historical moment. It is set on June 5th the day before the invasion. It is a portrait of England waiting for the invasion that will change the course of history, but an invasion only a very few know that is about happen.
On June 5 1944, Cpt Rob Collins begins a journey through England that will change his life Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Mike Walker, Landfall | 20110319 | Five misfits travel to a mysterious planet to recover ore left by a mining operation and encounter a truly extraordinary intelligence. An original Science Fiction adventure by Mike Walker. Cally ... Nicola Miles-Wilden Intaba ... Cyril Nri Hudson ... Clare Perkins JD ... Alex Tregear Hussam ... Adeel Akhtar Sound design by Pete Ringrose and Colin Guthrie The director is Marc Beeby When five lost souls, recruited by the Company travel to an abandoned planet, all they know is that they are to retrieve the only known sample of an ore left over from an old mining operation. But their task becomes considerably more complicated when one of their party has a close encounter with the indigenous plant life - plant life which seems to have some very odd, very powerful properties. Soon they are battling not only to stay alive, but to hang on to the very things that make them human. Recovering ore from a mystery planet, five misfits encounter an extraordinary intelligence Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Mike Walker, Sunk | 20110528 | A drama to mark the 100 year anniversary of the Launch of Titanic (31st May 1911). This is the fascinating story behind the 1943 Nazi propaganda film, Titanic, which was up until then, the most expensive German film ever. The film was commissioned by Goebbels with a view to discredit British and American capitalists. Ironically, this production became a symbol for the corruption and 'sinking' of the Third Reich itself. Cast Walter Zerlett-Olfenius .....Richard Laing Herbert Selpin.....Blake Ritson Joseph Goebbels.....Jason Watkins Hans Nielsen .....Nick Dunning Sybille Schmitz .....Lucy Cohu Ernst Fritz Furbringer .....Miche Doherty Miss Volkmaan.....S退ain퀀n Brennan The Barman.....Paul Kennedy Producer/Director.....Gemma McMullan Mike Walker is one of the UK's leading radio dramatists and is also a feature and documentary writer and published author. The ironic story behind the most expensive Nazi propaganda film ever made - Titanic. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Missing Dates | 20080301 | By Simon Gray. Brothers Michael and Jason vie with each other for the attention of Anita. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Murder Every Monday | 20081122 | Mark Gatiss' adaptation of Pamela Branch's comedy.
Asterisk Club founder Clifford Flush hasn't murdered anyone for years, but when the urge comes on him to bump off his bridge partner, he and the rest of the Club are forced to leave London in a hurry. Once out of harm's way in the rural hamlet of Krunte Abbas, they acquire dilapidated Dankry Manor, where they establish themselves as 'homicide consultants'.
Armitage/Paget ...... Simon Williams
Clifford Flush and the Asterisk Club establish themselves as 'homicide consultants'. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Murder Under Trust: The Massacre At Glencoe | 20140816 | 20160319 (R4) | In 1692 soldiers billeted in the homes of the MacDonald clan in Glencoe rose up and killed their hosts. Was this Highland massacre the inevitable outcome of a long-standing clan feud? Or were there other factors behind this infamous betrayal? Adrian Bean's play - based on the contemporary parliamentary Commission Of Enquiry into the massacre and on historian John Prebble's seminal book, Glencoe - dramatises these tragic 17th century events. Producer/director: Bruce Young. Adrian Bean's play dramatises events leading up to the infamous Highland massacre in 1692. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. In 1692 soldiers billeted in the homes of the MacDonald clan in Glencoe rose up and killed their hosts. Was this Highland massacre the inevitable outcome of a long-standing clan feud? Or were there other factors behind this infamous betrayal? Adrian Bean's play - based on the contemporary parliamentary Commission Of Enquiry into the massacre and on historian John Prebble's seminal book, Glencoe - dramatises these tragic 17th century events. Producer/director: Bruce Young. Adrian Bean's play dramatises events leading up to the infamous Highland massacre in 1692. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| My Dear Children Of The Whole World | 20110129 | Vatican City, December 1942. As war rages across the globe, Pope Pius XII prepares to deliver his annual Christmas message. It is perhaps the most important public address he will ever give - and that's why the Pontiff faces the starkest dilemma of his reign. For months beforehand evidence has been growing of a vast, organised genocide of Jews and other races in German-occupied lands. Now the Vatican is coming under increasing pressure to speak out against Nazi atrocities. In private audiences, the British and American ambassadors to the Holy See urge Pius to show moral leadership by explicitly attacking Hitler in his Christmas message. Yet Pius is reluctant to specifically condemn the Holocaust. He is concerned that speaking out risks making things worse. As Pius writes and discards draft after draft of the message, it becomes clear that there are other factors to explain his ambivalence. Europe's future seems to hang in the balance between Nazism and Bolshevism, and it is the latter ideology that he most fears. In My Dear Children of the Whole World, by Hugh Costello. Pope Pius XII was played by Hugh Ross And Sir Francis Osborne by Nick Dunning. Cardinal Maglione was played by Pat Laffan Monsignor Tardini by Patrick Fitzsymons Mother Pasqualina - Stella McCusker Harold Tittman - Stuart Milligan Myron Taylor - Colin Stinton And Sister Teresia Benedicta - Christine Kavanagh My Dear Children of the Whole World was directed in Belfast by Eoin O'Callaghan. It's 1942 and Pope Pius XII is urged to speak out against Nazi atrocities. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince | 20130525 | Five hundred years after writing his most provocative political tract, Niccolo Machiavelli appears before an infernal court to appeal against the harsh treatment his works have received over time.
Rather than being seen as a description of political cynicism and opportunism, he argues that "Machiavellian" should be a compliment and The Prince has in fact been an infallible guidebook followed closely by all successful leaders.
The Prince By Niccolo Machiavelli
Produced and directed by Clive Brill
Niccolo Machiavelli is in the dock to appeal against the treatment of his book The Prince. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince | 20130525 | 20140323 (R4) | Five hundred years after writing his most provocative political tract, Niccolo Machiavelli appears before an infernal court to appeal against the harsh treatment his works have received over time.
Rather than being seen as a description of political cynicism and opportunism, he argues that "Machiavellian" should be a compliment and The Prince has in fact been an infallible guidebook followed closely by all successful leaders.
The Prince By Niccolo Machiavelli
Produced and directed by Clive Brill
Niccolo Machiavelli is in the dock to appeal against the treatment of his book The Prince. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Nicholas Wright - Mrs Klein | 20081220 | Nicholas Wright's dramatisation of the troubled relationship between influential child psychoanalyst Melanie Klein and her own children.
Faced with coming to terms with the news of the death of her son, Mrs Klein decides against going to his funeral. Frustrated with her mother's behaviour, Klein's daughter Melitta confronts her with some home truths.
Mrs Klein ...... Janet Suzman
Directed by Alison Hindell.
Three women meet in the home of child psychoanalyst Melanie Klein, grieving for her son. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Nick Stafford - The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde | 20140628 | Oscar Wilde's courtroom battle with the Marquess of Queensbury. Wilde naturally assumes that he can take on the man who invented the rules of boxing and win. Based on the book "Irish Peacock and Scarlet Marquess" by Merlin Holland (Oscar's grandson).
Director: David Hunter
Produced in association with Mike Mansfield Television and Paul Knight Productions.
Oscar Wilde's courtroom battle with the Marquess of Queensbury. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Nick Stafford - The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde | 20140628 | 20151010 (R4) | Oscar Wilde's courtroom battle with the Marquess of Queensbury. Wilde naturally assumes that he can take on the man who invented the rules of boxing and win. Based on the book "Irish Peacock and Scarlet Marquess" by Merlin Holland (Oscar's grandson).
Director: David Hunter
Produced in association with Mike Mansfield Television and Paul Knight Productions.
Oscar Wilde's courtroom battle with the Marquess of Queensbury. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Noel Coward, Present Laughter | 20130406 | 20150131 (R4) | Often thought of as semi autobiographical, No뀀l Coward's 'Present Laughter' follows a few days in the life of successful and self-obsessed actor Garry Essendine as he prepares to go on tour to Africa. Amid a series of events bordering on farce, Garry must deal with interruptions including the numerous women who want to seduce him, a young aspiring actress, Daphne, and Joanna who is the wife of his manager Henry and who is already having an affair with his producer Morris. He must also deal with placating his long suffering secretary Monica, avoiding his estranged wife Liz Essendine, being confronted by the obsessed young playwright Roland Maule and the unbearable inevitability of all that comes with turning forty. Present Laughter' by No뀀l Coward Director: Celia de Wolff A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. Noel Coward's play follows a few days in the life of self-obsessed actor Garry Essendine. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. Often thought of as semi autobiographical, No뀀l Coward's 'Present Laughter' follows a few days in the life of successful and self-obsessed actor Garry Essendine as he prepares to go on tour to Africa. Amid a series of events bordering on farce, Garry must deal with interruptions including the numerous women who want to seduce him, a young aspiring actress, Daphne, and Joanna who is the wife of his manager Henry and who is already having an affair with his producer Morris. He must also deal with placating his long suffering secretary Monica, avoiding his estranged wife Liz Essendine, being confronted by the obsessed young playwright Roland Maule and the unbearable inevitability of all that comes with turning forty. Present Laughter' by No뀀l Coward Director: Celia de Wolff A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. Noel Coward's play follows a few days in the life of self-obsessed actor Garry Essendine. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Noel Coward, Private Lives | 20100102 | Divorced couple Amanda and Elyot meet again on their second honeymoons with new spouses. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Noughts And Crosses | 20120225 | by Malorie Blackman, dramatised for radio by Janice Okoh Callum and Sephy have known each other since they were babies, when his Mum worked for hers. But Callum is a Nought - a second class citizen - and Sephy a Cross, one of the elite. Her father is also one of the country's leading policiticians. No matter how much they may want to be together, the world is telling them they can't. And soon bigger things will prevail. Like the bombing.......... Sephy - Zawe Ashton Callum - Rikki Lawton Meggie/Jasmine - Adjoa Andoh Ryan/Andrew Dorn - Carl Prekopp Jude - Alex Lanipekun Lynette/Sarah - Tracy Wiles Kamal - Jude Akuwudike Kelani Adams - Nikki Amuka Bird Mr Pingule - Israel Oyelumade Mr Stoll - Richard Pepple Soanes - Gerard McDermott Shania - Victoria Inez Hardy Director/Producer Marion Nancarrow Malorie Blackman, OBE, is the BAFTA winning author of more than 50 books. Noughts and Crosses won the Children's Book of the Year Award in 2002, as well as the Fantastic Fiction Award and was in the BBC's Big Read Top 100. The dramatist of Noughts & Crosses, Janice Okoh, won the prestigious Bruntwood prize 2011 for Playwriting, in conjunction with the Royal Exchange Theatre, for her original play Three Birds. Malorie Blackman's cult novel of young love in a dystopian world dramatised by Janice Okoh Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| On Her Majesty's Secret Service | 20140503 | James Bond seems more interested in gambling at the Casino Royale than tracking down elusive SPECTRE chief Blofeld. Then he meets Tracy, emotionally disturbed daughter of mafia boss Draco.
Impersonating a College of Arms official Bond infiltrates Blofeld's Swiss mountain-top lair. He learns that Blofeld and aide Irma Bunt are brainwashing young women. Why? Is biological warfare involved? Backed by 'M' and Draco, Bond mounts an air assault. But can he pin down monstrous Blofeld? And what will happen to Tracy?
Toby Stephens is on top form as 007. A stellar cast includes Joanna Lumley, Alfred Molina, Alex Jennings, Lisa Dillon, John Standing, Janie Dee, Lloyd Owen, Joanna Cassidy, Clare Dunne and Julian Sands, with Jarvis himself as the voice of Fleming.
Specially composed music: Mark Holden and Michael Lopez
Director: Martin Jarvis
Martin Jarvis directs his fourth Ian Fleming for Radio 4. Toby Stephens returns as 007. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| On Her Majesty's Secret Service | 20140503 | 20150516 (R4) | James Bond seems more interested in gambling at the Casino Royale than tracking down elusive SPECTRE chief Blofeld. Then he meets Tracy, emotionally disturbed daughter of mafia boss Draco.
Impersonating a College of Arms official Bond infiltrates Blofeld's Swiss mountain-top lair. He learns that Blofeld and aide Irma Bunt are brainwashing young women. Why? Is biological warfare involved? Backed by 'M' and Draco, Bond mounts an air assault. But can he pin down monstrous Blofeld? And what will happen to Tracy?
Toby Stephens is on top form as 007. A stellar cast includes Joanna Lumley, Alfred Molina, Alex Jennings, Lisa Dillon, John Standing, Janie Dee, Lloyd Owen, Joanna Cassidy, Clare Dunne and Julian Sands, with Jarvis himself as the voice of Fleming.
Specially composed music: Mark Holden and Michael Lopez
Director: Martin Jarvis
Martin Jarvis directs his fourth Ian Fleming for Radio 4. Toby Stephens returns as 007. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| On The Ceiling | 20090207 | 20101211 (R4) | by Nigel Planer Lapo - Phil Daniels Loti - Bryan Dick Pope Julius - Gary Waldhorn Cardinal Alidosi - Roger Lloyd Pack Composer - Adam Cork Directed by Mary Peate High up on the wooden scaffolding tower of the Sistine Chapel, two fresco plasterers get on with the day's work preparing the ceiling for their boss Michelangelo who has not bothered to turn up for work again. As they do so, they bemoan the uselessness of the great master. Pope Julius and Cardinal Alidosi visit the chapel to inspect the progress of their commission. They are never very impressed, and the Pope is more concerned about getting Michelangelo to do his funeral monument at a knock-down price. On the Ceiling is not about great artists; it is about those people whose names don't go down in history: the ones who do the essential drudge work, their frustration at their lack of genius and their pride in their own technical expertise. In this version of events, low elements combine to make high art. Nigel Planer is best known as Neil in The Young Ones, and as Nicholas Craig - The Naked Actor. Other television productions include Shine on Harvey Moon; Dennis Potter's Blackeyes. On stage, Nigel has performed in Simon Gray's Unnatural Pursuits; Ben Elton's We Will Rock You and Hairspray. By Nigel Planer. Two fresco plasterers in the Sistine Chapel wait for Michelangelo. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | 20080906 | Mike Walker's adaptation of Solzhenitsyn's portrayal of life in Stalin's prison camps. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| One Man on a Stage | 20070428 | One Man on a Stage: Comedy by Judith French, based on Jerome K Jerome's theatrical memoir. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Othello | 20100227 | Lenny Henry stars in Northern Broadside's version of Shakespeare's great tragedy of love turned sour by unfounded jealousy. Othello's descent into deluded rage is orchestrated by the dazzling villainy of his lieutenant Iago.
(Original stage production created by Northern Broadsides and West Yorkshire Playhouse and staged in London by Sonia Friedman Productions)
IAGO ..... Conrad Nelson
Director: Barrie Rutter
Music arranged by Conrad Nelson and performed by the cast.
Northern Broadsides theatre company's version of Shakespeare's tragedy of love turned sour Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Othello | 20100227 | 20120512 (R4) | Lenny Henry stars in Northern Broadside's version of Shakespeare's great tragedy of love turned sour by unfounded jealousy. Othello's descent into deluded rage is orchestrated by the dazzling villainy of his lieutenant Iago.
(Original stage production created by Northern Broadsides and West Yorkshire Playhouse and staged in London by Sonia Friedman Productions)
IAGO ..... Conrad Nelson
Director: Barrie Rutter
Music arranged by Conrad Nelson and performed by the cast.
Northern Broadsides theatre company's version of Shakespeare's tragedy of love turned sour Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Otherwise Engaged | 20120324 | 20131228 (R4) | Simon Gray's best-loved comedy. A publisher tries to enjoy a Saturday listening to Wagner. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. Simon Gray's best-loved comedy. A publisher tries to enjoy a Saturday listening to Wagner. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Our Country's Good | 20111217 | by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Australia 1789: A young lieutenant attempts to direct a cast of convicts
Captain Arthur Philip ..... Nicholas Le Prevost
Director ..... Sally Avens
Timberlake Wertenbaker's stage play was adapted from Thomas Keneally's novel, 'The Playmaker'.
