Aleksandar Ciric

Aleksandar Sotirovski

Aleksandr Orlov

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was born in 1918 and grew up in Rostov-on-Don. He graduated in Physics and Mathematics from Rostov University and studied Literature by correspondence course at Moscow University. In World War II he fought as an artillery officer, attaining the rank of captain. In 1945, however, after making derogatory remarks about Stalin in a letter, he was arrested and summarily sentenced to eight years in forced labour camps, followed by internal exile. In 1957 he formally rehabilitated, and settled down to teaching and writing, in Ryazan and Moscow. The publication of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in Novy Mir in 1962 was followed by publication, in the West, of his novels Cancer Ward and The First Circle. In 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and in 1974 his citizenship was revoked and he was expelled from the Soviet Union. He settled in Vermont and worked on his great historical cycle The Red Wheel. In 1990, with the fall of Soviet Communism, his citizenship was restored and four years later he returned to settle in Russia. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn died in August 2008.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksei Bitskoff

Aleksei Evdokimo

Aleksi Hoffman

Alena Tkach is an award-winning Ukrainian freelance illustrator who studied Graphic Arts at Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts. She works mostly as children’s book illustrator and 2D artist. Alena loves llamas because they are cute and sweet, and when they jump it's really funny. Follow Alena on Instagram @alena.tkach.

Alena Tkach

Alessandra Peters

Alessandro Manzoni

Alex Bellos is a journalist, broadcaster and puzzle master. He read Mathematics and Philosophy at Oxford University before becoming a journalist and writer. Alex was born in Oxford and grew up in Edinburgh and Southampton and lived in Brazil for five years as a foreign correspondent for the Guardian before returning to the UK He is the author of 8 books about puzzles and mathematics and currently writes weekly puzzle column for the Guardian.

Alex Bellos

Alex Berenson

Alex Boardman

Alex Brummer

Alex Bulmer

Alex Butterworth

Alex Caine

Alex Carter

Alex Chance

Alex Cliff

Alex Danchev

Alex Dekker

Alex Dimitrov is the recipient of the Stanley Kunitz Prize from the American Poetry Review and a Pushcart Prize and is the author of Begging For It (2013), Together And By Yourselves (2017), and Love and Other Poems (2021). His work has been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, Poetry, and more. Formerly, he was the Senior Content Editor at the Academy of American Poets where he edited the popular online series Poem-a-Day and American Poets magazine. From 2009-2013, he founded and ran Wilde Boys, a queer poetry salon in New York. Currently, he teaches creative writing at NYU where he is Writer in Residence.

Alex Dimitrov

Alex Dingwall-Main

Alex Duval

Alex Edelman

Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School and a widely recognised global expert on behavioural finance, responsible business and misinformation. He has spoken at Davos, testified in the UK House of Commons and has reached millions through his hugely popular TED talks and his contributions to outlets such as the BBC, CNBC, the Guardian and the Independent. 
 
 
He is the author of May Contain Lies, which was an Amazon #1 bestseller and received huge acclaim from the Times, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times. His first book Grow the Pie was a Financial Times Book of the Year for 2020.

Alex Edmans

Alex Evans is Campaigns Director at Avaaz.org, a Senior Fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation (CIC), and has nearly twenty years’ experience in climate and development policy. Alex has worked as Special Adviser to two UK Secretaries of State for International Development (Hilary Benn and Valerie Amos), as an expert on climate change in the UN Secretary-General’s office, and with think tanks including Chatham House and the Brookings Institution. He has also worked as a consultant on futures and foreign policy for organizations from Oxfam to the US National Intelligence Council. 
Alex lives in North Yorkshire and is married with two children.

Alex Evans

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Francis Durbridge

For thirty years the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC Radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, a world where Sir Graham Forbes, of Scotland Yard, usually needed Paul's help with his latest tricky case.   Whilst she and Paul are staying in the fishing village of Downburgh, Steve gets the uneasy feeling that she is being watched by a man at Fisherman's Point. A pleasant boat trip turns into a nightmare when their craft gets shot at - and the boatman himself is later discovered drowned at sea.   Back in London, the daughter of the head of CI5 has disappeared, and Sir Graham brings the matter to Paul's attention. Could there be a connection between this and the events in Downburgh?

