Aeham Ahmad, born in Damascus in 1988, grew up in Yarmouk, a suburb of Damascus. From the age of four onwards his father encouraged his musical talent and at seven he received piano lessons at the Arab Institute in Damascus. He later studied music education in Homs and worked as a music teacher. 
 
In 2015 he was forced to flee to Germany because of the war in Syria. Today he lives with his family in Wiesbaden and gives concerts all over Europe. In December 2015, Ahmad was awarded the International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights. 
 
This is his first book.

Aeham Ahmad

Aemilia Lanyer

Aeneas Gunn

Aerosmith

Aeschylus

Aesop lived in the early sixth century BC on the island of Samos, which lies off the coast of modern Turkey. He originally came from Thrace which was a separate country in those days, though it now forms part of Greece and Bulgaria. Very little is known about his life except that he worked as a slave on Samos for a master called Iadmon, and that he became a very famous storyteller. He was so famous that almost any fable which could have been told by him became attributed to him.

Aesop

Afsaneh Knight

Afsaneh Moqadam

Afua Hirsch is a writer, filmmaker, and journalist. She is the author of Brit(ish), the Sunday Times bestseller that explores Britishness, identity and belonging, for which she was awarded the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction. She co-presented Enslaved, a 6-part series about the transatlantic slave trade with Samuel L Jackson. She is the presenter of the Audible podcast series We Need To Talk About the British Empire, and Africa Rising, an ongoing flagship series about art and culture for the BBC, through her production company Born in Me Productions. She is a longtime columnist for the Guardian and is a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California.

Afua Hirsch

AGAPI STASSINOPOULOS is an author, blogger and international speaker who inspires audiences around the world. She has spoken at many corporations and conferences, such as Nike Women, Starbucks,Time Inc., Virgin, Johnson &amp; Johnson and the American Heart Foundation. She was born in Athens and trained in London at RADA before gaining a Master’s in psychology at the University of Santa Monica. She has collaborated with her sister, Arianna Huffington, to develop talks and seminars, and has worked with the Oprah Winfrey network. She is currently hosting a new podcast series in collaboration with The Huffington Post, entitled ‘Sundays with Agapi’, which includes guided meditations and interviews with prominent guests. She lives in Los Angeles.

Agapi Stassinopoulos

Agatha Christie

Aggie MacKenzie

Aghnia Mardiyah is a London-based Illustrator and Character Designer with a passion for children's books and animation. She is drawn to fun, bright and vibrant colours. When she isn't disappearing under piles of work, she loves to travel! Exploring foreign places, exciting new sights and sensations is what inspires her the most!

Aghnia Mardiyah

Agnes Callard is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. Her primary areas of specialization are ancient philosophy and ethics. She has written for The New York Times, New Yorker, Atlantic, Harper’s, Boston Review, and penned a monthly column for the Point. From 2019 to 2020, she held a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for the research that contributes to this book.

Agnes Callard

Agnes Jekyll

Agnes Bertha Marshall (24 August 1855-29 July 1905) was an English culinary entrepreneur who became a leading cookery writer, dubbed the 'Queen of Ices'. Her 1888 cookery book included a recipe for 'cornets with cream', possibly the earliest publication of the edible ice cream cone. Marshall was born in Walthamstow. She wrote four books: Ices Plain and Fancy: The Book of Ices (1885), Mrs A B Marshall's Book of Cookery (1888), Mrs A B Marshall's Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes (1891) and Fancy Ices (1894).

Agnes Marshall

Agnes Prus

Agri Ismaïl is a Kurdish author based in Sweden who has worked as a corporate lawyer in London, Dubai, and Iraqi Kurdistan. His work has been published in The White Review, The Rumpus, Litro, 3:AM Magazine, and Asymptote amongst other places. His piece 'Haunted Home' won the 2016 Stack award for best non-fiction for The Outpost, runner-up in the Lifted Brow &amp; RMIT non/fictionLab Prize for Experimental Non-Fiction, and he was longlisted for the 2017/2018 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize. Hyper is his first novel.

Agri Ismaïl

Aharon Appelfeld authored more than 45 acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction and received many international awards including the MLA Commonwealth Award, the Independent Foreign Fiction prize, the prix Médicis étranger, the Israel prize, and the Nelly Sachs prize. Born in Czernowitz, Bukovina (now part of Ukraine) in 1932, he survived the Holocaust and passed away in Israel in 2018.

Aharon Appelfeld

Ahmadou Kourouma

Ahmed Alnaouq is a Palestinian journalist and human rights activist based in London. He is the co-founder and director of We Are Not Numbers and a journalist with Palestine Deep Dive. Ahmed holds a degree in English Literature from Al-Azhar university in Gaza, and an MA in International Journalism from Leeds University, where he was a Chevening Scholar. 
 
Pam Bailey is a social-justice activist and journalist based in Washington DC. She lived and worked in the Gaza Strip following the 2008/9 Israeli assault, and co-founded We Are Not Numbers. Today, in addition to her ongoing dedication to the Palestinian cause, she dedicates herself to two nonprofits that advocate for people detained in American prisons -- including one she co-founded in 2020, called More Than Our Crimes.

Ahmed Alnaouq

Ahmed Errachidi

Ahmed Rashid

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

Ahron Bregman is the author of four books about Israel and the Arabs: The Fifty Years War (with Jihan el Tahri), Israel's Wars, A History of Israel and Elusive Peace. He teaches at the Department of War Studies, King's College London.

Ahron Bregman

Ai Qing is regarded as one of the finest modern Chinese poets, whose free verse was influential in the development of new poetry in China.

Ai Qing

Ai Weiwei

Aidan Chambers was born in County Durham in 1934. After national service in the Royal Navy he became a teacher and then, for seven years, a monk. His young adult novels have been widely acclaimed, with POSTCARDS FROM NO-MAN'S LAND winning the prestigious Carnegie Medal and the US Michael L Printz Award. With his wife Nancy he ran Signal magazine and he has served as the president of the School Library Association. His devoted services to children's literature were recognised by his receipt of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002.