Over one weekend Radio 4 and Radio 3 present new productions of 'Our Country's Good' and 'The Recruiting Officer' using the same cast. On Saturday on Radio 4 we hear 'Our Country's Good' and watch a group of convicts' lives change as they rehearse 'The Recruiting Officer' and on Sunday on Radio 3 we hear the convicts' production of 'The Recruiting Officer'.
Timberlake Wertenbaker's play about the convicts and Marines sent to Australia in 1787. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Our Man in Jamaica | 20070901 | By Marcy Kahan. Noel Coward's neighbour Ian Fleming wants him to resume his work as a spy. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Patrick Barlow - Joan of Arc, and How She Became a Saint | 20090214 | Can a young country girl lead an army? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Patrick Barlow - Joan of Arc, and How She Became a Saint | 20090214 | 20131109 (R4) | Can a young country girl lead an army? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Paul Sellar - The Moonflask | 20140125 | by Paul Sellar
When a group of people meet on a back to work course they pool their various skills to steal a priceless Ming vase from an auction house and return it to its rightful owner. But just who is conning who in this action packed drama?
Producer ..... Sally Avens
This is a caper with a conscience, a heist with a smile on its face. But the drama is firmly based in the real world; an elderly couple recently discovered they were using a Ming vase as an umbrella stand, Government plans include making jobless criminals spend one day a week searching for work and fraud in the UK has increased tenfold since the banking crisis. Paul Sellar weaves a fast-paced yarn around these facts to create a plot full of twists and turns.
A group of jobseekers pool their skills to steal a Ming vase and return it to its owner. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Paul Sellar - The Moonflask | 20140125 | 20150404 (R4) | by Paul Sellar
When a group of people meet on a back to work course they pool their various skills to steal a priceless Ming vase from an auction house and return it to its rightful owner. But just who is conning who in this action packed drama?
Producer ..... Sally Avens
This is a caper with a conscience, a heist with a smile on its face. But the drama is firmly based in the real world; an elderly couple recently discovered they were using a Ming vase as an umbrella stand, Government plans include making jobless criminals spend one day a week searching for work and fraud in the UK has increased tenfold since the banking crisis. Paul Sellar weaves a fast-paced yarn around these facts to create a plot full of twists and turns.
A group of jobseekers pool their skills to steal a Ming vase and return it to its owner. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Payback | 20110122 | 20120915 (R4) | 6th October 1973. Golda Meir has become Prime Minister of Israel in her seventies. Syrian and Egyptian troops are massing on Israel's borders, but despite eleven warnings of impending war in the past month, the Israeli cabinet have not called up the reserve. In Florida, Richard Nixon awaits the final verdict of the Washington Appeal court on his objections to surrendering the Watergate Tapes. In New York, Henry Kissinger is about to be woken at his room in the Waldorf Astoria, with news of a new Middle East War. Jonathan Myerson's drama investigates how domestic and international politics were about to combine, to change the Middle East forever. Producer/Director Jonquil Panting. Jonathan Myerson's play explores pressures on US diplomacy in the 1973 Middle East War. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Penelope Fitzgerald - The Gate of Angels | 20111210 | Penelope Fitzgerald's novel of love, religion and physics, dramatised by Yvonne Antrobus. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Penelope Fitzgerald - The Gate of Angels | 20111210 | 20121005 (R4) | Penelope Fitzgerald's novel of love, religion and physics, dramatised by Yvonne Antrobus. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Peter Brough - His Master's Voice | 20140802 | By James Maw and Tim Sullivan. Rob Brydon is ventriloquist Peter Brough and his doll Archie Andrews in a new play that tells the true story behind one of the most successful radio shows of all time. With Fenella Woolgar as Peggy Brough.
The 1950s BBC Radio show Educating Archie - with 16 million listeners - catapulted the ventriloquist Peter Brough from suburban obscurity to the heights of high society. The Royal Family were fans. His show introduced the world to Eric Sykes (writer), Tony Hancock (Archie's Tutor), Max Bygraves (another tutor) and Julie Andrews (Archie's girlfriend).
After eight years on radio, Educating Archie transferred to television. And yet, one day in 1961, Peter Brough locked the dummy in a suitcase and left him on the top of a wardrobe for forty years until, six years after the ventriloquist's death, Archie Andrews was put up for auction.
His Master's Voice tells the true story of what went wrong in the world of Archie Andrews and Peter Brough.
Written by James Maw and Tim Sullivan
Director and Producer: Jeremy Mortimer
Rob Brydon is Peter Brough the ventriloquist, in the true story behind Educating Archie. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Peter Brough - His Master's Voice | 20140802 | 20160305 (R4) | By James Maw and Tim Sullivan. Rob Brydon is ventriloquist Peter Brough and his doll Archie Andrews in a new play that tells the true story behind one of the most successful radio shows of all time. With Fenella Woolgar as Peggy Brough.
The 1950s BBC Radio show Educating Archie - with 16 million listeners - catapulted the ventriloquist Peter Brough from suburban obscurity to the heights of high society. The Royal Family were fans. His show introduced the world to Eric Sykes (writer), Tony Hancock (Archie's Tutor), Max Bygraves (another tutor) and Julie Andrews (Archie's girlfriend).
After eight years on radio, Educating Archie transferred to television. And yet, one day in 1961, Peter Brough locked the dummy in a suitcase and left him on the top of a wardrobe for forty years until, six years after the ventriloquist's death, Archie Andrews was put up for auction.
His Master's Voice tells the true story of what went wrong in the world of Archie Andrews and Peter Brough.
Written by James Maw and Tim Sullivan
Director and Producer: Jeremy Mortimer
Rob Brydon is Peter Brough the ventriloquist, in the true story behind Educating Archie. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Peter Nichols - Passion Play | 20080112 | Peter Nichols's acclaimed study of adultery and betrayal.
James and Eleanor are happily married, or so they think. Kate, the young widow of one of their oldest friends, makes it clear to James that she thinks him very attractive. It is an offer he finds very difficult to resist.
James ...... Nicholas Le Prevost
Directed by Colin Guthrie.
Peter Nichols' acclaimed study of adultery and betrayal. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Peter Nichols - Passion Play | 20080112 | 20191005 (R4) | Peter Nichols's acclaimed study of adultery and betrayal.
James and Eleanor are happily married, or so they think. Kate, the young widow of one of their oldest friends, makes it clear to James that she thinks him very attractive. It is an offer he finds very difficult to resist.
James ...... Nicholas Le Prevost
Directed by Colin Guthrie.
Peter Nichols' acclaimed study of adultery and betrayal. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Phone | 20090905 | By Peter Jukes. Eliot is stuck in a rut. When his friend Roy, a local gangster, is taken ill, he hands Eliot his mobile phone, telling him to wait for it to ring. The phone thrusts Eliot into an underworld which is sometimes glamorous, often dangerous, and always unexpected.
Eliot ...... Freddy White
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.
By Peter Jukes. Eliot it thrust into danger when his gangster friend hands him a phone. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Playing With Fire | 20110723 | Originally produced at the National Theatre in 2005, David Edgar's play is set against the background of a riot in the fictional northern town of Wyverdale, in the early part of the 21st century. In a revised version for radio, Edgar offers a powerful combination of political and personal drama. Alex Russell - Emma Fielding George Aldred - David Troughton Frank Wilkins - Geoffrey Whitehead Riaz Rafique - Paul Bhattacharjee Anwar Hafiz - Pal Aron Arthur Barraclough - David Fleeshman Jack Ross - David Bannerman Joan Cummings - Marian Kemmer Shirley Honeywell - Fiona Clarke Les Slater - Peter Meakin Stephen Croft - Sam Dale Ricks - Graham Padden Lord Stanley - Robert Lister Counsel - Susan Brown Leena Harvey-Wells - Souad Faress Shaz - Bethan Walker Directed by Peter Leslie Wild. A chilling drama about the effects of policies from central Government at a local level. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Point Of Departure | 20090509 | By Francis Turnly. Controversial African leader Jonah Kotto is attending a peace summit in Belfast where Alec Murray is assigned to his security detail. When security at Stormont is breached Alec fears for Kotto's life, but is there a real threat, and, if so, how serious is it? Alec Murray - Patrick Fitzsymons Jonah Kotto - George Harris Grace - Ellen Thomas Clive - Adrian Lukis Miller - David Schofield Hannah - Aislin McGuckin Victor - Jude Akuwudike De Silva - Jimmy Akingbola Ambassador/Reporter - Ian McElhinney Photographer - Chris Patrick-Simpson Doctor/Simon - Ian Beattie Samuel Muntanga - Mark Asante Daniel Kenyatta - George B Seremba Newscaster - Fo Cullen Reporters - Laura Conway, Brian Murray Directed by Heather Larmour. By Francis Turnly. Security fears surround an African leader's visit to a peace summit. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Quartermaine's Terms | 20090124 | Simon Gray's funny and moving play is set in a school for teaching English to foreigners in the 1960s. It deals with the concerns of seven teachers over several years and in particular the progress of Quartermaine, a lonely man and ineffective teacher.
St John Quartermaine ...... Michael Palin
Directed by Maria Aitken.
Comedy by Simon Gray, set in a school for teaching English to foreigners in the 1960s. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Raven Black | 20100123 | 20110917 (R4) | By Ann Cleeves. Dramatised for radio by Iain Finlay MacLeod. Atmospheric dramatisation of the award-winning crime novel set deep in a Shetland winter. When a young woman is found strangled in a snow-covered field, the inhabitants of small Shetland hamlet Ravenswick are thrown into shock. Disbelief soon turns to anger and suspicion falls upon elderly loner Magnus Tait. But Detective Jimmy Perez has a hunch that the case is more complicated than that solution might suggest. Raven Black was named Best Crime Novel of the Year by the Crime Writers Association in 2006. It's the first in a series of novels set in Shetland, featuring Detective Jimmy Perez. Cast: Jimmy Perez ... Grant O'Rourke Magnus ... John Shedden Fran - Rosalind Sydney Sally ... Clare Yuille Robert - John Kielty Duncan - Kenny Blyth D.I. Taylor - Robin Laing Euan - Greg Powrie Annie Perez - Sandra Voe Catherine - Melody Grove Producer/Director: Kirsteen Cameron. Atmospheric adaptation of Ann Cleeves acclaimed crime novel, set in Shetland at midwinter. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. By Ann Cleeves. Dramatised for radio by Iain Finlay MacLeod. Atmospheric dramatisation of the award-winning crime novel set deep in a Shetland winter. When a young woman is found strangled in a snow-covered field, the inhabitants of small Shetland hamlet Ravenswick are thrown into shock. Disbelief soon turns to anger and suspicion falls upon elderly loner Magnus Tait. But Detective Jimmy Perez has a hunch that the case is more complicated than that solution might suggest. Raven Black was named Best Crime Novel of the Year by the Crime Writers Association in 2006. It's the first in a series of novels set in Shetland, featuring Detective Jimmy Perez. Cast: Jimmy Perez ... Grant O'Rourke Magnus ... John Shedden Fran - Rosalind Sydney Sally ... Clare Yuille Robert - John Kielty Duncan - Kenny Blyth D.I. Taylor - Robin Laing Euan - Greg Powrie Annie Perez - Sandra Voe Catherine - Melody Grove Producer/Director: Kirsteen Cameron. Atmospheric adaptation of Ann Cleeves acclaimed crime novel, set in Shetland at midwinter. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Red Shoes | 20121229 | 20131227 (R4) | This dark tale collected by Hans Christian Andersen is reimagined for radio by Frances Byrnes and stars Lizzy Watts as the teenage Karen whose vanity and skittishness compel her to demand a forbidden pair of red shoes. But as she had been warned on countless occasions, the red shoes are so imbued with sin and lasciviousness that they utterly destroy her both spiritually and corporally. In so doing, this version of The Red Shoes shirks none of Anderson's ruthlessness or darkness. Fairytale this may be but its bleak warning against wanton behaviour under threat of a violent and bloody demise, holds nothing back from young and old alike. In The Red Shoes is reimagined for Radio by Frances Byrnes. The Red Shoes was directed in Belfast by Eoin O'Callaghan. Karen's heart is set on a pair of red shoes whose magic compels her to dance to her death. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. This dark tale collected by Hans Christian Andersen is reimagined for radio by Frances Byrnes and stars Lizzy Watts as the teenage Karen whose vanity and skittishness compel her to demand a forbidden pair of red shoes. But as she had been warned on countless occasions, the red shoes are so imbued with sin and lasciviousness that they utterly destroy her both spiritually and corporally. In so doing, this version of The Red Shoes shirks none of Anderson's ruthlessness or darkness. Fairytale this may be but its bleak warning against wanton behaviour under threat of a violent and bloody demise, holds nothing back from young and old alike. In The Red Shoes is reimagined for Radio by Frances Byrnes. The Red Shoes was directed in Belfast by Eoin O'Callaghan. Karen's heart is set on a pair of red shoes whose magic compels her to dance to her death. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Red Velvet | 20140719 | 20150808 (R4) | by Lolita Chakrabarti. Adrian Lester stars in a radio version of the Tricycle Theatre's award-winning production, directed by Indhu Rubasingham, about the first black actor of note to play Othello. The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, 1833. Edmund Kean, the greatest actor of his generation, has collapsed on stage whilst playing Othello. A young black American actor has been asked to take over the role. But as the public riot in the streets over the abolition of slavery, how will the cast, critics and audience react to the revolution taking place in the theatre? Imagined experiences based on the true story of Ira Aldridge. Lolita Chakrabarti won Most Promising Playwright at The Evening Standard Awards and the Critics' Circle Awards after the 2012 run of Red Velvet at The Tricycle. Adrian Lester's performance earned him the Best Actor Award at the Critics' Circle Awards. Music by Paul Englishby Studio Production by Anne Bunting, Keith Graham and Mike Etherden Produced by Abigail le Fleming Photo credit: Hugo Glendinning. By Lolita Chakrabarti. Award-winning drama starring Adrian Lester as actor Ira Aldridge. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Road to Durham | 20090418 | Douglas Livingstone's play about Bevin Boys, the young men who were sent down the mines instead of joining the armed forces in the Second World War. Two 80-year-old former Bevin Boys, who have not seen each other for 63 years, decide to go to the Durham Miners' Gala together and confront their memories of the past.
Christopher ...... Timothy West
With recordings made at the Durham Miners' Gala and at West Pelton Primary School.
Directed by Jane Morgan
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
By Douglas Livingstone. Two 80-year-old former Bevin Boys reunite for a miners' gala. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Road to Durham | 20090418 | 20110820 (R4) | Douglas Livingstone's play about Bevin Boys, the young men who were sent down the mines instead of joining the armed forces in the Second World War. Two 80-year-old former Bevin Boys, who have not seen each other for 63 years, decide to go to the Durham Miners' Gala together and confront their memories of the past.
Christopher ...... Timothy West
With recordings made at the Durham Miners' Gala and at West Pelton Primary School.
Directed by Jane Morgan
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
By Douglas Livingstone. Two 80-year-old former Bevin Boys reunite for a miners' gala. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Robert L Pike - Bullitt | 20091024 | Dramatisation of Robert L Pike's gritty detective story, set in New York's rough 52nd Precinct in 1963.
Lieutenant Clancy, head throbbing from days without sleep, is assigned to protect important Mafia witness Johnny Rossi. But when he is found dead, Clancy has only a matter of hours to find the killer before his enemy, Assistant District Attorney Chalmers, finds out.
Lieutenant Clancy ...... Jason Isaacs
Directed by Pauline Harris.
