Five BBC Radio full-cast dramatisations

The Complete Ripley: The Tom Ripley thrillers

Five gripping full-cast adaptations of Patricia Highsmith's bestselling 'Ripley' series - plus bonus material 
 
Charming, cultured and clever, Tom Ripley has a taste for the finer things in life. And he is determined to get them, by any means necessary... 
 
These five plays - The Talented Mr Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water - chart Tom's journey from impoverished conman to wealthy bon viveur and serial killer. His homicidal adventures begin when he befriends shipping heir Dickie Greenleaf: he wants money, success, and he's willing to kill for it. But when he attains the luxurious lifestyle he craves, he is always on the edge of being discovered. Will his shadowy past finally catch up with him? 
 
BAFTA-winning actor Ian Hart stars as Ripley in these tense, thrilling dramas. Also included are two bonus documentaries: Looking for Ripley, in which crime writer Mark Billingham unravels the mystery behind our lasting fascination with Tom Ripley, and A Passionate Affair, presented by Marcel Berlins, who asks whether Patricia Highsmith fell in love with her suave, amoral anti-hero. 
 
Text © 1993 by Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich, all rights reserved. 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Patricia Highsmith was born Mary Patricia Plangman in Fort Worth, Texas. Her parents divorced 10 days after her birth on 19 January 1921, and her mother married her stepfather Stanley Highsmith in 1924 and moved to New York three years later. Their relationship was stormy, and Patricia later described her childhood as 'a little hell'. 
 
Highsmith was taught to read by her grandmother at the age of two: the beginning of her lifelong love for books. She studied English at Barnard's College in 1942, and after graduation, took a sales job at Bloomingdale's department store while freelancing as a comic book writer. 
 
In 1949, she travelled to Europe, where she eventually settled. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train, was published in 1950, and made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock the following year. Her next book, written under the pseudonym Claire Morgan, was the lesbian love story The Price of Salt (1952), inspired by an encounter with a glamorous blonde in a mink coat during her shop assistant days. In 1955 came The Talented Mr Ripley. Featuring her own favourite character, a charming, amoral psychopath who gets away with murder, the book was a hit with the public and critics alike, and was awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Scroll by the Mystery Writers of America in 1957. It was followed by Ripley Under Ground (1970), Ripley's Game (1974), The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980), and Ripley Under Water (1991) - collectively known as the Ripliad. 
 
Among her other novels were The Cry of the Owl (1962) and A Suspension of Mercy (1965), and she also wrote several collections of short stories including Little Tales of Misogyny (1975) and Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes (1987). Patricia Highsmith died in Locarno, Switzerland, on 4 February 1995. Her final novel, Small g: a Summer Idyll, was published posthumously the same year.

The Talented Mr Ripley, Strangers on a Train, Carol & other stories

The Patricia Highsmith BBC Radio Collection

The definitive collection of dramatisations and readings of Patricia Highsmith's finest fiction - plus bonus material 
 
A master of the psychological crime genre, Patricia Highsmith is most famous for her quintet of bestselling 'Ripley' novels, and her groundbreaking thriller Strangers on a Train (notably adapted as a classic film by Alfred Hitchcock). This extensive collection encompasses her best-known works, as well as selected short stories and three programmes about the author herself and her greatest creation, charismatic anti-hero Tom Ripley. 
 
Included is a series of five plays charting Ripley's journey from smalltime conman to cool, calculated killer. Comprising The Talented Mr Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water, The Complete Ripley stars Ian Hart as Tom. 
 
Also featured are dramatisations of Strangers on a Train (starring Anton Lesser, Michael Sheen, Saskia Reeves and Bill Nighy); Patricia Highsmith's compelling tale of obsession, The Cry of the Owl (starring John Sharian, Adrian Lester and Joanne McQuinn); and the dark, intriguing domestic noir A Suspension of Mercy (starring Stuart Milligan and Janet Maw). 
 
Highsmith's tender, unsettling lesbian love story Carol is abridged and read in 10 parts by Zoë Wanamaker, and there are abridged readings of her short stories 'A Dangerous Hobby', 'Variations on a Game' (both read by Campbell Scott), and 'The Trouble with Mrs Blynn, the Trouble with the World' (read by Anna Massey). Five more unabridged stories, 'The Cries of Love', 'The Snail-Watcher', 'The Breeder', 'Notes from a Respectable Cockroach' and 'Goat Ride', are read by Helen Horton, John Webb, Garrick Hagon, William Hootkins and Crawford Logan. 
 
In Looking for Ripley, crime writer Mark Billingham unravels the mystery behind our lasting fascination with Tom Ripley, while in A Passionate Affair, Marcel Berlins asks if his creator Patricia Highsmith also fell under his spell. And in Desert Island Discs, the author shares the soundtrack of her life with presenter Roy Plomley. 
 
Contents 
The Talented Mr Ripley 
Ripley Under Ground 
Ripley's Game 
The Boy Who Followed Ripley 
Ripley Under Water 
Strangers on a Train 
The Cry of the Owl 
A Suspension of Mercy 
Carol 
A Dangerous Hobby 
Variations on a Game 
The Trouble with Mrs Blynn, The Trouble with the World 
The Cries of Love 
The Snail-Watcher 
The Breeder 
Notes from a Respectable Cockroach 
Goat Ride 
Looking for Ripley 
A Passionate Affair 
Desert Island Discs: Patricia Highsmith 
 
Original texts © 1993 by Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich, all rights reserved. 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Patricia Highsmith

Anton Lesser

Michael Sheen

Saskia Reeves

Bill Nighy

Full Cast

A BBC Radio full-cast dramatisation

A suspenseful full-cast BBC radio adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's classic psychological thriller 
 
When Guy Haines meets Charles Bruno in the dining car of a Texas-bound train, they share their secrets in the way that only strangers can. Charles confides his hatred for his controlling father, Guy confesses that he is divorcing his unfaithful wife. As the drink flows and the conversation turns darker, Charles proposes the perfect solution to both their problems - a murder swap - and Guy laughingly agrees. 
 
Back home, he quickly forgets their drunken pact: but Charles does not. Soon Guy is facing a nightmarish choice - fulfil his part of the bargain, or be framed for a murder he didn't commit... 
 
Dramatised for radio by award-winning playwright Craig Warner, this disturbing tale of obsession, blackmail, guilt and fear stars Michael Sheen (Good Omens, Staged) as Guy Haines and Anton Lesser (Game of Thrones, Endeavour) as Charles Bruno. 
 
Credits 
Written by Craig Warner, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith 
Original music by Craig Warner 
Directed by Andy Jordan 
 
Cast 
Charles Bruno........................Anton Lesser 
Guy Haines........................Michael Sheen 
Anne........................Saskia Reeves 
Gerard........................Bill Nighy 
Elsie Bruno........................Jane Whittenshaw 
Alex........................Denys Hawthorne 
Myers........................Roger May 
Treacher........................Stephen Critchlow 
Cop........................John Hartley 
Frear........................Andrew Branch 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 25 January 1996 
 
Strangers on a Train © 1993 by Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich, all rights reserved. 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Patricia Highsmith

Strangers on a Train

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