Aidan Chambers

Aidan Higgins was born in 1927. Langrishe Go Down, his first novel, won the James Tait Black memorial Prize and the Irish Academy of Letters Award, and was later filmed for television with a screenplay by Harold Pinter. His second novel, Balcony of Europe, was shortlisted for the 1972 Booker Prize. The novel Lions of the Grunewald appeared in 1993 and a collection of shorter fiction, Flotsam and jetsam, in 1996. Donkey's Years and Dog Days were the first two volumes of the Higgins Bestiary which concludes with this volume.

Aidan Higgins

Aidan Mathews

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Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift's classic satire, in a brand new dramatisation starring Arthur Darvill (Rory from BBC Television's Doctor Who) 
 
Gulliver is shipwrecked on the Island of Lilliput where the natives are tiny people living in a miniature society. With his unique overview of this realm, Gulliver discovers a world of petty politics and small minds. Coerced into a war between two nations who disagree on the best way to eat boiled eggs, Gulliver finds himself betrayed by friends and battered by enemies - escape is his only option if he wants to survive! 
 
Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput are hilarious, disturbing and profound. This is a story of dishonest politicians, mindless ceremony and wars based on unconvincing arguments. A satire as potent now as it ever was!

Gulliver's Travels

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

Emile Zola

Glenda Jackson stars in this award-winning BBC Radio series, inspired by literature's greatest ever whistleblower, Émile Zola, and his epic saga of the Rougon-Macquart family 
 
 ‘Unmissable’ Daily Telegraph 
 
 First published between 1870 and 1893, Émile Zola’s 20-book cycle chronicling four generations of the Rougon-Macquarts was a shocking exposé of the decadence, degradation and moral decay of 19th-century France. It included some of his greatest novels, among them his masterpiece, Germinal. 
 
 These innovative, ambitious dramas, first broadcast on Radio 4 over 24 hours in 2015-16, is a radical reimagining of Zola’s classic series, introducing us to 104-year-old matriarch, Dide, imprisoned in an asylum in southern France. Trapped, but omniscient, she broods over her ‘family of wolves’. As a young woman, she gave birth to two dynasties that exemplified French society. One legitimate – rich, powerful, obsessive and corrupt. The other illegitimate – poor, vulnerable, weak and depraved. 
 
 In these three seasons, themed around blood, sex and money, we come to know the members of her extended family intimately – the good, the bad and the misguided. As we follow their highs and lows, we are taken deep into the heart of France’s ‘Second Empire’ and drawn into the tragic, farcical reign of Napoleon III as it marches forward towards a modern, industrialised society. 
 
 This groundbreaking series won Best Drama at the BBC Radio and Music Awards 2016 and Best Adaptation at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2017, and boasts a star cast including Robert Lindsay, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Holliday Grainger, Samuel West, Anna Maxwell Martin, Paul McGann, Georgina Campbell, Jack Lowden and Alison Steadman. 
 
 Also included is a 30-minute bonus programme, The Life and Work of Émile Zola, in which Glenda Jackson travels to Paris to discover how Zola’s experience and the physical and cultural landscape in which he lived influenced his great novels. 
 
Written by Émile Zola 
Dramatised by Dan Rebellato, Oliver Emanuel, Martin Jameson and Lavinia Murray 
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris, Polly Thomas, Kirsty Williams, Nadia Molinari and Gary Brown 
Executive Producer: Melanie Harris 
Series Producer: Susan Roberts 
Sound designer: Eloise Whitmore 
 
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4

Blood, Sex and Money

A BBC Radio 4 serialisation of Zola's epic saga

D.H. Lawrence

Dramatisations and readings of selected works by DH Lawrence – plus a radio play by Dan Allum and two bonus documentaries exploring Lawrence’s life and writings 
 
Crowned ‘the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation’ by EM Forster, DH Lawrence has an undisputed place in England's canon of great authors. In this wide-ranging collection, dramatisations and readings of some of his major works are brought together, exploring themes such as romantic love and sexual desire, individual freedom, class division, war, the beauty of nature and the ugliness of industrialisation. 
 
This rich and varied anthology contains the radio productions of five of Lawrence’s classic novels, and nine short stories and novellas. It includes: Goose Fair, The Christening, Daughters of the Vicar, Her Turn, Love Among the Haystacks, The Shades of Spring, Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love, The Fox, The Ladybird, Kangaroo, Rawdon’s Roof and Lady Chatterley’s Lover. 
 
Also featured is an original radio drama by Dan Allum, The Gypsy (inspired by Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gypsy), while two bonus radio documentaries – Great Lives and Michael Rosen: On the Trail of DH Lawrence – provide further insight into the inner life of the controversial author. 
 
Due to the archive nature of these recordings, sound quality may vary. 
With thanks to Keith Wickham, Greg Linden and Roy McMillan.

D. H. Lawrence: A BBC Radio Collection

14 dramatisations and radio readings including Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow and Women in Love

Dramatisations and readings of EM Forster’s finest works, plus Stephen Wakelam’s radio play A Dose of Fame and the documentary feature Forster in India: Sex, Books and Empire 
 
One of the greatest English novelists of the 20th century, EM Forster was also an accomplished short story writer. This collection includes stunning adaptations of his classic novels A Passage to India, Where Angels Fear to Tread, A Room with a View and Howards End. Among the star casts are Penelope Wilton, Ellie Kendrick, Sian Thomas, Emilia Fox, Sheila Hancock and John Hurt. 
 
Also featured are four of his short tales – ‘The Story of the Siren’ (read by Dan Stevens), ‘The Road from Colonus’ (read by Andrew Sachs), ‘The Obelisk’ (read by Ruth Wilson) and ‘Ansell’ (read by Peter Kenny). 
 
Forster’s posthumous novel, Maurice, is dramatised with a full cast and stars Alex Wyndham and Bertie Carvel, while Stephen Wakelam’s drama A Dose of Fame, starring Stephen Campbell Moore as Forster, sees the author grappling with a mysterious death, his own sexuality and an idea for his next novel. 
 
In addition, Zareer Masani presents a revealing Radio 3 profile exploring Forster’s literature, love life and personal passage to India.

E. M. Forster: A BBC Radio Collection

Twelve dramatisations and readings including A Passage to India, A Room with a View and Howards End

William Makepeace Thackeray

Al Murray stars in this anarchic BBC radio reboot of Thackeray’s groundbreaking satirical novel 
 
Comedian Al Murray plays his great-great-great grandfather William Makepeace Thackeray as the unreliable narrator in this radical makeover of his ancestor’s celebrated satire on class, sex, money, hypocrisy and snobbery in nineteenth-century England. 
 
