A. J. Liebling, born in Manhattan in 1904, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935 and contributed innumerable articles to the magazine throughout his lifetime, on subjects ranging from food to boxing and France to horse racing. As a war correspondent during the Second World War, he reported from France, England and Algeria, and participated in the Normandy landings. In later life he married the writer Jean Stafford, his third wife. He died in 1963.

A. J. Liebling

A. J. Rosen is an author of YA fantasy and is known as @agatharoza on Wattpad.

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

A. O. Scott has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000. His writing has appeared in many other publications, including the New York Review of Books, Slate, the New Yorker and the Nation. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2010, Scott is currently Distinguished Professor of Film Criticism at Wesleyan University. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
@aoscott

A. O. Scott

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A. S. Byatt

A. T. Williams won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2013 for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa. He lives in Warwickshire.

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by the Guardian newspaper, and ‘the real thing’ by the Washington Post, A.C. 'Ava' Glass is the CWA Dagger-shortlisted author of Alias Emma (The Chase), The Traitor and The Trap. The Traitor was a 2023 Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. Alias Emma was a Barnes and Noble book of the month. A former crime reporter and communications consultant, for five years Ava worked closely with spies. Her time in that world fascinated her, and the people she met back then inspire every book she writes.

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

Arthur Edward Waite was the designer and co-creator of the now famous Rider Waite Tarot deck. 
 
An American-born British poet and scholarly mystic, his strong interest in all esoteric matters - divination, magic, Kabbalism, alchemy and Freemasony - led to him penning a number of books. These include the Key to the Tarot, The Book of Ceremonial Magic and A New Encyclopedia of Freemasony.

A.E. Waite

A.E. Warren is the author of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series, which consists of Subject Twenty-One, The Hidden Base, The Fourth Species and The Final Rising. 
 
After spending eight years working as a lawyer, she began to write in the evenings and early mornings as a form of escapism from life in a very small cubicle with lots of files. She self-published her first novels in her spare time, which were picked up by Del Rey UK which is the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. 
 
 She is an avid reader, occasional gamer and fair-weather runner. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and hopefully, one day, a wise border terrier named Austen.

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A.J. Cronin

A K Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins and Doctor Who figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit award and is in development for a major 8-part TV series by Company Pictures. Her second, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, came out in February 2016. She's written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish and her short stories have featured in anthologies including Great British Horror and Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

A.K.Benedict

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

A.L. Kennedy

A.M. Ellis is a speculative fiction author and lover of everything steeped in myth and mystery. Her stories often lean into diverse voices, not only in her identity as a Black woman, but in exploring neurodivergence and mental health. A proud introvert and nostalgic gamer, she lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband and three children.

A.M. Ellis

A.N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work. He lives in North London.

A.N. Wilson

A. T. Emerald lives with her husband and baby daughter in Nottinghamshire. She discovered her love of writing in 2020 and has not shut up about enemies to lovers ever since. She loves iced matcha, torrid love confessions with knives pressed to throats (fictional, of course) and does not accept bills for any therapy her books might incur.

A.T. Emerald

A.W. Priest

A.B.C. Merriman-Labor was a barrister, writer and munitions worker born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1877. His published works include A Series of Lectures on the Negro Race and The Story of the African Slave in a Nutshell. He also edited two editions of the Handbook of Sierra Leone. He arrived in the UK in 1904 to study law. In 1907, he organised a centenary commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in Westminster Abbey. He later embarked on an 'entertainment-lecture' tour called Life and Scenes in Britain, travelling across thousands of miles of West, South West and Central Africa, which he expanded on to create Britons Through Negro Spectacles.

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

Aaliya Jaleel is a freelance illustrator, designer, and visual development artist, currently majoring in Animation at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the illustrator of Under My Hijab and Muslim Girls Rise. You can visit her online at www.aaliyamj.com.

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

After more than fifteen years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, Dr Aaron Balick has taken the amazing insights from psychology and psychotherapy out of the consultation room and made them accessible to the wider world. 
 
He has been an ‘agony uncle’ for many years for both CBBC and BBC Radio 1, as well as on television, including BBC Worldwide, BBC 3 and BBC Learning.

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

Aaron Dignan is the founder of The Ready--a global organizational transformation and coaching practice--that helps companies large and small adopt new forms of self-organization and dynamic teaming. Clients include Johnson &amp; Johnson, Microsoft, Lloyds Bank, Citibank, Boeing, Mailchimp, Airbnb, Dropbox, and charity: water. 
 
He is also the founder of Murmur--a SaaS startup that helps teams scale culture through the magic of working agreements. The Murmur platform will allow every team on the planet to define and share their ways of working. 
 
Dignan is the author of Brave New Work (2019) and Game Frame (2011), co-host of the Brave New Work podcast, and a friend to misfit toys.

Aaron Dignan

Aaron Edwards is a senior lecturer in defence and international affairs at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, specialising in terrorism and counter-insurgency. He is the author and editor of several books, including Defending the Realm: The Politics of Britain’s Small Wars Since 1945, and has lectured all over the world on aspects of national and international security. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Aaron Edwards

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Katie Hims

Shaun McKenna

Sebastian Baczkiewicz

Sarah Daniels

Richard Monks

Lucy Catherine

Series 1-5 of the groundbreaking BBC Radio 4 drama charting life on the home front during World War One 
 
First heard on radio between 4 August 2014 and 9 November 2018, each episode of Home Front is set exactly one hundred years before the broadcast date, and each follows one character’s day. Together they create a mosaic of experience from a wide cross-section of society, mixing historical fact with enthralling fiction to explore how ordinary people coped with daily life in wartime Britain. 
 
The story begins in Folkestone, as the first troops march off to the front lines. Soon, families such as the Grahams and the Wilsons begins to feel the impact of war, as the wounded return and first Belgian refugees, then Canadian troops, arrive in the seaside resort. In addition, the White Feather and suffragette movements grow in popularity, and a tide of grief increasingly leads people to thoughts of the hereafter. 
 
Industrial Tynemouth, meanwhile, is experiencing a quite different war. The factories and shipyards are at peak production, and more women are joining the workforce. At the munitions factory, owner Geoffrey Marshall and his family must adapt to the changing times – as must workers like Fraser and Edie Chadwick. 
 
Tackling themes including the outbreak of war, recruitment, industry, profiteering and spiritualism are some of radio’s foremost dramatists including Katie Hims, Sebastian Baczkiewicz and Shaun McKenna. Among the extensive cast are Michael Bertenshaw, Keely Beresford, Freddie Fox, Ami Metcalf, Edmund Wiseman, Barbara Flynn, Mark Stobbart and Toby Jones, with Dame Harriet Walter making a cameo appearance as Emmeline Pankhurst.

Home Front: The Complete BBC Radio Collection Volume 1

Series 6-10 of the epic BBC Radio 4 drama charting life on the home front during the First World War – plus special episode Home Front: A Lightening 
 
First heard on radio between 4 August 2014 and 9 November 2018, each episode of Home Front is set exactly one hundred years before the broadcast date, and each follows one character’s day. Together they create a mosaic of experience from a wide cross-section of society, mixing historical fact with enthralling fiction to explore how ordinary people coped with daily life in wartime Britain. 
 
We resume the story in Folkestone, where hospital staff face pressure to return wounded men to duty as conscription is introduced. Zeppelin bombs leave residents jumpy, and ‘spy fever’ is at a pitch as the Secret Service comes to town. Food shortages begin to bite – and the town is rocked by Britain’s first ever air raid, causing the greatest number of civilian casualties of the war to date. 
 
We also meet the residents of Ashburton, Devon, where the future of Isaac Cox's family hangs in the balance as old feuds are reignited at Halecot Farm. 
 
In Tynemouth, paranoia is rife and emotions run high for those at Marshall’s factory. The repercussions of a devastating explosion ripple through people's lives, but they face the future with fortitude, taking small but courageous steps forward. 
 
Tackling themes including nursing and casualties, conscription and objection, espionage and propaganda, xenophobia and suspicion and the church and class are some of radio’s foremost dramatists including Richard Monks, Mike Walker and Sarah Daniels. Among the extensive cast are Martine McCutcheon, Anton Lesser, Maggie Steed and Gunnar Cauthery. Also included is Home Front: A Lightening, a special 45-minute episode marking the centenary of Britain’s first Gotha Air Raid, which devastated Folkestone on 25 May 1917.