Lieutenant Clancy only has hours to find the killer of a vital witness. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Robert M Pirsig, Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance | 20120623 | 20141011 (R4) | Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is the story of a motorcycle journey across America, a meditation on values and the concept of Quality, and an allegorical tale of a man coming to terms with his past and with his young son. The narrator takes a cross-country motorcycle trip from Minnesota to California with his son Chris during which the maintenance of the motorcycle becomes an illustration of how to unify the cold, rational realm of technology (the 'classical') with the warm, imaginative realm of artistry (the 'romantic'). As with the practice of Zen, the trick is to engage fully with the activity, to see and appreciate every detail, whether it's hiking in the woods, writing an essay, or tightening the bike chain to ensure a smooth ride. The narrator wrestles both with the ghost of his past and with some of the most important philosophical questions of the 20th century. The book touched the zeitgeist of a whole generation in 1974 after being turned down by 121 publishers. It's the biggest selling philosophy book ever with more than 5 million copies sold worldwide, has a huge online following - and has never been dramatized. Writer Peter Flannery (Our Friends in the North, George Gently, The Devil's Whore) adapts his favourite book for radio, with James Purefoy (Rome, Injustice, Ironclad) playing the Dad/Narrator. Author: Robert M. Pirsig Dramatist: Peter Flannery Original music: Jon Nicholls Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore Producer: Melanie Harris A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4. A motorcycle journey, a meditation on values, and a man coming to terms with his past. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is the story of a motorcycle journey across America, a meditation on values and the concept of Quality, and an allegorical tale of a man coming to terms with his past and with his young son. The narrator takes a cross-country motorcycle trip from Minnesota to California with his son Chris during which the maintenance of the motorcycle becomes an illustration of how to unify the cold, rational realm of technology (the 'classical') with the warm, imaginative realm of artistry (the 'romantic'). As with the practice of Zen, the trick is to engage fully with the activity, to see and appreciate every detail, whether it's hiking in the woods, writing an essay, or tightening the bike chain to ensure a smooth ride. The narrator wrestles both with the ghost of his past and with some of the most important philosophical questions of the 20th century. The book touched the zeitgeist of a whole generation in 1974 after being turned down by 121 publishers. It's the biggest selling philosophy book ever with more than 5 million copies sold worldwide, has a huge online following - and has never been dramatized. Writer Peter Flannery (Our Friends in the North, George Gently, The Devil's Whore) adapts his favourite book for radio, with James Purefoy (Rome, Injustice, Ironclad) playing the Dad/Narrator. Author: Robert M. Pirsig Dramatist: Peter Flannery Original music: Jon Nicholls Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore Producer: Melanie Harris A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4. A motorcycle journey, a meditation on values, and a man coming to terms with his past. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Robin Glendinning, The Windsor Jewels | 20070602 | 20090711 (R4) | In 1946, the Duke of Windsor (formerly Edward VIII) and his wife (formerly Wallis Simpson) paid a visit to Britain, hoping to secure a government job for the Duke and a title for the Duchess. During the visit, the Duchess's jewels, worth £13M, were stolen. Conspiracy theories abounded: was it an inside job by the Royal Family or an insurance fraud by the Duke and Duchess? Robin Glendinning's black comedy tells the story of this real life mystery. Starring Jon Glover as the Duke and Christine Kavanagh as the Duchess. Capstick - Christian Rodska Evans - Chris Yapp Miss Martin - Amy Clifton Bevin - Alan Moore Attlee - Paul Humpoletz Lascelles / Newsreel - David Collins First Hack - Stephen Perring Second Hack ...Paul Mohan Producer Jolyon Jenkins First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2007. Who has stolen Wallis Simpson's jewels? Black comedy with Christine Kavanagh. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. In 1946, the Duke of Windsor (formerly Edward VIII) and his wife (formerly Wallis Simpson) paid a visit to Britain, hoping to secure a government job for the Duke and a title for the Duchess. During the visit, the Duchess's jewels, worth £13M, were stolen. Conspiracy theories abounded: was it an inside job by the Royal Family or an insurance fraud by the Duke and Duchess? Robin Glendinning's black comedy tells the story of this real life mystery. Starring Jon Glover as the Duke and Christine Kavanagh as the Duchess. Capstick - Christian Rodska Evans - Chris Yapp Miss Martin - Amy Clifton Bevin - Alan Moore Attlee - Paul Humpoletz Lascelles / Newsreel - David Collins First Hack - Stephen Perring Second Hack ...Paul Mohan Producer Jolyon Jenkins First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2007. Who has stolen Wallis Simpson's jewels? Black comedy with Christine Kavanagh. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Roger Crane - The Last Confession | 20081004 | By Roger Crane, adapted by Martin Jenkins.
Conspiracy thriller that goes behind the scenes at the Vatican, uncovering the bitter rivalries, political skulduggery and crises of faith surrounding the untimely death of Pope John Paul I in 1978.
Benelli ...... David Suchet
Directed by David Blount.
The rivalries, skulduggery and crises of faith surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Rumours | 20130921 | by Colin Shindler
The story of how Private Eye made a name for itself by taking on the social and political establishment of Great Britain, culminating in the resignation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
Director Marc Beeby
BACKGROUND
The Profumo Affair was the catalyst for a revolution in the mood and character of British life. Aspects of that scandal appear here, but this play is not about Profumo or Christine Keeler or any of the well-known actors in that well-rehearsed drama. It is, rather, about events behind the scenes, about the wider rumours and scandals the affair forced into the light and, finally, the seismic cultural shift it helped unleash.
By Colin Shindler. Private Eye, the Profumo Affair and the end of a British Government. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Sacred Statues | 20080607 | By William Trevor.
Gifted Sculptor Corry is struggling to make ends meet for his pregnant wife Nuala and their children. He may be left with no choice but to sacrifice his beautiful statue carving and take a labouring job. Surely, Nuala reckons, there must be a way to safeguard his talent? She must find a way...
Nuala ..... Eileen Walsh
By William Trevor. A penniless sculptor's wife devises a shocking plan to make ends meet. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Sacred Statues | 20080607 | 20100522 (R4) | By William Trevor.
Gifted Sculptor Corry is struggling to make ends meet for his pregnant wife Nuala and their children. He may be left with no choice but to sacrifice his beautiful statue carving and take a labouring job. Surely, Nuala reckons, there must be a way to safeguard his talent? She must find a way...
Nuala ..... Eileen Walsh
By William Trevor. A penniless sculptor's wife devises a shocking plan to make ends meet. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Sarah Daniels - The Long Wait | 20040605 | 4 Extra Debut. In Normandy on the evening of 5 June 1944, Nicole is getting ready to go out to see a jazz band with her German boyfriend Karl. Not even the nightly air raids are going to stop them from having a great evening.
Written by Sarah Daniels, based on a story by Mike Walker.
Normandy, June 5 1944 - while ordinary life goes on, the resistance are preparing. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Saturday, Sunday and Monday | 20071215 | Eduardo de Filippo's comedy about an extended Neopolitan family. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Scam | 20070414 | Scam, by John Arden. Cressida faces a challenge when a dubious email lands in her inbox. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Secrets of the Small Hours | 20140104 | A new drama by Nick Dear.
A married couple confront each other for the first time, a year after the husband attempted to have his wife murdered.
Justin, has taken out a contract to have his estranged wife, Melissa, murdered. Unfortunately, he manages to hire an undercover detective as his hit-man. Melissa escapes unharmed, but the case never comes to trial, as the policeman is implicated in a corruption enquiry.
A year later, Melissa appears at Justin's door. She wants - for important personal reasons - to forgive him. But first he has to admit his murderous intentions towards her, which he has denied all along. They face off, in the wake of all that has gone before.
Paul McGann is Justin and Anastasia Hille plays Melissa.
Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
A married couple confront each other after the husband attempted to have his wife murdered Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| September Tide | 20080126 | Daphne du Maurier's bittersweet love story, adapted by Moya O'Shea. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Shell Shocked | 20080405 | Gregory Burke's moving story of two brothers who are separated in the trenches of WW1. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Simon Bovey - Mountain of Light | 20100619 | by Simon Bovey
London, 1851. The world's largest diamond is on show at the Great Exhibition. And John Rayverne must find a way to steal it to save the people he loves.
John.......Carl Prekopp
Directed by Marc Beeby
STEREO
1851: London buzzes with the wonders at The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. To John Rayverne, housebreaker par excellence, it's harvest time as fine houses stand empty while the occupants attend the spectacle. But his activities have come to the notice of a Governor of the Bank of England, George Galloway. Galloway has Rayverne abducted In return for not to hand him over to the police - and in order to protect the people he cares about - Rayverne is forced to agree to the impossible. He must steal one of the Exhibition's most famous exhibits: the world's largest diamond, the Koh-i-Noor. Galloway professes idealistic reasons for the theft: he fears cutting the diamond to fit the centrepiece in the Queen's crown (where it has its place today) will degrade the priceless original. But the theft appears impossible. By day the gem is sealed in an iron cage, at night it sinks into a vault. Rayverne, hounded by the police, spends much time among the mechanical wonders of the Exhibition looking for the necessary technical inspiration to carry out the theft. But has he bitten off more than even he can chew?
Simon Bovey's impeccably researched work for Radio 4 has been extremely successful. His plays include 'Red in Tooth and Claw', ' The Iceman' - 'a murkily atmospheric Victorian thriller that keeps the shivers coming' (Daily Mail) and the very well received Sargasso. Simon is also a film maker. His most recent production The Un-gone has been optioned by Miramax.
The world's largest diamond is at the Great Exhibition. John Rayverne is out to steal it. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Simon Bovey, Mountain Of Light | 20120414 | by Simon Bovey London, 1851. The world's largest diamond is on show at the Great Exhibition. And John Rayverne must find a way to steal it to save the people he loves. John.......Carl Prekopp Emily.......Lizzy Watts Hawkesworth....Ben Crowe Rilke.......Harry Myers Hobbs....Sam Dale Galloway......Michael Shelford Cobbet.....David Seddon Wyatt.....Nigel Hastings Directed by Marc Beeby STEREO 1851: London buzzes with the wonders at The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. To John Rayverne, housebreaker par excellence, it's harvest time as fine houses stand empty while the occupants attend the spectacle. But his activities have come to the notice of a Governor of the Bank of England, George Galloway. Galloway has Rayverne abducted In return for not to hand him over to the police - and in order to protect the people he cares about - Rayverne is forced to agree to the impossible. He must steal one of the Exhibition's most famous exhibits: the world's largest diamond, the Koh-i-Noor. Galloway professes idealistic reasons for the theft: he fears cutting the diamond to fit the centrepiece in the Queen's crown (where it has its place today) will degrade the priceless original. But the theft appears impossible. By day the gem is sealed in an iron cage, at night it sinks into a vault. Rayverne, hounded by the police, spends much time among the mechanical wonders of the Exhibition looking for the necessary technical inspiration to carry out the theft. But has he bitten off more than even he can chew? Simon Bovey's impeccably researched work for Radio 4 has been extremely successful. His plays include 'Red in Tooth and Claw', ' The Iceman' - 'a murkily atmospheric Victorian thriller that keeps the shivers coming' (Daily Mail) and the very well received Sargasso. Simon is also a film maker. His most recent production The Un-gone has been optioned by Miramax. The world's largest diamond is at the Great Exhibition. John Rayverne is out to steal it. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Simon Passmore - Going to Ground | 20100710 | By Simon Passmore
1940, Kent. England is on full alert in anticipation of a German invasion. As church bells sound the alarm, a secret resistance unit springs into action. Whatever happens, none of them expects to see their families again.
Directed by Toby Swift
******
This wartime drama features the exploits of an English guerrilla unit trained to make things as difficult as possible for the German invasion force.
The existence of the covert Auxiliary Units during World War II only became widely known in the 1990s. They were patrols of 4 to 8 men with orders to disappear as soon as the bells sounded. Southern England was dotted with dozens of secret underground bunkers which served as their bases. Trained and equipped with the best guerrilla weapons available, their orders were to sabotage and snipe at the invading army; to gather information on troop movements. Completely cut off by design, they operated in total secrecy and isolation. Their life expectancy was calculated officially at 14 days.
Fearing a German invasion, tensions run high for a resistance unit in Kent. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Simon Passmore - Going to Ground | 20130111 | By Simon Passmore
1940, Kent. England is on full alert in anticipation of a German invasion. As church bells sound the alarm, a secret resistance unit springs into action. Whatever happens, none of them expects to see their families again.
Directed by Toby Swift
******
This wartime drama features the exploits of an English guerrilla unit trained to make things as difficult as possible for the German invasion force.
The existence of the covert Auxiliary Units during World War II only became widely known in the 1990s. They were patrols of 4 to 8 men with orders to disappear as soon as the bells sounded. Southern England was dotted with dozens of secret underground bunkers which served as their bases. Trained and equipped with the best guerrilla weapons available, their orders were to sabotage and snipe at the invading army; to gather information on troop movements. Completely cut off by design, they operated in total secrecy and isolation. Their life expectancy was calculated officially at 14 days.
Fearing a German invasion, tensions run high for a resistance unit in Kent. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Slaughterhouse 5 | 20100213 | Dramatisation by Dave Sheasby of the celebrated anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. Billy Pilgrim, who hops back and forth in time, relives various moments in his real and fantasy lives, as a prisoner of war, optometrist and time traveller.
Narrator ...... John Guerassio
Music by 65 Days of Static
Directed by David Hunter.
Dramatisation of the celebrated anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Slavery: The Making Of | 20070324 | A group of actors and a producer grapple with re-enacting stories about the slave trade. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Slow Boat To Leningrad | 20090822 | Black comedy by David Pownall following events of August 1939, when the British and French were seriously out-manoeuvred by Stalin and Hitler when they unexpectedly agreed to sign a non-aggression pact. Doumenc - Keith Drinkel Drax/Chamberlain - Geoffrey Whitehead Burnett - Ian Masters Ribbentrop - Nicholas Boulton Hitler - Michael Maloney Stalin - Michael Jayston Voroshilov/Churchill - Christian Rodska Molotov - Jonathan Tafler Directed by Martin Jenkins David Pownall's account of Anglo-French attempts to negotiate with the USSR in 1939. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Solomon and Marion | 20131123 | Marion lives alone in her silent and isolated rural home in South Africa. She knows she is being watched so Solomon's arrival isn't a surprise but the reason for his visit is unclear. They form an unlikely friendship which bridges the generational and racial gaps between them but when the truth finally emerges it threatens to engulf them both. Written by Lara Foot, the play is followed by a short talk by Janet Suzman.
Composer Brydon Bolton
SOLOMON AND MARION was written and originally directed by Lara Foot for the Baxter Theatre Centre in Cape Town in 2011. It was restaged at the Assembly Hall as part of this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The play was, in part, inspired by the senseless murder of actor Brett Goldin in Cape Town in 2006. At the time, Brett was rehearsing the Baxter Theatre Centre production of Hamlet, directed by Janet Suzman, and the title role of Marion in this play was written for Janet. Janet's most recent credit for Radio 4 was in Life and Fate.
By Lara Foot. South African story of an unlikely friendship. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Somerset Maugham - For Services Rendered | 20130907 | Somerset Maugham's classic play, with Sian Thomas and David Calder.
Written in 1932 For Services Rendered is Somerset Maugham's incisive state-of-the-nation play - written fifteen years on from the end of WW1.
Set in late summer 1932 in Kent, the Ardsley family seem to be managing their lives very well but in reality each of them is fighting for survival. The Ardsley children are facing unpromising futures: Ethel is married to a former officer who is not quite the man she hoped he'd be; Eva is unmarried and approaching 40, martyring herself to the cause of their brother Sydney; Sydney has been blinded in the war; and Lois, at 27, is single and without a hope of marrying in the English backwater the family live in.
The family must go through a seismic shift in order to survive. The younger generation can no longer live their lives in the blueprint of the older generation, they must find a new way of living. England is changing, falling apart, and must begin again.
The first performance was on 1 November 1932 in the West End (with Ralph Richardson playing Leonard Ardsley). The anti-war message was not popular with audiences, and the play only ran for 78 performances.
The play is particularly extraordinary viewed in retrospect as the lessons of WW1 are written so clearly across the lives of the characters who, less than a decade later, would find themselves at war again.
For Services Rendered was written by Somerset Maugham. It is adapted and directed for radio by Lu Kemp.
A progressive English family try to live their lives under the shadow of World War One. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Somerset Maugham - For Services Rendered | 20130907 | 20150801 (R4) | Somerset Maugham's classic play, with Sian Thomas and David Calder.