As the curtain rises on our ‘story without a hero’, moneyless Becky Sharp leaves school with her upper-class best friend Amelia Sedley. Clever, cunning and ambitious, Becky is determined to make her way in Regency society – and she’ll trample on anyone who gets in her way. 
 
When her plan to marry Amelia’s brother Jos falls through, she snares the aristocratic Rawdon Crawley – but her hopes of riches are dashed when the couple are disinherited by his wealthy aunt. Meanwhile, Amelia marries the dashing George Osborne, breaking the heart of her devoted admirer, William Dobbin. 
 
But war is fast approaching, and as Napoleon advances towards Waterloo, where will the winds of destiny blow our players? And will the ever-resourceful Becky succeed in achieving her desires? 
 
Pacey, contemporary, fresh and funny, this sparkling dramatisation features Ellie White as Becky, Helen O’Hara as Amelia, Blake Ritson as Rawdon, Rupert Hill as George, Thom Tuck as Jos and Graeme Hawley as Dobbin. 
 
 
Cast and credits 
Thackeray (narrator)……………………Al Murray 
Becky Sharp……………………Ellie White 
Amelia Sedley……………………Helen O’Hara 
Rawdon Crawley……………………Blake Ritson 
Jos Sedley……………………Thom Tuck 
George Osborne……………………Rupert Hill 
Dobbin……………………Graeme Hawley 
Mrs Sedley/Mrs Bute/Aunty Crawley/Jane/Rawdon Junior……………………Emma Gregory 
Mr Sedley/Sir Pitt/Lord Steyne……………………Jonathan Keeble 
Mr Osborne/Bute/General Tufto……………………Malcolm Raeburn 
Pitt……………………Lloyd Peters 
Lady Bareacres/Miss Briggs/George Junior……………………Fiona Clarke 
 
Written by William Makepeace Thackeray 
Dramatised by Jim Poyser, with additional material by Al Murray 
A BBC Radio Drama North production 
Produced and directed by Gary Brown 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 May-9 June 2019

Vanity Fair

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

J. M. Barrie

Four of JM Barrie’s finest plays, plus two documentaries exploring the history of Peter Pan

J. M Barrie

Peter Pan and other BBC Radio plays

James Joyce

Gordon Bowker

Three BBC radio productions of major works by James Joyce – plus Gordon Bowker’s fascinating biographical account of his life 
 
Ulysses 
In this full-cast dramatisation of Joyce’s epic modernist novel, the stories of Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom combine as they meander through Dublin in the course of one day, 16 June 1904. Andrew Scott stars as Stephen, with Henry Goodman as Bloom, Niamh Cusack as Molly Bloom and Stephen Rea as the Narrator. 
 
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 
An abridged reading of James Joyce's autobiographical masterpiece portraying the adolescence of Stephen Dedalus, who must question the culture and religion of his native land before he can break free to become an artist. Read by Andrew Scott. 
 
Dubliners 
This abridged collection of fifteen naturalistic tales depicts an array of characters from childhood, through adolescence, to maturity. Stories of love, loss, friendship, marriage, politics and family combine to create a unified world and a celebration of a city. Read by Stephen Rea. 
 
James Joyce – A Biography 
Gordon Bowker’s comprehensive study explores Joyce’s years spent in exile in Europe, and examines how his life shaped his genius. Read by Jim Norton, with Andrew Scott as the voice of Joyce.

The James Joyce BBC Radio Collection

Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & Dubliners

Catherine Louisa Perkis

L Meade

Anna Greene

Wilkie Collins

A series of BBC Radio short stories, comprising of classic and period dramas featuring four female sleuths to rival Sherlock Holmes himself. 
 
The Redhill Sisterhood by Catherine Louisa Pirkis 
Autumn,1897. Victorian undercover agent Loveday Brooke investigates some suspicious nuns who appear to have forsaken their vows – and turned to burglary. 
 
Mr Bovey’s Unexpected Will by LT Meade and Robert Eustace 
Brilliant, beautiful Miss Florence Cusack is one of Victorian London’s most respected consulting detectives. Here, she investigates the extraordinary case of a man whose fate depends on his weight in gold. 
 
The Golden Slipper by Anna Katharine Green 
Vivacious debutante Violet Strange sparkles in New York society – but leads a secret life as a professional agency detective. In this case from 1910, she investigates 'The Inseparables', four wealthy young women suspected of a series of thefts. 
 
The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins 
In this sensational Gothic tale from the author of The Woman in White and The Moonstone, new bride Valeria Woodville sets out to clear her husband of murdering his first wife. 
 
Starring Gayanne Potter as Loveday Brooke, Elizabeth Conboy as Florence Cusack, Teresa Gallagher as Violet Strange and Abigail Docherty as Valeria Woodville.

The Lady Detectives

Four BBC Radio 4 crime dramatisations

P.G. Wodehouse

A rollicking collection of six fully dramatised Jeeves & Wooster novels, starring Michael Hordern and Richard Briers. 
 
In The Inimitable Jeeves, Aunt Agatha is forcing Bertie to get engaged to the formidable Honoria Glossop. Can Jeeves save the day? 
Right Ho, Jeeves sees mayhem breaking out at Brinkley Court, but there are more brains in the Wooster household than just Jeeves... 
In The Code of the Woosters, who would think that a silver cow-creamer could cause so much trouble? Uncle Tom wants it and Aunt Dahlia is blackmailing Bertie to steal it. 
In Joy in the Morning, Steeple Bumphleigh is a village to be avoided for Bertie, as it contains the appalling Aunt Agatha. Still, there are good deeds to be done. 
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit finds Jeeves in for a few surprises when returns from his annual shrimping holiday in Bognor Regis. 
In Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, Madeline Bassett and Gussie Fink-Nottle’s engagement is on the rocks, and poor Bertie's next in line for the fair maiden’s hand. 
 
Publisher’s note: As of January 2025, the dramatisations have been re-ordered into their correct order, by original broadcast date. 
 
