Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 30 countries and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Joseph Delaney

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Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Three classic stories from the 'Queen of Sensation Fiction' - plus bonus documentary 
Mary Elizabeth Braddon was one of the most important and influential female novelists of the 19th Century, and the founder (alongside Wilkie Collins) of the popular 'sensation fiction' genre. This collection features her best-known novel, Lady Audley's Secret, a thrilling tale of bigamy, murder and arson that outraged Victorian society on its first release - and was an instant bestseller. Also included are two atmospheric short stories and an edition of Sensational Women exploring her life and work. 
 
Lady Audley's Secret - Lucy Graham gains all the wealth she desires through her marriage to the devoted Sir Michael Audley. But her newfound security is threatened when young lawyer Robert Audley sets out to uncover the truth about her hidden past. Hattie Morahan, Charlotte Emmerson, Alex Wyndham and Sam Dale star in this electrifying dramatisation. 
 
 
The Cold Embrace - When Josef, a handsome young German artist, betrays his delicate fiancée, her vengeance is eerily appropriate... This chilling adaptation of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's ghostly story stars Stephanie Turner, Jonathan Firth and Alison Pettitt. 
 
Samuel Lowgood's Revenge - An impoverished clerk discovers that his rival in love has defrauded their employer. But what should he do with this knowledge? Barbara Flynn reads Braddon's 1861 tale of jealousy and retribution. 
 
Sensational Women: Mary Braddon - Sarah Dunant takes a look at the notorious sensation author, who was condemned for rotting the moral fibre of a whole generation of young women. 
 
First published 1860 ('The Cold Embrace'), 1861 ('Samuel Lowgood's Revenge'), 1862 (Lady Audley's Secret) 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 
 
Lady Audley's Secret 
Mary Braddon - Hattie Morahan 
Lucy, Lady Audley - Charlotte Emmerson 
Sir Michael Audley - Sam Dale 
Phoebe Marks - Lizzy Watts 
Luke Marks - Benjamin Askew 
Robert Audley - Alex Wyndham 
George Talboys - Joseph Kloska 
Alicia Audley - Perdita Weeks 
Lieutenant Maldon - Jonathan Tafler 
Mr Dawson/Landlord - Paul Rider 
Mrs Vincent - Charlotte West-Oram 
Tonks - Deborah McAndrew 
Dramatised by Theresa Heskins 
Directed by Julie Beckett and Fiona Kelcher 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20 April-1 May 2009 
 
The Cold Embrace 
Mary Braddon - Stephanie Turner 
Josef - Jonathan Firth 
Gertrude - Alison Pettitt 
Father - John Hartley 
Postmaster - Ioan Meredith 
Passenger - Hugh Dickson 
Woman - Carolyn Jones 
Fisherman - Chris Pavlo 
Parisienne - Tracy-Ann Oberman 
Dramatised by Christopher Hawes 
Produced by Marion Nancarrow 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 June 1997 
 
Samuel Lowgood's Revenge 
Read by Barbara Flynn 
Produced by Rebecca Nicholson 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 November 1998 
 
Sensational Women: Mary Braddon 
Presented by Sarah Dunant 
Extracts read by Sally Beauman 
Produced by Lore Windemuth 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 October 1996 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Mary Elizabeth Braddon: Lady Audley’s Secret & more

A BBC Radio 4 Gothic Drama Collection

William Trevor

A collection of some of William Trevor’s most acclaimed works, as heard on BBC Radio 
 
William Trevor was an Irish literary legend. In a 40-year career, he published a multiplicity of novels, plays, and short stories, and received numerous awards and honours. He was often compared to Chekhov for his extraordinary insight into the human condition, and in these eleven tales, he delves into the inner lives of ordinary people, with all their passions, secrets, fears and disappointments. 
 
We open this collection with two dramatisations taken from the BBC tribute programme I Am a Storyteller: William Trevor at 80, interspersed with excerpts from John Tusa’s 2005 interview with Trevor. 
 
Beyond the Pale, which garnered the author his first Giles Cooper Award, centres around four English tourists in Ireland whose complacency is shattered by an encounter with a troubled stranger. 
 
The Penthouse Apartment sees a shy spinster’s quiet life violently disrupted when she visits her neighbours’ opulent home. 
 
The Hill Bachelors tells the poignant tale of a young man caught between desire and circumstance. 
 
Sacred Statues sees a sculptor’s wife hatching a shocking plan to save the family from penury... 
 
My House in Umbria focuses on a romantic novelist who finds new purpose caring for three survivors of a train bomb. 
 
Autumn Sunshine, the winner of Trevor’s second Giles Cooper Award, concerns a recently bereaved canon, his estranged daughter and her objectionable boyfriend. 
 
Set in 1847, The News From Ireland revolves around an unhappy young governess, newly arrived at the Pulvertafts’ Irish estate. 
 
Adapted from Trevor’s Hawthornden Prize-winning 1964 comic novel, The Old Boys finds schoolboy rivalries resurfacing when the septuagenarian members of an alumni association convene to elect a new chair. 
 
A woman is haunted by visions of her potential replacement in The Mark 2 Wife. 
 
In dark comedy The Boarding House, a group of misfits mourn the loss of their landlord. 
 
An old Irish schoolteacher re-assesses her life in Attracta. 
 
Blending comedy, tragedy and pathos, these absorbing dramas feature a host of seasoned performers including Prunella Scales, Frances Jeater, Maurice Denham, Mary Wimbush, Cecil Parker, Cyril Cusack, Derek Waring and Eileen Walsh. 
 
Text copyright © 1964 (The Old Boys), 1965 (The Boarding House), 1967 (The Penthouse Apartment), 1968 (The Mark 2 Wife), 1977 (Attracta), 1980 (Beyond the Pale), 1982 (Autumn Sunshine), 1986 (The News from Ireland), 1991 (My House in Umbria), 2000 (The Hill Bachelors), 2002 (Sacred Statues) 
 
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Old Boys & other stories

Eleven Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisations

Mary Cooper

Jonathan Tafler

Anna Linstrum

Alistair McGowan

Elizabeth Lewis

Robin Brooks

Lucy Caldwell

Sarah Wooley

Stephen Wakelam

Frances Bingham

David Pownall

Katie Hims

Ian Billings

Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre

Judith Adam

18 biographical dramas based on the lives and loves of celebrated writers 
 
These surprising, revealing dramas take a behind-the-scenes look at some of our best-loved authors, mingling fact and fantasy to explore their extraordinary hidden lives. From love affairs, friendships and family relationships to traumas, tragedies and journeys of self-discovery, we glimpse the unwritten worlds that shaped their unforgettable fiction. Among the star casts are Andrew Scott, Toby Jones, Richard Dormer, Glenda Jackson, Bella Ramsey, Julia Davis, Ian McDiarmid, Haydn Gwynne, David Threlfall, Alistair McGowan, Tom Goodman-Hill, Hattie Morahan, Rosie Cavaliero, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Paul Ritter and Lia Williams 
 
Jane and Tom - Writing to her sister, Jane Austen describes her love for Tom Lefroy - a love that would lead to Pride and Prejudice. 
 
When Fanny Met Germaine - A delightful romp through the passionate, scandalous friendship between two 18th Century writers: Fanny Burney and Mme de Stael. 
 
Comrade Ackland - Dorset, 1936. Newly returned from an illicit trip to Civil War Spain, Sylvia Townsend Warner and her lover Valentine Ackland have an unexpected visitor.... 
 
Tongues of Fire - 1913. When a Nobel laureate visits Dublin's Abbey Theatre, fireworks erupt between WB Yeats and Sean O'Casey. 
 
A Year at the Races - Approaching the end of his career, Groucho Marx meets a wisecracking fan determined to teach him new comedy tricks. 
 
