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A BBC Christmas Collection

byAlexander McCall-Smith, Rachel Joyce, Charles Dickens, Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Elizabeth Gaskell, Various
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30 Festive Dramas and Stories

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A sparkling seasonal anthology of BBC dramas and readings

Christmas is the perfect time to curl up with a good story, and this cracking collection brings you 30 wonderfully diverse tales inspired by this most special of seasons. From Santa Claus, gift-giving and family gatherings, to an unexpected encounter in a snowstorm and an alternative take on the Nativity, they're sure to get you in the festive mood.

Here are modern readings of classics such as Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Tree', Anton Chekhov's 'At Christmas Time', Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Fir Tree', O Henry's 'The Gift of the Magi', Elizabeth Gaskell's 'Christmas Storms and Sunshine' and Leo Tolstoy's 'Papa Panov's Special Christmas'. Alongside them is some superb short fiction by contemporary authors, including Stella Duffy ('South'), Paul McVeigh ('Daddy Christmas'), Laura Barnett ('Survivors'), and nine delightful stories by Alexander McCall Smith. Among the stellar narrators are Don Gilet, Nina Sosanya, Hannah Gordon, Stephanie Cole and Meera Syal.

Interspersed with these are a range of spellbinding plays, including Rachel Joyce's poignant Christmas by the Lake; festive action comedy Lena Marsh, Live and Schticking! by Jeremy Front; a very unusual and very dangerous Santa in The Morpeth Carol by Timothy X Atack; and Robert Hudson and Marie Phillips' epistolary animal tale, Some Hay in a Manger, introduced by Stephen Fry. All feature star casts including Niamh Cusack, Robert Lindsay, Sam Troughton, Clare Corbett, Tamsin Greig and Joel Fry.

Heartwarming and heartfelt, comic and bittersweet, moving and magical, these fantastic, evocative stories are a real Christmas treat.

Note: Chapter metadata updated in January 2023.

Contents
Christmas by the Lake by Rachel Joyce
Christmas Short Stories by Alexander McCall Smith:
· 'Motordrome'
· 'The Revenge, or Otherwise, of Herbie Bontemps'
· 'How to Escape in Gaelic'
· 'The Colourful Life of Cousin Grace'
· 'Good President Wenceslas'
The Christmas Present by Ben Crompton
Christmas Compass: Series 1:
· 'North' by Malachy Tallack
· 'South' by Stella Duffy
· 'East' by Ruth Thomas
· 'West' by Mike McCormack
A Time to Dance by Lucy Gannon
Christmas Compass: Series 2 by Alexander McCall Smith
· 'Winter Journey'
· 'In the DRC'
· 'Primatologist'
· 'On The Island'
Midnight at Christmas by Elliott Kerrigan
'The Fir Tree' by Hans Christian Andersen
'At Christmas Time'by Anton Chekhov
'Papa Panov's Special Christmas' by Leo Tolstoy
Some Hay in a Manger by Robert Hudson and Marie Phillips
'Daddy Christmas' by Paul McVeigh
'Christmas Storms and Sunshine'by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Morpeth Carol by Timothy X Atack
'Survivors' by Laura Barnett
Lena Marsh, Live and Shticking!by Jeremy Front
'A Christmas Tree' by Charles Dickens
'The Gift of the Magi' by O Henry
Get Santa by Peter Gibbs
'Home' by Christine Dwyer Hickey

© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

About Alexander McCall-Smith

Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world's most prolific and most popular authors. His career has been a varied one: for many years he was a professor of Medical Law and worked in universities in the United Kingdom and abroad. Then, after the publication of his highly successful No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has sold over twenty million copies, he devoted his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over forty-six languages and become bestsellers through the world. These include the Scotland Street novels, first published as a serial novel in The Scotsman, the Isabel Dalhousie novels, the Von Igelfeld series, and the Corduroy Mansions series, novels which started life as a delightful (but challenging to write) cross-media serial, written on the website of the Telegraph Media Group. This series won two major cross-media awards - Association of Online Publishers Digital Publishing Award 2009 for a Cross Media Project and the New Media Age award. In addition to these series, Alexander writes stand-alone books, including The Forever Girl; Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party and Emma - a reworking of the classic Jane Austen novel. He is also the author of a book on Edinburgh, A Work of Beauty: Alexander McCall Smith's Edinburgh, as well as several collections of short stories, academic works, and over thirty books for children. He has received numerous awards for his writing, including the British Book Awards Author of the Year Award in 2004 and a CBE for service to literature in 2007. He holds honorary doctorates from nine universities in Europe and North America. In March of 2011 he received an award from the President of Botswana for his services through literature to that country. Alexander McCall Smith lives in Edinburgh. He is married to a doctor and has two daughters.
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