Seven legendary unproduced screenplays, resurrected and reinvented for BBC Radio 4

The annals of movie history are full of lost treasures – spectacular scripts from world-renowned writers that could have been classics, had they only been made. Now, for the first time, some of these forgotten gems have been brought to life, fully realised as vivid, cinematic radio productions. Scripted by major 20th Century writers, they star a host of A-list actors and feature richly evocative, atmospheric soundtracks.

Collected here are seven sensational ‘unmade movies’:

Harold Pinter’s Victory, adapted from the novel by Joseph Conrad
Harold Pinter’s The Dreaming Child, adapted from the novel by Karen Blixen
Arthur Miller’s The Hook
Alfred Hitchcock’s unfinished screenplay The Blind Man, completed by Mark Gatiss
Hammer Horror’s The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula
Dennis Potter’s The White Hotel
Alexander MacKendrick’s Mary Queen of Scots

These could-have-been classics are brought to life with stellar casts featuring Hugh Laurie, Bertie Carvel, Rose Leslie, Bill Paterson, Ellie Bamber, Tim Pigott-Smith, Rebecca Front, Anne-Marie Duff, Meera Syal, Vanessa Kirby and Mark Strong. Setting the scene and providing the ‘establishing shots’ – the original stage directions and descriptions from the screenplays – are narrators Simon Russell Beale, Anne Reid, David Suchet, Peter Serafinowicz, Michael Sheen, Simon McBurney and Glenda Jackson.

Moving, mysterious, suspenseful, thrilling and terrifying, these dazzling productions will keep you enraptured from beginning to end. So sit back, grab some popcorn and let them play out on the biggest screen of all – that of your imagination.

NB: Contains strong language and sexual scenes

© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd