Maeve Binchy

Jenny Agutter

Niamh Cusack

Kate Binchy

Adjoa Andoh

David Soul

Anna Healy

Dervla Kirwan

Patricia Hodge

Frances Tomelty

Sean Campion

Stella McCusker

Hannah Gordon

Jane Gurnett

Mark Drewry

Full Cast

11 Full-Cast Dramatisations and 13 Readings

A BBC Radio collection of dramatisations and readings of Maeve Binchy’s sparkling stories 
 
Irish writer Maeve Binchy was one the best-loved and most successful authors of her time. Her bestselling books sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and were translated into 37 languages. This comprehensive anthology of her finest fiction, as heard on BBC Radio, demonstrates all the warmth, wit and compassion that made her so popular. 
 
It opens with Firefly Summer, her moving, humorous novel about a sleepy Irish town facing monumental change. No Nightingales, No Snakes comprises five short plays: ‘The Night the People Came Over for Something That Was No Trouble’, ‘The Stepson’, ‘Decisions at Sea’, ‘The Answer Machine’ and ‘By the Time We Get to Clifden’. 
 
Following these are five short stories exclusively created for BBC Radio – ‘The Garden Party’, ‘Home Coming’, ‘Telling Stories’ ‘Needy’, and ‘The Interview’. 
 
First published in the short story collections Central Line and Victoria Line, London Transports features four full-cast dramas set on London’s Tube: ‘Brixton’, ‘Green Park’, ‘Holland Park’ and ‘Lancaster Gate’. Full of wry humour, irony and empathy. 
 
Concluding this compilation is a dramatisation of ‘‘Taxi Men Are Invisible’, and readings of eight more short stories. Specially commissioned for Radio 4, ‘The Special Sale’, ‘The Sensible Celebration’, ‘Love in the Afternoon’, ‘’The White Trolley’ and its counterpart story ‘The Feast of Stephen’ . ‘Euston’, a seasonal tale taken from Victoria Line followed by ‘Dolly’s Mother’ and ‘Christmas Present’ – both originally written for radio. 
 
Text copyright © Maeve Binchy 1978 (Central Line), 1980 (Victoria Line), 1987 (Firefly Summer), 1989 (‘Dolly’s Mother’), 1990 (‘The Sensible Celebration’), 1992 (‘Telling Stories’, ‘The Interview’), 1995 (‘The Garden Party’, ‘Christmas Present’), 1997 (‘Needy’, ‘Euston’), 1998 (‘The White Trolley’, ‘The Feast of Stephen’), 1999 (‘Taxi Men are Invisible’), 2000 (‘The Special Sale’), 2001 (‘Home Coming’), 2007 (No Nightingales, No Snakes), 2008 (‘Love in the Afternoon’) 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Maeve Binchy 
 
Firefly Summer - Drama 
No Nightingales, No Snakes - 5 Dramas 
The Garden Party 
The Homecoming 
Telling Stories 
Needy 
The Interview 
London Transports - 4 Dramas 
- Brixton 
- Green Park 
- Holland Park 
- Lancaster Gate 
Taxi Men Are Invisible - Drama 
The Sensible Celebration 
Love in the Afternoon 
Euston 
Dolly’s Mother 
The Special Sale 
The White Trolley 
The Feast of Stephen 
Christmas Present 
 
Copyright © 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Maeve Binchy

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter