JG Farrell

Full Cast

Robert Glenister

Alex Jennings

Jim Norton

Samantha Spiro

John Rowe

3 BBC Radio 4 productions

BBC Radio 4 productions of JG Farrell's celebrated historical novels - plus bonus material 
 
Acclaimed author JG Farrell came to fame with his Empire Trilogy, exploring the collapse of British colonialism and its repercussions in three different countries. The first book in the series, Troubles, won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Lost Man Booker Prize, while the second, The Siege of Krishnapur, was awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction. Included here are three BBC Radio adaptations of the trilogy, plus an edition of Witness History exploring Farrell's tragic accidental death. 
 
Troubles - 1919, and Major Brendan Archer travels to Kilnalough in Ireland to visit his accidental fiancée, Angela. Arriving at her father's once-grand hotel, the Majestic, he finds it a dilapidated wreck, overrun by vegetation and hordes of feral cats. And outside its walls, a violent storm is brewing - one that will sweep him, and the Majestic, away... Jim Norton reads Farrell's tragicomic novel set during Ireland's struggle for independence. 
 
The Siege of Krishnapur - It is 1857 and British rule in India is under threat. At first the colonists are confident that their 'superior culture' will prevail, but when the Indian mutineers attack the Residency in Krishnapur, the Collector is unsure whether his defences can hold out... This thrilling adaptation of JG Farrell's masterpiece stars Alex Jennings, Shiv Grewal and Jasmine Hyde. 
 
The Singapore Grip - 1937. Young Matthew Webb arrives in Singapore to join the family rubber business, and becomes embroiled in a love triangle with two beautiful women. But as the Japanese invasion grows closer, Matthew's comfortable expat world is about to crumble... Robert Glenister, Jonathan Cake and Samantha Spiro star in this gripping dramatisation of Farrell's satirical tale of the fall of Singapore. 
 
Witness History: The Death of JG Farrell - The Booker Prize-winning author drowned off the south-west coast of Ireland in 1979, aged just 44. Vincent Dowd talks to those who knew him, and hears an eyewitness account of his death. 
 
Text copyright © JG Farrell 1970 (Troubles), 1973 (The Siege of Krishnapur), 1978 (The Singapore Grip) 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by JG Farrell 
 
Troubles 
Read by Jim Norton 
Abridged by Doreen Estall. Produced by Heather Larmour 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 8-19 November 2010 
 
The Siege of Krishnapur 
Hopkins, The Collector - Alex Jennings 
Fluery - Ben Askew 
Prince Hari - Shiv Grewal 
Harry Dunstaple - Matt Addis 
Louise Dunstaple - Jasmine Hyde 
Dr Dunstaple - Malcolm Tierney 
Mrs Dunstaple - Caroline Guthrie 
Willoughby - Sam Dale 
Miriam - Janice Acquah 
Dr MacNab - Stephen Hogan 
The Padre - Philip Fox 
Cutter - Jonathan Tafler 
Lieutenant Peterson - Paul Rider 
Lucy Hughes - Lizzy Watts 
Dramatised by Shelagh Stephenson. Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10-17 May 2009 
 
The Singapore Grip 
JG Farrell - Robert Glenister 
Matthew - Jonathan Cake 
Joan - Samantha Spiro 
Monty/Mr Smith - David Thorpe 
Vera - Su-Lin Looi 
Major Archer - John Rowe 
Walter - Timothy Bateson 
Jim - Kenny Blyth 
Air Marshall Brook-Popham - Terence Edmond 
Brigadier - Karl Johnson 
Governor - John East 
Captain Sinclair - Alex Tender 
Percival - Barry Foster 
ADC - Thomas Arnold 
Dramatised by Mike Walker. Directed by Peter Kavanagh. Music: Felix Jay 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 October-12 November 2000 
 
Witness History: The Death of JG Farrell 
Presented by Vincent Dowd 
With Lavinia Greacen, Hilary Spurling, Jerry Daly, Pauline Foley 
First broadcast BBC World Service, 17 October 2017 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

JG Farrell

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