Track Listing:<ul><li>Tracks 1-8: The Inimitable Jeeves</li><li>Tracks 9-16: Right Ho, Jeeves</li><li>Tracks 17-23: The Code of the Woosters</li><li>Tracks 24-30: Joy in the Morning</li><li>Tracks 31-43: Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit</li><li>Tracks 44-49: Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves</li></ul>Cast and credits 
 
Written by P.G. Wodehouse 
Adapted for radio by Chris Miller & Richard Usborne 
Produced by Simon Brett & David Hatch 
 
Bertie Wooster — Richard Briers 
Jeeves — Michael Hordern 
 
Recurring cast: Jonathan Cecil, Joan Sanderson, Miriam Margolyes, Andrew Cruickshank, Vivian Pickles, Rex Garner, Bridget Armstrong, Aimi MacDonald, Ray Cooney, James Villiers, Paul Eddington, Bronwen Williams, Liza Goddard, Patrick Cargill, John Le Mesurier and Denise Coffey 
 
With appearances from David Jason, Maurice Denham, Ronald Fraser, Jonathan Lynn, Douglas Blackwell, Edwin Apps, John Graham, Jennie Goossens, Peter Woodthorpe, Denise Bryer, Rosalind Adams, Michael Kilgarriff, James Villiers, Norman Bird, Diana King, Ann Davies, Liza Goddard, David Tate, Percy Edwards and Graham Faulkner. 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 1973-1981 
 
 
©2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Jeeves & Wooster

The Collected Radio Dramas

Based on the classic novel by E M Forster, this epic full-cast drama is set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian Independence movement during the 1920s. 
 
When Adela Quested and her companion Mrs Moore arrive in the Indian town of Chandrapore, they quickly feel trapped by its insular and prejudiced 'Anglo-Indian' community. Determined to escape the parochial English enclave and explore the 'real India', they seek the guidance of the charming and mercurial Dr Aziz, a cultivated Indian Muslim. Through them, Aziz becomes friends with Cyril Fielding. 
 
But a mysterious incident occurs when Aziz accompanies the women to explore the Marabar Caves, and the well-respected doctor soon finds himself at the centre of a scandal that rouses violent passions among both the British and their Indian subjects. The consequences affect everyone, and threaten Aziz and Fielding's friendship. 
 
Exploring issues of colonialism, faith and the limits of comprehension, the story begins and ends by posing a question: in this context, is it possible for an Englishman and an Indian to be friends?

A Passage to India

Oscar Wilde

The collected BBC radio productions of the major works of Oscar Wilde, plus bonus play by Neil Bartlett 
 
Loved for his flamboyant personality, sparkling wit and brilliant epigrams, Oscar Wilde was a comic genius and a literary icon. 
 
This collection reflects the many facets of his dazzling talent. Here are dramatisations of his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, a Gothic tale of a gilded aristocrat who makes a dangerous pact, as well as four scintillating social comedies – Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband. Among the distinguished casts are Ian MacDiarmid, Joely Richardson, Edward Fox, Diana Rigg, Martin Clunes, Michael Hordern and Judi Dench. 
 
Moving examples of his correspondence are revealed in The Letters of Oscar Wilde and De Profundis, read by Simon Callow and Simon Russell Beale respectively, and his most famous poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, is performed live by stars including Ian McKellen, Neil Tennant and Stephen Fry. 
 
In addition, a bonus drama, In Extremis by Neil Bartlett, starring Corin Redgrave and Sheila Hancock, reimagines Oscar Wilde's hastily arranged sitting with a society palm reader, a week before the trial that would cost him so dearly.

The Oscar Wilde BBC Radio Drama Collection

Five full-cast productions

Virginia Woolf

The collected BBC radio adaptations of Virginia Woolf’s pioneering modernist novels, with star casts including Kristin Scott-Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave, Juliet Stevenson, Laura Fraser, Robert Glenister and Fenella Woolgar. 
 
The Voyage Out 
A sea voyage to South America turns into a journey of self-discovery for naïve Rachel Vinrace. Starring Laura Fraser, Rebecca Johnson and Bertie Carvel. 
 
Night and Day 
In pre-First World War London, aristocrat Katharine Hilbery and suffragette Mary Datchet have their assumptions about love challenged. Starring Kristin Scott-Thomas. 
 
Mrs Dalloway 
Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece charts one day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, as she prepares to host an important party. Starring Fenella Woolgar. 
 
To the Lighthouse 
Centring around a summer home on Skye, Virginia Woolf’s landmark tale follows the Ramsay family and their guests before and after World War I. Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Juliet Stevenson and Robert Glenister. 
 
Orlando 
The adventures of time-travelling, gender-swapping poet Orlando, who is born male in Elizabethan England and dies female over 300 years later. Starring Jennie Stoller and David McAlister. 
 
The Waves 
In this radical ‘play-poem’, six characters look back on their childhood and first forays into adulthood, and reflect on the loss of their friend Percival. Starring Geraldine James and Anna Massey. 
 
Between the Acts 
An eccentric artist devises a pageant celebrating English history – but it is 1939, and the shadow of war hangs over England’s present. Starring Sarah Badel.

The Virginia Woolf BBC Radio Drama Collection

Seven full-cast dramatisations

Henry James

The definitive collection of full-cast BBC radio dramatisations of Henry James’ classic novels – plus a bonus documentary about his life and work 
 
One of the greatest and most influential American novelists, Henry James is loved for his compelling storytelling, vividly realised characters and perceptive exploration of the shifting relationships between Europeans and Americans. But he also possessed extraordinary insights into the secrets of the human heart, as shown in the ten dramas in this collection. 
 
Roderick Hudson explores how love and obsession intermingle as old and new worlds collide; The American mixes humour and heartache in a tale of a self-made millionaire and an aristocratic young Frenchwoman; and desire and propriety clash in Daisy Miller when Frederick Winterbourne meets the beautiful, free-spirited Daisy. Pursued by two suitors, Isabel Archer longs for freedom in The Portrait of a Lady; while a literary editor insinuates himself into the lives of an elderly spinster and her niece in The Aspern Papers. 
 
What Maisie Knew is James’ classic tale of divorce seen through a child’s eyes; while Gothic ghost story The Turn of the Screw tells the terrifying tale of a governess who tries to protect two young children from the forces of evil. The Wings of the Dove is a heartbreaking story of a doomed love triangle; dark comedy The Ambassadors features yearning and betrayal in aristocratic Paris; and The Golden Bowl explores two marriages and the secret that threatens to tear them apart. 
 
The casts of these sweeping radio dramas include Kate Hudson, Kate Phillips, Emma Cunniffe, Jodie Comer, Henry Goodman and Toby Jones, with John Lynch as Henry James. Also featured is a bonus programme, The Master, in which Sarah Churchwell discusses James’ life and novels with author Colm Tóibin and biographer Hermione Lee.

The Henry James BBC Radio Drama Collection

10 full-cast dramatisations

Nat Perrin

Arthur Sheekman

A BBC radio recreation of the Marx Brothers’ lost shows, starring Michael Roberts and Frank Lazarus 
 
 
‘For me this BBC version is a flattering improvement!’ Nat Perrin, co-creator of the original 1932 Marx Brothers Radio series 
 
 
First broadcast on America’s NBC network between 1932-33, Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel charted the exploits of shady lawyer Waldorf T Flywheel (played by Groucho Marx) and his dopey assistant, Emmanuel Ravelli (played by Chico Marx). The original recordings were lost, but the scripts were rediscovered and edited by Michael Barson. These were published as Flywheel, Shyster &amp; Flywheel: The Marx Brothers Lost Radio Show and licensed for a dramatic adaptation by the BBC. 
 
Between 1990 – 92, BBC Radio 4 recorded the adaptation in front of a live studio audience. Its fast-paced and quickfire gags proved to be a hit, winning a Gold Medal at the New York International Festival in 1992. 
 
In this collection are the three complete radio series, produced by the award-winning Dirk Maggs (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and published together for the very first time. In these eighteen episodes, the duo look after a Rembrandt, try to bamboozle a millionaire, stay in a haunted mansion and join the carnival – along with many other hilarious misadventures. 
 
 
Michael Roberts takes on Groucho’s role as Flywheel, while Frank Lazarus deputises for Chico as Ravelli. Among the regular cast are Lorelei King, Graham Hoadly and Vincent Marzello, with guest stars including Spike Milligan and Dick Vosburgh. 
 
Produced by Dirk Maggs 
A BBC Studios production

Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel: The Complete Series 1-3

A recreation of the Marx Brothers’ lost shows

Laurence Sterne

A full-cast dramatisation of this comic tale about an eighteenth-century gentleman who tries to tell his life story, but continually finds that he must digress... 
 
Featuring some of the best-known and well-loved characters in English literature, including Uncle Toby, Corporal Trim, Dr Slop and the Widow Wadman. Beginning (or attempting to begin) at the moment of his own conception, Tristram Shandy recounts his progress through the world and utterly fails to stick to the point. 
 
Sterne's comic masterpiece is an extravagantly inventive work which was hugely popular when first published in 1759, and is now considered a landmark in the history of the novel. Its often bawdy humour and numerous digressions are combined with bold literary experiments, and 260 years after its publication it remains one of the most influential and widely-admired books of the 18th century. A joyful celebration of the endless possibilities of the art of fiction, Tristram Shandy is also a wry demonstration of its limitations. 
 
Also included in this release is a bonus programme - In Our Time: Tristram Shandy - in which Melvyn Bragg discusses the comic masterpiece with Professor Judith Hawley (University of London), Professor John Mullan (UCL) and Dr Mary Newbould (University of Cambridge). 
 
Cast: 
Tristram...Neil Dudgeon 
Mother...Julia Ford 
Father...David Troughton 
Uncle Toby...Adrian Scarborough 
Corporal Trim...Paul Ritter 
Dr Slop...Tony Rohr 
Obadiah...Stephen Hogan 
Susannah...Helen Longworth 
Great-Grandmother/Bridget...Ndidi Del Fatti 
Great-Grandfather/Pontificating Man/Death...Stuart Mcloughlin 
Bishop Hall/Le Fever...Hugh Dickson 
Widow Wadman...Deborah Findlay 
 
Dramatised by Graham White 
Directed and produced by Mary Peate 
A BBC Studios production

Tristram Shandy

Daniel Defoe

Philip Palmer

Three lively retellings of Daniel Defoe’s classic novels, plus two bonus programmes about his extraordinary life and far-reaching influence. 
 
Robinson Crusoe and his Farther Adventures 
An imaginative blend of the famous castaway tale and its lesser-known sequel, this thrilling drama sees Crusoe setting sail for the far north. Facing danger in the Siberian wastes, he keeps terror at bay by telling his companions campfire tales of his many adventures on his beloved island. Starring Tim McInnerney as Crusoe. 
 
Moll Flanders 
When Daniel Defoe meets Elizabeth Atkins in Newgate jail, she recounts her stranger-than-fiction story of a rags-to-riches life that took her from prostitution to prosperity – but culminated in destitution. Inspired, Defoe mixes fact and fiction to re-invent her as one of his most engaging characters: Moll Flanders. Starring Ben Miles as Defoe and Jessica Hynes as Elizabeth Atkins. 
 
A Journal of the Plague Year 
Writing a fictional journal of the Great Plague of 1665, Defoe soon comes to be haunted by the characters he is conjuring. Starring Ben Miles as Defoe. 
 
This exciting new collection of reinvented tales will also include two bonus programmes about Daniel Defoe himself: 
 
Defoe: Merchant, Writer, Convict, Spy by Philip Palmer - A biographical drama about Defoe’s life, starring Ben Miles as Defoe and Niamh Cusack as his wife Mary. 
 
Defoe: The Facts and Fictions - A documentary by Mark Lawson, exploring the far-reaching influence of the pioneering author.

The Daniel Defoe BBC Radio Drama Collection

Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders & A Journal of the Plague Year

Jules Verne

Jules Verne's two novels featuring Captain Nemo (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island), condensed down to two thrilling hours. 
 
In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Marine scientist Professor Aronnax and his stowaway daughter Connie join whaler Ned Land aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln to hunt an aggressive sea monster, believed to be a giant narwhale. When they engage the monster, they find to their astonish&shy;ment it's an electrically-powered submarine, the Nautilus, techno&shy;logically far superior to any vessel known. They are rescued by the ship's enigmatic captain, Nemo... 
 
