Eight BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas based on the characters of Toulouse-Lautrec

Posters of the Moulin Rouge

Toulouse-Lautrec's iconic Parisian poster stars come to life in these full-cast dramas, set in 19th-century Montmartre 
 
1889, Paris. When Charles Zidler's extravagant pleasure palace, the Moulin Rouge, opens in bohemian Montmartre, he commissions local artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec to create a series of posters to promote it. The striking lithographs Henri produces will make his name - and launch the careers of the performers he portrayed. 
 
This sparkling collection of plays introduces us to eight of those legendary artistes, whose lives were as vivid as Lautrec's paint. It opens with Yvette Guilbert, the story of a singer whose dreams of wealth and fame lead her to a brand new cabaret on Boulevard de Clichy.... In The Boneless Wonder, we meet can-can dancer Valentin Renaudin. Merely a silhouette in Toulouse-Lautrec's poster, what is he in real life? La Goulue tells the tale of his famous partner, Louise Weber, whose soubriquet reflects her love of food and life. And in Jane Avril, we hear about Henri's muse, whose nickname 'Crazy Jane' didn't simply refer to her exuberant dancing. 
 
May Belfort explores the Irish singer turned lady of the night, who relied more on her beauty than her voice. In Footitt and Chocolat, a circus double act is in danger of drifting apart; while in Casque d'Or, a group of passionate revolutionaries make a fatal last stand. Finally, Aristide Bruant sees the socialist club owner becoming a fashionable success - against all his intentions. He needs to find a new direction: as does Yvette Guilbert... 
 
Created by award-winning writer John Peacock, these dazzling dramas will transport you to Belle Époque Paris, in all its glamour and decadence. The star casts include Julie Covington as Yvette Guilbert, Frances Barber as La Goulue, Bonnie Langford as May Belfort, Bernard Hill as Aristide Bruant and Miranda Richardson as Marie Briand. 
 
Written by John Peacock 
Directed by Jane Morgan 
Music by Stephen Warbeck 
Technical presentation: David Greenwood, assisted by Anne Bunting and Colin Guthrie 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

John Peacock

Todd Carty

Charles Simpson

Full Cast

A BBC Radio 4 crime drama

A BBC Radio thriller series about two old-school detectives who solve crimes in Victorian London 
 
1839, and Bow Street Runner Pip Shepherd is out of a job. The Runners have been disbanded, merged with Sir Robert Peel's new Metropolitan Police - and there's no way Pip's signing up with them. But when he befriends 'Peeler' Thomas Tedman, and hears about an upcoming detective division, he has second thoughts: and soon the duo are investigating their first cases together. 
 
The Last of the Bow Street Runners sees Tom and Pip teaming up to solve the mystery of a murdered earl and a missing fiancé. 
 
In A Cuckoo in the Nest, a man lost at sea for 14 years returns to claim his fortune. But is he the Nettlefields' true son and heir, or an imposter? 
 
Out on the Drag finds Pip going undercover to infiltrate a gang of 'draggers' led by the sinister Brock - and finding more than he bargained for. 
 
In The Kitten House, the two policemen probe a sophisticated vice ring operating in the highest echelons of society... 
 
Scripted by award-winning writer John Peacock, these four fantastic historical crime dramas star Todd Carty (Grange Hill, EastEnders) as Pip, with Charles Simpson (London Bridge, Kavanagh QC) as Thomas. 
 
Written by John Peacock 
Directed by David Blount 
Pianist: Harry Myers 
 
Cast 
Pip Shepherd - Todd Carty 
Thomas Tedman - Charles Simpson 
Dolly Jenks - Maggie McCarthy 
With Deborah Berlin, Ioan Meredith, Tessa Worsley, Zulema Dene, Stephen Critchlow, Tracy Wiles, Becky Hindley, Elizabeth Conboy, Harry Myers, Maggie McCarthy 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 11 June-2 July 1999 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

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