Spike and the Elfin Oak- A comic fantasy inspired by Spike Milligan's madcap attempts in the mid-1960s to preserve a curious sculpture in Kensington Gardens. 
 
Everybody's Got Conditions - Casting Bette Davis in his play The Night of the Iguana proves the biggest mistake in Tennessee Williams' career... 
 
I Believe I Have Genius- Humble and obscure, young Charlotte Brontë travels to Brussels to study at a girls' school. 
 
Marian and George - Marian Evans (aka George Eliot) must choose between her adored brother and the love of her life... 
 
Lying Low - An intriguing drama imagining what happened to Samuel Beckett during his mysterious three weeks in Folkestone in 1961. 
 
A Terrible Beauty - WB Yeats travels to France to propose to beautiful Maud Gonne, soon after her husband's execution in the 1916 Easter Rising. 
 
The Watcher on the Wall - Dramatised from his letters, this is the story of Louis MacNeice's transatlantic love affair and the poetry it inspired. 
 
Edith Sitwell in Scarborough - Returning to her birthplace, Edith Sitwell sets out to wreak revenge. 
 
Mrs Tolstoy - A five-part drama charting the tempestuous marriage between Leo and Sofya Tolstoy. 
 
The 'B' Word - The opening night of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion causes a scandal and sparks a passionate love/hate triangle... 
 
The Rules of Palship - The young Noël Coward demanded fierce loyalty from his friends - but did he live up to his own high standards? 
 
The Lost Road - A playful tribute to the long friendship between CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien and how it influenced their respective masterpieces. 
 
Luxembourg Gardens - Re-imagined from Katherine Mansfield's stories, letters and journals, this Mansfieldesque play explores her last day in Paris, where she is dying of consumption aged 34. 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Behind the Author's Desk: Dramas of Famous Writers' Real Lives

A BBC Radio 4 drama collection

Maeve Binchy

Maeve Binchy is one of Britain’s most popular storytellers, and these four tales demonstrate the warmth and compassion that have made her many novels bestsellers.   In 'Homecoming', read by Sean Campion, the Brennans run Quentin’s restaurant in Dublin for the owner, who lives abroad. But what will happen when he suddenly pays a visit?   'Telling Stories', read by Joanna Myers, sees Irene’s fiancé turning up the night before the wedding with a face as white as the dress that is to be worn the next day. Then trouble starts...   In 'Needy', read by Patricia Hodge, Heather is painfully aware that Valentine’s Day declarations of love should be viewed with suspicion, even if the sender is the one she loves.   And in 'The Interview', read by Kate Binchy, Bessie is deaf and needs a place in a special school. But will she pass the interview?   Finely crafted and full of wit and charm, these are stories that no fan of Maeve Binchy will want to be without.

The Homecoming & Other Stories

A collection of original radio dramas by the much-loved Irish literary legend 
 
One of Ireland’s greatest contemporary authors, William Trevor won the Whitbread Prize three times, and was shortlisted four times for the Man Booker Prize. He received an honorary CBE in 1977 for his services to literature, was made a Companion of Literature in 1994 and in 2002, and received an honorary knighthood. These eight radio plays display all his hallmarks: his keen observation of human life, his mastery of dialogue and his distinctive voice. 
 
In Mr McNamara, which won the 1993 Writers’ Guild Award for Best Original Play, there’s a shock in store for 16-year-old Michael when he visits his dead father’s friend in Dublin… 
 
Travellers finds widowed Mrs Daveridge on holiday in Venice with her son – but she is troubled by memories and doubts. 
 
The residents of a remote Irish village are obliged to re-examine a tragedy in Events at Drimaghleen. 
 
In Running Away, a wife has a conversation with her husband that changes her world. 
 
The Blue Dress focuses on a middle-aged journalist obsessed with the truth who cannot stop asking questions – even when he falls in love. 
 
Scenes from an Album explores the sweep of Irish history through a seventeenth-century landowner and his 20th-century descendants. 
 
In Going Home, a boy and a lonely woman return from boarding school for the final time. 
 
In A Perfect Relationship, Mr Hambro and ‘business girl’ Sylvia have had a regular arrangement for 11 years: but how much longer can it last? 
 
Featuring Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis in one of his earliest roles (in Travellers), the ensemble casts of these stunning dramas include Maurice Denham, Sylvia Coleridge, Malcolm Hayes, Elizabeth Proud, Nigel Anthony, TP McKenna, Sarah Badel and Kate Binchy. 
 
Text copyright © 1970 (Going Home), 1973 (A Perfect Relationship), 1975 (Scenes from an Album), 1982 (Travellers), 1985 (The Blue Dress), 1988 (Running Away, Events at Drimaghleen), 1994 (Mr McNamara) 
 
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Going Home & other plays

Eight Full-Cast BBC Radio Productions

Oscar Wilde

Arthur Conan Doyle

Virginia Woolf

A treasure chest of timeless short stories by some of the world's greatest authors 
 
Suspense and horror 
1 The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire - Arthur Conan Doyle 
2 The Signalman - Charles Dickens 
3 Lost Hearts - MR James 
4 The Sealed Room - Arthur Conan Doyle. 
5 Mrs Badgery - Wilkie Collins 
6 Wailing Well - MR James 
7 The Open Window - Saki 
8 How it happened - Arthur Conan Doyle 
9 The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe 
10 The Cone - HG Wells 
11 A Haunted House - Virginia Woolf 
12 Rats - MR James 
13 The Oval Portrait - Edgar Allan Poe 
14 Tarquin of Cheapside - F. Scott Fitzgerald 
15 One Crowded Hour - Arthur Conan Doyle 
16 The Mezzotint - MR James 
17 The Masque of the Red Death - Edgar Allan Poe 
 
Love 
18 The Kiss - Kate Chopin 
19 Eleonora - Edgar Allan Poe 
20 About Love - Anton Chekhov 
21 The Lovers - Hans Christian Anderson 
22 Love - Guy De Maupassant 
23 The Sphinx Without a Secret - Oscar Wilde 
24 A Wedding Gift - Guy De Maupassant 
25 Kew Gardens - Virginia Woolf 
26 The District Doctor - Ivan Turgenev 
27 Happiness - Guy De Maupassant 
28 A Blunder - Anton Chekhov 
29 The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky - Stephen Crane 
30 In a Far-Off World - Olive Schreiner 
31 The Cook's Wedding - Anton Chekhov 
32 The Recruit - Honore de Balzac 
33 The Nightingale and the Rose - Oscar Wilde 
34 Pyramus and Thisbe - Ovid 
35 Aunt Hetty on Matrimony - Fanny Fern 
36 A Country Cottage - Anton Chekhov 
37 Marriage a la Mode - Katherine Mansfield 
38 The Statue of Limitations - Ernest Dowson 
39 The Dilettante - Edith Wharton 
 
Humorous 
40 Tobermory - Saki 
41The Mesmeric Mountain - Stephen Crane 
42 The Children's Joke - Louisa May Alcott 
43 At The Siren - Anton Chekhov 
44 The Garden Party - Katherine Mansfield 
45 The Cask of Amontillado - Edgar Allan Poe 
46 The New Dress - Virginia Woolf 
47 How I Built Myself A House - Thomas Hardy 
48 The Model Millionaire - Oscar Wilde 
49 A Pair of Silk Stockings - Kate Chopin 
50 At The Barbers - Anton Chekhov 
51 A Respectable Woman - Kate Chopin 
 