Paul Temple And The Lawrence Affair

From 1938 to 1969 the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, where the women were chic and the men wore cravats - a world where Sir Graham Forbes, of Scotland Yard, usually needed Paul's help with his latest tricky case. In this adventure, Paul Temple is called in to investigate the disappearance of the Desmond baby, and the 'Sitter-In' Miss Millicent. When they visit Mary Desmond she is, understandably, very upset - it's already been a week since her eighteenth-month-old daughter vanished. The only clue is a telephone message left in Miss Millicent's handwriting: 'A Mr Vandyke telephoned, he left no message'. However, no-one knows who this mysterious Mr Vandyke is... This audio edition also includes the BBC Radio 4 programme The Radio Detectives: 'Send for Paul Temple', an affectionate look at the indomitable husband and wife team, Paul and Steve Temple. It features an exclusive interview with the definitive Paul Temple, Peter Coke, and rediscovered vintage recordings.

Paul Temple And The Vandyke Affair

R.D Wingfield

A collection of RD Wingfield’s finest thrillers from the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties 
 
Best known for his ‘Inspector Jack Frost’ series of novels, RD Wingfield also penned a string of gripping thrillers for BBC Radio. Initially thought lost, many of the 14 dramas in this collection were recovered and restored by Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle, and thanks to their careful preservation, are now available to enjoy once more. 
 
Credit Risk is a robbery comedy caper about a man with a cunning plan to defraud a credit card company of a quarter of a million pounds. Cleft Stick sees the police investigating an attack on a woman, and the dramatic way she chose to defend herself. In The Last Escape, a mugging ends in murder, and Superintendent Dawson must find the perpetrator – a patient who has escaped from a private nursing home after 35 years. And in The Alternative Plan, a frightened ex-Army captain and a dying ex-Nazi hold the key to preventing a political assassination. 
 
In A Second Class Risk, when a man dies in a car crash the same week he insures his life for £50,000, the widow’s claim must be investigated. A Test for Destruction finds a Security Supervisor at the Department of Scientific Warfare facing an agonising crisis when his son’s safety is at stake. Our West Ladyton Branch centres around a bank manager recovering from a nervous breakdown, whose new assignment in a sleepy Devon town is not at all what he expected. In Letter of the Law, Detective Inspector Nash wants nothing to do with his newly arrved (and newly demoted) Sergeant, but with seven unsolved robberies on his plate, Nash needs all the help he can get…Cover Up features another demoted ex-Inspector, kicked out of the Division but brought back to investigate a bank raid. 
 
Post Mortem Shock concerns a man who appears to have been shot dead by an intruder – but the post mortem reveals he died of a heart attack. Who, or what, really killed him? In Sins of Commission, made redundant after 19 years’ faithful service with a firm?of?diamond merchants, Mr Fletcher is willing to take on almost any job – as long as it’s legal. It’s double or quits when £15,000 goes missing from a safe in Double Entry, and in Adequate Reasons, when a child is abducted, there’s a complex interplay between police, parents and kidnapper. Finally, in Moveable Assets, a crafty crook comes up with an ingenious scheme to rob a supposedly burglar-proof bank – but will it work, and will he get away with it? 
 
With ensemble casts including John Rowe, Diana Olsson, Roger Delgado, Robert Lang, Frederick Treves, Jill Bennett and Patricia Gallimore, these clever, artfully plotted dramas are full of twists, turns and surprises. 
 