Written in 1932 For Services Rendered is Somerset Maugham's incisive state-of-the-nation play - written fifteen years on from the end of WW1.
Set in late summer 1932 in Kent, the Ardsley family seem to be managing their lives very well but in reality each of them is fighting for survival. The Ardsley children are facing unpromising futures: Ethel is married to a former officer who is not quite the man she hoped he'd be; Eva is unmarried and approaching 40, martyring herself to the cause of their brother Sydney; Sydney has been blinded in the war; and Lois, at 27, is single and without a hope of marrying in the English backwater the family live in.
The family must go through a seismic shift in order to survive. The younger generation can no longer live their lives in the blueprint of the older generation, they must find a new way of living. England is changing, falling apart, and must begin again.
The first performance was on 1 November 1932 in the West End (with Ralph Richardson playing Leonard Ardsley). The anti-war message was not popular with audiences, and the play only ran for 78 performances.
The play is particularly extraordinary viewed in retrospect as the lessons of WW1 are written so clearly across the lives of the characters who, less than a decade later, would find themselves at war again.
For Services Rendered was written by Somerset Maugham. It is adapted and directed for radio by Lu Kemp.
A progressive English family try to live their lives under the shadow of World War One. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Something Wicked This Way Comes | 20111029 | Something Wicked This Way Comes
Composer ..... David Paul Jones
Set in 1960's Illinois this gem of modern Gothic literature is the memorable story of two boys, James Nightshade and William Halloway, and the evil that grips their small Midwestern town with the arrival of a "dark carnival" one Autumn midnight. These two innocents, both aged 13, (Will is born one minute before Halloween, and Jim one minute after) save the souls of the town (as well as their own). This is a vivid variation on the eternal theme of the fight between Good and Evil. A thrilling, chilling, richly kaleidoscopic sound world ensues; a shimmering mirror maze that reflects your older or younger self, depending on your desires, and a magic carousel that plays Chopin's Funeral March forwards - with each rotation you gain a year, and rotating backwards - you get younger.
1961 Illinois: Two young boys experience evil when a 'dark circus' comes to town. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Something Wicked This Way Comes | 20111029 | 20121207 (R4) | Something Wicked This Way Comes
Composer ..... David Paul Jones
Set in 1960's Illinois this gem of modern Gothic literature is the memorable story of two boys, James Nightshade and William Halloway, and the evil that grips their small Midwestern town with the arrival of a "dark carnival" one Autumn midnight. These two innocents, both aged 13, (Will is born one minute before Halloween, and Jim one minute after) save the souls of the town (as well as their own). This is a vivid variation on the eternal theme of the fight between Good and Evil. A thrilling, chilling, richly kaleidoscopic sound world ensues; a shimmering mirror maze that reflects your older or younger self, depending on your desires, and a magic carousel that plays Chopin's Funeral March forwards - with each rotation you gain a year, and rotating backwards - you get younger.
1961 Illinois: Two young boys experience evil when a 'dark circus' comes to town. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| South Downs | 20120901 | 20130816 (R4) | The much acclaimed Chichester Festival production of David Hare's play is brought to radio. Set in the 60s in Lancing College, Sussex, where the author went to school. A pin sharp young pupil ( an astonishing professional debut from Alex Lawther) is cut off from his fellow boys by virtue of his own intellect, background and questioning spirit. The school, with its unyielding and rigid outlook on life, leaves the boy isolated and confused. In an unlikely meeting with the free-spirited mother of another pupil (Anna Chancellor) her generosity and sound advice offers the boy a world of kindness and possibility. The original music was composed by Paul Englishby and the original theatre sound was designed by Ian Dickinson. The Chichester Festival production of South Downs was first performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester. Directed by Jeremy Herrin A Catherine Bailey Production for BBC Radio 4. By David Hare. A pin-sharp pupil is cut off from his fellow boys by his own intellect. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. The much acclaimed Chichester Festival production of David Hare's play is brought to radio. Set in the 60s in Lancing College, Sussex, where the author went to school. A pin sharp young pupil ( an astonishing professional debut from Alex Lawther) is cut off from his fellow boys by virtue of his own intellect, background and questioning spirit. The school, with its unyielding and rigid outlook on life, leaves the boy isolated and confused. In an unlikely meeting with the free-spirited mother of another pupil (Anna Chancellor) her generosity and sound advice offers the boy a world of kindness and possibility. The original music was composed by Paul Englishby and the original theatre sound was designed by Ian Dickinson. The Chichester Festival production of South Downs was first performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester. Directed by Jeremy Herrin A Catherine Bailey Production for BBC Radio 4. By David Hare. A pin-sharp pupil is cut off from his fellow boys by his own intellect. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Spellbound | 20080216 | Newly qualified psychiatrist, Constance Sedgwick arrives at Landry House in North Yorkshire, where another new arrival - the handsome, Dr Murchison, author of several books on psychiatry- is giving the great Dr Edwardes a welcome break.
With his special patient locked in a room, Nurse Deeling- Dr Edwardes loyal long term assistant - suspects Dr Murchison might be an imposter....
Dramatised by Amanda Dalton from the famous Hitchcock film - script by Ben Hecht and the original book - The House of Dr Edwardes by Francis Beeding.
Starring Hattie Morahan as Constance Sedgewick, Benedict Cumberbatch as John Ballantyne, Alexander Mathie as Nurse Anne Deeling, David Fleeshman as Dr Edwardes, Gerard Fletcher as Geoffrey Dodstone and Christine Cox as Ciceley Truelow.
Director: Susan Roberts
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2008.
Is the new head of a mental hospital an imposter? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Statement Of Regret | 20090718 | 20130817 (R4) | Statement of Regret by Kwame Kwei-Armah The Year of Obama should be an opportunity for Kwaku's black policy think tank to florish. But Kwaku is still grieving for his father and his latest misjudged proposal is about to explode. A second chance to hear this provocative play first produced by the National Theatre in 2007 and first broadcast in 2009. Director........................Alison Hindell. By Kwame Kwei-Armah. Kwaku's latest misjudged policy proposal is about to explode. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. Statement of Regret by Kwame Kwei-Armah The Year of Obama should be an opportunity for Kwaku's black policy think tank to florish. But Kwaku is still grieving for his father and his latest misjudged proposal is about to explode. A second chance to hear this provocative play first produced by the National Theatre in 2007 and first broadcast in 2009. Director........................Alison Hindell. By Kwame Kwei-Armah. Kwaku's latest misjudged policy proposal is about to explode. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Stephen Wakelam - Adulteries of a Provincial Wife | 20081025 | Who was the inspiration for Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary? Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Stephen Wakelam, The Jinx Element | 20120121 | 20121130 (R4) | by Stephen Wakelam Edith Wharton's private life was as dramatic as many of her novels. An encounter with a journalist was to have a seismic effect on her marriage and her work. Directed by Sally Avens Pullitzer prize winning author Edith Wharton had a long career, which stretched over forty years and included the publication of more than forty books, many of which have been made into films including 'The House of Mirth'. A born storyteller her novels are justly celebrated for their vivid settings, satiric wit, ironic style, and moral seriousness. Her characters are often trapped in bad relationships or confining circumstances. Her own life stands as an example of the obstacles that a woman of her time and place had to overcome to find self-realization. Stephen Wakelam's play tells the story of Edith's affair with the journalist Morton Fullerton through the eyes of her friend and fellow writer Henry James. Age 47 Edith embarked upon a relationship which made her reassess her own marriage to Teddy Wharton, a platonic relationship that did not allow her to share her intellectual and artistic interests. Stephen Wakelam has written many successful radio plays including 'Adulteries of a Provinical Wife' about Flaubert writing Madame Bovary and 'What I Think of My Husband' about Thomas Hardy. An encounter with a journalist causes shockwaves in Edith Wharton's life. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. by Stephen Wakelam Edith Wharton's private life was as dramatic as many of her novels. An encounter with a journalist was to have a seismic effect on her marriage and her work. Directed by Sally Avens Pullitzer prize winning author Edith Wharton had a long career, which stretched over forty years and included the publication of more than forty books, many of which have been made into films including 'The House of Mirth'. A born storyteller her novels are justly celebrated for their vivid settings, satiric wit, ironic style, and moral seriousness. Her characters are often trapped in bad relationships or confining circumstances. Her own life stands as an example of the obstacles that a woman of her time and place had to overcome to find self-realization. Stephen Wakelam's play tells the story of Edith's affair with the journalist Morton Fullerton through the eyes of her friend and fellow writer Henry James. Age 47 Edith embarked upon a relationship which made her reassess her own marriage to Teddy Wharton, a platonic relationship that did not allow her to share her intellectual and artistic interests. Stephen Wakelam has written many successful radio plays including 'Adulteries of a Provinical Wife' about Flaubert writing Madame Bovary and 'What I Think of My Husband' about Thomas Hardy. An encounter with a journalist causes shockwaves in Edith Wharton's life. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Talking It Over | 20120609 | 20130503 (R4) | By Julian Barnes Dramatised by Julia Stoneham Stuart and Oliver have been friends since school but are rather different. Oliver is charismatic and has this way of talking. Stuart is shy and no good at saying what he means. But then Stuart meets Gillian and things begin to change ... Directed by Tracey Neale Julian Barnes' sequel 'Love, etc' is the Saturday Drama tomorrow afternoon at 2.30 pm. Award winning writer Julian Barnes has written many novels which have been translated into more than thirty languages. 'Talking It Over' won the Prix Femina Award. 'The Sense of An Ending' was winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize. His latest book, recently published, is 'Levels of Life', a semi-biographical book about his wife Pat Kavanagh's death. Julia Stoneham has written many radio plays. Her radio series about the Land Army Girls - 'The Cinderella Service' has been published as a trilogy of novels and she is at present working on another novel. Julia has also dramatised the sequel 'Love, etc' which is the Saturday Drama tomorrow afternoon at 2.30 pm. A tale of love's vicissitudes written by Julian Barnes and dramatised by Julia Stoneham. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. By Julian Barnes Dramatised by Julia Stoneham Stuart and Oliver have been friends since school but are rather different. Oliver is charismatic and has this way of talking. Stuart is shy and no good at saying what he means. But then Stuart meets Gillian and things begin to change ... Directed by Tracey Neale Julian Barnes' sequel 'Love, etc' is the Saturday Drama tomorrow afternoon at 2.30 pm. Award winning writer Julian Barnes has written many novels which have been translated into more than thirty languages. 'Talking It Over' won the Prix Femina Award. 'The Sense of An Ending' was winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize. His latest book, recently published, is 'Levels of Life', a semi-biographical book about his wife Pat Kavanagh's death. Julia Stoneham has written many radio plays. Her radio series about the Land Army Girls - 'The Cinderella Service' has been published as a trilogy of novels and she is at present working on another novel. Julia has also dramatised the sequel 'Love, etc' which is the Saturday Drama tomorrow afternoon at 2.30 pm. A tale of love's vicissitudes written by Julian Barnes and dramatised by Julia Stoneham. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| That Man Attlee | 20070915 | By Robin Glendinning. On the day of the 1945 General Election Labour are expecting to lose Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| That Uncertain Feeling | 20080120 | Kingsley Amis's satire on life and culture in a Welsh seaside town in the 1950s. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Accountant of Solyanka Square | 20080517 | By Sebastian Baczkiewicz. Andrei's estranged son Victor forces him to reveal his secrets. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Air Gap | 20121006 | 20150424 (R4) | By Steve Waters. Hypothetical question: if you had free rein over classified networks for long periods of time, say 8-9 months, and you saw incredible things, awful things, things that belonged in the public domain, not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC, what would you do? - Bradley Manning, from an unverified chat log with a hacker. Air gap is the term for the separation between the civilian internet and the military and diplomatic computer network. In April 2010 this air gap was breached, leading to the biggest information leak in history. One month later Bradley Manning, a soldier in the US Army, was arrested and accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks. He was taken to the military prison at Quantico, Virginia, held in solitary confinement for ten months and, his lawyers argue, subjected to cruel and unusual treatment. Manning was held for almost three years before his case came to trial and he subsequently received a 35 year prison sentence. This factually-based drama combines dramatised accounts of Bradley Manning's experiences with imagined conversations and characters. It takes place in Quantico and the operating base near Baghdad where Manning was stationed leading up to his arrest. It's here he sees the war on terror documented in action reports and in video material, including the now infamous collateral murder video. Since this drama was first broadcast Manning has announced an intended gender transition and change of name. She is now Chelsea Manning. Sound and music by Alisdair McGregor and Howard Jacques. Cast: Bradley Manning ..... Greg Wohead Corporal ..... Michael Walters Brig Guards ..... Corey Turner and Chris McKinney Intelligence Operative ..... Serena Bobowski Psychiatrist ..... Nancy Crane Lawyer ..... Dominic Hawksley Commanding Watch Officer ..... Nathan Osgood Produced and directed by Boz Temple-Morris A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4. Factually-based drama about Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of supplying WikiLeaks. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. By Steve Waters. Hypothetical question: if you had free rein over classified networks for long periods of time, say 8-9 months, and you saw incredible things, awful things, things that belonged in the public domain, not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC, what would you do? - Bradley Manning, from an unverified chat log with a hacker. Air gap is the term for the separation between the civilian internet and the military and diplomatic computer network. In April 2010 this air gap was breached, leading to the biggest information leak in history. One month later Bradley Manning, a soldier in the US Army, was arrested and accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks. He was taken to the military prison at Quantico, Virginia, held in solitary confinement for ten months and, his lawyers argue, subjected to cruel and unusual treatment. Manning was held for almost three years before his case came to trial and he subsequently received a 35 year prison sentence. This factually-based drama combines dramatised accounts of Bradley Manning's experiences with imagined conversations and characters. It takes place in Quantico and the operating base near Baghdad where Manning was stationed leading up to his arrest. It's here he sees the war on terror documented in action reports and in video material, including the now infamous collateral murder video. Since this drama was first broadcast Manning has announced an intended gender transition and change of name. She is now Chelsea Manning. Sound and music by Alisdair McGregor and Howard Jacques. Cast: Bradley Manning ..... Greg Wohead Corporal ..... Michael Walters Brig Guards ..... Corey Turner and Chris McKinney Intelligence Operative ..... Serena Bobowski Psychiatrist ..... Nancy Crane Lawyer ..... Dominic Hawksley Commanding Watch Officer ..... Nathan Osgood Produced and directed by Boz Temple-Morris A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4. Factually-based drama about Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of supplying WikiLeaks. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Balloonists | 20080816 | Craig Stephens's boisterous comedy about infamous Victorian balloonist Henry Coxwell, who convinces beleaguered theatre impresario George Hansum to stage his most celebrated and near fatal flight. Can Hansum pull off such a daring and spectacular venture and save his theatre from closure?
Henry Coxwell ...... Patrick Driver
Directed by Kate Chapman.
Craig Stephens's boisterous comedy about infamous Victorian balloonist Henry Coxwell. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Birds | 20070526 | Melissa Murray's dramatisation of Daphne Du Maurier's classic horror story. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Bottle Factory Outing | 20110528 | Beryl Bainbridge's darkly comic novel The Bottle Factory Outing . It's 1970. Two Northerners, Freda and Brenda share a bedsit in London and work in the local Bottle Factory, run by a family of Italians. On the day of the annual factory outing, the van Freda's booked fails to turn up...and things rapidly go from bad to worse... A black comedy with the suspense of a thriller . Brenda and Freda share a flat in London, and secrets. When Brenda confides her 'goings on' in the cellar of the bottle factory with the married Rossi, Freda decides it has got to stop. She will confront Rossi and save her friend. The day of the planned factory outing arrives, but begins badly. Brenda and Freda end up in a Ford Cortina driven by Rossi with Vittorio beside him. At the last minute Patrick tries to squeeze in the car but is rejected by Freda. They drive to Windsor Park for a picnic, and games. As the group drifts apart Freda is left with Vittorio. She's just about to start her seduction of him when Patrick pops up and is angry with her. In the heat of the day, suspicions and passions flare. . Jane Rogers has faithfully adapted this hilarious, dark novel. Her own books include Mr Wroe's Virgins, which she adapted for TV and Island. Other adaptations for radio include Shirley by Charlotte Bronte and Lorna Doone. CAST DETAILS BRENDA.........Sian Reeves FREDA............Sharon Percy ROSSI...........Vincenzo Nicoli VITTORIO..........Ernesto Tomasini PATRICK.........James Scales MARIA/MRS HADDON...Flaminia Cinque Directed in Manchester by Susan Roberts. Beryl Bainbridge's story, set in 1970, dramatised for radio by Jane Rogers. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Boy from Aleppo Who Painted the War | 20141108 | Farshid Rokey, Noof Ousellam and Jalleh Alizadeh lead an outstanding young cast in this heart-rending drama, based on the moving debut novel by Sumia Sukkar.