In The Mysterious Island, military engineer Cyrus Smith, his freed slave Neb, and reporter Grace Spilett - flee the besieged city of Richmond in a balloon. Their vessel is caught in a vast storm and blown thousands of miles until it crashes on a remote Pacific island. But they soon realise that they are not alone on the island... 
 
Cast of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 
Captain Nemo - Sagar Arya 
Professor Pierre Aronnax - Neil McCaul 
Miss Connie Aronnax - Madeline Hatt 
Ned Land - David Seddon 
Captain Farragut - Philip Bretherton 
 
Cast of The Mysterious Island 
Cyrus Harding - Nathan Osgood 
Grace Spilett - Kerry Gooderson 
Neb - Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong 
Tom Ayrton - Rupert Holliday Evans 
Captain Nemo - Sagar Arya

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea & The Mysterious Island

Two BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations

Charles Dickens

Miriam Margolyes

From Little Nell to Miss Havisham, Dickens’ Women tells the story of Charles Dickens’ life through his beloved characters. Co-written and performed by Miriam Margolyes, best known for her role as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films, this one-women show is a celebration of her infectious passion for Dickens’ work. 
 
 Taking on 23 different Dickensian characters, many of whom were inspired by real people such as Mary Hogwarth – Dickens Sister-in-Law, Margolyes showcases her astonishing versatility as a performer. 
 
Dickens’ Women delighted audiences across the world in 2012 as Margolyes took her Olivier nominated show on tour for the bicentenary of Dicken’s birth.

Dickens' Women

Rudyard Kipling

Kipling's chilling adventure about two men who set out to be kings of a remote region of Afghanistan. 
 
Kipling, our narrator, tells this strange story: he was running a newspaper in a big Indian city. In the hot stillness of one night when he was putting the paper to bed, two men come into his office. They are red-bearded giant Daniel Dravot and his friend Peachy Carnehan. These two "gentlemen at large" as they call themselves, lately of the British army, have put together an insane and dangerous plan: they want to be Kings of Kafiristan, a mountainous region of Afghanistan. 
 
Three years later, a crippled man in rags comes into Kipling's office. He is Peachy Carnehan, and he relates the chilling story of their adventure. 
 
A thrilling and haunting story about the folly and glory of imperial ambition, yet at its heart this is also a story of friendship. 
 
Cast 
Rudyard Kipling - Blake Ritson 
Daniel Dravot - Richard Ridings 
Peachey Carnehan - Samuel James 
Timuk - Peter Polycarpou 
Tribesmen - Joseph Ayre, Stephen Hogan, Ryan Early, Ryan Whittle 
Young woman/Bride - Lauren Cornelius 
Wounded man - John Lightbody 
 
Produced by Abigail le Fleming

The Man Who Would Be King

Charlotte Brontë

Anne Brontë

Emily Brontë

Rachel Joyce

The complete canon of the Brontë sisters' classic novels, dramatised by bestselling author Rachel Joyce 
 
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 
Orphan Jane falls in love with the enigmatic Rochester, but he is concealing a dark secret. 
 
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë 
On the bleak Yorkshire moors, Heathcliff and Cathy’s elemental passion runs wild – but their obsession has devastating consequences. 
 
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë 
Determined to make her way in the world, penniless young Agnes Grey becomes a governess. 
 
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë 
Gentleman farmer Gilbert Markham is powerfully drawn to Helen Graham, the mysterious resident of Wildfell Hall. 
 
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë 
A poignant tale of friendship, romantic entanglements and turbulent times, set in Yorkshire in 1811. 
 
Villette by Charlotte Brontë 
Leaving England to teach in Villette, Lucy Snowe experiences the pangs of unrequited love. 
 
The Professor by Charlotte Brontë 
As a teacher at a boarding-school in Belgium, William Crimsworth encounters trouble and true love. 
 
Adapted by Rachel Joyce, these radio dramas boast star casts including Ellie Kendrick, Amanda Hale, Tom Burke, Lesley Sharp, Paul Venables, Robert Lonsdale, Anna Maxwell Martin, Ben Batt and Chloe Pirrie. 
 
Also included is a one-hour bonus programme featuring Rachel Joyce in conversation with producer Tracey Neale.

The Bronte BBC Radio Drama Collection

F. Scott Fitzgerald

A collection of radio readings of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fiction – plus two bonus programmes 
 
Over the years the BBC has broadcast readings of many of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels, novellas and short stories. This collection includes some of his most famous works alongside various lesser-known tales, including three ‘lost stories’ (first published in 2017 and with an introduction written by editor Anne Margaret Daniel). 
 
Contents and track listing: 
 Track 1-10 - The Great Gatsby - read by Sam Robards 
 Track 11 - The Diamond as Big as the Ritz - read by Garrick Hagon 
 Track 12-31 - Tender is the Night - read by Kenneth Haigh 
 Track 32-34 - Babylon Revisited - read by Stuart Milligan 
 Track 35-36 - The Sensible Thing - read by Stuart Milligan 
 Track 37 - Bernice Bobs Her Hair - read by Laurel Lefkow 
 Track 38 - Financing Finnegan - read by John Sharian 
 Track 39 - The Smilers - read by John Sharian 
 Track 40 - An Alcoholic Case - read by John Sharian 
 Track 41 - Three Hours Between Planes - read by John Sharian 
 Track 42 - Pat Hobby’s Secret - read by Ed Bishop 
 Track 43 - Pat Hobby: Teamed with Genius - read by Ed Bishop 
 Track 44 - Pat Hobby and Orson Welles - read by Ed Bishop 
 Track 45 - Pat Hobby: The Homes of the Stars - read by Ed Bishop 
 Track 46-47 - Thank You for the Light - read by Karen Bartke, with an introduction read by Laurel Lefkow 
 Track 48 - The Couple - read by Finn den Hertog 
 Track 49 - Salute to Lucy and Elsie - read by Stuart Milligan 
 
 Also included are The Great Gatsby Letters(Track 50), in which F. Scott Fitzgerald tells his editor about his hopes and fears for his new novel, and The Beautiful and the Damned: A Portrait of F. Scott Fitzgerald(Track 51), featuring Ed Bishop and Sarah Keller as Fitzgerald and Zelda. 
 
