Seven BBC Radio full-cast productions

The Noel Coward BBC Radio Drama Collection

Seven BBC radio full-cast productions of Noël Coward’s classic plays – plus bonus material including a profile of Coward and extracts from his diaries

Noël Coward was born in 1899, and was a professional actor by the age of ten. In 1920, he starred in his own play, I'll Leave it to You. His first major hit was The Vortex (1924) and his success continued throughout the Twenties and Thirties with plays including Hay Fever (1926), Private Lives (1930) and Design for Living (1932). During the Second World War, he wrote the patriotic screenplayIn Which We Serve (1942), for which he won an Oscar; as well as scripting the classic film Brief Encounter (1944) and entertaining the nation with the black comedy Blithe Spirit (1941). After the war, Coward added a new string to his bow as a cabaret singer, as well as continuing to write musicals and plays. In all, Coward wrote 40 plays, 300 songs and numerous poems, short stories and films. He was knighted in 1970, and died in Jamaica in 1973.

Seven BBC radio full-cast productions of Noël Coward’s classic plays – plus bonus material including a profile of Coward and extracts from his diaries 
 
Renowned for his wit, style and sophistication, Noël Coward was one of the greatest playwrights of the twentieth century. His plays, set in the glittering world of high society in which he lived, are much admired and have remained in the popular theatre repertoire to this day. 
 
This collection brings together the very best radio adaptations of Coward’s works, encompassing sparkling comedies of manners Private Lives and Hay Fever, farcical ghost story Blithe Spirit, and daring ménage à trois drama Design for Living. Here, too, is his controversial first hit The Vortex; the poignant Still Life (the inspiration for the film Brief Encounter); and the semi-autobiographical Present Laughter. 
 
Among the star-studded cast are Helena Bonham-Carter, Bill Nighy, Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Roger Allam, Harriet Walter, Paul Rhys, Stephanie Cole and Paul Scofield. 
 
Also included is a BBC World Service profile of Noël Coward, comprising interviews, musical extracts and archive clips; and the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘From His Diaries’, featuring a selection of passages from Coward’s journal read by Simon Cadell.

Noel Coward In His Own Words

In interviews ranging from 1960 to 1972, Noël Coward talks about being a legend; whether he is a cynical writer; his early days in acting and about his early reputation for upsetting fellow actors on stage. He also discusses acting with Laurence Olivier; his affection for the Navy; his film-making; his knighthood, and writing 'Private Lives' for his friend Gertrude Lawrence. 
 
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

This Happy Breed (Classic Radio Theatre)

John Moffatt and Rosemary Leach star in this BBC Radio 4 production of Noël Coward’s patriotic play about the ups and downs of a working-class family between 1919 and 1939.

This Happy Breed opens in 1919, when the Gibbons family have just moved to their smart new home in the suburbs of South London. Against a background of social change and national upheaval spanning twenty years, the family celebrate their own triumphs and deal with their personal traumas. Coward’s moving and humourous production, showing what life was like for a typical suburban family between the wars, was a huge hit and was adapted into a famous 1944 film starring John Mills and Celia Johnson. Among the distinguished cast in this 1989 BBC Radio 4 production are John Moffatt, Rosemary Leach, Anna Cropper and Doris Hare.

Private Lives (Classic Radio Theatre)

Paul Scofield and Patricia Routledge star in Noël Coward's classic comedy of manners. Private Lives was written in 1930 and has been a mainstay of British theatre ever since.

This sharply funny play of reversals focuses on Elyot and Amanda, a passionate but feuding couple who divorced five years before. Now, on the first night of their honeymoons with their new partners, they find that they are all staying in the same hotel on the French Riviera. Fireworks are inevitable...   The roles of the two ex-spouses are brilliantly recreated by Paul Scofield and Patricia Routledge, while Coward's scintillating repartee epitomises all the glamour and sophistication of life between the wars for society's spoilt darlings.