Home Front: The Complete BBC Radio Collection Volume 2

Series 11-15 of the major BBC Radio 4 drama charting life on the home front during the First World War – plus special extended episode Home Front: A Fragile Peace 
 
First heard on radio between 4 August 2014 and 9 November 2018, each episode of Home Front is set exactly one hundred years before the broadcast date, and each follows one character’s day. Together they create a mosaic of experience from a wide cross-section of society, mixing historical fact with enthralling fiction to explore how ordinary people coped with daily life in wartime Britain. 
 
Back in Folkestone, the residents are dealing with the after-effects of a devastating air raid. Howard Argent is kept busy at the Bevan, while Ulysses Pilchard experiments with electro-shock therapy. Meanwhile, women’s suffrage, prostitution and unmarried mothers are hot topics, and Kitty Lumley experiences the sharp end of intolerance. 
 
In Tyneside, ripples from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution lead to a rise in union activity, and the factory faces the threat of strike action from the munitionettes. 
 
And in Devon, women, children and prisoners of war are being put to work on the land. With Britain on the brink of starvation, summer 1918’s harvest is crucial – but conscientious objectors, unwilling or unable to help, arouse fury. 
 
As the Great War moves towards its end, can the wounded communities back home find some sort of peace, however fragile? 
 
Tackling themes including trauma and madness, industrial unrest, morality and sexuality, surrogate labour and the outbreak of peace are some of radio’s foremost dramatists including Katie Hims, Shaun McKenna and Sarah Daniels. Among the extensive cast are Helen Schlesinger, Kathryn Beaumont, Roy Hudd and Billy Kennedy, with guest appearances from Geoffrey Palmer and Mark Heap. Also included is Home Front: A Fragile Peace, a special 75-minute episode which flashes forward to explore the lives of the characters on 10 November 1919.

Home Front: The Complete BBC Radio Collection Volume 3

Jonathan Ruffle

Michael Chaplin

Nick Warburton

Avin Shah

Nandita Ghose

Neil Brand

Patricia Cumper

A major BBC Radio 4 drama series following the lives of those on and behind the battlefront of World War I 
 
Meticulously based on unit war diaries and eye-witness accounts, each of these 42 episodes of Tommies traces one real day at war, exactly 100 years ago. 
 
We follow the fortunes of Mickey Bliss and his fellow signallers from the Lahore Division of the British Indian Army, as they experience life – and death – on the front line. Meanwhile, Dr Celestine de Tullio battles to save soldiers suffering from gas gangrene and trench fever – and experiences the fighting firsthand when she enlists in the Serbian Army and commands a dangerous offensive. 
 
They are all cogs in an immense machine, one which connects situations across the whole theatre of the war, over four long years. Through their voices – and a host of others – we hear untold stories about the conflict in Gaza, Gallipoli, Salonika, Serbia, Mesopotamia, Russia, Macedonia, Italy, Turkmenistan and Tanzania, as well as on the Western Front. 
 
Lee Ross, Pippa Nixon and Indira Varma are among the extensive cast of this gripping series, created by Jonathan Ruffle, who produced the acclaimed real-time radio dramatisation of Len Deighton’s Bomber. Based on actual historical records, it paints a vivid portrait of daily life for soldiers and their families during 1914-1918, and sheds new light on the reality of the Great War.

Tommies: The Complete BBC Radio Collection

R C Sherriff

Journey's End is an unflinching vision of life in the tranches towards the end of the First World War. 
 
The play opens in a dugout in the trenches in France. Raleigh, a new 18-year-old officer fresh out of school, joins the besieged company of his friend and hero Stanhope. But when he arrives in the trenches, he finds Stanhope dramatically changed. 
 
This vintage BBC radio production from 1970 stars Martin Jarvis as Captain Stanhope. 
 
Bonus content: This BBC radio release includes The Man From Esher and his Theatre of War, a 30-minute documentary about R C Sherriff and the story behind Journey’s End. 
 