Please note: some of the language in this recording reflects the era in which it was first broadcast.

The F Scott Fitzgerald BBC Radio Collection

The Great Gatsby and other BBC Radio readings

Bernard Shaw

Alistair McGowan

A star-studded BBC radio production of Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion – plus bonus drama The ‘B’ Word, telling the story of the play’s scandalous opening night. 
 
Irascible phonetics professor Henry Higgins makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can train Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle to talk ‘like a lady’ and pass as a duchess at the Ambassador’s Ball. As the day of reckoning approaches, can Eliza convince the assembled aristocrats that she’s one of them? And what will become of her afterwards? 
 
This effervescent radio version of Shaw’s classic comedy features a stellar cast, including award-winning comedians Alistair McGowan as Henry Higgins, Morgana Robinson as Eliza Doolittle and Al Murray as Alfred Doolittle. 
 
Also featured on this release is The ‘B’ Word, written by and starring Alistair McGowan as Bernard Shaw. Centring on the shocking opening night of Pygmalion – the first time that the word ‘bloody' was used on the British stage – it also explores the passionate love-hate relationship between Shaw; his leading man, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his leading lady, Mrs Patrick Campbell, who played the 19-year-old Eliza Doolittle at the age of 49. 
 
Cast and credits 
 
Pygmalion 
Henry Higgins……………………Alistair McGowan 
Eliza Doolittle……………………Morgana Robinson 
Alfred Doolittle……………………Al Murray 
Colonel Pickering……………………Hugh Fraser 
Mrs Higgins……………………Siân Phillips 
Mrs Pearce/Maid……………………Charlotte Page 
Mrs Eynsford-Hill……………………Georgie Glen 
Clara Eynsford-Hill……………………Maeve Bluebell Wells 
Freddy Eynsford-Hill.....……………………Tom Forrister 
Nepommuck……………………David Sturzaker 
Ambassador……………………John Dougall 
Ambassador's wife……………………Sarah Ridgeway 
Bystander……………………David Sterne 
Written by Bernard Shaw 
Produced and directed by Emma Harding 
 
 
The ‘B’ Word 
Bernard Shaw……………………Alistair McGowan 
George Alexander……………………David Sturzaker 
Mrs Patrick Campbell.....……………………Charlotte Page 
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree……………………Richard McCabe 
Charlotte Shaw……………………Georgie Glen 
Merivale……………………Philip Fox 
Gurney/Fishman……………………Simon Ludders 
Bell……………………Charlie Clements 
Maid……………………Sarah Ridgeway 
Written by Alistair McGowan 
Produced and directed by Emma Harding

Pygmalion

A brand new BBC Radio 4 drama plus the story of the play's scandalous opening night

Chloe Pirrie and Ben Batt star in this stunning dramatisation of Emily Brontë's classic, adapted by bestselling author Rachel Joyce 
 
When homeless orphan Heathcliff is brought to the isolated, storm-swept farmhouse of Wuthering Heights, he sparks very different emotions in the children of the house, Hindley and Cathy. While Hindley instantly hates him and makes his life miserable, Heathcliff finds a soulmate in Cathy and the two spend days playing together on the wild Yorkshire moors. 
 
Inseparable as children, passionately in love as adolescents, they are everything to each other – until Cathy meets the wealthy, handsome Edgar Linton and agrees to marry him. Consumed by jealousy and resentment, Heathcliff flees, returning three years later rich and seeking revenge. 
 
Bitter and cruel, he vows to destroy everyone who has hurt him – and his hatred and vengeance will ruin the lives of two generations before it runs its course… 
 
First published in 1847, Wuthering Heights scandalized Victorian readers with its shocking portrayal of obsession and doomed love. This radio production, dramatised by Rachel Joyce, retains all the force and intensity of Emily Brontë’s masterpiece. 
 
 
Cast 
Nelly……………………Emma Fielding 
Young Cathy……………………Rosie Boore 
Young Heathcliff……………………Reuben Bainbridge 
Hindley……………………Luke Bailey 
Mr Earnshaw……………………Clive Hayward 
Joseph……………………Philip Bretherton 
Frances/Mary (Servant girl)……………………Lauren Cornelius 
Edgar/Linton (adult)……………………Ryan Whittle 
Servant 1/Priest……………………Ryan Early 
Servant 2……………………Philip Bretherton 
Adult Cathy……………………Chloe Pirrie 
Adult Heathcliff……………………Ben Batt 
Isabella……………………Kerry Gooderson 
Hareton……………………Ruben Cryer/Tom Glynn-Carney 
Dr Kenneth……………………Clive Hayward 
Linton (Young child)……………………Charlie Brand 
Zillah (Servant)……………………Georgie Glen 
Catherine (adult)……………………Bryony Hannah 
Linton (Older child)……………………Oliver Zetterstrom 
 
Produced and Directed by Tracey Neale 
Production Coordinator: Joanne Hopper 
Studio Managers: Cal Knightley, Anne Bunting and Jenni Burnett

Wuthering Heights

A full-cast BBC radio dramatisation

R C Sherriff

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

Journey's End

A BBC Radio 4 drama

Anthony Trollope

A sweeping radio saga of political intrigue, love affairs, financial wrangles and murder, based on the books by Anthony Trollope, creator of The Barchester Chronicles 
 
This epic drama follows several generations of the Palliser dynasty, as they navigate the twists and turns of political and high society in Victorian England. 
 
Wealthy aristocrat and politician Plantagenet Palliser and beautiful, spirited Lady Glencora.embark on an arranged marriage, despite her passion for the dashing but debt-ridden Burgo Fitzgerald. As her husband rises through the ranks of government, she becomes a faithful wife and mother – but her children face the same fateful choice between love and duty. 
 
Meanwhile, young Irish barrister Phineas Finn is introduced to the temptations of London life when he wins a seat in Parliament. He catches the eye of several society ladies, but fails to win their hearts. Rumours about his love life threaten his political career – and worse trouble is in store for him… 
 
Based on the six Palliser novels by Anthony Trollope, this captivating adaptation stars Ben Miles as Plantagenet, Sophie Thompson as Glencora, Conleth Hill as Phineas and David Troughton as the Narrator, with a star cast including Bertie Carvel, Juliet Stevenson, Greg Wise and Rachael Stirling.