'The Boy from Aleppo who Painted the War' presents the Syrian conflict through the eyes of Adam, a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome, who can only speak the truth.
As the war creeps ever closer to home, it devastates and disrupts the life of his family.
Struggling to make sense of the conflict, as he and his family try to survive in an impossibly brutal world, Adam paints as a way to record and cope with the horrors he witnesses.
His older brothers face the dilemma of whether to take sides - and the consequences of their choices have repercussions for the entire family. But can they make it to safety as the conflict in Aleppo rages all around them?
The immediacy and impact of this drama bear witness to the horrors of war, its effect upon the innocent, and the triumph of the human spirit over almost unbearable adversity.
Dramatised for radio by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle.
Original Music: Imran Ahmad
Executive Producer: Andrew Mark Sewell
A B7 Production for BBC Radio 4.
The Syrian conflict seen through the eyes of a teenage boy with Asperger's. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Browning Version | 20110611 | 20130427 (R4) | Written by Terence Rattigan. A starry celebration of Terence Rattigan's centenary. Michael York, Joanne Whalley, Ioan Gruffudd and Ian Ogilvy star in Terence Rattigan's 1948 masterpiece. Set in an English public school on the last day of the summer term, buried emotions re-surface when unpopular classics master Andrew Crocker Harris is given a present on his final day. A once-brilliant classicist, now known by boys and staff alike as 'The Crock', he is retiring due to ill health. When a pupil, Taplow, presents him with an unexpected gift (a copy of Browning's translation of the Agamemnon) The Crock, also known as the Himmler of the Lower Fifth, is overwhelmed. His dammed-up misery, disappointment and humiliation are released and the way is paved for a series of surprising revelations and decisions. A brand-new production directed by Martin Jarvis with an outstanding cast. Acknowledged as Rattigan's enduring masterpiece, 'The Browning Version' shows the writer's unrivalled ability to characterise repressed emotion, and provides a devastating portrait of a dead marriage. One of the finest, most moving and beautifully crafted plays of the 20th century. In the second part of the programme Martin Jarvis, director of 'The Browning Version', reveals some of the play's background and describes Rattigan's hopes, fears and ambitions for its ongoing success. The reading - adapted from 'Terence Rattigan - a Biography' written by Geoffrey Wansell, describes some of the author's 'behind the scenes' difficulties - and includes a number of surprising and very funny anecdotes concerning the play's first production in 1948. Director: Martin Jarvis Produced by Rosalind Ayres A Jarvis & Ayres Production for BBC Radio 4. A starry celebration of Terence Rattigan's centenary. Martin Jarvis directs. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Caretaker | 20101127 | An old tramp is saved from a fight and brought home by a man living in his brother's house Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Caretaker | 20101127 | 20120428 (R4) | An old tramp is saved from a fight and brought home by a man living in his brother's house Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Complete Smiley - A Murder of Quality | 20090530 | Dramatisation of the novel by John le Carré, his second to feature spymaster George Smiley, set in a public school in the early 1960s.
When the wife of one of the masters is found bludgeoned to death, Smiley, out of loyalty to an old friend, finds himself investigating her death - an investigation that lifts the lid on a world of hidden passions and murderous hatreds.
George Smiley ...... Simon Russell Beale
Directed by Marc Beeby.
George Smiley investigates when a schoolmaster's wife is found bludgeoned to death. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Conflict is Over | 20090912 | Dramatisation by Michael Eaton of the events that led to the signing of the Downing Street Declaration in December 1993 and the subsequent IRA ceasefire in August 1994, told through the relationship between John Major and Albert Reynolds.
John Major ...... Michael Maloney
Directed by Nicolas Kent
A Promenade production for BBC Radio 4.
Dramatisation by Michael Eaton of the events that led to the 1993 Downing St Declaration. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Gambler | 20101204 | Fyodor Dostoevsky in 1866, in serious debt, addicted to roulette and rejected by several women, spun these sad materials into 'The Gambler', a brilliant tragicomic novella written in a feverish few weeks to stave off ruin.
Set in Roulettenburg, a fictional spa town in the Alps, the novel tells how Alexei Ivanovich, servant to a bankrupt family, falls madly in love twice- first with the lovely unobtainable Polina, then with the forbidden thrill of the Casino. As Polina demands ever more slavish and reckless obedience from him, Alexei finds liberation in his enslavement, and their relationship starts to mutate into something altogether richer and stranger.
Meanwhile a cast of villains and victims- Polina's weak, infatuated uncle 'the General', the pretty young gold-digger he falls for, and a scheming French aristocrat with designs on Polina - wait to inherit millions from her dying Granny - until the old lady herself bursts in, foul-mouthed, furious, and up for a good time. Fortunes will rise and fall, love be won and lost, hopes and dreams go up in flames, before the roulette-wheel comes to a final stop and the little silver ball makes its choice.
Major contemporary poet Glyn Maxwell (The Nerve, The Sugar Mile, Hide Now) recreates the madness and mayhem of a world enthralled by chance, sex and money, a world without values or foundations, spinning out of control.
Cast:
Alexei Ivanovich ..... Sam Crane
Written by Glyn Maxwell
Director: Guy Retallack
A new version of Dostoevsky's 'The Gambler' written by Poet Glyn Maxwell. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Gothic Imagination: Bloody Poetry | 20121020 | In Switzerland 1816, by the shore of Lake Geneva, the poet Shelley and his future wife Mary, together with her step-sister Claire, meet the infamous Lord Byron. All are in exile, self-imposed on Shelley's part, more serious for Byron, and find they are natural allies in a world which is threatened by their radical politics and unconventional attitudes to sexual freedom. Close friendships and treacherous affairs are begun, and a journal that bears witness to it all is kept by Byron's companion and doctor, William Polidori. And on one particular evening, in a thunderstorm, stories are told that are to inspire Mary Shelley to create the myth of Frankenstein. Howard Brenton's play was first performed in 1984 and celebrates the artistic radicalism and the fiery, intellectual anger of these young people, whose ideas threatened to kick over the traces of the society from which they were escaping. But their dreams of a utopian future were to be swallowed up in lives of excess, illness and tragic accidents. This production forms part of The Gothic Imagination season which includes new dramatisations of Frankenstein and Dracula for Radio 4, as well as some contemporary new takes on gothic themes for 4 Extra. Adapted for radio and directed by Alison Hindell By coincidence, the play was recorded in the same week that a London auctioneer put on view the copy of Frankenstein that Mary Shelley inscribed for Byron ('To Lord Byron from the author'). The book was recently rediscovered in a private library and is expected to fetch something in the region of £400,000. Howard Brenton's play about the inception of Mary Shelley's gothic myth of Frankenstein. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Great Chocolate Murders | 20060304 | 20070922 (R4) | By John Fletcher.
When people start falling ill all over 19th-century Brighton, everyone thinks that the lack of proper sewers has caused a cholera epidemic. Little do the police suspect that a middle-aged spinster is responsible.
With Sian Thomas, Chris Donnelly, Jennifer Hill, Dorien Thomas, Brendan Charleson.
Directed by Kate McAll.
Spurned spinster Christiana plots to regain her married lover in 19th-century Brighton. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial | 20091121 | The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial
Neil Patrick Harris (Hollywood's current king of cool and star of How I Met Your Mother) plays Tennessee teacher John Scopes, and Ed Asner ('Lou Grant' or the voice of Disney Pixar's latest smash hit 'Up', depending on your age) plays prosecution lawyer William Jennings Bryan in this new version of The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial, adapted from the original trial transcript by Peter Goodchild.
In 1925, the same year that Franz Kafka's novel The Trial was first published, this real life case was one of the most unusual trials ever seen in a United States courtroom. It took place in Dayton, then a small town with a population of less than 2000, and yet the two lawyers ranged against each other couldn't have been higher profile. Counsel for the Prosecution was three-time Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan, a Christian Fundamentalist. For the defence was Chicago lawyer, and declared agnostic, Clarence Darrow, who had recently saved two brutal child killers from the death penalty in a very high profile case.
Earlier that year Tennessee had passed The Butler Act, a law forbidding anyone "to teach any theory that denies the Story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." In other words, the teaching of evolution was outlawed.
In the stifling heat of July, 1925, and in a courtroom hung with banners proclaiming 'Read Your Bible Daily' , 24 year old John Scopes, a part time teacher, stood trial.
A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Kate McAll.
By Peter Goodchild. In 1925, one of the most unusual trials in US legal history took place Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial | 20091121 | 20110730 (R4) | The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial
Neil Patrick Harris (Hollywood's current king of cool and star of How I Met Your Mother) plays Tennessee teacher John Scopes, and Ed Asner ('Lou Grant' or the voice of Disney Pixar's latest smash hit 'Up', depending on your age) plays prosecution lawyer William Jennings Bryan in this new version of The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial, adapted from the original trial transcript by Peter Goodchild.
In 1925, the same year that Franz Kafka's novel The Trial was first published, this real life case was one of the most unusual trials ever seen in a United States courtroom. It took place in Dayton, then a small town with a population of less than 2000, and yet the two lawyers ranged against each other couldn't have been higher profile. Counsel for the Prosecution was three-time Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan, a Christian Fundamentalist. For the defence was Chicago lawyer, and declared agnostic, Clarence Darrow, who had recently saved two brutal child killers from the death penalty in a very high profile case.
Earlier that year Tennessee had passed The Butler Act, a law forbidding anyone "to teach any theory that denies the Story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." In other words, the teaching of evolution was outlawed.
In the stifling heat of July, 1925, and in a courtroom hung with banners proclaiming 'Read Your Bible Daily' , 24 year old John Scopes, a part time teacher, stood trial.
A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Kate McAll.
By Peter Goodchild. In 1925, one of the most unusual trials in US legal history took place Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Gun | 20110312 | 20120706 (R4) | Mike Walker adapts C S Forester's gripping guerrilla warfare story set in Napoleonic Spain. Made famous by Hollywood as The Pride and the Passion. Partisan groups under charismatic leaders wage a desperate war in which no quarter is given by either side. The hero of The Gun is the gun itself, a massive 18 pounder that is dragged across the mountains and plains of Spain - an epic task. Throughout the story, the gun changes the lives of those who fight each other to the death in order to gain control of it. The Gun is a companion piece to The Gun Goes to Hollywood, which tells the story behind the Hollywood version, which was directed by Stanley Kramer and starred Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren. The writer C S Forester was famous for his tales of adventure and military crusades, most notably the Hornblower series. Mike Walker has written innumerable radio plays, and won a clutch of awards, including a Sony, BAFTA and Writers Guild Award. His recent radio includes Our Mutual Friend for BBC Radio 4. Producer.....................Polly Thomas A BBC Radio Drama Cymru/Wales production. CS Forester's gripping guerrilla warfare story set in Napoleonic Spain. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Haverstock Hill Murder | 20081018 | By George R Sims, dramatised by Roger Danes.
Renowned Victorian lady detective Dorcas Dene is commissioned by a desperate mother to save her son from the gallows after he is accused of the brutal murder of his wife. The problem is that the victim named her husband as the assailant with her dying breath.
Paul Dene ...... Greg Powrie
Produced by Patrick Rayner.
Directed by David Ian Neville.
A mother commissions Victorian lady detective Dorcas Dene to save her son from the gallows Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Hound Of The Baskervilles | 20120707 | 20130719 (R4) | When Sherlock Holmes hears the strange tale of the Hound of the Baskervilles, he despatches Watson to Dartmoor to begin solving the mystery. Hostile yokels, alarming acquaintances, an escaped murderer and the deadly Grimpen Mire conspire to make Watson more baffled than ever, until Holmes turns up in disguise to take over the investigation. Peepolykus Theatre Company play fast and loose with Conan Doyle, including a Spanish Holmes, in a comic take on this classic yarn, recorded in front of a live audience in Bristol earlier this year. Adapted from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original story by Steven Canny & John Nicholson Directed by Alison Hindell Recorded at Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School Theatre, Bristol, for Radio 4's More Than Words Festival. Peepolykus Theatre Company's previous stage productions include The Hound of the Baskervilles, Spyski and, for Radio 4, Marley Was Dead. Comic take on the classic Holmes mystery, performed in front of an audience in Bristol. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. When Sherlock Holmes hears the strange tale of the Hound of the Baskervilles, he despatches Watson to Dartmoor to begin solving the mystery. Hostile yokels, alarming acquaintances, an escaped murderer and the deadly Grimpen Mire conspire to make Watson more baffled than ever, until Holmes turns up in disguise to take over the investigation. Peepolykus Theatre Company play fast and loose with Conan Doyle, including a Spanish Holmes, in a comic take on this classic yarn, recorded in front of a live audience in Bristol earlier this year. Adapted from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original story by Steven Canny & John Nicholson Directed by Alison Hindell Recorded at Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School Theatre, Bristol, for Radio 4's More Than Words Festival. Peepolykus Theatre Company's previous stage productions include The Hound of the Baskervilles, Spyski and, for Radio 4, Marley Was Dead. Comic take on the classic Holmes mystery, performed in front of an audience in Bristol. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Iceman | 20071229 | By Simon Bovey. London. 1860. When three girls are found murdered the only clue D.I. Burdett has is a trace of ice found in the victims' throats - a clue that leads him into very deep water indeed.
D.I. Burdett ..... Anthony Howell
Directed by Marc Beeby
D.I. Burdett is used to death; he's seen it all on the London streets of 1860. But the murder of young women always shocks him. His current case of three murdered girls is offering no leads and the coroner can't tell him a thing other than they had traces of ice in their mouths. And ice, cut from the now frozen canals and stored in pits, is used by hundreds of businesses.
Simon Bovey's murder mystery is set in London in 1860. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Iceman | 20071229 | 20100605 (R4) | By Simon Bovey. London. 1860. When three girls are found murdered the only clue D.I. Burdett has is a trace of ice found in the victims' throats - a clue that leads him into very deep water indeed.
D.I. Burdett ..... Anthony Howell
Directed by Marc Beeby
D.I. Burdett is used to death; he's seen it all on the London streets of 1860. But the murder of young women always shocks him. His current case of three murdered girls is offering no leads and the coroner can't tell him a thing other than they had traces of ice in their mouths. And ice, cut from the now frozen canals and stored in pits, is used by hundreds of businesses.
Simon Bovey's murder mystery is set in London in 1860. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Indian in the Cupboard | 20100501 | Eleven year old Omri isn't very impressed with the rubbish birthday present from his friend Patrick, a plastic Native American Indian figure. But he's delighted with the old bathroom cupboard given him by his elder brothers Adiel and Gillon. That night Omri puts the Indian in the cupboard for safe keeping, and locks the door. In the morning he's woken by noises from inside the cupboard - and opening the door, finds the Indian has come to life, and his name is Little Bull. Which is all very exciting, but now he has to find a way of looking after a real human being who, although he is only 3 inches tall, needs to be fed, and wants a horse, and a wife. And when Patrick finds out, it becomes very difficult indeed.
Written by Lynne Reid Banks (who also wrote The L Shaped Room), she brings to it all the seriousness and humanity - and humour - of her adult fiction. And like that other story of little people, The Borrowers, this story explores human nature and real moral and ethical issues as Omri realises the power he has over Little Bull.
Omri ..... Dominic Herman-Day
The producer is Chris Wallis, and this is an Autolycus production for BBC Radio 4.