Journey's End was an instant stage success in 1928 (starring Laurence Olivier) and remains a remarkable anti-war classic, regularly revived in theatres. A film was released in February 2018, starring Sam Claflin (Hunger Games, Me Before You) as Stanhope and Asa Butterfield (Hugo) as Raleigh, along with Paul Bettany, Toby Jones and Tom Sturridge. 
 
Cast: 
Captain Stanhope...Martin Jarvis 
Osborne...Garard Green 
Raleigh...Derek Seaton 
Trotter...Kevin Brennan 
Hibbert/Private...Michael Harbour 
Colonel...Richard Hurndall 
Sergeant Major...John Bentley 
Mason...Malcolm Hayes 
Hardy...John Graham 
German soldier...Patrick Tull 
 
Adapted by Peter Watts. 
Produced by Christopher Venning.

Journey's End

A BBC Radio 4 drama

Erich Maria Remarque

A full-cast dramatisation of one of the greatest war novels of all time. 
 
First published as a novel in 1929, All Quiet on the Western Front tells the story of a group of young German soldiers who are enduring, and then coming to terms with, the realities of the First World War. 
 
At the age of 19, following the outbreak of the First World War, Paul Bäumer enlists in the German Army. He is deployed to the Western Front, where the experience of life and death in the trenches has an enormous effect on him. He begins to feel disconnected from his past life: his family, his love of poetry, and his feelings. As the war progresses, Paul becomes increasingly lost in battle. 
 
Haunting yet comic, lyrical yet desperate, the novel became a bestseller on its original publication. It inspired an Oscar-winning film of the same name, and has been adapted for television and stage. This powerful radio dramatisation stars Robert Lonsdale as Paul Bäumer, with a supporting cast including Simon Trinder, Stephen Critchlow, Carolyn Pickles and Malcolm Tierney.

All Quiet on the Western Front

A BBC Radio Drama

Michael Morpurgo

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of the powerful novel set in the First World War, from the author of War Horse. 
 
This is the story of Thomas ‘Tommo’ Peaceful, a young soldier who finds himself in Belgium, in the trenches of the First World War, with his brother Charlie. It is also the story of Tommo’s life, growing up in Devon with his brothers, and of his love for Molly, the beautiful girl he met on his first day at school. 
 
As the story unfolds, from past to present, so approaches the hour when Tommo and Charlie will be separated for ever. The horrors of the First World War, and the injustice meted out to the soldiers who fought in it, are movingly described. 
 
Recorded on location Iddesleigh, the Devon village where the book is set, this radio dramatisation features among its cast Paul Chequer, Nicholas Lyndhurst and author Michael Morpurgo himself. 
 
It also features; Ted Allpress, Harvey Allpress, Amy Reade, Daniel Houghton, Paul Chequer, Mark Quartley, Annette Chown, Ben Allen, Alison Reid, Nick Brimble, Christopher Bianchi, Peter Ellis, Jonathan Keeble, Terence Mann, Simon Reade and Susan Roberts.

Private Peaceful

Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Gerda Stevenson

Gerda Stevenson's dramatisation of the 1932 novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, set in north-east Scotland before and during the First World War. Episode 1: Chris Guthrie is torn between her love of the land and her ambition to become a teacher. As Chris' domineering father struggles with the harshness of the land, her mother's fear of childbirth leads her to despair. A full cast dramatisation. Directed by David Ian Neville.Episode 2: After her father's death, Chris is determined to stay and work the farm alone if need be. Joined by Ewan Tavendale in marriage and on the farm, Chris gives birth to a son. But the outbreak of the First World War brings devastating change to her family, the rural landscape and the community. A full cast dramatisation. Directed by David Ian Neville.