Tim Firth

Noel Coward

William Chaucer

E F Benson

M. R. James

W.W.Jacobs

Julian Rhind-Tutt

Pam Ferris

Miles Jupp

Sian Philips

Eleanor Bron

Trevor Harrison

Timothy Bentinck

Felicity Finch

Full Cast

Six BBC full-cast drama productions including Blithe Spirit, Calendar Girls & More

Classic plays and ghost stories, as performed by the residents of Ambridge and friends - plus bonus drama Dead Girls Tell No Tales 
 
Borsetshire's queen of amateur theatricals, Lynda Snell, never misses the chance to put on a Christmas show. Her productions are always a big hit with Ambridge audiences - and now, Archers fans can enjoy these top-notch performances alongside them (as well as eavesdropping on the shenanigans backstage). 
 
In Blithe Spirit, the Ambridge Am-Dram Society and guest star Julian Rhind-Tutt recreate Noël Coward's ghostly masterpiece, and Lynda finds herself in sympathy with eccentric medium Madame Arcati as she attempts to conjure some festive high spirits. Calendar Girls sees the group taking on Tim Firth's comedy of jam and Jerusalem, along with honorary resident Siân Phillips (who starred in the original West End show). Will the intrepid cast really bare all? And in the 2-parter The Canterbury Tales, the company present barnstorming adaptations of Chaucer's classic stories of courtly love, deadly rivalry and boisterous sex - with a little bit of magic thrown in. 
 
In Ambridge Ghost Stories, it's a cold December night, in the darkened attic of Lower Loxley. Then Jim Llloyd (John Rowe) takes to the stage to recount three spine-chilling supernatural tales from the turn of the last century - 'The Room in the Tower' by E. F. Benson, 'Lost Hearts' by M. R. James and 'The Monkey's Paw' by W. W. Jacobs. Prepare to be enthralled - and terrified... 
 
Also included are two special seasonal pageants, The Ambridge Mystery Plays- The Nativity and The Passion and a stunning original drama by Joanna Toye. Starring Eleanor Tomlinson and Ysette Churchman and Miles Jupp Dead Girls Tell No Tales explores the real story behind the death of Grace Archer: a watershed moment in the history of broadcasting and one of the defining cultural events of the 1950s. 
 
Production credits 
Blithe Spirit 
Written by Noël Coward 
Adapted and directed by Sean O'Connor 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 December 2014 
 
Calendar Girls 
The accompanying pianist was Simon Taranczuk 
Written by Tim Firth and based on the motion picture Calendar Girls written by Tim Firth and Juliette Towhidi. Adapted and directed by Sean O'Connor 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 27 December 2015 
 
The Canterbury Tales, Parts 1 &amp; 2 
Tellers of the Tales 
The Knight's Tale 
The Miller's Tale 
The Wife of Bath's Tale 
The Sailor's Tale 
The Pardoner's Tale 
The Friar's Tale 
The Franklin's Tale 
The Bailiff's Tale 
Written by Geoffrey Chaucer 
Dramatised by Nick Warburton. Directed by Kim Greengrass. Produced by Alison Hindell 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 December 2018-5 January 2019 
 
The Ambridge Mystery Plays 
The Nativity 
The Passion 
First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26th December 2021 &amp; 2nd January 2022 
 
Ambridge Ghost Stories 
Abridged by Jeremy Osborne 
 
'The Room in the Tower' written by E F Benson 
Produced and directed by Charlotte Davey 
 
'Lost Hearts' written by M. R. James 
Produced and directed by Mel Ward 
 
'The Monkey's Paw' written by W. W. Jacobs 
Produced and directed by Charlotte Davey 
 First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 December 2019-1 January 2020 
 
Dead Girls Tell No Tales 
Cast: Jon Culshaw, Pam Ferris, Lex Shrapnel, Eleanor Tomlinson, Georgie Fuller, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Sally Bretton, Simon Russell Beale, John Hopkins, Claudie Blakley, David Reed, Miles Jupp, Zeb Soanes, Paddy O'Connell, Ysanne Churchman, David Hounslow, Sam Dale, Chris Pavlo, Jessica Turner and Alex Tregear 
Written by Joanna Toye. Directed by Sean O'Connor 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 19 September 2015 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

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