Folk &amp; Fable 
52 The Happy Prince - Oscar Wilde. 
53 The Elves and the Shoemaker - The Brothers Grimm 
54 The Emperor's New Clothes -Hans Christian Andersen 
55 The Tongue Cut Sparrow - Yei Theodora Ozaki 
56 Finn and the Scottish Giant - Harold F. Read 
57 The Postmaster - Rabindranath Tagore 
58 The Toys of Peace - Saki 
59 The Selfish Giant - Oscar Wilde 
60 The Flower Gatherer - Edward Thomas 
61 Araby - James Joyce 
62 The Interlopers - Saki 
63 Tom Thumb - The Brothers Grimm 
64 The Kabuliwalah - Rabindranath Tagore 
65 The Monkey's Paws - WW Jacobs 
 
Christmas 
66 The Little Match Girl - Hans Christian Andersen 
67 Papa Panov's Special Christmas - Leo Tolstoy 
68 Christmas Storms and Sunshine - Elizabeth Gaskell. 
69 The Gift of the Magi - O'Henry 
70 At Christmas Time - Anton Chekhov 
71 A Dill Pickle - Katherine Mansfield 
 
Classic Tales 
72 The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman 
73 The Fall of Lord Barrymore - Arthur Conan Doyle 
74 The Necklace - Guy De Maupassant 
75 Holiday Group - EM Delafield 
76 Three Questions - Leo Tolstoy 
77 The Cop and the Anthem - O'Henry 
78 The Fly - Katherine Mansfield 
79 The Christening - DH Lawrence 
80 After the Race - James Joyce 
81 The String Quartet - Virginia Woolf 
82 Two Friends - Guy De Maupassant 
83 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - Ambrose Bierce. 
84 A Gentleman Friend - Anthon Chekhov 
85 Ma'ame Pelagie - Kate Chopin 
86 Second Best - DH Lawrence 
87 El Verdugo - Honore de Balzac 
88 The Story of an Hour - Kate Chopin 
89 The Man of No Account - Bret Hart 
90 The Piece of String - Guy De Maupassant 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

BBC Classics: Ultimate Story Collection

90 unmissable tales

Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman’s delightfully quirky story, in which Mrs Whitaker discovers the Holy Grail in a charity shop. 
 
Mrs Whitaker just wants to have a chat with her dear friend Mrs Greenberg over home-made macaroons. But her charity shop find soon makes her the focal point of a most important quest when a handsome young man - who says he’s called Galaad - comes asking for the Grail. 
 
This sound designed, multi-voiced reading is an extended cut, including material not heard in the radio broadcast, and is introduced by an exclusive interview with Neil Gaiman. 
 
Starring Glenda Jackson as the Narrator and Mrs Whitaker, and Kit Harington as Sir Galaad. 
 
Written by Neil Gaiman 
Produced and Directed by Allegra McIlroy 
 
Cast: 
Narrator/ Mrs Whitaker ….. Glenda Jackson 
Sir Galaad ….. Kit Harington 
Mrs Greenberg and the new lady on the till….. Jessica Turner 
Marie ….. Lucy Reynolds 
 
Sound design ….. David Chilton 
Neil Gaiman’s Chivalry is a BBC Northern Ireland Production

Chivalry

A BBC Radio full-cast reading

Susan Hill

An extensive collection of full-cast dramatisations and long-lost original radio plays by Dame Susan Hill 
 
Award-winning author Dame Susan Hill is best known for her hit ghost story The Woman in Black and her popular ‘Simon Serailler’ detective series, but she has also written extensively for radio. This audio anthology includes full-cast adaptations of two of her early novels, plus an additional 12 BBC Radio plays, many of them available for the very first time since their original broadcasts. 
 
Gentlemen and Ladies tells of the friendship and loneliness of a family living in a small Midland village, while Strange Meeting explores the relationship between two young subalterns in the First World War. These moving dramatisations star Patricia Hayes, Stephanie Cole, Martin Jarvis and David Timson. 
 
Themes of interdependence and isolation run through all Hill’s radio plays, which she describes as dealing with ‘human beings in confrontation’. In Taking Leave, a nephew visits the family he barely knows; in Lizard in the Grass, an orphan living in a clifftop convent is persecuted by one of the nuns, in The Cold Country, tempers fray when four explorers become snowbound in Antarctica and in Consider the Lilies, an ageing bachelor who sees angels finds himself drawn to a dying girl. Richard Hurndall, Helen Worth, Terry Scully, John Rollason and Tony Britton are among the star casts. 
 
A Window on the World focuses on students Nell (Patricia Gallimore) and Jess (Julie Hallam), who are mere observers of life – until one of them acts to alter the situation. Strip Jack Naked finds sick recluse James (Ian Richardson) shaken out of his austere existence by a visit from his estranged wife, but in The Sound that Time Makes, wife and mother Fay (Patricia Gallimore) is obsessively haunted by her schooldays. And with her wedding approaching, Helena (Carole Hayman) struggles to let go of her childhood in Here Comes the Bride. 
 
Chances features two interlinked monologues, read by Dames Judi Dench and Peggy Ashcroft, in which an Irish maid at a seaside hotel ponders her life, and a guest remembers better days and higher standards. A dying Frenchwoman summons her estranged daughter in Out in the Cold, starring Pauline Letts and Fiona Walker. Finally, Winter and Autumn focus on two couples, one elderly and resident in an old folks’ home, the other middle-aged and attempting to escape the past by moving house. Doreen Mantle, Cyril Luckham, June Brown and Bernard Hepton star as the spouses searching for meaning and connection. 
 
Copyright © Susan Hill 1968 (Gentlemen and Ladies), 1971 (Strange Meeting, Taking Leave, Lizard in the Grass), 1972 (The Cold Country), 1973 (Consider the Lilies), 1975 (A Window on the World, Strip Jack Naked), 1980 (The Sound that Time Makes, Here Comes the Bride), 1981 (Chances), 1982 (Out in the Cold), 1985 (Winter), 1986 (Autumn) 
 
Contents: 
Gentlemen and Ladies 
Strange Meeting 
Taking Leave 
Lizard in the Grass 
The Cold Country 
Consider the Lilies 
A Window on the World 
Strip Jack Naked 
The Sound that Time Makes 
Here Comes the Bride 
Chances 
Out in the Cold 
Winter 
Autumn 
 
Copyright © 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Susan Hill BBC Radio Drama Collection

14 Full-Cast Dramas

R.D Wingfield

A collection of vintage thrillers from popular crime writer RD Wingfield 
 
Well known as the creator of Inspector Jack Frost, RD Wingfield scripted numerous twisty, suspenseful dramas for BBC Radio between 1968 and 1995. Many of the thirteen tales in this collection were originally thought to be lost, but thanks to the diligent efforts of Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle, who tracked down the missing audio, they are once again available to enjoy. 
 
In Cat and Mouse Game, a wealthy woman goes missing, and her husband is suspected of murder. Ambitious security officer Hastler has a lot to lose when a surveillance operation goes wrong in Saturday Roster, and in Nightmare, a killer has escaped from a psychiatric ward and may be returning to the scene of his crime. Blood Money finds a branch manager forced to deal with a ransom demand, while Better Never than Late features a policeman on the brink of retirement determined to crack an unsolved kidnapping case. 
 
Warring colleagues Davenport and Desmond discover the advantages of working together in Compensating Error, and in Slow Fuze, an unexploded bomb proves to be a golden opportunity for Major Derry. The Tenth Anniversary concerns the strange disappearance of a detective inspector exactly a decade after the famous Monkstead murders, Death of the Insured sees a terminally ill private eye hired to find an errant husband, and Balance Brought Forward and The Night They Deliver The Money both focus on bank directors faced with potential disaster. Smiling and Beautiful Death, meanwhile, centres around a concussed motorist, a mysterious midnight funeral and a village full of sinister locals… 
 
Capping off our collection is the six-part serial The Killing Season, written under the pseudonym Arthur Jefferson and set in a sleepy town experiencing an unprecedented Christmas crime wave. Among the casts of these intriguing dramas are Nigel Havers, Frances Jeater, Leslie Sands, Garard Green, Deryck Guyler and Andrew Sachs. 
 