By Lynne Reid Banks. 11-year-old Omri's plastic Native American Indian figure comes alive. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Iraq Dossier | 20130302 | The dossier "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction", lead to the headline "just 45 minutes from attack", persuaded MPs to vote for an invasion of Iraq, and hardened public opinion against Saddam Hussein. Fall out from accusations by the BBC that the claims had been "sexed up" led to the death of Dr David Kelly and the Hutton Inquiry.
This drama goes behind the scenes of MI6, the Ministry of Defence and Downing Street to dramatise one of the most controversial episodes in British politics.
The author, David Morley, has created the script from the mountain of emails, memos, and first hand testimony submitted to the various inquiries into the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as well as from first-hand interviews with Dr Brian Jones, who died in 2012 and was the MoD's leading expert on nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, concerned that exaggeration should not creep into the dossier.
Other key players include Richard Dearlove, head of MI6; John Scarlett, Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and Tony Blair's adviser, Alastair Campbell.
Producer: Richard Clemmow
The inside story of the controversial document that persuaded MPs to back the 2003 war. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Jubilee Singers | 20100515 | 20120331 (R4) | Writer Adrian Mitchell's drama about the extraordinary Jubilee Singers of Fisk University, Tennessee, who in the years immediately after slavery brought their great 'Sorrow Songs' from the plantations to Europe. The late Adrian Mitchell, who died suddenly in 2008, was a much loved and revered poet, playwright and human rights campaigner. He was inspired to write this musical play by the true story of the Welsh journalist who toured with the black American Jubilee singers in their first European tour in the late nineteenth century. The singers enchanted Queen Victoria and Gladstone, and Swing Low Sweet Chariot was heard in England for the first time when they sang it to packed concert halls throughout the country. Mitchell's play was conceived for the theatre but it has not yet had a stage production; this is its premiere; adapted for radio under the guidance of Adrian's widow Celia Mitchell. The play stars London black gospel choir Nitrovox, with Musical directors Felix Cross and Allyson Devenish and a stellar black cast; Adjoa Andoh, Felix Dexter, Nadine Marshall, Tanya Moodie, Alibe Parsons, Clive Rowe and Ray Shell are joined by Jonathan Pryce who plays the Welsh journalist captivated by a completely new kind of song. He hears each singer's own story and begins to be entranced by one of them in particular, though their love appears to have no future, developing as it does under the shadow of war in Europe, and the inevitable barriers which nineteenth century culture placed between men and women of different race. Producer: Marilyn Imrie A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4. By Adrian Mitchell. The story of the Jubilee Singers' tour of Europe in the 19th century. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Killing of Dr Morgan | 20070303 | A man's world crumbles when a friend is murdered. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Lady In The Van | 20090221 | 20110101 (R4) | by Alan Bennett Cast Miss Shepherd - Maggie Smith Alan Bennett - Adrian Scarborough Alan Bennett 2 - Alan Bennett Mam - Marcia Warren Rufus - Matt Addis Pauline - Janice Acquah Underwood - Stephen Critchlow Social Worker - Caroline Guthrie Fairchild - Philip Fox Doctors - Jonathan Tafler and Malcolm Tierney Music composed by Simon Morecroft Adapted and Directed by Gordon House The Lady in the Van is the first radio production of Alan Bennett's autobiographical stage play, starring Alan Bennett himself as one of the two 'Alan Bennetts' featured in the drama, and reprising the brilliant stage performance of Dame Maggie Smith as Miss Mary Shepherd, the lady who takes refuge in his Camden garden for three months, and ends up staying fifteen years. When Alan Bennett adapted his short autobiographical memoir The Lady in the Van, into a full length stage play, it received some excellent critical reviews. 'One of the saddest, funniest and most distinguished offerings for years' wrote John Peter in the Sunday Times, while Charles Spencer, in the Daily Telegraph, thought it was 'without doubt, the best new play of the year. Now Radio 4 brings this wonderfully bitter-sweet comic diary to the airwaves, with Maggie Smith once more playing the eccentric and cantankerous Miss Shepherd, and Alan Bennett and Adrian Scarborough playing the two Alan Bennetts - one in the role of the omniscient narrator, and one experiencing events as they occur. Miss Shepherd was the genteel vagrant who parked her Bedford van near Mr. Bennett's Camden house in 1971 and eventually browbeat him into pushing it into the mini-driveway leading to his front door. And there she steadfastly remained until her death in 1989, emerging, every so often, to make a complaint, share a loony observation or simply fill Mr. Bennett's tiny garden with 'a right Suzie Wong' - stench and filth that he compared to 'the inside of someone's ear. But the play is as much about the author himself, as Miss Shepherd. What are Alan Bennett's motives in becoming landlord to such a lethally dotty tenant? Is he too feeble to reject her? Is he guiltily compensating for not spending enough time with his own mother (played here by Marcia Warren) Or is he, as his neighbours suggest, a modern-day saint? Was there (he suggests it himself) always part of him that wanted to exploit Miss Shepherd for literary profit? They play invites us both to ponder these questions, and asks what responsibility we ourselves have for the vagabonds who walk our streets and sometimes land up on our doorsteps. But above all 'The Lady in the Van' is simply hugely enjoyable entertainment, now brought vividly to radio. Simon Morecoft composes original music in a production adapted and directed by the former Head of Radio Drama, Gordon House. Alan Bennett's relationship with an eccentric old vagrant who lived in in his front garden Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. by Alan Bennett Cast Miss Shepherd - Maggie Smith Alan Bennett - Adrian Scarborough Alan Bennett 2 - Alan Bennett Mam - Marcia Warren Rufus - Matt Addis Pauline - Janice Acquah Underwood - Stephen Critchlow Social Worker - Caroline Guthrie Fairchild - Philip Fox Doctors - Jonathan Tafler and Malcolm Tierney Music composed by Simon Morecroft Adapted and Directed by Gordon House The Lady in the Van is the first radio production of Alan Bennett's autobiographical stage play, starring Alan Bennett himself as one of the two 'Alan Bennetts' featured in the drama, and reprising the brilliant stage performance of Dame Maggie Smith as Miss Mary Shepherd, the lady who takes refuge in his Camden garden for three months, and ends up staying fifteen years. When Alan Bennett adapted his short autobiographical memoir The Lady in the Van, into a full length stage play, it received some excellent critical reviews. 'One of the saddest, funniest and most distinguished offerings for years' wrote John Peter in the Sunday Times, while Charles Spencer, in the Daily Telegraph, thought it was 'without doubt, the best new play of the year. Now Radio 4 brings this wonderfully bitter-sweet comic diary to the airwaves, with Maggie Smith once more playing the eccentric and cantankerous Miss Shepherd, and Alan Bennett and Adrian Scarborough playing the two Alan Bennetts - one in the role of the omniscient narrator, and one experiencing events as they occur. Miss Shepherd was the genteel vagrant who parked her Bedford van near Mr. Bennett's Camden house in 1971 and eventually browbeat him into pushing it into the mini-driveway leading to his front door. And there she steadfastly remained until her death in 1989, emerging, every so often, to make a complaint, share a loony observation or simply fill Mr. Bennett's tiny garden with 'a right Suzie Wong' - stench and filth that he compared to 'the inside of someone's ear. But the play is as much about the author himself, as Miss Shepherd. What are Alan Bennett's motives in becoming landlord to such a lethally dotty tenant? Is he too feeble to reject her? Is he guiltily compensating for not spending enough time with his own mother (played here by Marcia Warren) Or is he, as his neighbours suggest, a modern-day saint? Was there (he suggests it himself) always part of him that wanted to exploit Miss Shepherd for literary profit? They play invites us both to ponder these questions, and asks what responsibility we ourselves have for the vagabonds who walk our streets and sometimes land up on our doorsteps. But above all 'The Lady in the Van' is simply hugely enjoyable entertainment, now brought vividly to radio. Simon Morecoft composes original music in a production adapted and directed by the former Head of Radio Drama, Gordon House. Alan Bennett's relationship with an eccentric old vagrant who lived in in his front garden Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Last Tycoon | 20130518 | 20150530 (R4) | The celebrated theatre director Bill Bryden adapts F Scott Fitzgerald's last and unfinished novel. Starring Aiden Gillen, Jack Shepherd and Charlotte Emmerson. Haunted by the death of his wife, 1930s Studio Head Monroe Stahr works eighteen hour days, each one a collision of talent meetings, set visits, script brainstorms and preview screenings. He's the 'last of the princes', is making the studio millions and seems bullet proof. At the end of an epic day, an earthquake breaks two water mains, sending a roaring river of water through the studio. And with it, the huge floating head of the goddess Shiva - a film prop. As Stahr leaves his office to inspect the damage he sees the head floating by and on it two women, one of them the mesmerising Kathleen. It's the beginning of a love affair that will destroy him. As their affair plays out, we follow the disintegration of one of the great Hollywood legends, and also witness the darker heart of the Hollywood machine as a paranoid fear of communism comes to the fore. It's a gorgeous, excruciating, heady tale - based on Fitzgerald's own painful experiences working in Hollywood as a screenwriter. Produced by Laurence Bowen Adapted and directed by Bill Bryden Production Associate - John Tams Sound Design - Mark Smith A Feelgood Fiction production for BBC Radio 4. 1930s Hollywood studio head Munroe Stahr is at the top of his game, until love strikes. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. The celebrated theatre director Bill Bryden adapts F Scott Fitzgerald's last and unfinished novel. Starring Aiden Gillen, Jack Shepherd and Charlotte Emmerson. Haunted by the death of his wife, 1930s Studio Head Monroe Stahr works eighteen hour days, each one a collision of talent meetings, set visits, script brainstorms and preview screenings. He's the 'last of the princes', is making the studio millions and seems bullet proof. At the end of an epic day, an earthquake breaks two water mains, sending a roaring river of water through the studio. And with it, the huge floating head of the goddess Shiva - a film prop. As Stahr leaves his office to inspect the damage he sees the head floating by and on it two women, one of them the mesmerising Kathleen. It's the beginning of a love affair that will destroy him. As their affair plays out, we follow the disintegration of one of the great Hollywood legends, and also witness the darker heart of the Hollywood machine as a paranoid fear of communism comes to the fore. It's a gorgeous, excruciating, heady tale - based on Fitzgerald's own painful experiences working in Hollywood as a screenwriter. Produced by Laurence Bowen Adapted and directed by Bill Bryden Production Associate - John Tams Sound Design - Mark Smith A Feelgood Fiction production for BBC Radio 4. 1930s Hollywood studio head Munroe Stahr is at the top of his game, until love strikes. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Late Mr Shakespeare | 20081101 | By Robert Nye, dramatised by Jonathan Broadbent.
Pickleherring, a former boy actor in Shakespeare's company, reminisces from the vantage point of old age on his time spent with The Bard. As he finally finds love with a prostitute named Polly, the lessons he learned from Shakespeare finally start to become clear.
Pickleherring ...... Jim Broadbent
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer.
A former boy actor reminisces in old age about the time he spent acting with Shakespeare. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Letter of Last Resort | 20130601 | The Letter of Last Resort is a hand-written letter from the Prime Minister to the commanding officer of each of Trident's submarines. It contains instruction on what action the commanding officer of the submarine should take in the event that Britain is obliterated by nuclear attack and all those in authority deceased. The letter can only say one of two things: retaliate, or, don't retaliate. Each new British prime minister must write the letter upon taking office.
Set in the near future, David Greig's brilliant play is a conversation between the new prime minister (in this case a woman) and the Head of Arrangements, John, at the end of her first day. It unpacks the arguments around nuclear deterrents - and the surreal position a new prime minster must find themself in.
Are you saying that in the end it all rests on what I write on this piece paper now -
Yes, Madam.
To write 'retaliate' is monstrous and irrational. To write 'don't retaliate' renders the whole nuclear project valueless.
Yes, Madam.
'The Letter of Last Resort, should be compulsory viewing for all our legislators' - Michael Billington, The Guardian.
'amusing, moving and thought-provoking, brilliantly encapsulating the paradoxes and terror of mutually assured destruction' - Charles Spencer, The Telegraph.
The Letter of Last Resort was
The Letter of Last Resort was originally commissioned and produced by the Tricycle Theatre as part of a cycle of plays 'The Bomb - A Partial History'.
David Greig's darkly comic play satirising the British position on nuclear deterrents. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Listening Room | 20080126 | The Listening Room
Psychological thriller by Steve Gough set in the year 2036, exploring truth, confidentiality and morality.
Kathleen works on a national helpline in a call centre named The Listening Room. She starts to receive calls from a man who has a terrible secret of international importance. He has been manipulated by the powers-that-be into committing dreadful crimes, but can she believe him? And should she confide in anyone else?
Directed by Pauline Harris.
Psychological thriller by Steve Gough set in the year 2036. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Listening Room | 20080126 | 20130201 (R4) | The Listening Room
Psychological thriller by Steve Gough set in the year 2036, exploring truth, confidentiality and morality.
Kathleen works on a national helpline in a call centre named The Listening Room. She starts to receive calls from a man who has a terrible secret of international importance. He has been manipulated by the powers-that-be into committing dreadful crimes, but can she believe him? And should she confide in anyone else?
Directed by Pauline Harris.
Psychological thriller by Steve Gough set in the year 2036. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Living And The Dead | 20070908 | Adrian Bean's dramatisation of the novel that inspired Hitchcock's Vertigo. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Moscow Prodigal | 20100717 | Vasily returns to Moscow after ten years in England. His attempts to build a new life there have not been a success - he has been eking out an existence as a minicab driver. At the airport he is met by his childhood friend, Andrei, who now works for the Minister of the Interior. Andrei's expansive manner and expensive air of money and power seem to hint at a more thuggish way of climbing the ladder.
Back at his mother's flat Vasily embraces his brother, but there is little brotherly love. Whilst their ailing mother celebrates her eldest son's return Vasily begins to calculate the value of her central Moscow flat. His brother Sasha simmers with resentment at the way he has been left to care for their mother, but he still has scruples when Vasily explains his plans to profit from the sale of the flat. Soon Vasily is drawn into the world of new money and old power struggles which his friend Andrei is all too keen to introduce him to.
"The Moscow Prodigal" strips away contemporary Russia's veneer of newly acquired wealth to expose the brutal networks of self-interest where ties of friendship and family are all too easily broken by the lure of easy dollars.
This is the first of three plays in the mini-season "Russia Actualnyi" which sets out to explore life in Russia now.
Written by Michael Butt based on an original idea by Vitaly Yerenkov.
Directed by Judith Kampfner
Thriller by Michael Butt. An ex-pat taxi driver returns to Moscow to a world of violence. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Moscow Prodigal | 20100717 | 20120811 (R4) | Vasily returns to Moscow after ten years in England. His attempts to build a new life there have not been a success - he has been eking out an existence as a minicab driver. At the airport he is met by his childhood friend, Andrei, who now works for the Minister of the Interior. Andrei's expansive manner and expensive air of money and power seem to hint at a more thuggish way of climbing the ladder.
Back at his mother's flat Vasily embraces his brother, but there is little brotherly love. Whilst their ailing mother celebrates her eldest son's return Vasily begins to calculate the value of her central Moscow flat. His brother Sasha simmers with resentment at the way he has been left to care for their mother, but he still has scruples when Vasily explains his plans to profit from the sale of the flat. Soon Vasily is drawn into the world of new money and old power struggles which his friend Andrei is all too keen to introduce him to.
"The Moscow Prodigal" strips away contemporary Russia's veneer of newly acquired wealth to expose the brutal networks of self-interest where ties of friendship and family are all too easily broken by the lure of easy dollars.
This is the first of three plays in the mini-season "Russia Actualnyi" which sets out to explore life in Russia now.
Written by Michael Butt based on an original idea by Vitaly Yerenkov.