Sunset Song

A diverse selection of dramas by award-winning writer RC SherriffPlaywright and screenwriter RC Sherriff was best known for his anti-war classic Journey’s End, based on his own experiences of serving on the Western Front. He was a co-writer on several successful screenplays, including The Invisible Man and The Dam Busters, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Goodbye, Mr Chips. Beginning with Journey’s End, this varied collection features six of his acclaimed plays, ranging from a ghost story to a tale of the last days of Roman Britain.Journey’s End – March, 1918. Fresh from school, 18-year-old officer Raleigh is posted to the besieged company of his old schoolfriend and hero Captain Stanhope. Hunkered down in a dugout on the British front line, he must face the reality of war and the tension and strain of life in the trenches. Journey’s End was first staged in 1928, starring Laurence Olivier, and the 2007 Broadway revival won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Martin Jarvis stars in this vintage radio production from 1970.The White Carnation – It’s Christmas Eve, 1951, and stockbroker John Greenwood and his wife are hosting their annual party. But as midnight strikes and he bids farewell to his guests, the door slams, locking him out of the house. Breaking back in, he finds that all the furniture has disappeared, and his wife has gone – and things are about to get even stranger… Starring Philip Voss, this supernatural comedy-drama tells the moving tale of a man given a second chance to do things differently.St Helena – In December 1815, the British imprisoned Napoleon on St Helena. Tracing the long slow decline of the caged tiger until his death in May 1821, Sheriff’s 1936 play, co-written with actress Jeanne de Casalis, is based on the diaries and accounts of those on the island at the time of the exiled Emperor’s captivity. Lee Montague stars as Napoleon in this 1972 historical drama.A Shred of Evidence – Richard Medway drinks a little too much at a rugby club reunion dinner, but still drives home afterwards. The next morning, he hears that a cyclist has been killed by a hit-and-run driver. Could he be responsible for the man’s death? Set in 1950s Surrey, this tense tale of guilt, blackmail and suspense stars Denys Hawthorne.Home at Seven – Bank clerk David Preston returns home at his usual time, only to discover he is actually 24 hours late. With no recollection of his missing day, he is stunned to find himself implicated in robbery and murder... A thrilling mystery starring the legendary Sir Ralph Richardson.The Long Sunset – The Roman Empire is crumbling, the occupation of Britain is at an end, the Legions are leaving – and the surviving Romans are alone and unprotected. This moving drama, starring Stephen Murray and Pauline Letts, follows the fate of one such Roman family, from their attempts to fight off the invading Saxons, to their final conversion to Christianity.Production creditsWritten by RC SheriffContents Journey’s EndThe White CarnationSt HelenaA Shred of EvidenceHome at SevenThe Long Sunset© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Journey’s End, The White Carnation & more

Six Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisations

Jean Paul Sartre

A selection of the renowned French philosophers Sartre’s plays. 
 
This collection features several dramatisations of Jean-Paul Sartre's works, including The Roads to Freedom, No Way Out (or "Huis Clos"), Assassins and Nekrassov. These productions showcase Sartre's exploration of existentialism, freedom, and political themes. Notable cast members include David Haig, James Fleet, Zoe Wanamaker, Imogen Stubbs, Ciaran Hinds, and Maurice Denham. 
 
Additionally, the collection includes two pieces exploring Sartre's life and work, providing a comprehensive look at his contributions to literature and philosophy.

Jean-Paul Sartre: The Roads to Freedom & more

Four Full-Cast BBC Radio Productions

Victor Pemberton

Three semi-autobiographical plays by Victor Pemberton telling the story of one family across the 20th century 
 
Novelist and playwright Victor Pemberton was best known for scripting Doctor Who and working on Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock. His many plays for BBC Radio included The Slide, Kill the Pharaoh. and this three-part family saga, a love story inspired by the lives of his own parents and starring Nerys Hughes, Nigel Anthony, Sheila Grant and Wendy Richard. 
 
The Trains Don’t Stop Here Any More – 1916. When 18-year-old Letty Edginton goes to work in a munitions factory, she meets and falls for Oliver Hobbs, a young man whose leg was severely wounded at the Somme. Despite their different backgrounds and her snobbish mother’s objections, they marry and set up home – but married life proves more challenging than Letty had expected. 
 
Don’t Talk to Me About Kids! – It’s 1939, and, like so many other Londoners, Letty and Ollie find themselves living through the horrors of another world war. As German bombs begin to fall on the city, their kids Eddie and Mick are evacuated to the countryside, and their eldest son Ron is called up to fight in the Royal Navy. But Letty is determined that whatever troubles and tragedies lie ahead, her family should survive and be reunited. 
 