With warm thanks to Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by RD Wingfield 
 
Contents 
 
Cat and Mouse Game 
Saturday Roster 
Nightmare 
Blood Money 
Better Never Than Late 
Compensating Error 
Slow Fuze 
The Tenth Anniversary 
Death of the Insured 
Balance Brought Forward 
The Night They Deliver the Money 
Smiling and Beautiful Death 
The Killing Season 
Written by Arthur Jefferson (pseudonym of R.D Wingfield) 
 
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

R.D Wingfield: Nightmare and Other Thrillers

13 Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramas

BBC Radio dramatisations and readings of some of Arthur Conan Doyle's other works - plus extracts from his letters and a bonus drama by Bert Coules 
 
Arthur Conan Doyle is well known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, but he also wrote numerous works in which the great detective played no part. Included here is a selection of the best, ranging from science fiction to tales of supernatural terror and rip-roaring adventures set in Jacobean and Regency England. 
 
Our collection opens with the first of three dramas featuring the hot-tempered, larger-than-life scientist and explorer Professor Challenger. 'The Lost World' stars David Robb as Challenger, he heads on an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon Basin. Following this drama we have two further dramatisations starring Bill Paterson as Challenger this time. In 'When the World Screamed', he sets out on a bold mission to be recognised by Mother Earth, while 'The Disintegration Machine' sees him investigating dastardly Latvian inventor Theodore Nemor. 
 
'The Captain of the Polestar' drama tells the chilling story of a ship trapped in the Arctic, and stars Alec Heggie as Craigie, a man haunted by a strange apparition. 
 
Also included are the short stories 'Playing With Fire', 'How It Happened', 'One Crowded Hour', 'The Fall of Lord Barrymore', 'The Sealed Room' and 'The Lost Special' (read by Edward de Souza, Sam Dale, Christopher Harper and David Schofield), and the fascinating series Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters, in which Forbes Masson and John Dougal read extracts from his correspondence to his mother about marriage, fatherhood, killing off Holmes and going into politics. Finally, how the author ran for Parliament in 1900 and lost is explored in Bert Coules' biographical drama Vote For Conan Doyle!, starring John Sessions. 
 
First published 1883 ('The Captain of the Polestar'), 1898 ('The Sealed Room', 'The Lost Special'), 1900 ('Playing With Fire'), 1911 ('One Crowded Hour'), 1912 ('The Lost World'), 1912 ('The Fall of Lord Barrymore'), 1913 ('How It Happened'), 1928 ('When The World Screamed'), 1929 ('The Disintegration Machine'), 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
 
Track list 
Dramatisations 
1. Professor Challenger: The Lost World Episode 1- A Bridge to the Unknown 
2. Professor Challenger: The Lost World Episode 2 - Our Eyes Have Seen Great Wonders 
3. Professor Challenger: When The World Screamed 
4. Professor Challenger: The Disintegration Machine 
5. The Captain of the Polestar 
Short Stories 
6. Playing With Fire 
7. How It Happened 
8. One Crowded Hour 
9. The Fall of Lord Barrymore 
10. The Sealed Room 
11. The Lost Special 
Bonus content 
12. Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters 
13. Vote for Conan Doyle! 
 
©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Arthur Conan Doyle: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

Adrian Mourby

Twelve make-believe spoof comedy documentaries charting the lives of celebrated fictional characters 
 
‘Gorgeously silly’ The Independent 
 
Have you ever wondered what became of the protagonists from your favourite childhood stories? Well, wonder no more: in these hilarious mockumentaries, the astonishing afterlives of some of the most famous figures in fiction are revealed... 
 
The scourge of smugglers and the stalwart of the Famous Five, George, reflects on her life – and divulges the fate of the rest of the adventurous gang; Cinderella’s siblings The Ugly Sisters speak out, giving their versions of what happened after the ball; Doctor Who’s granddaughter Susan discloses the real story of her travels in time and space; and The Big Bad Wolf gives a perfectly plausible explanation for his behaviour towards the Three Little Pigs and Red Riding Hood’s granny. 
 
We also follow the fortunes of Billy Bunter’s beastly form master Horace Henry Samuel Quelch, angelic aristocrat Little Lord Fauntleroy, Popeye, Pinocchio, Mowgli, Postman Pat, The Seven Dwarves and Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Their fates may surprise and even shock you – but they’re sure to make you laugh. 
 
Written by Adrian Mourby, who won the Sony Silver Award for Creative Writing on Radio for the first series, these witty tongue-in-cheek pastiches feature star casts including Warren Mitchell, Prunella Scales, Michael Williams, Eleanor Bron, Rosemary Leach, Jane Asher, Sir Michael Hordern, Leslie Phillips and Andrew Sachs. 
 
Production credits 
Written by Adrian Mourby 
Produced by Brian King 
 
George 
Popeye 
The Ugly Sisters 
Horace Henry Samuel Quelch 
Doctor Who’s Granddaughter Susan 
Little Lord Fauntleroy 
The Big Bad Wolf 
Pinocchio 
The Seven Dwarves 
Mowgli 
Postman Pat 
Dorothy 
 
© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Whatever Happened to….? Popeye, Dorothy, The Ugly Sisters and more

A BBC Radio Comedy of Ultimate Sequels

Various

Four acclaimed novelists write their first stories for radio. The Coup by Tom Rachman describes how a protest threatens to turn into a coup, in London' s genteel Kensington, which is next door to where the two Geralds have just moved in.  Steak by Evie Wyld, describes how a group  of male barflies in small town Australia are unsettled by the appearance of Mariella..   In She Wiped The Surface, Louisa Young, describes how  a mother happily arranges her daughter's birthday party, but this masks a family bereavement. How to cope? In Holding On by Ross Raisin, a woman stands at the end of a cliff, which is at the end of her garden - which means what,  exactly?

Friday Firsts ( Complete Series)

Alexander McCall-Smith

Rachel Joyce

Charles Dickens

Anton Chekhov

Leo Tolstoy

Elizabeth Gaskell

Jeremy Front

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

A BBC Christmas Collection

30 Festive Dramas and Stories

Sarah Millican

Joe Lycett

Bridget Christie

Susan Calman

Jon Richardson

Russell Kane

James Acaster

Mark Watson

Jenny Eclair

Aisling Bea

Romesh Ranganathan

Dane Baptiste

Shazia Mirza

Sanjeev Kholi

Angela Barnes

A cracking collection of comic monologues, written and read by leading comedians 
 
Recorded in front of a live audience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, this fantastic anthology features a host of diverse short stories, composed and performed by a veritable Who's Who of stand-up comedians. By turns hilarious and irreverent, poignant and bittersweet, together they make up a superb selection box of tasty treats. 
 
Among the all-star line-up, Romesh Ranganathan tells a comic tale of unrequited love among the orangutans; Susan Calman takes a wry look at office politics; Jon Richardson explores the perils of internet dating; and Sarah Millican takes us into the worlds of a compassionate undertaker's assistant and an elderly woman who fears she's becoming invisible. 
 
Russell Kane recalls his tempestuous ex; Aisling Bea recounts the dark, funny tale of a pensioner with murder in mind; Robert Florence reveals the shady doings of the Scottish branch of the Illuminati; and satirist John O'Farrell asks, 'what if Judas had written the Gospels'? 
 
Also sharing their fantastic fiction are a wealth of other literary comics, including Sanjeev Kohli, Joe Lycett, Bridget Christie, James Acaster, Jenny Eclair, Shazia Mirza and Mark Watson. Short story fans, rejoice: here are five hours of some of the most charming, absurd, dark, thoughtful and funny tales you'll ever find in one place. 
 