Directed by Judith Kampfner
Thriller by Michael Butt. An ex-pat taxi driver returns to Moscow to a world of violence. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Mouse That Roared | 20100522 | Mark McDonnell and Steven McNicoll's dramatisation of Leonard Wibberley's famous comic novel. It is 1956, and the Cold War is at its chilliest. But one European country is blissfully detached from the struggles of the Super Powers. The Duchy of Grand Fenwick and is just five miles long and three miles wide. Under the benign rule of Grand Duchess Gloriana it is a rural idyll almost untouched by the twentieth century, and happy to remain so. But its economy is entirely dependent on the export of a famously exquisite wine. So when this vital trade is threatened by an unscrupulous foreign rival, it's time for action. Gloriana - a wise head on young shoulders - proposes a solution long recognised as acceptable to all nations - that is, to declare war on their much richer enemy, lose, then sit back and wait for the inevitable billions in post-war aid to roll in. So, led by the valiant Tully Bascomb, the twenty men-at-arms that make up the army of Grand Fenwick strap on their chain mail, dust off their longbows, and set sail to wage a deliberately hopeless war on... the United States of America. The only problem is that no one has told Tully that he's meant to lose - and as a result of his remarkable escapades, Gloriana bizarrely finds herself the most powerful political leader in Europe...
Gloriana ..... Julie Austin
ProducerPatrick Rayner
Leonard Wibberley (1915-1983) was a prolific author and journalist. He wrote over fifty books for children, and several historical novels. But he is best remembered for The Mouse That Roared, first serialised in the Saturday Evening Post in 1954.
By Leonard Wibberley. The tiny country of Grand Fenwick is forced to declare war on the US Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Pianist | 20071020 | A chance to hear the radio drama production of this 5* performance from Szpilman's novel, transferred from the 2007 Manchester International Festival.
A duet for piano and voice, charting one man's remarkable story of courage and survival in a Warsaw Ghetto during Nazi Occupation. Read by actor Peter Guinness, with the ravishing music of Chopin, from concert pianist Mikhail Rudy
Wladyslaw Szpilman...Peter Guinness
Duet for piano and voice charting one man's remarkable story of courage and survival. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Pianist | 20071020 | 20100626 (R4) | A chance to hear the radio drama production of this 5* performance from Szpilman's novel, transferred from the 2007 Manchester International Festival.
A duet for piano and voice, charting one man's remarkable story of courage and survival in a Warsaw Ghetto during Nazi Occupation. Read by actor Peter Guinness, with the ravishing music of Chopin, from concert pianist Mikhail Rudy
Wladyslaw Szpilman...Peter Guinness
Duet for piano and voice charting one man's remarkable story of courage and survival. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Purple Land | 20110716 | Published in 1885, The Purple Land was the first novel of William Henry Hudson, author of Green Mansions. The Anglo-Argentine naturalist distinguished himself both as one of the finest craftsmen of prose in English literature and as a thinker on ecological matters far ahead of his time. In Davies' hands this 'road novel' becomes a fast paced romp in the tradition of Tom Jones, with a dash of Don Quixote for good measure. It is an exuberant, wryly comic account of a young Englishman's imprudent adventures, set against a background of political strife in nineteenth-century South America. Eloping with an Argentine girl, young Richard Lamb makes an implacable enemy of his teenage bride's father. Leaving her behind, he goes ignorantly forth into the interior of the country to seek his fortune. Whilst doing so he learns to hunt, ride, herd, love - even kill. On his way to becoming a man. Hemingway alluded to this book in his masterpiece 'The Sun Also Rises', claiming that 'The Purple Land' is 'dangerous reading if read too late in life'. Hopefully - it doesn't make for dangerous listening! Cast: Richard - David Tennant Paquita - Denise Gough Marcos/Major Domo - Danny Webb Toribia/Grandmother - Carol Macready Isidora - Lizzie McInnerney Herdsman/Allday - Nigel Cooke Paquita's father/Winchcombe - Richard Durden Monica/Donna Mercedes - Jacey Salles Cloud/Blanco Major - Nicholas Murchie Epifanio/Chillingwoth .....Chuk Iwuji Juez/Bartender/Blass - Trevor Martin Cleta/Mother - Jane Slavin Herdsman's Daughter/Margerita - Beth Cooke Anita - Grace Horbury Herdsman's Boy - Danny Concha Music Composed and performed by Ross Hughes Esben Tjalve Trumpet - Daniel Weitz Script Editor - Eileen Horne Producer/Director: Clive Brill A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4. Andrew Davies' rip-roaring treatment of WH Hudson's South American classic. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Quest Of Donal Q | 20120107 | The Quest of Donal Q By David Ashton Based on the template of Don Quixote, The Quest of Donal Q, is the story of two rival brothers who journey through Scotland in search of a childhood sweetheart. Specially written for and starring Brian Cox and Billy Connolly. DONAL (Billy Connolly) and SANDY (Brian Cox) have been separated as kids in an orphanage. Donal adopted by a rich couple and taken off to grow up in sunny California, Sandy never chosen and left to live all his life in not quite so sunny Dundee. It's ten years since the brothers last met and at that time they had a fierce falling out. Now Donal is back - turning up out of the blue at Sandy's tobacconist shop, Paterson's Inferno, to demand that his brother drop everything and travel on an urgent mission. The Quest is to find a girl they were both in love with at the Orphanage; Jeanette, red haired, fair skinned and beautiful. An ideal princess. Donal claims she has written to say that she's in dire straits and needs a knight in shining armour to come to her rescue. And so begins a journey - a journey that will make or break both brothers as conflict breaks out between past, present and future. CAST Donal ....................... BILLY CONNOLLY Sandy ...................... BRIAN COX Hamish/Mr Quigley.... JOHN KIELTY Jeanette/Leonora ...... SANDY McDADE Fergus/Mungo .......... FORBES MASSON Mother/Maybelle ....... LINDY WHITEFORD Mary ........................ HELEN MACKAY Margo/Mrs Quigley.... TRACY WILES Gilchrist.................... CARL PREKOPP Prester John/Ernie .... DAVID ASHTON Candy ...................... VICTORIA INEZ HARDY Producer/Director.......David Ian Neville. Billy Connolly and Brian Cox star as two brothers embarking on a desperate quest for love. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Servant | 20070512 | Robin Maugham's sinister tale of a lawyer dominated by a servant. Adapted by Ronald Frame. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Small Back Room | 20080426 | Richard Stevens' dramatisation of Nigel Balchin's tense Second World War thriller.
Sammy Rice is called in to try and solve the mystery of a series of unexploded bombs that are being scattered after German air raids. They lie dormant and then inexplicably explode on human contact.
Holland/Brine ...... Paul Jesson
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
Richard Stevens' dramatisation of Nigel Balchin's tense Second World War thriller. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Small Back Room | 20080426 | 20100206 (R4) | Richard Stevens' dramatisation of Nigel Balchin's tense Second World War thriller.
Sammy Rice is called in to try and solve the mystery of a series of unexploded bombs that are being scattered after German air raids. They lie dormant and then inexplicably explode on human contact.
Holland/Brine ...... Paul Jesson
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
Richard Stevens' dramatisation of Nigel Balchin's tense Second World War thriller. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Tennis Court | 20080119 | 20100424 (R4) | By Jonathan Smith Sam and Arthur Greenwood confide in each other about everything. But in 1943 Sam is posted to India with the 14th Army while his brother, a haemophiliac, remains at home in Kent. In April 1944 the Japanese Army surround the British forces in the small hilltop town of Kohima and, as the two sides face each other across the tennis court at the back of the Deputy District Commissioner's bungalow, Sam is haunted by a secret he has not shared with Arthur. Sam - Dan Stevens Arthur - Jot Davies Mother - Celia Imrie Lettie - Jasmine Hyde Pearce - Thomas Arnold Penny - Cressida Trew Tom - Martin T. Sherman Producer/director: Bruce Young. By Jonathan Smith - a love story set in England and India during WWII. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. By Jonathan Smith Sam and Arthur Greenwood confide in each other about everything. But in 1943 Sam is posted to India with the 14th Army while his brother, a haemophiliac, remains at home in Kent. In April 1944 the Japanese Army surround the British forces in the small hilltop town of Kohima and, as the two sides face each other across the tennis court at the back of the Deputy District Commissioner's bungalow, Sam is haunted by a secret he has not shared with Arthur. Sam - Dan Stevens Arthur - Jot Davies Mother - Celia Imrie Lettie - Jasmine Hyde Pearce - Thomas Arnold Penny - Cressida Trew Tom - Martin T. Sherman Producer/director: Bruce Young. By Jonathan Smith - a love story set in England and India during WWII. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The Test | 20080719 | The Test
A taut, psychological thriller: John Newland's life is turned upside down when an old murder case from 20 years ago is being re-investigated. The past collides with the present when John is again a suspect but this time he has to take a DNA test, and is terrified that his wife will at last discover the truth.
Psychological thriller by Peter Whalley. John Newland has been living a lie for 20 years. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Test | 20080719 | 20130118 (R4) | The Test
A taut, psychological thriller: John Newland's life is turned upside down when an old murder case from 20 years ago is being re-investigated. The past collides with the present when John is again a suspect but this time he has to take a DNA test, and is terrified that his wife will at last discover the truth.
Psychological thriller by Peter Whalley. John Newland has been living a lie for 20 years. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| The White Chameleon | 20100724 | A witty and sad memory play by Christopher Hampton, set in Alexandria in the years up to and during the Suez invasion.
It is about his father, in Egypt working for Cable and Wireless, his mother, also from a Cable and Wireless family, and Ibrahim, the Egyptian servant who has been running the house for 20 years and who helps 10-year-old Chris, the future playwright, make up dramas for homework.
As it turned out, his first play was on in the West End when he was 20. His best-known plays include Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Total Eclipse, The Philanthropist and Tales From Hollywood. His films include Carrington, which he wrote and directed and which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, and Dangerous Liaisons for which he won an Oscar.
This autobiographical play is about the sense he has of his roots in this particular place, his early realisation that he was born to be a writer and also of the experience in his own life, as a child in Egypt, of the sudden dislocations that marked the end of Empire.
Alex Jennings plays Chris's father, Amanda Root his mother and Mido Hamada the redoubtable Ibrahim. The play is narrated by Christopher Hampton himself.
Narrator ... Christopher Hampton
Egyptian singers:
Pianist: Michael Webborn
Director: Polly Thomas
Christopher Hampton's play about his childhood in Alexandria in the 1950s. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The White Man's Burden | 20100918 | A radio adaptation of Paul Theroux's stage play about the young Rudyard Kipling's humiliating final months as an American resident. The great English writer plans to settle in Vermont with his American wife, but a clash with his brother-in-law results in death threats, a court case and public scandal. Will Kipling manage to keep his head when all about are losing theirs?
Rudyard Kipling ..... Nicholas Boulton
Written by Paul Theroux
Adaptation of Paul Theroux's stage play about Rudyard Kipling's time in America. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Wind in the Willows | 20130216 | THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS by Kenneth Grahame
Adapted for actors and orchestra by Neil Brand
On the 90th anniversary of the first Radio Drama broadcast on the BBC, a new version of the Classic tale of Rat, Mole, Badger and Toad combining the talents of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a special cast. Recorded before an audience in the legendary Maida Vale Studios.
Director:David Hunter
Music: The BBC Symphony Orchestra, leader Steven Bryant, Conductor Timothy Brock, Producer Ann McKay.
Kenneth Grahame's classic story with script for actors and score for BBCSO by Neil Brand. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Wooden Overcoat | 20071222 | Pamela Branch's comic murder mystery set in London in 1951, adapted by Mark Gatiss.
Much to his surprise, Benji Cann has got away with murder. He gravitates to the Asterisk Club, a place of refuge for those who have strayed beyond the pale and not paid the ultimate price. But then Benji turns up dead. Who killed him and how will they be able to get rid of the body without the neighbours noticing?
Peter ...... David Tennant
Pamela Branch's comic murder mystery set in London in 1951, adapted by Mark Gatiss. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| The Wooden Overcoat | 20071222 | 20090911 (R4) | Pamela Branch's comic murder mystery set in London in 1951, adapted by Mark Gatiss.
Much to his surprise, Benji Cann has got away with murder. He gravitates to the Asterisk Club, a place of refuge for those who have strayed beyond the pale and not paid the ultimate price. But then Benji turns up dead. Who killed him and how will they be able to get rid of the body without the neighbours noticing?
Peter ...... David Tennant
Pamela Branch's comic murder mystery set in London in 1951, adapted by Mark Gatiss. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Tim Krabbe, The Vanishing | 20101030 | 20110709 (R4) | Tim Krabbe's cult novella dramatised by Oliver Emanuel. Rex and Saskia stop at a petrol station. Saskia goes in to buy drinks and is never seen again. Eight years later, Rex is so haunted by her disappearance that he sets out to discover what happened to her, regardless of the cost. A chilling love story that takes us to the heart of the perfect crime. Cast: Rex ... Samuel West Saskia ... Melody Grove Lieneke ... Ruth Gemmell Lemorne ... Liam Brennan Denise...Natasha Watson Cashier/Woman ... Claire Knight Jean-Pierre Gallo/Manager ... Robin Laing Directed by Kirsty Williams Producer Kirsty Williams. Years after his girlfriend vanished at a petrol station, Rex tries to learn what happened. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. Tim Krabbe's cult novella dramatised by Oliver Emanuel. Rex and Saskia stop at a petrol station. Saskia goes in to buy drinks and is never seen again. Eight years later, Rex is so haunted by her disappearance that he sets out to discover what happened to her, regardless of the cost. A chilling love story that takes us to the heart of the perfect crime. Cast: Rex ... Samuel West Saskia ... Melody Grove Lieneke ... Ruth Gemmell Lemorne ... Liam Brennan Denise...Natasha Watson Cashier/Woman ... Claire Knight Jean-Pierre Gallo/Manager ... Robin Laing Directed by Kirsty Williams Producer Kirsty Williams. Years after his girlfriend vanished at a petrol station, Rex tries to learn what happened. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Trumbo | 20090815 | 20140322 (R4) | Christopher Trumbo's drama about his father, the American screenwriter and novelist Dalton Trumbo's ordeal at the hands of the House Un-American Activities Committee and its anti-communist witch-hunt. Trumbo was one of the original Hollywood Ten - those accused in 1947 and subsequently blacklisted, ostracised and forced into poverty, obscurity and in some cases exile, because of their beliefs. The play is based on transcripts of those now notorious HUAC hearings and the extraordinary letters written by his father during this period, both to his son and to others. Directed by Roger Mitchell. A Catherine Bailey Limited production for BBC Radio 4. Drama about Dalton Trumbo's ordeal in the Hollywood communist witch-hunts. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. Christopher Trumbo's drama about his father, the American screenwriter and novelist Dalton Trumbo's ordeal at the hands of the House Un-American Activities Committee and its anti-communist witch-hunt. Trumbo was one of the original Hollywood Ten - those accused in 1947 and subsequently blacklisted, ostracised and forced into poverty, obscurity and in some cases exile, because of their beliefs. The play is based on transcripts of those now notorious HUAC hearings and the extraordinary letters written by his father during this period, both to his son and to others. Directed by Roger Mitchell. A Catherine Bailey Limited production for BBC Radio 4. Drama about Dalton Trumbo's ordeal in the Hollywood communist witch-hunts. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Twice Brightly | 20070519 | Harry Secombe's son dramatises his father's brilliantly funny novel of postwar Britain. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Two Planks and a Passion | 20080510 | Anthony Minghella's tender and comic account of a provincial Easter six hundred years ago. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Under Milk Wood | 20141018 | A special chance to hear the highly-acclaimed 2003 production of this classic 'play for voices', celebrating the centenary of the birth of Dylan Thomas. Richard Burton's unforgettable 1963 performance as First Voice is remixed with Sian Phillips as Second Voice and an all-Welsh cast, including early appearances by Ruth Jones and Matthew Rhys, and a cameo role from John Humphrys. The play is a comic, affectionate and mischievous portrait of a day in the life of the mythical Welsh village of Llareggub (read it backwards) and has become one of the most famous radio plays ever written.
Groundbreaking from its first performance in New York City in 1953, the play won the Prix Italia for its innovative style in its first BBC recording 60 years ago. The 2003 production was streamed in 5.1 surround sound and now that 5.1 mix will be available on the Radio 4 website in an experimental player during the broadcast and for 30 days after that.
