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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Christopher Lee

The Sceptred Isle provided the definitive radio account of the British nation, from 55BC to the end of the 20th century. Now its attention turns towards the incredibly powerful families which have wielded power behind the scenes for the past 1,000 years. The Dynasties relates how the loyalties of this privileged elite, many of whom are older than the monarchy itself, were tested and rewarded; it also uncovers a multitude of murderous plots, bloody battles, adulteries, intrigues and shocking executions. 
 
The first volume examines three powerful houses: The Godwines, the north-dwelling Percys and the royalist Despensers. 
 
Volume two looks at the Mortimers, the Berkeleys and a triumvirate of warring Irish dysnasties: the Macmurroughs, the Fitzgeralds and the O'Neills. 
 
The third volume investigates the Churchills, the Cecils and the Scottish Dalrymples. 
 
In the fourth volume the Cavendishes appear, along with the Comptons and the Russells. 
 
In the fifth and final volume, the families examined include the Carringtons, the Waldegraves and the Norfolks. There is also a look at the families who today continue the tradition of dynastical power at the highest levels.

This Sceptred Isle: The Dynasties

The complete BBC collection

Tim McGarry

David Hume

Comedian Tim McGarry and Orangeman Dr David Hume investigate Irish history from different perspectives 
 
'We're basically the Little and Large of Irish history' Tim McGarry 
 
Tim McGarry and Dr David Hume couldn't be less alike. Tim's a six-foot-four funnyman from Belfast, while David's a vertically challenged historian from Ballycarry. But although they disagree about almost everything, they have a great rapport and a passionate interest in their native island - and in this fascinating series, they join forces for some good-natured, intelligent debate about Irish history, politics and culture. 
 
Travelling the length and breadth of Éire and Northern Ireland, they visit important historical sites, gain new insights into pivotal stories and people, and interview a wide range of experts to give listeners the long and the short of it. Mixed in with the discussions are humorous sketches, bringing the history alive and providing light relief. 
 
Over 41 episodes, Tim and David lock horns and trade blows over controversial topics including the 1798 Rebellion, the Great Famine, the Battle of the Boyne, the birth of the Orange Order, the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, and Home Rule. They also consider Ulster heroine Mary McCracken, ask whether renowned figures such as Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Edward Carson and James Craig were heroes or villains, and wonder whether the Vikings and Oliver Cromwell were really that bad. Plus, in the 2-part special The Long and the Short of Christmas, the duo unite to take a light-hearted but scholarly look at the history of the festive season, from the birth of Jesus to modern times. 
 
Winner of the Gold Award for Specialist Speech Programme at the 2021 IMRO Radio Awards, this wry, engaging and eye-opening series is full of jokes, facts, opinions - and arguments. Irish history has never been so much fun! 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Tim McGarry and Dr David Hume 
Produced by Zoe Robinson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster & BBC Radio Foyle on 20 July-10 August 2014 (Series 1), 19 July-23 August 2015 (Series 2), 6 November-4 December 2016 (Series 3), 3 December 2017-7 January 2018 (Series 4), 9 May-13 June 2020 (Series 5), 24-25 December 2020 (The Long and the Short of Christmas), 24 April-29 May 2021 (Series 6), 27 August-1 October 2022 (Series 7). 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The Long and the Short of It

A BBC History of Ireland

Sally Magnusson

Tracing Your Roots explores one of the UK's most popular pastimes: researching family history. Bestselling author Sally Magnusson follows the genealogy trail back in time, uncovering facets of social history through personal stories and giving you the information you need to add branches to your own family tree. With the right tools, you can not only find lost ancestors, but discover what they did for a living, what their lives were like, and maybe even what kind of people they were... 
 
Accompanied by resident genealogist Nick Barratt, who offers insider tips and ideas, she talks to professional and amateur researchers, revealing the wealth of resources available and how to make the most of them. In these six series, the duo determine what clues can be gleaned from photographs, diaries and DNA analysis, learn about unravelling wartime secrets, investigate how stories handed down through generations can offer a new slant on history and hear how the manner of an ancestor's death can offer clues to the life they led. They also explain why shady characters are good news for family history hunters, tackle the issues of illegitimacy and immigration, track down relatives who vanished without trace and probe mysteries surrounding name changes and adoption. 
 