Contents: 
1. May Contain Nuts by Janey Godley 
2. The Hair of the Dead by Sarah Millican 
3. Gone Phishing by Jon Richardson 
4. The Woman Who Sniffed by Susan Calman 
5. Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Be in the Green by Patrick Monahan 
6. On the Dot by Shazia Mirza 
7. Stairlift Us Up Where We Belong by Sarah Millican 
8. Spooky and the Van by Joe Lycett 
9. A Difference of Opinion by Bridget Christie 
10. The Three Times I Dumped Eleanor, and the Manner of Her Death by Russell Kane 
11. Sorry For Your Loss by James Acaster 
12. Club Sandwich by Mark Watson 
13. The Understudy by Jenny Eclair 
14. Kill Dilly by Aisling Bea 
15. I Bought a Monkey To Stand Out in the New York Art Scene by Sanjeev Kohli 
16. Love and Orangutans by Romesh Ranganathan 
17. Bad Fairytale by Grainne Maguire 
18. The Gospel According to Judas by John O'Farrell 
19. Pick Me Up by Angela Barnes 
20. Apocalypse Soon by Dane Baptiste 
21. Cats Who Walk Like Gentlemen by Robert Florence 
 
Production credits: 
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 August 2009-6 September 2015 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Comic Fringes

21 short stories by top comedians

Jerome K Jerome

BBC adaptations of the 19th-century humourist’s best-loved tales, plus Judith French’s sly comedy based on Jerome’s experiences as a would-be actor 
 
Jerome K Jerome is best known for his comedy classic Three Men in a Boat and its sequel Three Men on the Bummel. Both hilarious tales are included here, alongside two spooky short stories, extracts from Jerome’s humorous essays and theatrical memoir, and a comic drama about his acting career. 
 
Three Men in a Boat – This 1962 musical adaptation of Jerome’s comic masterpiece about three friends who journey down the River Thames stars Leslie Phillips as George, Kenneth Horne as Harris and Hubert Gregg as ‘J’. 
 
Three Men on the Bummel – After their adventures afloat, the intrepid trio take to two wheels, deciding to embark on a cycling tour of Germany. Adapted and performed by Jeremy Nicholas. 
 
The Dancing Partner – When a group of young women bemoan a lack of dance partners, toymaker Papa Geibel gets creative… James Hayter, Rolf Lefebvre and Sheila Grant star in this dramatisation of Jerome’s spine-chilling story. 
. 
After Supper Ghost Stories – Christmas Eve 1891, and in Laburnum Grove, Tooting, Uncle John’s whisky-punch and Aunt Maria’s lobsters aren’t the only frights on the menu. Starring Dinsdale Lansden, Geoffrey Matthews and Linda Polan. 
 
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow – In these five sparkling essays, read by Hugh Laurie and abridged by Neville Teller, our hapless narrator offers us his entertaining observations on the topics of being idle, cats and dogs, love and romance, eating and drinking, and babies. 
 
On Stage – Adapted and read by Stephen Surrey, these witty, whimsical extracts find the author looking back on his time treading the boards, recalling his performances and his fellow thespians. 
 
One Man on a Stage – Judith French’s scintillating play imagines Jerome’s life as a jobbing actor, working alongside the enthusiastic no-hopers of the provincial Victorian stage. Starring Joseph Millson. 
 
First published 1885 (On the Stage – and Off), 1886 (Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow), 1889 (Three Men in a Boat), 1891 (‘After Supper Ghost Stories’), 1893 (‘The Dancing Partner’), 1900 (Three Men on the Bummel), (One Man on a Stage) text copyright © Judith French 2007 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Jerome K Jerome 
 
Three Men in a Boat 
 
Three Men on the Bummel 
 
The Dancing Partner 
 
After Supper Ghost Stories 
 
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow 
 
On Stage 
 
One Man on a Stage 
 
© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Jerome K Jerome: A BBC Radio Collection

Three Men in a Boat & more

Katherine Mansfield

A landmark collection of BBC Radio productions of the works of Katherine Mansfield - plus bonus dramas and documentary 
 
One of the great Modernist authors, Katherine Mansfield was a short story virtuoso, redefining the genre with her subtle, powerfully perceptive tales. A prolific writer, she penned over 60 stories and several poetry collections before her death from TB in 1923, aged only 34. 
 
This outstanding collection opens with Radio 4's 2020 series And Other Stories: Katherine Mansfield. It comprises dramatisations of 'Marriage a la Mode', 'Something Childish But Very Natural', 'Bliss', 'Daughters of the Late Colonel', 'The Garden Party', 'Ma Parker' and 'Her First Ball', all starring Hattie Morahan, as well as readings of 'The Stranger', 'Miss Brill', 'A Cup of Tea', Poison' and 'The Doll's House', narrated by Hugh Bonneville, Barbara Flynn, Hattie Morahan and Blake Ritson. 
 
Morven Christie reads Mansfield's newly-discovered early short story 'Little Episodes', and selected stories from her first collection In A German Pension - 'Germans at Meat and Frau Fischer', 'The Sister of the Baroness', 'The Modern Soul', 'The Advanced Lady' and 'Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding' - are dramatised with a cast including Claire Skinner, Eleanor Bron and Emma Cunniffe. 
 
Also included are eight of her lesser-known tales: 'A Dill Pickle' (read by Clare Corbett), 'Mr Reginald Peacock's Day' (read by Brian Gear), 'Sun and Moon' (read by Lin Sagovsky), 'Psychology' and 'Pictures' (read by Eileen Atkins), 'The Voyage' (read by Indira Varma), 'Honeymoon' (read by Emilia Fox) and 'The Fly' (read by Sam Dale). In addition, her evocative poem 'Winter Song' is read by Sir Derek Jacobi. 
 
Two original dramas explore moments in the life of the great author. Katie Hims' Luxembourg Gardens reimagines Katherine Mansfield's last day in Paris and stars Hattie Morahan, while Cherie Rogers' An Oddly Complete Understanding looks at Mansfield's friendship with Virginia Woolf and stars Rosalind Shanks and Penelope Wilton. The passionate correspondence between Katherine Mansfield and her husband John Middleton Murray is revealed in Darling Mouse, Precious Worm, read by Kerry Fox and Michael Maloney. And in Great Lives: Katherine Mansfield, Jacqueline Wilson assesses the impact of Mansfield's brilliant but tragically short career. 
 
Track listing: 
1. Bliss 
2. Something Childish But Very Natural 
3. Marriage a la Mode 
4. Daughters of the Late Colonel 
5. The Garden Party 
6. Life of Ma Parker 
7. Her First Ball 
8. The Stranger 
9. Miss Brill 
10. A Cup of Tea 
11. The Doll's House 
12. Poison 
13. Little Episode 
14. Germans at Meat and Frau Fischer 
15. The Sister of the Baroness 
16. The Modern Soul 
17. The Advanced Lady 
18. Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding 
19. Dill Pickle 
20. Mr Reginald Peacock's Day 
21. Sun and Moon 
22. Psychology 
23. Pictures 
24. The Voyage 
25. Honeymoon 
26. The Fly 
27. Winter Song 
28. Luxembourg Gardens by Katie Hims 
29. An Oddly Complete Understanding by Cherie Rogers 
30-34. Darling Mouse, Precious Worm - letter between Katherine Mansfield and John Middleton Murray 
35. Great Lives: Katherine Mansfield - with Jacqueline Wilson 
 
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Katherine Mansfield BBC Radio Collection

Dramatisations and readings of selected stories

Arnold Bennett

Neil Dudgeon and Tim McInnerny star in this epic tale of money, passion and defiance, inspired by the 'Five Towns' novels of Arnold Bennett 
 
In this radical reinterpretation of Arnold Bennett's classic novels set in the Staffordshire potteries, it's the 19th Century and the Industrial Revolution is at full throttle. Only the ruthless thrive in this uncompromising world - and Ephraim Tellwright and Darius Clayhanger are both determined to succeed. 
 
