A BBC Radio 4 crime drama

The Art of Deception: The Complete Series 1 and 2

All ten episodes of the compelling BBC radio thriller about art forger Daniel Ballantyne and his biographer and nemesis, Jessica Brown 
 
Daniel Ballantyne: monster and angel, thief and conman, genius - and murderer? 
 
Newly released from Wormwood Scrubs, and dying of cancer, notorious art forger Daniel Ballantyne agrees to help art critic Jessica Brown write his biography. But as Jessica digs deeper into his life, she realises that nearly everything he's told her is a lie, and behind his charming persona is a man capable of almost anything. 
 
Trapped in a cat-and-mouse game with a master manipulator, Jessica finds herself putting her reputation - and her life - on the line... 
 
Written by Philip Palmer (Red and Blue, Keeping the Wolf Out), this wickedly enjoyable crime drama stars David Schofield as Daniel Ballantyne, with Indira Varma and Hattie Morahan as Jessica Brown. 
 
NB: Contains strong language and scenes which some listeners may find disturbing 
 
Production credits 
Written by Philip Palmer 
Produced and directed by Toby Swift 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 22-26 June 2009 (Series 1), 20-24 December 2010 (Series 2) 
 
Cast 
Daniel Ballantyne - David Schofield 
Jessica Brown - Indira Varma/Hattie Morahan 
Ben - Matt Addis 
Andrew Jarrold - Jonathan Keeble/Harry Myers 
Claire de Vere - Belinda Lang 
DI Grimwood/Art dealer - John Biggins 
Stavros Persakis - Malcolm Tierney 
Museum curator - Philip Fox 
DS Ruckley/Taxi driver - Benjamin Askew 
Moisha Perez/Stefan Hunt - Stephen Greif 
Lisa - Pandora Colin 
DC Morgan - Sally Orrock 
Gondolier/Waiter - Iain Batchelor 
Other parts played by Kenneth Collard and Jude Akuwudike 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

All ten episodes of the compelling BBC radio thriller about art forger Daniel Ballantyne and his biographer and nemesis, Jessica Brown 
 
Daniel Ballantyne: monster and angel, thief and conman, genius - and murderer? 
 
Newly released from Wormwood Scrubs, and dying of cancer, notorious art forger Daniel Ballantyne agrees to help art critic Jessica Brown write his biography. But as Jessica digs deeper into his life, she realises that nearly everything he's told her is a lie, and behind his charming persona is a man capable of almost anything. 
 
Trapped in a cat-and-mouse game with a master manipulator, Jessica finds herself putting her reputation - and her life - on the line... 
 
Written by Philip Palmer (Red and Blue, Keeping the Wolf Out), this wickedly enjoyable crime drama stars David Schofield as Daniel Ballantyne, with Indira Varma and Hattie Morahan as Jessica Brown. 
 
NB: Contains strong language and scenes which some listeners may find disturbing 
 
Production credits 
Written by Philip Palmer 
Produced and directed by Toby Swift 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 22-26 June 2009 (Series 1), 20-24 December 2010 (Series 2) 
 
Cast 
Daniel Ballantyne - David Schofield 
Jessica Brown - Indira Varma/Hattie Morahan 
Ben - Matt Addis 
Andrew Jarrold - Jonathan Keeble/Harry Myers 
Claire de Vere - Belinda Lang 
DI Grimwood/Art dealer - John Biggins 
Stavros Persakis - Malcolm Tierney 
Museum curator - Philip Fox 
DS Ruckley/Taxi driver - Benjamin Askew 
Moisha Perez/Stefan Hunt - Stephen Greif 
Lisa - Pandora Colin 
DC Morgan - Sally Orrock 
Gondolier/Waiter - Iain Batchelor 
Other parts played by Kenneth Collard and Jude Akuwudike 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Nine BBC Radio thrillers

Red and Blue: The Complete Series 1-3

After leaving the British Army, Lieutenant Colonel Bradley Shoreham became a Consultant Subject Matter Expert: he creates war games for training purposes. 
 
Fictional they may be, but the higher the level of authenticity, the greater their value to the participants. And when governments and major corporations are paying for training they expect a high return for their money. 
 
The games may only be a simulation, but the participants are about to find out that the consequences are rather more real than they would like. 
 
Starring Tim Woodward as Bradley Shoreham, with casts including Lloyd Hutchinson, Bill Paterson and Harriet Walter.

Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders & A Journal of the Plague Year

The Daniel Defoe BBC Radio Drama Collection

Imaginative dramatisations of the works of Daniel Defoe, bringing his characters to life for modern listeners

Daniel Defoe was born in London in 1660. He worked briefly as a hosiery merchant, then as an intelligence agent and political writer. His writings resulted in his imprisonment on several occasions, and earned him powerful friends and enemies. During his lifetime Defoe wrote over two hundred and fifty books, pamphlets and journals and travelled widely in both Europe and the British Isles. Among his most famous works are Robinson Crusoe (1719), Moll Flanders (1722) and A Journal of the Plague Year (1722). Though Defoe was nearly sixty before he began writing fiction, his work is so fundamental to the development of the novel that he is often cited as the first true English novelist. He is also regarded as a founding father of modern journalism and one of the earliest travel writers. Daniel Defoe died in April 1731.