With warm thanks to Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by RD Wingfield 
 
Contents 
 
Credit Risk 
Cleft Stick 
The Last Escape 
The Alternative Plan 
A Second-Class Risk 
A Test to Destruction 
Our West Ladyton Branch 
Letter of the Law 
Cover Up 
Post Mortem Shock 
Sins of Commission 
Double Entry 
Adequate Reasons 
Moveable Assets 
 
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

R.D Wingfield: Post-Mortem Shock and other thrillers

14 Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramas

Satyajit Ray

A pair of action-packed mysteries featuring Satyajit Ray's famous super-sleuthProdosh Chandra Mitter – aka Feluda – has been delighting Bengali crime fans since 1965. Sometimes referred to as ‘the Indian Sherlock Holmes’, he is the literary creation of award-winning filmmaker and director Satyajit Ray, who wrote 35 stories featuring his crime-fighting exploits. Many were subsequently adapted for TV and film, and in 2007, writer Ray Grewal decided to bring two of his adventures to an international audience of radio listeners. Specially recorded in Mumbai, these thrilling dramas star Rahul Bose as Feluda, Hari Balasubramanlam as his faithful sidekick Topshe, Anupam Kher as bumbling crime writer Lalmohan Ganguly, and a host of top Bollywood actors as their various friends and foes.The Golden Fortress – Eight-year-old Mukul has vivid visions of a past life filled with peacocks, a golden fortress – and buried treasure. But he is in mortal danger from unscrupulous rogues who want to kidnap him in order to locate the hidden hoard. It’s up to Feluda, his teenage cousin Topshe and pulp novelist Lalmohan Ganguly to protect him, and together, they travel from Kolkata to Rajasthan on the trail of the criminals...The Mystery of the Elephant God – Visiting Benares during the festival of Durga, the brilliant private investigator is called in to investigate the theft of a valuable statuette of Ganesh. Could holy man Machchli Baba, who claims to have swum 200 miles up the Ganges, be responsible for the theft? Or is the perpetrator Feluda’s nemesis, the Moriarty-like Maganlal Meghraj? Assisted once again by Topshe and Lalmohan, Feluda sets out to unravel the puzzle. Production creditsWritten by Satyajit RayDramatised by Ray Grewal from the translation by Chitrita BanerjiProduced and directed by Anne EdyveanTechnical presentation by Farhad K Dadyburjor and Graham HarperProduction co-ordinator: Lesley AllanOriginal music by Sanjeev KohliThe Golden FortressFeluda (Prodosh Mitter) – Rahul BoseLalmohan Ganguly – Anupam KherTopshe – Hari BalaGurubachan Singh – Jaspal BhattiDr Hajra – Sohrab ArdeshirMandar Bose – Anang DesalUncle Sidhu – Ameen SayanlSudhir Dhar – Sumantra GhosalBeggar/Dr Hajra – Atul TlwarlBagri: – Arghya LahlrlBarber/Shopkeeper – Shahrookh IraniNilu – Yeshaswanl DayamaMukul – Tejaswini TomarFirst broadcast BBC World Service, 10 February 2007The Mystery of the Elephant GodFeluda – Rahul BoseLalmohan Ganguly – Anupam KherTopshe – Hari BalasubramanlamMaganlal Meghraj – Dalip TahilMachchli Baba – Jackie ShroffUmanath Ghoshal – Anang DesaiAbhaycharan – Ameen SayaniVikas – Arghiya LahiriInspector Tiwari – Shahrookh IraniNiranjan – Atul TiwariShashi – Sumantra GhosalRuku – Hormuz DadabhoySuraj – Varun MuraliFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 September 2007© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Detective Feluda: The Golden Fortress & The Mystery of the Elephant God

Two Full-Cast BBC Radio Crime Dramas

Ian Rankin

Alexander Morton stars as the roguish detective Mr Cullender in two original radio dramas by Ian Rankin, and as Inspector Rebus in Let it Bleed – plus a selection of original stories 
 
Best known for his Inspector Rebus novels, Sir Ian Rankin is one of Britain’s most successful and acclaimed crime writers. He has won numerous awards, including the CWA Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement, and in 2023 he received a knighthood for services to literature and charity. 
 