Down by the Sea – 1963. Letty and Ollie have always dreamed of living by the sea and, having reached their sunset years, they’ve retired to a seaside bungalow bought for them by their children. After a long and happy marriage, they celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary in the company of family and friends, but back at home, they must face the problems of old age alone... 
 
Production credits 
Written by Victor Pemberton 
Pianist: Mary Nash 
 
1. The Trains Don’t Stop Here Any More 
Letty Edginton – Nerys Hughes 
Beatrice, her mother – Sheila Grant 
William, her father – Malcolm Hayes 
Oliver Hobbs – Nigel Anthony 
Violet – Wendy Richard 
Tom – Derek Seaton 
Frank O'Malley – Bill Monks 
Nicky/Bugle Boy – Adam Godley 
Bill Brooks – Kenneth Shanley 
Amy Lyall – Eve Karpf 
Mr Cotton – Eric Allan 
Mr Pearson/Gateman – Robert Trotter 
Directed by John Tydeman 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 8 July 1978 
 
2. Don’t Talk to Me About Kids! 
Letty Hobbs – Nerys Hughes 
Oliver Hobbs – Nigel Anthony 
Beatrice – Sheila Grant 
Sam – Philip Sully 
Violet – Wendy Richard 
Ron/Malcolm/Train Guard – Jonathan Tafler 
Florrie – Eva Stuart 
Colonel Meecham – Laurence Payne 
Bill Brooks/Warden – Michael Tudor Barnes 
Tilly Brooks – Emily Richard 
Mother Superior – Julie Berry 
Mick – Rickey Coombes 
Eddie – Nicholas Delve 
Janey/Doreen – Zelah Clarke 
Directed by David Spenser 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14 January 1989 
 
3. Down by the Sea 
Letty Hobbs – Nerys Hughes 
Oliver Hobbs – Nigel Anthony 
Beatrice – Sheila Grant 
Mick – Spencer Banks 
Eddie – Sean Barrett 
Mary – Karen Archer 
Jonathan – Rory McNicholl 
Bill Brooks – Michael Tudor Barnes 
Tilly Brooks/District Nurse – Emily Richard 
Fred Golding – Norman Bird 
Gladys Golding/Alice – Joan Matheson 
Cypriot man/Newsreader – John Baddeley 
Cypriot woman – Julie Berry 
Reporter/Charlie – Kim Wall 
Doctor/Brian – Steven Harrold 
Guests at the Golden Wedding played by members of the cast 
Dance band: Les Brown Trio 
Directed by David Spenser 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21 January 1989 
 
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Our Family: The Edginton’s Wars

A Full-Cast BBC Radio Drama Trilogy

Robert Barr

Richard Collier

This full-cast dramatisation tells the true story of the French Resistance plot to destroy Nazi Germany's Atlantic Wall in Normandy. 
 
When France fell to the Germans in 1940, a slight, scholarly 28-year-old captain of engineers and professor escaped to England. In collaboration with General Charles De Gaulle and Andre Dewavrin, he organized an intelligence service with one goal: to secure a blueprint for Germany's Atlantic Wall and place it in the hands of the Allies. 
 
What follows is a remarkable story of a clandestine spy network comprised of sailors, farmers, painters, housewives and children all unified in one purpose - the fall of the Third Reich. Richard Collier tells the story of how ordinary men and women from all walks of life risked torture and death in German-occupied Normandy to furnish the Allied forces with details of German coastal defences. 
 
A riveting vintage drama about resistance, spies and plots foiled, accompanied by atmospheric music. 
 