The Pallisers

12 BBC Radio 4 full cast dramatisations

John Milton

Sir Ian McKellen stars as Milton in this dramatised retelling of John Milton’s epic poem about the fall of Man 
 
"devilishly good... I urge you to give it a listen" The Telegraph 
 
Milton’s biblical masterpiece, first published in 1667, is one of English literature’s most seminal works. Straddling three worlds – Heaven, Hell and Earth – it tells the gripping story of fallen angel Satan’s rebellion against God, his temptation of Adam and Eve and their subsequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden. 
 
Written to ‘justify the ways of God to men’, it aimed to show what caused Mankind's fall and the consequences for the world, both bad and good. By reaching back to the beginning of time, Milton hoped to discover the events that had led to the political and societal upheaval of his own era – as well as using allegory to ask powerful questions about authority, government, tyranny and disobedience. In this brand new dramatisation, Milton himself (Sir Ian McKellen) is the blind narrator grieving the loss of his wife, played by Frances Barber. 
 
Also starring Simon Russell Beale as Satan, and adapted by award-winning poet and broadcaster Michael Symmons Roberts, this enthralling drama is a vital piece of storytelling with striking parallels to contemporary events. 
 
Cast and credits 
 
Milton……………………Sir Ian McKellen 
Elizabeth……………………Frances Barber 
Satan……………………Simon Russell Beale 
Beelzebub……………………Jonathan Keeble 
Adam……………………Ashley Margolis 
Eve……………………Emily Pithon 
Christ……………………David Seddon 
Raphael……………………Conrad Nelson 
God……………………Russell Dixon 
All other parts were played by members of the company 
 
Written by John Milton 
Dramatised by Michael Symmons Roberts 
Produced and directed by Susan Roberts

Paradise Lost

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation

Spring 1905, England. 
 
When Helen Schlegel goes to stay at Howards End - the country home of the Wilcox family, her own life, along with that of her sister Margaret, is changed forever. This is the tale of three families at the beginning of the twentieth century: the rich Wilcoxes, the gentle, idealistic Schlegels and the lower-middle class Basts. 
 
Frequently cited as E. M. Forster's finest work, Howards End brilliantly explores class warfare, conflict and the English character. This BBC dramatisation skilfully brings the classic novel to life. 
 
Starring John Hurt as the Narrator, Lisa Dillon as Margaret Schlegel, Jill Cardo as Helen Schlegel, Tom Ferguson as Tibby Schlegel, Alexandra Mathie as Aunt Juley, Malcolm Raeburn as Henry Wilcox, Ann Rye as Ruth Wilcox and Joseph Kloska as Charles Wilcox.

Howards End

A BBC Radio 4 full cast dramatisation

Simon Armitage

Lily Cole stars as Helen of Troy, ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’, in Simon Armitage’s vivid, visceral adaptation of Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid 
 
For ten years, the Greeks have been laying siege to Troy to win back their abducted queen, Helen. But as the war drags on, and the battlefields run scarlet with blood, the opposing forces are entrenched in a bitter stalemate. As Gods and mortals squabble amongst themselves for the spoils of war, the exhausted warriors go to extreme lengths in a desperate grab for victory… 
 
Dramatised by multi-award-winning poet and playwright Simon Armitage, The Last Days of Troy was first produced as a stage play at the Manchester Royal Exchange and Shakespeare’s Globe, and this radio version features the original cast. Both a tense action adventure and a powerful commentary on the futility of war, it brings Homer’s ancient myth to dynamic life and explores themes that still resonate today, in a world locked in cycles of conflict and revenge, East versus West and with the same dangerous combination of pride, lies and self-deception that fuelled the Trojan War. 
 
‘Armitage was the real star, with his vivid and muscular dialogue and occasional flashes of humour…The Last Days of Troy was a powerful reflection on the folly of men and the cruelty of war.’ – Independent 
 
Cast and credits 
Agamemnon..................................................................David Birrell 
Achilles..................................................................Jake Fairbrother 
Zeus..................................................................Richard Bremmer 
Odysseus..................................................................Colin Tierney 
Hera..................................................................Gillian Bevan 
Andromache/Thetis................................................Claire Calbraith 
Hector..................................................................Simon Harrison 
Helen..................................................................Lily Cole 
Paris..................................................................Tom Stuart 
Athene/Briseis..................................................................Francesca Zoutewelle 
Priam..................................................................Garry Cooper 
Patroclus..................................................................Brendan O’Hea 
Astyanax..................................................................Luca Rawlinson 
 
Original music by Alex Baranowski 
Directed for radio by Susan Roberts 
First directed for The Royal Exchange Theatre by Nick Bagnall

The Last Days of Troy

W E Johns

Michael Palin reads this classic adventure by W. E. Johns, featuring pilot-adventurer James ‘Biggles’ Bigglesworth 
 
When Biggles receives a letter from an old wartime chum asking for help, he responds at once. With his comrades, Algy, Ginger and Flight Sergeant Smyth, our hero flies to Fort Beaver in Canada, where winter is closing in around the remote airfield. There he discovers that his buddy Wilks is being menaced by a sinister character called ‘Brindle’ McBain and his cronies. 
 
Wilks has started a small airline business, but McBain wants to take over and he’ll stop at nothing to get Wilks out of the way. With the threats of sabotage, theft, and even murder in play, all their lives are now in danger. 
 
Can Biggles save the day and defeat McBain? Or will they perish in the frozen north?

Biggles Flies North

DI Helen Grace Novellas

Crumpled, slapdash and foul-mouthed as ever, Detective Inspector Jack Frost struggles to cope with inadequate back-up and never enough time; the unsolved crimes pile up and the vicious killings go on. Frost must cut corners and take risks as he staggers from crisis to crisis, rapists to murderers, missing bodies to discovered body parts; will he be able to keep Denton safe?

DI Jack Frost

Prepare to be gripped by this prequel series to R.D. Wingfield's A Touch of Frost. 
 
Back in Denton, Detective Sergeant Jack Frost returns to investigating murders, finding missing children, and discovering dead bodies in woodland areas. With Detective Inspector Williams missing, and a new policeman, DS Waters, to mentor, DS Jack Frost has to put the stresses and straings of his personal life on hold in order to keep Denton safe.

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