From humble beginnings, these two self-made men have risen to become wealthy and powerful. Now, they hold the fate of the Five Towns in their hands, passing judgement on those who put the prosperity and reputation of their community at risk... 
 
Over 10 hours and almost 40 years, we follow them, their descendants, and the inhabitants of Bursley and the Five Towns, as individuals rise, fall, flourish, age, and see the world around them become unrecognisable, transformed by new technology. Fortunes are lost, hearts broken, empires built and compromises made. 
 
These tales of aspiration and passion, damage and danger are told with Bennett's forensic eye for human psychology and a surprising degree of witty comedy, and feature a star cast including Emma Cunniffe, Kate O'Flynn, Don Gilet and Rebekah Staton.

China Towns: Based on the Five Towns Novels

BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations

Bruce Chatwin

A collection of full-cast dramas and readings from the giant of travel writing – plus a bonus documentary 
 
Author and adventurer Bruce Chatwin was one of the 20th Century’s most charismatic writers. His first book, In Patagonia, changed the face of travel writing and made him a literary sensation. Collected here are dramatisations and readings of some of his best-known work, as well as a bonus programme shedding light on his relationships and writing. 
 
In Patagonia – Chatwin’s picaresque masterpiece has been described as ‘probably the most influential travel book written since the war’. This transportive dramatisation stars Russell Tovey as a writer on a quest to the very end of the world in search of mythical beasts. 
 
On the Black Hill – Recorded on location in the Black Mountains, this is the moving tale of the lifelong bond between two identical twins, and their unbreakable tie to the land they farm. Ioan Meredith stars as Lewis and Benjamin Jones. 
 
What Am I Doing Here? – Patrick Malahide reads five essential pieces taken from Chatwin’s posthumous collection of essays. In 'The Volga', ‘Your Father’s Eyes Are Blue Again’, ‘The Bey’, ‘The Albatross’ and 'Konstantin Melnikov', we are taken on a cruise down Russia's great brown waterway on the Maxim Gorky, hear of hope regained, and share a toast to fantastic projects realised and unrealised. 
 
The Songlines – Michael Siberry reads this 10-part abridged account of Chatwin’s travels across Australia in search of the Aboriginal ‘songlines’: invisible pathways that are both intricate sources of personal identity and territorial markers. 
 
The Essay: Postcards: Bruce Chatwin – Chatwin’s editor and biographer Susannah Clapp looks through the postcards she received from him over the years, reflecting on what these missives reveal about the iconic writer. 
 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Bruce Chatwin 
 
Text copyright © Bruce Chatwin 1977 (In Patagonia), 1982 (On the Black Hill), 1987 (The Songlines) 
What Am I Doing Here? copyright © The Estate of Bruce Chatwin 1989 
 
In Patagonia 
Cast: Russell Tovey, David Sterne, Noni Lewis, Hasan Dixon, Melissa Vaughan, Ewan Bailey, Florencia Cordeu, Helen Schlesinger, Julio Galán 
Directed by Ciaran Bermingham 
Adapted by Sebastian Bazckiewicz 
Production Co-ordinator: Jenny Mendez 
Piano: Satoshi Kubo 
Sound: Keith Graham and Jenni Burnett 
With thanks to Susannah Clapp 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 Aug 2023 
 
On the Black Hill 
Cast: Ioan Meredith, Gwen Watford, Ian Hogg, Robin Davies, Gerald James, June Barrie, Dorien Thomas, Sue Broomfield, Sue Soames, Peter Howell, Huw Tudor, Matthew Routley, Simon Price, Claire Watkins, Sian Watkins 
Directed on location in the Black Mountains by Adrian Mourby, BBC Wales 
Dramatised by Charles Way with Robert Blythe 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2 Mar 1987 
 
The Volga 
Read by Patrick Malahide 
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 11-12 May 1989 
 
What Am I Doing Here? 
Read by Patrick Malahide 
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 3 Sep 1990 
 
Konstantin Melnikov 
Read by Patrick Malahide 
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 10 Sep 1990 
 
The Songlines 
Abridged in ten episodes by David Buck 
Read by Michael Siberry 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 22 Jun-3 Jul 1987 
 
The Essay: Postcards: Bruce Chatwin 
Presented by Susannah Clapp 
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 1 Jul 2009 
 
© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Bruce Chatwin: A BBC Radio Collection

In Patagonia & more

Alexei Sayle

Eight dark comic dramas narrated by Alexei Sayle and adapted from his original short stories 
 
Dramatised from Alexei Sayle's hilarious, highly-acclaimed fiction, these satirical, surreal and surprising tales feature some of the UK's foremost comic actors, and are introduced by the award-winning comedian himself. 
 
The Only Man Stalin Was Afraid Of- Summoned to treat his old friend, Stalin's psychiatrist is faced with an ethical dilemma. Starring Peter Capaldi, Freya Parker and Peter Serafinowicz. 
 
Banner Bright - 1968. Five students meet during an art school occupation, and create an inspirational protest banner they believe will change the world. Starring Ben Crompton, George Fouracres, Kath Hughes, Tim Key and Nimisha Odedra. 
 
The Minister for Death - A Liverpudlian pensioner foils a would-be mugger - and rekindles his lust for murder... Starring Paul Barber, Lewis MacLeod, Shaun Mason, Freya Parker and Frances Tomelty. 
 
The Last Woman Killed In The War - Returning to Liverpool after 40 years of exile, Mary finds that much has changed during her absence. Starring Adi Alfa, Katy Carmichael, Shaun Mason, Jan Ravens and Paislie Reid. 
 
Clive Hole - An indecisive TV commissioner comes under pressure from two dogged producers determined to get their screenplay made. Starring Katheryn Drysdale, Graham Duff, George Fouracres, Georgie Glenn, Tim McInnerny, Alice McMillan and Duncan Wisbey. 
 
Barcelona Chairs- Frustrated architect 'rupert' embeds himself in Tony Blair's Labour government while trying to design the perfect, ultra-minimalist home for his family. Starring Ambika Mod, Hugh Quarshie and Siobhan Redmond. 
 
The Nameless Park- Jade loves the neglected park near her house, and often takes her wheelchair-user brother for trips around its paths. But when Jason becomes critically ill, she makes a devastating discovery. Starring Louis Emerick, George Fouracres, Shaun Mason, Alice McMillan and Claire Sweeney. 
 
Locked Out - Unexpectedly stuck outside her Central London home, Katherine realises how little she knows about her neighbours' lives, and the strange and apparently sinister things they get up to... Starring Maxine Peake. 
 
Credits 
Written and narrated by Alexei Sayle 
Adapted for radio by Alexei Sayle and Graham Duff 
Produced by Joe Nunnery 
Photo: Matt Stronge 
A BBC Studios Production 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 25 February-25 March 2019 (Series 1) and 10-31 March 2021 (Series 2) 
 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Alexei Sayle’s The Absence of Normal: Series 1 and 2

BBC Radio 4 dark comic plays

Victor Whitechurch

Benedict Cumberbatch reads five stories featuring the famous vegetarian railway detective, Thorpe Hazell, as heard on BBC Radio 4. 
 
In The Affair of the German Dispatch-Box, Hazell hatches a daring plan to retrieve a highly sensitive government document before it reaches the German Ambassador. 
 
In Sir Gilbert Murrell's Picture, When an entire wagon containing valuable paintings disappears from a goods train, Hazell's skill is needed. 
 