He has also written extensively for BBC Radio, including two feature-length, full-cast period dramas set in Edinburgh in the 1790s, introducing the resourceful if low-born Mr Cullender (‘Cully’) – caddie, manservant and general dogsbody. This collection opens with those stories, in which the enterprising detective, played by Alexander Morton, goes in search of a double murderer (The Serpent’s Back) and investigates a series of ritualistic wine-cellar killings (The Third Gentleman). 
 
Next, Let it Bleed sees Morton starring as Detective Inspector John Rebus in the very first BBC Radio Rebus adaptation, in which the maverick cop probes political corruption and insider dealing – and uncovers the dark underbelly of 1990s Scotland. Among the supporting cast are James Bryce as DI Flowers, Sarah Collier as DCI Gill Temple and Crawford Logan as Chief Superintendent Watson. 
 
Specially written for Radio 4, the gripping crime serial The Deathwatch Journal, read by Jimmy Chisholm, takes place inside an Edinburgh prison in 1962, where jailer Thomas Scott is watching over a condemned man sentenced to hang for the murder of his wife. But as they wait out the days until his execution, Scott begins to suspect that Telfer is innocent… 
 
Also included are eight of Ian Rankin’s short stories – some original tales commissioned for radio, others recorded from his collection Beggars Banquet: ‘The Only True Comedian’ (read by Steven McNicoll), ‘The Confession’ (read by Alec Heggie), ‘Unlucky at Love, Unlucky at Cards’ (read by Billy Riddoch), ‘A Deep Hole’ (read by Steven McNicoll), ‘Step Right Up’ (read by Dominic Cooper), ‘Facing the Music’ (read by James MacPherson), ‘Herbert in Motion’ (read by James Bryce) and ‘The Hanged Man’ (read by Steven McNicoll). Ranging from the comic to the macabre, they feature hit men, con men, comedians, a private eye, a road digger, an art curator, a serial killer – and Edinburgh’s very own John Rebus. 
 
 
Contents 
 
The Serpent’s Back 
The Third Gentleman 
Let it Bleed 
The Deathwatch Journal 
‘The Only True Comedian’ 
‘The Confession’ 
‘The Hanged Man’ 
‘Unlucky at Love, Unlucky at Cards’ 
‘A Deep Hole’ 
‘Step Right Up’ 
‘Facing the Music’ 
‘Herbert in Motion’ 
‘The Hanged Man’ 
 
Copyright © 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Cully & more

A BBC Radio Collection

Robert Barr

A double serving of thrilling vintage spy drama featuring the tenacious Captain Jim Nicholson 
 
A treat from the archive: two classic dramas from the writer of Z-Cars, Robert Barr, set during the height of the Cold War. 
 
The Dark Island is a thrilling story of espionage set among the remote, mist-veiled islands of the Outer Hebrides. Two Intelligence Officers discover an escape route for defectors from Britain. The route, ending behind the Iron Curtain, involves the use of Russian trawlers plying outside territorial waters. Edward de Souza (Coronation Street, Doctor Who) stars as Jim Nicholson in this full-cast drama packed with unexpected twists and turns that will keep you gripped until the very end. 
 
In Return to the Islands, the indefatigable Captain Jim Nicholson heads back to the atmospheric islands of the north when a body is discovered near a secret training base. Things take a sinister turn when an elite trainee is taken hostage. An enemy agent is captured and interrogated but can Nicholson and his team solve the mystery in time? When tragedy strikes, the team are pushed to their limit and embark on a deadly endgame… 
 
Former BBC war correspondent Robert Barr is best remembered writing for BBC TV’s police dramas Z-Cars and Softly Softly. He also wrote the long-running radio series Detective. The Dark Island was originally made for TV in 1962 as well as being published as a novel in 1972. This is a gem from the archive, perfect for fans of espionage thrillers and vintage drama performed by a great cast. 
 