Three lively retellings of Daniel Defoe’s classic novels, plus two bonus programmes about his extraordinary life and far-reaching influence. 
 
Robinson Crusoe and his Farther Adventures 
An imaginative blend of the famous castaway tale and its lesser-known sequel, this thrilling drama sees Crusoe setting sail for the far north. Facing danger in the Siberian wastes, he keeps terror at bay by telling his companions campfire tales of his many adventures on his beloved island. Starring Tim McInnerney as Crusoe. 
 
Moll Flanders 
When Daniel Defoe meets Elizabeth Atkins in Newgate jail, she recounts her stranger-than-fiction story of a rags-to-riches life that took her from prostitution to prosperity – but culminated in destitution. Inspired, Defoe mixes fact and fiction to re-invent her as one of his most engaging characters: Moll Flanders. Starring Ben Miles as Defoe and Jessica Hynes as Elizabeth Atkins. 
 
A Journal of the Plague Year 
Writing a fictional journal of the Great Plague of 1665, Defoe soon comes to be haunted by the characters he is conjuring. Starring Ben Miles as Defoe. 
 
This exciting new collection of reinvented tales will also include two bonus programmes about Daniel Defoe himself: 
 
Defoe: Merchant, Writer, Convict, Spy by Philip Palmer - A biographical drama about Defoe’s life, starring Ben Miles as Defoe and Niamh Cusack as his wife Mary. 
 
Defoe: The Facts and Fictions - A documentary by Mark Lawson, exploring the far-reaching influence of the pioneering author.

Philip Palmer

Leo Bill

Clare Corbett

Full Cast

Joseph Ayre

Andy Linden

The complete BBC Radio 4 full-cast crime series

A gritty thriller set behind the Iron Curtain in 1960s Hungary 
 
Budapest, 1963. Special Investigator Bertalan Lázár and his wife, spymaster Franciska Lázár, face formidable challenges as they try to navigate a path through the dangerous underworld of Cold War-era Hungary. Catching the criminals is difficult enough, but there are other more threatening battles raging in higher places. 
 
In these 16 episodes, Bertalan must investigate the murder of a former member of the secret police, fight a turf war as he tries to find a child killer, probe a seemingly straightforward case of GBH that leads him to a rogue cop and enter the uncharted territory of Budapest's underground drugs scene after a rock musician is found dead. 
 
Written by Philip Palmer, this gripping, atmospheric drama expertly conjures up the tense, paranoid world of Communist Hungary, where dissidence was dangerous, the truth was hard to find and pursuing justice could get you killed. Leo Bill stars as Bertalan and Clare Corbett as Franciska, with Andy Linden as Tibor Farkas and Joseph Ayre as József Szabados. 
 
The episodes in this collection are: 
 
 The Wolf 
The Old Days 
Behind the Wall 
Waiting by the River 
Heroes 
Gellert Hill 
Spider's Web 
Carnaby Street 
Gypsy Dancers 
Grandmother's Footsteps 
Mad Dog 
The Light of Dawn 
The Great Society 
Red Pen 
The Great Tree Gang 
The Magical Magyars 
 
Produced and directed by Toby Swift and Sasha Yevtushenko 
Sound Design by Caleb Knightley 
 
Cast 
Bertalan Lázár - Leo Bill 
Franciska Lázár - Clare Corbett 
Tibor Farkas - Andy Linden 
József Szabados - Joseph Ayre 
Gizella - Nicola Ferguson 
Bela Fekete - Sargon Yelda 
Mr Papp - Nick Underwood 
Kitchen Porter - Richard Pepple 
Police Officer/Csaba - Sam Rix 
Lilien Racz - Adie Allen 
Milton Szilard - Philip Fox 
Kristof Szep - Samuel James 
Mr Kiraly - Robert Blythe 
Waiter/Peterke - Tom Forrister 
Mrs Tolnay - Sanchia MacCormack 
Stenographer - Kerry Gooderson 
Dmitri Dragunov - Simon Scardifield 
Márk Mészáros - Michael Bertenshaw 
András Vásáry - David Hounslow 
Priest/Copper - Christopher Harper 
Gyuri Varg/Fabenyi/Police officer/Partygoer - Kenny Blyth 
Dorina Varga - Helen Clapp 
Ministry official/Police officer/Drug dealer/Partygoer - Chris Pavlo 
Hanna Krivosik - Franchi Webb 
Zsófia/Nurse 1 - Sarah Ovens 
PuŠomori Žiga - Debbie Korley 
Mrs Kovacs/Nurse 2/Receptionist - Susan Jameson 
Gyozo Novak - Carl Prekopp 
Florian Hevesi - Luke Nunn 
Sandor Boros - Stephen Greif 
Pathologist - Jane Whittenshaw 
Cop/Detective - Stefan Adegbola 
Mother - Emma Handy 
Kulcsar - Roger Ringrose 
Draskovic - Ewan Bailey 
Billiards player/Prison officer - Ian Dunnett Jnr 
Hadik - Hasan Dixon 
Richard Miklos/Károly Miklós/Laska - Shaun Mason 
Violinist/Márton Kozma/Police Officer/Priest - Simon Ludders 
Réka Kozma/Pathologist - Jane Slavin 
Archivist/Ioveanu - Tony Turner 
Orsolya - Ria Marshall 
Receptionist - David Sturzaker 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

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