In The Affair of the Corridor Express, a multimillionaire's son disappears from a moving train. Hazell must find the kidnappers before the boy is lost forever. 
 
In The Stolen Necklace a lady begs Hazell to help when the diamond necklace that she borrowed is stolen from her suitcase. 
 
In The Affair of the Birmingham Bank, customers keep drawing money from a Midlands bank, so gold reserves are sent by train. Hazell must guard against train robbery.

Benedict Cumberbatch Reads Thrilling Stories of the Railway

A BBC Radio Reading

Mark Twain

BBC radio productions of Mark Twain's very best novels and short stories - plus bonus material 
 
Mark Twain (real name Samuel Langhorne Clemens), was one of the foremost writers and humorists to come out of the United States. Hailed by William Faulkner as 'the father of American literature', he is renowned worldwide for his classic novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This wide-ranging collection comprises dramatisations and readings of a host of his much-loved stories, from well-known works to less familiar gems. 
 
The adaptations include Tony Award-winning Bryony Lavery's rhythmic reworking of The Million Pound Bank Note; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, dramatised by award-winning playwright Marcy Kahan; and The Diary of Adam and Eve, Twain's affectionate satire about the battle of the sexes. They are performed by full casts including Trevor White, Mark Caven, Christopher Jacot, Inika Leigh Wright and Tom Goodman-Hill. 
 
Among the readings are an abridged version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, in which Ed Bishop brings Tom's escapades to colourful life; the little-known yarn The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (read by Jon Glover) telling the tall tale of an inveterate gambler and a talented amphibian; and The Prince and the Pauper (read by Jason Isaacs), an abridgement of Twain's historical fantasy about two identical boys born on the same day - one rich, the other poor. And in Mark Twain Stories, Frasier star Kelsey Grammer reads five of the great author's finest short stories. 
Also included is Kaleidoscope Feature: The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, charting the troubled 100-year history of Twain's controversial novel, which has gone from being banned to being beloved - and back again. 
 
NB: Contains language that listeners may find offensive 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Mark Twain. First published 1867 (The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County), 1868 (Cannibalism in the Cars), 1870 (The Facts in the Case of the Great Beef Contract, A Ghost Story), 1875 (The Experience of the McWilliamses with Membranous Croup, Niagara), 1876 (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), 1881 (The Prince and the Pauper), 1884 (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), 1893 (The Million Pound Bank Note), 1931 (The Private Life of Adam and Eve) 
 
The Million Pound Bank Note 
Dramatised by Bryony Lavery. Produced by Pauline Harris and Sharon Sephton 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 December 2011 
 
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 
Abridged by Brian Miller. Read by Ed Bishop. First broadcast BBC Radio 5, 20-31 May 1991 
 
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 
Dramatised by Marcy Kahan. Directed by Ned Chaillet. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 15-29 December 2002 
 
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 
Read by Jon Glover. Produced by Mitch Raper. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 4 September 1978 
 
The Diary of Adam and Eve 
Dramatised by Martin Glynn. Produced by Jenny Stephens. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20 March 2005 
 
The Prince and the Pauper 
Read by Jason Isaacs. First broadcast BBC Radio 7, 17 October 2009 
 
Mark Twain Stories: The Facts in the Great Beef Contract, A Day at Niagara, Cannibalism in the Cars, A Ghost Story and Experiences of the MacWilliamses 
Read by Kelsey Grammar. Abridged and produced by Duncan Minshull. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 15-19 September 1997 
 
Kaleidoscope Feature: The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 
Produced by Paul Quinn. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 May 1996 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Mark Twain: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Million Pound Bank Note & More

A brand new BBC Radio adaptation of Neil Gaiman's award-winning fairytale, merging Snow White and Sleeping Beauty to enchanting effect 
 
In a mountain kingdom far away, a young queen prepares for her wedding, believing her future is sealed. But when three dwarves bring news of a sleeping sickness sweeping across her realm, she knows she cannot stand by and do nothing. As a girl, she survived her own long, magical sleep, so she must try to turn back this new plague and save her people. 
 
Abandoning her bridal finery, she dons her armour instead, and rides out to a castle at the very heart of the sleeping lands. There, she finds a beautiful princess, sound asleep, and a very old woman, forever awake. With no handsome prince in sight, the queen wakes the princess in the traditional way - but things are not as they seem, and it will take more than a kiss to ensure everyone lives happily ever after... 
 
Penelope Wilton, Gwendoline Christie, Ralph Ineson and Neil Gaiman himself are among the star cast in this captivating fable of love, loss, hope and destiny. 
 
This release is an extended cut of the story broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and features an exclusive introduction from Neil Gaiman. 
 
 
Credits 
Written by Neil Gaiman 
Adapted by Katie Hims 
Directed and produced by Allegra McIlroy 
 
Recorded remotely by Sharon Hughes and John Benton 
Sound design by Sharon Hughes 
 
A BBC Audio North Production 
 
Cast 
The Narrator/The Old Woman - Dame Penelope Wilton 
The Queen - Gwendoline Christie 
The Home Secretary - Neil Gaiman 
The First Dwarf - Ralph Ineson 
The Second Dwarf - Stefan Adegbola 
The Third Dwarf/The Prince/The Tinker/The Woodcutter - Ian Dunnett Jnr 
The Pot Girl/The Young Girl/The Mother - Cecilia Appiah 
The Maid/The Other Woman/The Stepmother - Emma Handy 
The Father/The Inn Keeper/The Bandit - Roger Ringrose 
The Child - Milton Dighton 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 December 2020

The Sleeper and the Spindle

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

Elizabeth Taylor

Full-cast dramatisations of three acclaimed novels by Elizabeth Taylor – including Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont – plus 17 readings of her short fiction Described by Antonia Fraser as ‘one of the most underrated novelists of the 20th century’, Elizabeth Taylor was much admired for her witty, acutely observed stories of middle-class life. She never achieved widespread recognition during her lifetime – perhaps due to the fame of her Hollywood namesake – but since her death in 1975, her work has been rediscovered. This collection showcases the very best of her oeuvre, as heard on BBC Radio.Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont is the poignant tale of an elderly lady who moves into a genteel London hotel and strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young writer. Jean Anderson stars as Mrs Palfrey in this 1974 adaptation, with Tony Robinson as Ludo. In A Wreath of Roses, starring Angela Pleasence, a violent and disturbing incident at the start of her holiday proves to be a memory Camilla cannot escape, while In a Summer Season sees wealthy widow Kate marrying a younger man, provoking gossip among her conventional 1950s community. Kate Buffery stars in this moving drama about love and the transience of happiness.Taylor’s short stories, a number of which appeared in The New Yorker and Harper’s Bazaar, are regarded by many as her crowning achievement. Included here are 15 of them, beginning with three tales read by Joanna Tope – ‘The Idea of Age’, ‘Plenty Good Fiesta’ and ‘The Blush’. Also featured is the Radio 4 anthology Dangerous Calm, comprising five stories abridged by Richard Hamilton: ‘The Letter Writers’, ‘The Benefactress’ and ‘Hotel du Commerce, read by Joanna David; and ‘Spry Old Character’ and ‘A Dedicated Man’, read by David Troughton. Seven more short pieces follow – ‘The Devastating Boys’ (abridged by Di Speirs), ‘Sisters’, ‘Swan Moving’, ‘Simone’, ‘Flesh’, ‘Gravement Endommage’ and ‘In and Out the Houses’, read by Sarah Badel, Sheila Mitchell, Fiona Walker, Ann Windsor, Rosemary Leach, Shireen Shah and Cécile Chevreau respectively.Two 13-part Woman’s Hour serials conclude our compilation. In The Wedding Group, read by June Barrie, two rebellious young people, each escaping their families, make an unhappy marriage. And in The Sleeping Beauty, read by Nigel Anthony, a 50-year-old bachelor becomes smitten with an enigmatic recluse – but both of them are nursing secrets... 
Contents 
Dramatisations:Mrs Palfrey at the ClaremontA Wreath of RosesIn a Summer SeasonShort Stories:The Idea of AgePlenty Good FiestaThe BlushThe Letter WritersThe BenefactressHotel du Commerce Spry Old CharacterA Dedicated ManThe Devastating BoysSistersSwan MovingSimoneFleshGravement EndommageIn and Out the HousesThe Wedding GroupThe Sleeping Beauty© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Elizabeth Taylor: A BBC Radio Collection