Composer John Hardy
Sound design Nigel Lewis
Richard Burton, Matthew Rhys, Ruth Jones star in Dylan Thomas's classic 'play for voices'. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Underneath the Lintel | 20080105 | One-man play by Greg Berger. A Dutch librarian recounts his quest to justify his life. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Utz | 20090704 | 20101016 (R4) | A British academic travels to 1960s Prague to research the art collection of Rudolf II. A historian friend introduces him to the eccentric and utterly dogged porcelain collector, Kaspar Joachim Utz. From this encounter an extraordinary story of obsession and survival emerges: for Utz has protected his vast collection of Meissen figurines from Nazis, Stalinist ideologues and the demands of Communist museum curators. After the Soviet invasion of 1968, all contact between the men ceases and Utz dies. In the last part of the play, our narrator returns to Prague in the late 1980s- as the Communist system is in its death-throes- to learn what became of Utz's collection. Was it appropriated by the State, or sold off to some secret enthusiast? Is it conceivable that the porcelain figurines were destroyed to prevent such eventualities? The Englishman interviews several figures from Utz's life as he tries to piece together the puzzle of the man and his vanished achievement. Where is the collection now? And who, really, was Utz's maid, Marta, to the deceased? For it may be (as the narrator speculates among blacklisted writers turned garbage men) that human love came to eclipse his priceless objects d'art in the heart of Kaspar Utz. This is the twist in the final minutes of the play. Although the marriage to his servant was undertaken in 1952 for purely selfish reasons (Utz had to be married in order to keep his home), over the decades that followed Marta fought off her more attractive rivals- for Utz, we also learn, was devastatingly attractive to a particular kind of woman- and finally cemented her status as the central figure in his life. This dramatisation by Gregory Norminton of Chatwin's last novel is an intriguing and comic mystery story. Cast: Utz/Janitor - Jack Klaff Marta - Pam Ferris Dr Orlik/Curator - Sam Kelly Narrator - Daniel Weyman Oxford Don/Man/ Head Waiter - Gregory Norminton Elena/Teresa Kryl - Michaela Stonisova Ana/Photographer - Dolya Gavanski Producer: Marilyn Imrie A Corporation for Independent Media production for BBC Radio 4. By Bruce Chatwin. An academic in 1960s Prague meets an eccentric porcelain collector. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. A British academic travels to 1960s Prague to research the art collection of Rudolf II. A historian friend introduces him to the eccentric and utterly dogged porcelain collector, Kaspar Joachim Utz. From this encounter an extraordinary story of obsession and survival emerges: for Utz has protected his vast collection of Meissen figurines from Nazis, Stalinist ideologues and the demands of Communist museum curators. After the Soviet invasion of 1968, all contact between the men ceases and Utz dies. In the last part of the play, our narrator returns to Prague in the late 1980s- as the Communist system is in its death-throes- to learn what became of Utz's collection. Was it appropriated by the State, or sold off to some secret enthusiast? Is it conceivable that the porcelain figurines were destroyed to prevent such eventualities? The Englishman interviews several figures from Utz's life as he tries to piece together the puzzle of the man and his vanished achievement. Where is the collection now? And who, really, was Utz's maid, Marta, to the deceased? For it may be (as the narrator speculates among blacklisted writers turned garbage men) that human love came to eclipse his priceless objects d'art in the heart of Kaspar Utz. This is the twist in the final minutes of the play. Although the marriage to his servant was undertaken in 1952 for purely selfish reasons (Utz had to be married in order to keep his home), over the decades that followed Marta fought off her more attractive rivals- for Utz, we also learn, was devastatingly attractive to a particular kind of woman- and finally cemented her status as the central figure in his life. This dramatisation by Gregory Norminton of Chatwin's last novel is an intriguing and comic mystery story. Cast: Utz/Janitor - Jack Klaff Marta - Pam Ferris Dr Orlik/Curator - Sam Kelly Narrator - Daniel Weyman Oxford Don/Man/ Head Waiter - Gregory Norminton Elena/Teresa Kryl - Michaela Stonisova Ana/Photographer - Dolya Gavanski Producer: Marilyn Imrie A Corporation for Independent Media production for BBC Radio 4. By Bruce Chatwin. An academic in 1960s Prague meets an eccentric porcelain collector. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Vanunu: A Time To Be Heard | 20110305 | New drama set in 2004, on the release of Israeli nuclear whistleblower, Mordechai Vanunu, who was immediately barred from speaking to the foreign media. Peter Hounam, investigative journalist, attempts to find a way to conduct an interview without breaking the terms of Vanunu's freedom. After exposing the assembly of nuclear weapon making capabilities at the Dimona nuclear plant where he worked as a technician, Mordechai Vanunu spent nearly 18 years in prison, 15 of those in solitary confinement. He emerged as keen as ever to make public what he knew and his treatment by the state. However, on the day of his release, Vanunu was banned from speaking to foreign media, and forbidden from leaving the country. Peter Hounam, who broke Vanunu's story in the Sunday Times originally, travelled to Israel to meet Vanunu on release and interview him for UK press and television. Once the restrictions were announced, he set out to find way to give Vanunu a voice without compromising his freedom. This new drama looks at the relationship between the two men, as well as exploring the difficult issues of investigative journalism and freedom of speech. Award winning television and radio writer Jon Sen (Second Generation, Frances Tuesday, 4.4.68) worked from firsthand accounts of this very particular time to be heard. The cast Peter Hounam........David Westhead Mordechai Vanunu......Shai Matheson Meir Vanunu.......Uriel Emil Hilarie Hounam ....Rebecca Knowles Chris Mitchell....Matthew Gravelle Security Guard.....Josh Becker Producer.......Polly Thomas A BBC Radio Drama Cymru/Wales production. New drama set in 2004, on the release of Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Vincent Price and the Horror of the English Blood Beast | 20100306 | By Matthew Broughton. In 1967, Vincent Price came to the UK to make the horror movie Witchfinder General. It was the best performance of his career, and the worst few months of his life. This play takes a light-hearted look behind the scenes of the making of this classic British film.
Other parts played by Simon Ludders and Lynne Seymour
Produced and directed by Sam Hoyle.
By Matthew Broughton. Behind the scenes of the making of classic film Witchfinder General. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Vincent Price and the Horror of the English Blood Beast | 20100306 | 20130308 (R4) | By Matthew Broughton. In 1967, Vincent Price came to the UK to make the horror movie Witchfinder General. It was the best performance of his career, and the worst few months of his life. This play takes a light-hearted look behind the scenes of the making of this classic British film.
Other parts played by Simon Ludders and Lynne Seymour
Produced and directed by Sam Hoyle.
By Matthew Broughton. Behind the scenes of the making of classic film Witchfinder General. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Wanted Someone Innocent | 20070317 | A woman is offered a job by an old schoolfriend. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Washington, 9-11 | 20110910 | September 11th 2001 dawned bright and clear on the East coast of the United States. At 8:46 am President George W Bush was in Florida promoting his education policy and Vice President Dick Cheney was in Washington when a Boeing 767 - American Airlines flight 11 - crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower. It was the first of four commercial planes used as weapons that day in attacks on New York and the capital that led to the loss of thousands of lives and changed the world. This is the dramatized story - reconstructed from multiple documents and memoires - of how Bush, from his plane Air Force One circling high above the United States, and Cheney, in the White House bunker, responded in the first few hours after the 9/11 attacks and how the decisions they took that day set the course of the Bush presidency and triggered the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Michael Eaton's drama reconstructs a chaotic day, when communications failed, protocols were abandoned; radar signals were misinterpreted and rescue aircraft came close to being shot down. It was a day that united America and saw tremendous acts of personal sacrifice and courage, but alongside the immediate response to the crisis there was also a hidden tussle for power and control, with some of Bush's key lieutenants moving swiftly to press an agenda that would determine US foreign policy for the remainder of the Bush presidency and put in place -'The War on Terror'. Cast: President George W Bush - WIlliam Hope Vice President Dick Cheney -.....Stuart Milligan Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld - Garrick Hagon National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice - Tanya Moodie Chief of Staff Andrew Card - Richard Laing Major Robert Darling - Philip Rosch Laura Bush - Lorelei King CIA Director George Tenet - Bill Roberts Secretary of State Colin Powell - Nathan Osgood Other parts played by members of the cast. Produced by Richard Clemmow Directed by Dirk Maggs A Perfectly Normal Production for BBC Radio 4. Drama about how the White House responded to the 9/11 attacks. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| White Nights | 20110702 | 20120609 (R4) | By Ann Cleeves. Dramatised for radio by Iain Finlay MacLeod. Atmospheric crime drama set in Shetland at midsummer - the time of white nights, when the sun never quite leaves the sky and birds sing at midnight. The launch of Bella Sinclair's art exhibition, at the Herring House Gallery in the remote hamlet of Biddista, is ruined by the appearance of a distressed stranger, claiming amnesia. The man is later found hanged but local detective Jimmy Perez has a hunch that it's murder not suicide. When the dead stranger is finally identified, strands of clues point towards a dark secret held deep within the collective memory of the community, one which has brought death to the present. Cast: D.I. Jimmy Perez - Steven Robertson Kenny - Finlay Welsh Edith - Anne Lacey Bella - Eileen McCallum Fran - Tracy Wiles D.I. Roy Taylor - Robin Laing Peter - Steven McNicoll Roddy - Finn den Hertog Producer: Kirsteen Cameron. A stranger's murder sparks trouble for a small Shetland village. Soon everyone's a suspect Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| White Snow | 20130105 | Faced with an upstart stepdaughter and lied to by her King about the real object of his affection, his unnaturally perfect daughter, the Queen is forced into decisive and deadly action. In this re-imagining of the Grimm brother's fairy-tale, we find ourselves at one with a fun loving and light hearted Queen, who having been wooed by an emotionally arrested king, soon finds that her main rival is his somewhat spooky and unhealthily translucent daughter, Snow White. It isn't clear what hold this eerily passive child has over the King but the implication is that the trauma of being cuckolded by his first wife, has been transformed into the myth of a flawless child - a child who keenly aware of her power over him, determines that nothing, especially not a mere stepmother is going to come between them. By any reasonable assessment of the situation, Snow White has to die...but will she?
Dramatised by Frances Byrnes
Faced with an upstart stepdaughter, the queen is forced into decisive and deadly action. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| White Snow | 20130105 | 20140103 (R4) | Faced with an upstart stepdaughter and lied to by her King about the real object of his affection, his unnaturally perfect daughter, the Queen is forced into decisive and deadly action. In this re-imagining of the Grimm brother's fairy-tale, we find ourselves at one with a fun loving and light hearted Queen, who having been wooed by an emotionally arrested king, soon finds that her main rival is his somewhat spooky and unhealthily translucent daughter, Snow White. It isn't clear what hold this eerily passive child has over the King but the implication is that the trauma of being cuckolded by his first wife, has been transformed into the myth of a flawless child - a child who keenly aware of her power over him, determines that nothing, especially not a mere stepmother is going to come between them. By any reasonable assessment of the situation, Snow White has to die...but will she?
Dramatised by Frances Byrnes
Faced with an upstart stepdaughter, the queen is forced into decisive and deadly action. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| William Nicholson - Shadowlands | 20091010 | Adaptation by Archie Scottney of the play by William Nicholson. The moving true story of the 1950s relationship between Oxford don and author CS Lewis and divorced American writer Joy Gresham.
CS 'Jack' Lewis ...... Martin Jarvis
Directed by Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
The moving true story of the 1950s relationship between CS Lewis and Joy Gresham. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Winston Graham, Marnie | 20110827 | 20120817 (R4) | It's 1961 and blonde and stunning Marnie Elmer poses as a secretary in order to steal from her employers and fund her mother's existence in Torquay. But she's yet to meet handsome company director, Mark Rutland, whose pursuit of her will ultimately lead to her downfall. Winston Graham is probably best known for his 'Poldark' series, but also wrote a number of taut thrillers, of which 'Marnie' (written in 1961) may be the best remembered - having been filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in the early 1960s. This new adaptation for radio returns to the heart of the book itself. Dramatised for radio by Shaun McKenna Director: Marion Nancarrow The dramatist, Shaun McKenna's, many radio credits include 'The Complete Smiley', 'The Postman Always Rings Twice', 'The Cry of the Owl' and 'East of Eden'. Stunning blonde Marnie is not what she appears to be. She's about to be tested. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Winter Exercise | 20131214 | 1981. The Cold War is hotting up. War between the Soviet and Western blocs seems a real possibility. And so, for two weeks in March, a group of top civil servants meets daily as part of Wintex-Cimex, a biennial exercise to test the UK Government's readiness for each stage of a descent into nuclear conflict. David Aaronovitch presents this documentary drama closely based on the recently released Cabinet Office file partially dramatised here by playwright Philip Palmer.
Directed by Toby Swift
1981 was a particularly tense point in the Cold War. Wintex-Cimex would reveal just how prepared, or otherwise, Britain was, not only for the terrifying complexities of a nuclear stand-off, but for coping with internal unrest, food shortages, attacks by enemy special forces at large in the country - even the possibility of a chemical attack. The full detail of this uniquely disturbing scenario - the assumptions and decisions made - was only released in 2012. David Aaronovitch is joined by Professor Beatrice Heuser of the University of Reading, Dr Kristan Stoddart of Aberystwyth University and Professor Richard Vinen from King's College, London to discuss the implications of what the dramatised extracts from the exercise created from the Cabinet Minutes reveal.
David Aaronovitch presents a docudrama examining a secret government Cold War exercise. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Woman in Mind | 20140111 | Alan Ayckbourn's powerful tragi-comedy about a woman's mental breakdown, starring Lesley Sharp, Ben Miles, Owen Teale and Malcolm Sinclair.
Susan is a middle-aged woman, trapped in a loveless marriage to a smug vicar, and estranged from her son. After a minor accident with a garden rake, her mind starts to conjure up the perfect fantasy family. But the line between imagination and reality soon becomes alarmingly blurred.
Susan.....Lesley Sharp
Directed by Emma Harding.
By Alan Ayckbourn. After a blow to the head, Susan encounters an perfect, fantasy family. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Woman in Mind | 20140111 | 20150606 (R4) | Alan Ayckbourn's powerful tragi-comedy about a woman's mental breakdown, starring Lesley Sharp, Ben Miles, Owen Teale and Malcolm Sinclair.
Susan is a middle-aged woman, trapped in a loveless marriage to a smug vicar, and estranged from her son. After a minor accident with a garden rake, her mind starts to conjure up the perfect fantasy family. But the line between imagination and reality soon becomes alarmingly blurred.
Susan.....Lesley Sharp
Directed by Emma Harding.
By Alan Ayckbourn. After a blow to the head, Susan encounters an perfect, fantasy family. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |
| Writing On Wigan Pier | 20100731 | David Pownall's play has strong resonance for today. In 1936, George Orwell embarked on a visit to Wigan, a typical coal-mining town in industrial Lancashire in order to write a book about the people, their experiences and their struggle to cope with the effects of the Depression. Determined not to be dismissed as a dispassionate observer, he resolves to spend time living with and amongst the people. However, he brings with him his self-guilt, his obsession with the English class system, his fiercely-held preconceptions of the working-class and his remarkable cut-glass voice, of which he is all too painfully aware. The visit is both revealing and humorous. He stays in an appalling doss-house above a tripe shop, tries to work down a pit, stays with a family, makes a pass at the wife, upsets the local Women's Institute and meets a priest escaping from fascism in Spain. Whilst most who meet him take him for who and what he is, for Orwell the experience develops into a journey of self-discovery. Cast: Orwell - Adrian Scarborough Neil - Karl Davies Helen - Helen Longworth Grandad - Bernard Cribbins Mrs Brooker/Country Lady - Thelma Barlow Gollancz - Keith Drinkel Arnold - Anthony Glennon Meade/Ignatius - Tom Bevan Directed by Martin Jenkins A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. David Pownall's play explores George Orwell's time in Wigan in the early months of 1936. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. | |
| Zubeda | 20070310 | Naylah Ahmed's play, set in rural India, is a parallel tale of two romances. Thrillers, mysteries, love stories and detective fiction. |