Cast and credits 
 
The Dark Island 
Written by Robert Barr 
Produced by Peter Titheridge 
Jim Nicholson - Edward De Souza 
Bill Grant - Geoffrey Frederick 
Ian McLeod - Bryden Murdoch 
Lieutenant Ritchie - Roy Spencer 
Major Williams - Peter Hawkins 
Brigadier - Michael Kilgarriff 
Mary Somers - Rosemary Miller 
Colonel Jamieson/Hotel Manager - Alaric Cotter 
Alec Thompson - John Graham 
Major Williams - Peter Hawkins 
First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 19th September - 24th October 1969 
 
Return to the Islands 
Written by Robert Barr 
Produced by Peter Titheridge 
Jim Nicholson - Edward de Souza 
Ian McLeod - Bryden Murdoch 
Major Miller - John Graham 
Paul O'Donnell - Geoffrey Frederick 
Sergeant Finney - Clive Merrison 
Alan Shaw/Landlord - Andrew Neil 
Katy Evans - Gretta Gouriet 
Alec Rogers - Ian Dewar 
Doctor - Gerald Cross 
Prisoner - David Gooderson 
Miss Dalgliesh - Eva Stuart 
First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10th October - 14th November 1971 
 
©2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Captain Jim Nicholson: The Dark Island & Return to the Islands

Two Full-Cast Classic BBC Radio Spy Dramas

Olwen Wymark

Barbara Clegg

Michael Cochrane stars as a green-fingered private sleuth in a series of murder mysteries A perfect listen for any fans of cosy crime, this series is packed with four brilliant stories to enjoy. Meet Jim Thackeray, a renowned landscape gardener who also happens to be a first-class private detective. As you will discover, this is very handy when murders happen to take place in gardens…In Green Fingered Thackeray’s Shakespearean-themed gardens are the scene of a murder. The victim is the ex-wife of a Turkish multi-millionaire and it’s not long before fingers start being pointed and both elements of Jim’s life are brought together with dramatic consequences. Can he solve the crime and save his reputation?In Battle Cry, someone is "accidentally" killed re-enacting a medieval battle. Jim is pulled in to investigate and finds his horticultural expertise can once again help the police solve the seemingly unsolvable.Thackeray's opportunity to redesign an Italian garden in This Blessed Plot is thwarted by the disappearance of his employer. Luckily for the local residents, Jim’s on hand to investigate the mystery.In Death and the Ice Maiden Thackeray's daughter Gail asks her dad to look into the strange deathbed confession of a friend's grandmother. Secrets are revealed and questions asked…Performed by a full-cast, this vintage bundle of cosy crime is a treat not-to-be-missed. Michael Cochrane is a star of TV, stage and screen but is perhaps best-known as the voice of Oliver Sterling in the long-running BBC Radio 4 drama series, The Archers.Cast and creditsWritten by Olwen Wymark and Barbara CleggProduced by Glyn Dearman and Alison Hindell Jim Thackeray - Michael Cochrane 
George Field - John Moffatt / John Hartley 
Shirley Field - Rosemary Leach / Doreen MantleMiss Birch - Irene Sutcliffe / Margaret JohnDave - Todd Boyce / Richard LomasGail - Charlotte BirdBryony - Melanie WaltersFurther parts played by Mary Wimbush, Nigel Anthony, David March, Giselle Wolf, Sean Barrett, Michael Tudor-Barnes, John Rye, Richard Pearce, Jane Whittenshaw, Simon Eastwood, James Greene, Howell Evans, Terry Dauncey, Gwyn Vaughan Jones, Carl Forgione, Vanessa Roper-Evans, Robert Rietti, Frank Rozelaar-Green, Rachel Atkins, Tonya Smith, Ruth Lloyd, and Simon Ludders First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14th Dec 1995, 27th Aug – 10th Sep 1997©2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Thackeray

Four Full-Cast BBC Radio Crime Dramas

James Swallow

A thrilling full-cast adaptation bringing Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell universe to life 
 
Veteran Fourth Echelon agent Sam Fisher has a new mission recruiting and training the next generation of Splinter Cell operatives for the National Security Agency's covert action division. But when a lethal assassin from Fisher's past returns from the dead on a mission of murder, he is thrust into a race against time as a sinister threat to global security is revealed. With his daughter Sarah signed up as his newest recruit, Sam Fisher has everything to lose in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The father and daughter duo must work together to stop a deadly villain from executing a horrific plan. 
 