1. The Wall and the Mirror 
2. Operation Marie-Louise 
3. The Wall Has Eyes 
4. The Network in Danger 
5. The Network Betrayed 
6. The Last Map

.......And The Wall Came Tumbling Down

A BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramatisation of the incredible D-Day story

Louis MacNeice

A rare collection of vintage radio dramas from the renowned Ulster poet, plus bonus documentaryBorn in Belfast in 1907, Louis MacNeice wrote some of the most beautiful and best-loved poetry of the 20th century. But he was also one of the BBC’s most innovative writers and producers, scripting numerous dramas for radio, including the landmark production The Dark Tower and the epic verse play Christopher Columbus. Those two seminal productions are included here, alongside tales drawn from Irish mythology and Graeco-Roman history, a psychological drama about a distracted painter and a fascinating profile of MacNeice himself.They Met on Good Friday – AD 1014, just north of Dublin, and as Good Friday dawns, Brian Boru and his army of Irishmen face a formidable force of Viking warriors on the battlefield at Clontarf. Who will prevail, and gain control of Ireland? Patrick Magee and Patrick Wymark star in MacNeice’s ‘sceptical historical romance’ dramatising a key event in Irish history.Christopher Columbus – First broadcast on 12 October 1942 to mark the 450th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World, this ambitious, theatrical play blends MacNeice’s verse with music by William Walton to tell the story of the famed explorer. Starring Laurence Olivier as Columbus, with Marius Goring, Stephen Murray and Margaret Rawlings.Cupid and Psyche – Jealous of the beautiful Psyche, the goddess Venus orders her son to make the girl fall in love with a hideous creature. But Cupid scratches himself with his own arrow, and becomes enamored with her himself… Alan McClelland and Betty Linton star in this dramatisation of the famous story from Apuleius’ ancient Roman novel The Golden Ass.Trimalchio’s Feast – Dramatised from a section in The Satyricon, a first century AD work by the Roman author Petronius, this satirical story revolves around a lavish, ostentatious banquet hosted by a nouveau riche shipping merchant and former slave. Starring Wilfred Pickles as Trimalchio, with Dylan Thomas as Agamemnon.Persons from Porlock – Louis MacNeice 's last work for radio was broadcast just a few days after his death in 1963. Spanning over 20 years, it tells the story of an artist whose creative process is continually derailed by unforeseen – and unwelcome – interruptions. Jon Rollason stars as the frustrated painter, Hank.The Dark Tower – Initially transmitted in 1946, this iconic parable play in verse was inspired by Robert Browning's poem ‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came’. It centres on Roland, the last of a family whose menfolk are all doomed to set out on a quest from which there is no return… Starring Cyril Cusack, with music specially composed by Benjamin Britten.In the Dark Tower: Louis MacNeice at the BBC – Poet Paul Muldoon recalls a fellow Belfast wordsmith, exploring Louis MacNeice’s life and work through broadcasts from the BBC’s archive.Production creditsWritten by Louis MacNeice 
 Contents: 
 They Met on Good FridayChristopher ColumbusCupid and Psyche Trimalchio’s FeastPersons from PorlockThe Dark TowerIn the Dark Tower: Louis MacNeice at the BBC© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Louis MacNeice: The Dark Tower, Christopher Columbus & more

Six Classic Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramas

A Private Thriller

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

A Puffin Book

A Ripley Novel

A Slice of the Moon

A Victorian Mystery

A Walk in...

A Women’s Murder Club Thriller

A chef Paul Delamare Mystery

Aberrations

Across the Universe

Actiphons

Adelia Aguilar

Adrian Mole

Adventures in Time

Aftermath

Against War

Age of X

Agent 21

Agent Z

Detective Aidan Waits is a troubled junior detective haunted by his past. Facing an uncertain future, and disconnected from his history, DC Waits and his partner, Detective Inspector Peter 'Sutty' Sutcliffe work on Manchester's streets to uncover the city's worst criminals among the grime of the underworld.

Aidan Waits

Air Ministry Survival Guide

Alan Partridge on the BBC

Aldrin Adams Adventure

Alec Devlin

Alex Craft

Alex Cross

Alex Delaware

Alex vs Axel

Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar

Alfie

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About us

About Us (Header 4)

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James-Baldwin

Marian-Keyes

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Richard-Osman

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East of Eden

White Nights

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Boxed Set: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov

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Sophie Kinsella in 2015. Photo by John Swannell.

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Madeleine Wickham (Sophie Kinsella), 1969-2025

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Extract: Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen

What makes a setting feel so vivid it becomes a character?

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