20 dramas and short stories from the acclaimed 20th Century novelist

Stacy Aumonier

A BBC radio anthology of the very best short stories by Stacy Aumonier 
 
Stacy Aumonier was an author, stage performer, 'society entertainer', World War One private and draughtsman, who gained an unrivalled reputation for his short fiction in the 1920s. John Galsworthy described him as ‘one of the best short-story writers of all time’, and several of his tales were adapted for television by Alfred Hitchcock. 
 
Full of wit, warmth and empathy, the eleven stories in this collection offer beautifully constructed insights into the various absurdities of human behaviour. 
 
In ‘The Baby Grand’, starring Trevor Peacock and Oona Beeson, a young girl struggles to study the piano amidst her family’s hostility. 
 
Aumonier’s World, first broadcast in 1993, comprises the four dramas: ‘Where Was Wych Street?’, ‘A Source of Irritation’, ‘Freddie Finds Himself’ and ‘Funeral March’. Starring John Baddeley as Aumonier, with Oona Beeson, Colin Pinney, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Fiona Fullerton, they centre around a pub argument that brings the world to a crisis, life in the First World War trenches, a young man’s discovery of his true vocation and the mysterious allure of the rich Mme Vieninoff. 
 
Initially aired on Radio 4 in 2011, Extremely Entertaining Short Stories contains two stories read by Mark Heap and Mathew Horne respectively. ‘The Brown Wallet’ features a man facing financial ruin who discovers a wallet containing £2000 in the back of a taxi, while in ‘The Room’, a bedsit dweller dreams of escape – then his landlady knocks on his door… 
 
Also included are four stories read by John Baddeley – ‘Dark Red Roses’, in which the titular flowers spell doom rather than romance, ‘Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty’, about a middle-aged spinster on her first trip abroad, ‘One Sunday Morning’, which sees a peaceful Sunday spoiled, and ‘An Adventure in Bed’, in which George’s lazy life is transformed by the beautiful Maisie... 
 
First published 1918 (‘A Source of Irritation’), 1921 (‘Where Was Wych Street?’, ‘An Adventure in Bed’), 1923 (‘The Brown Wallet’, ‘Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty’), 1924 (‘Freddie Finds Himself’), 1926 (‘The Baby Grand’, ‘Funeral March’, ‘The Room’), 1929 (‘Dark Red Roses’, ‘One Sunday Morning’) 
 
© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Stacy Aumonier: A BBC Radio Collection

Eleven Dramatisations and Readings

Lynne Truss

26 short stories about the eccentric inhabitants of Meridian Cliffs, a small, wind-battered town on England's South Coast 
 
'Very few writers read their own work well on the radio, but Truss is an exception. Her voice and timing suit the material perfectly' The Lady 
 
Welcome to Meridian Cliffs. Located at exactly 0 degrees 0 minutes west, and 0 degrees 0 minutes east, it's where the Greenwich Meridian meets the Channel, and time stands poised at absolute zero. But due to ever-increasing coastal erosion, it's getting smaller every day... 
 
The residents of this curious town are easy to identify from their habit of shouting to be heard against the wind even when they're indoors. There's Sarah Birkett, granddaughter of the town's founder, who longs for a small improvement to her life; retired driving instructor Terry and his rescue dog Thelonius (the team mascot of Meridian Cliffs FC); carpet supremo Hugh Velvey, whose business and life are destroyed by arson and murder; and Ravi, whose curry house is the scene of a dramatic confession - and some unsettling news. 
 
All are harbouring secrets, desires and dreams, and over the course of four series, we hear about their thwarted ambitions, hidden passions and forlorn hopes - and eavesdrop on a few typically sticky British moments. Beautifully observed, gently comic and often moving, these sublime short stories are written and read by Lynne Truss. 
 
Production credits 
Written and read by Lynne Truss 
Directed by Kate McAll 
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, May 2016-April 2019 
 
Series 1 
There's No Need to Shout 
Free Parking 
Gimme Shelter 
 
Series 2 
In Your Dreams 
Pavlovian 
The Shortest Way Home 
Houseroom 
The Limit 
Accept No Substitute 
Mrs Manville Disposes 
In Cold(ish) Blood 
Darren Springs Forward 
In the Dark 
 
Series 3 
Consequences 
You Never Said 
The West Wing 
Tristan da Cunha 
Waiting for JB 
Weemails 
Protective Colouring 
Speed Kills 
A Weight off His Mind 
The Day the Earth Moved Slightly 
 
Series 4 
Taking It In 
Celebration 
Braking Distance 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Life at Absolute Zero

The complete BBC Radio series 1-4

A BBC radio celebration of the works of Oscar Wilde, including energetic adaptations of his best-known plays, short stories, and original dramas about the man himself 
 
Long before he'd produced any of his great works, Oscar Wilde was already famous for being famous. Armed only with some witty epigrams, a carefully crafted persona and his genius for self-promotion, he had conquered America and transformed himself from nobody to star. 
 
This radio collection opens with four plays from Radio 4's Born to be Wilde season, offering a 21st Century perspective on the making of one of the first true celebrities. First up are two sparkling and surprising productions of his two most popular comedies, marking the peak of his theatrical career. The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband feature stellar casts including Mathew Baynton, Jeany Spark, John Heffernan and Miranda Raison, with the latter also featuring music by Steppenwolf, Taylor Swift and Amy Winehouse. 
 
Next, two plays by Marcy Kahan and Lavinia Murray explore aspects of Wilde's life. The Warhol Years charts his astonishing rise, as he embarks on his US tour determined to be famous for 15 minutes - and then some. Oscar and Constancy portrays a celebrity marriage in crisis, as Wilde's domestic and creative lives vie for supremacy. Both dramas star Max Bennett as the young Wilde, with Dervla Kirwan as his mother, Speranza. 
 
Also included in this collection are nine of Wilde's classic short stories. The deliciously satirical 'Lord Arthur Savile's Crime' is dramatised with a full cast including Rupert Penry-Jones and Gillian Kearney. His humorous supernatural story 'The Canterville Ghost' is read by Alistair McGowan, and Joseph Ayre narrates two delightful stories with a twist: 'The Sphinx Without a Secret' and 'The Model Millionaire'. Wilde's dazzling fairytales - 'The Happy Prince', 'The Nightingale and the Rose', 'The Selfish Giant', 'The Remarkable Rocket' and 'The Birthday of the Infanta' - are read by Joseph Fiennes, Joseph Ayre, Sam Dale, John Moffatt and Paul McGann. 
 
 
Track listing: 
An Ideal Husband 
The Importance of Being Earnest 
The Warhol Years 
Oscar and Constancy 
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime 
'The Canterville Ghost' 
'The Sphinx Without a Secret' 
'The Model Millionaire' 
'The Happy Prince' 
'The Nightingale and the Rose' 
'The Selfish Giant' 
'The Remarkable Rocket' 
'The Birthday of the Infanta'

Born to be Wilde

Plays, stories and the making of a modern celebrity

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