In this fast-paced and thrilling listen both Sam and Sarah are forced to face their past. Can Sarah steel herself to take a life? And will Sam finally come face-to-face with his old nemesis Dima Aslanov? 
 
Number one best-selling thriller writer Tom Clancy is best-known for his spy thrillers set during the Cold War. The Hunt for the Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger and the Jack Ryan novels have all been turned into popular films and TV shows. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell is a series of action-adventure video games with accompanying novels, on which this stunning radio production is based. Starring Andonis Anthony (The Archers, Emmerdale), Daisy Head (Guilt, The Syndicate), Will Poulter (Black Mirror, Guardians of the Galaxy), Sacha Dhawan (Doctor Who), Nikesh Patel (Starstruck) this is an all-star production not to be missed. 
 
This immersive, action-packed thriller is recorded in 3D binaural audio. For the surround-sound experience please listen on headphones. 
 
Written by James Swallow 
Adapted by Sebastian Baczkiewicz 
Directed by Nadia Molinari, Lorna Newman and Jessica Mitic 
Produced by Lorna Newman, Jessica Mitic, Nadia Molinari 
Sound design by Sharon Hughes and Steve Brooke 
 
Cast 
Sam Fisher - Andonis Anthony 
Sarah Fisher - Daisy Head 
Anna Grímsdóttir - Rosalie Craig 
Charlie Cole - Sacha Dhawan 
Brody Teague - Will Poulter 
Samir Patel - Nikesh Patel 
Stone - Mihai Arsene 
Eighteen - Olga Fedori 
Jan Freling/Kathy - Rina Mahoney 
Buzzard - Tijan Sarr 
Gator/Gary Borden - Tom Kiteley 
Train Guard/Operator/Policeman - Joe Belham 
Andriy Kobin/Chef Jean Claude - Riad Richie 
Nabil - Ali Gadema 
Delim - Lloyd Thomas 
First Pilot /Guard/LeBeau - David Hounslow 
Second Pilot/Guard/Reporter/Bray/Killer - Roger Ringrose 
Portuguese announcer - Charis Jardim-Hinds 
 
First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2nd December - 20th January 2023 
 
©2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Firewall

A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation

Robert Browning

BBC Radio dramatisations and readings of Browning’s most famous poems, performed by stars including Anton Lesser, Roger Allam and David Tennant, plus two bonus plays 
 
Victorian poet Robert Browning was renowned for his evocative dramatic monologues peopled with vivid, morally ambiguous characters. In 1846, he eloped with fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett, and they rapidly became Britain’s most famous literary power couple. This collection brings together four of Browning’s poetic masterpieces, juxtaposed with a play inspired by his work and a drama about Robert and Elizabeth’s romance. 
 
The Ring and the Book – In the aftermath of a triple stabbing, Rome is rife with speculation. Accused of murdering his young wife and her parents, Count Guido Franceschini is put on trial, and finds himself desperately fighting for his life. Anton Lesser, Roger Allam and Andrew Sachs star in this thrilling tale of of sex, lies, murder and justice. 
 
The Pied Piper of Hamlin – When a town fails to pay the rat-catcher who has lured all the rats away with his magic pipe, the piper takes a terrible revenge. Playing his music once more, he leads all the children from the town. Only one boy remains behind… David Tennant stars as the Narrator, with Bertie Gilbert as the boy. 
 
My Last Duchess – Based on Browning’s chilling poem about an aristocrat whose wife died young in suspicious circumstances, this intriguing dramatisation attempts to solve the mystery of what happened to the duchess, and who did the deed. Starring Roger Allam, Emily Mortimer and Tim McInnerny. 
 
Andrea del Sarto – Richard Pasco reads Robert Browning's monologue about the 16th-century Florentine artist known as ‘the faultless painter’, whose marriage was the source of deep unhappiness. 
 
The Contemplative Life – Brother James's loathing of oafish Brother Lawrence has led him to petty acts of destruction. As a punishment, he is forced to share a cell with him… Alan Rickman and Michael Aldridge star in this comedy inspired by Browning’s poem ‘Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister’. 
 
The Barretts of Wimpole Street – Starring Dorothy Tutin and Jeremy Brett, this radio version of Rudolf Besier’s celebrated stage play explores the secret courtship of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, which took place at No 50 Wimpole Street, her father’s forbidding household. 
 
First published 1842 (‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’, ‘My Last Duchess’), 1855 (‘Andrea del Sarto’), 1868 (‘The Ring and the Book’) 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Robert Browning 
 
The Ring and the Book 
Cast: Anton Lesser, Roger Allam, Lou Brealey, Dominic Rowan, Andrew Sachs, Frances Jeater, Dan Starkey, Stephen Critchlow, Ben Crowe, Chris Pavlo, Joan Walker, John Rowe, Michael Maloney, Stephen Moore 
 
The Pied Piper of Hamelin 
Cast: David Tennant, Bertie Gilbert 
With music and songs written and performed by John Harle, lyrics by Joyce Harle, sung by Thomas Platts, head chorister at Canterbury Cathedral with the choir of Wingham School, Kent 
 
My Last Duchess 
Cast: Roger Allam, Emily Mortimer, Tim McInnerny, Robert Hands, John Hartley, Jacob Heringman 
 
Andrea del Sarto 
Read by Richard Pasco 
 
The Contemplative Life 
Cast: Alan Rickman, Michael Aldridge, David Garth, Brian Smith, Colin Starkey, David Sinclair, 
Trevor Nichols, John Webb 
 
The Barretts of Wimpole Street 
Cast: Dorothy Tutin, Jeremy Brett, Paul Rogers, William Eedle, John Rowe, John Samson, 
Robin Browne, David Valla, Christopher Good, Kate Binchy, Jane Knowles, Kenneth Fortescue, 
Helen Worth, Michael Kilgarriff, Rolf Lefebvre, John Ruddock, Sheila Grant 
 
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Robert Browning: The Ring and the Book, The Pied Piper of Hamelin & more

BBC Radio dramatic reimaginings of five iconic poems

Hawthorne

Heart Hassle

Heartland Trilogy

Heaven Official's Blessing

Heavenly Bodies

Henry Pratt is the epitomy of the great British underdog. Nothing is ever simple in his world, just when it seems things are going right, life throws him another unwanted curve-ball. Join Pratt as he traverses the highs and lows of everyday life in this comic masterpiece.

Henry Pratt

Her Hidden Fire

To some a brilliant warrior, to others a devil in human form; Hereward is as adept in the art of slaughter as the enemies that gather to claim England's throne. With King Edward heirless and ailing, Hereward has been declared an outlaw. What is he willing to risk in order to save the land he loves? 
 
Hereward's tales are of heroism, treachery, rebellion and bloody battles, with William the Bastard never too far away.

Hereward

Heroes of Olympus

Heroes of Olympus Graphic Novels

Hetty Feather was left at a foundling hospital when she was a tiny baby. Having grown up in a loving foster family until she was five, and then finding herself returned to the hospital, she begins to question who her actual family are, and is determined to stop at nothing to find out where she came from. Jacqueline Wilson’s acclaimed series follows Hetty and her friend Diamond as they work their way up from their lowly backgrounds to become stars, overcoming loss, unkind bosses and flirtatious boys.

Hetty Feather

Hey Duggee

Hidden Iceland

Hilo

His Dark Materials

Historical Romance

Hitchhiker's Guide (radio plays)

Hitler Biographies

Hogarth Shakespeare

Holcombe Hall

Holmes, Margaret & Poe

Holomonsters

Hot Wheels

House of Devils

House of Niccolo

House of Robots

How To

How To Be An Antiracist

How to Garden

How to Grow

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