Fascinating family stories are unearthed, as they talk to families including one woman who believes her grandmother may have been the illegitimate daughter of Louis XVI, another whose ancestor was locked away indefinitely on the Queen's orders, and two correspondents with Caribbean roots who suspect there is slavery on their family tree. Two follow-up episodes see Sally and Nick revisiting their favourite Tracing Your Roots tales, finding out what families did next and unveiling new information and lasting repercussions... 
 
In addition, a themed show, tied in with the British Library's 'History of the World in 100 Objects' project, investigates family heirlooms, and four special episodes mark events including the 90th anniversary of World War One, Scotland's Homecoming Year and the 2011 Census. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Sally Magnusson, with resident genealogist Nick Barratt 
Produced by Anne McNaught (Series 1-2), Moira Hickey (Series 3, 5), Claire White (Series 4) and Lucy Lloyd (Series 6) 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12 March-16 April 2007 (Series 1), 24 October-28 November 2007 (Series 2), 11 May 2008 (Family History Special), 20 August-24 September 2008 (Series 3), 7 November 2008 (90th Anniversary of World War 1 Special), 2 August 2009 (Homecoming Scotland Special), 31 August-28 September 2009 (Series 4), 14 September-12 October 2010 (Series 5), 20 March 2011 (Census Special), 13 September-11 October 2011 (Series 6) 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Tracing Your Roots

A BBC family history show

Sean Bean

The Second World War ended over 75 years ago, and the number of men and women who lived through it is rapidly dwindling. But its legacy casts a long shadow, and the memories of those who experienced the conflict left both powerful stories and often a complex inheritance behind for their children and grandchildren. 
 
In this series, Sean Bean investigates how the trauma of profound wartime experiences - whether spoken or unspoken - can be transferred down through subsequent generations. For although physical wounds may heal, emotional wounds can remain to inform family dynamics for good or ill. 
 
From prisoners of war and hero soldiers to infamous traitors and long-lost relatives, Sean meets 10 families who have been forever changed by World War II. He talks to Gethin Jones, whose father was a conscientious objector; Anne Godden and Barbara Sherman, daughters of returning soldiers whose marriages broke down; Tom Boden, who lived through the bombing of Liverpool and was evacuated twice; Ingrid Von Oelhafen, who discovered she was the victim of the Nazi's 'Lebensborn' programme in which children were stolen from their parents; and Stella Collis, daughter of a German POW who was interred at Wormwood Scrubs. 
 
We also hear the moving story of Barclay Patoir, who came to Britain from Guyana and survived war and prejudice to marry and raise a family; the extraordinary experiences of Kurt Marx, a Kindertransport refugee, and his wife Ingrid, who lived through Auschwitz; and the children of Nazi sympathiser John Beckett talk about their complicated, conflicted legacy. Shafquat Towheed reflects on the ways that his father's experience of the Bengal Famine stayed with him throughout his life - and the ways in which it is remembered. And in a fascinating voyage of discovery, Niki MacCarthy journeys to Nagasaki to find out about her father Aidan's life-saving medical work, and uncover the truth behind a very special family heirloom. 
 
©2021 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2014 BBC Worldwide Ltd 
Presented by Sean Bean 
Produced by Martin Williams, Kate Bissell and Mark Rickards 
 
Featuring: Gethin and Adam Russell-Jones; Betty and Max Paschal; Kurt, Michael and Johanna Marx; Anne Godden and Barbara Sherman; Clare Beckett-Wrighton and Francis Beckett; Juliet Weller; Shafquat Towheed, Niki and Adrienne MacCarthy; Tom Boden, Dawn Hann, Evie Thame and Michael Thame; Ingrid Von Oelhafen 
 
With thanks to: Michael Newman of the Association of Jewish Refugees, Diya Gupta and Brian Hann 
 
For more information about Kurt Marx's wartime experiences, please see Refugee Voices, a project of the AJR: https://www.ajrrefugeevoices.org.uk/ 
 
And for more information about the legacy of such experiences please visit the Second Generation Network and the Holocaust Memorial Trust: https://secondgeneration.org.uk/ and https://www.het.org.uk/ 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 13 May-10 August 2020

Legacy of War

A BBC World War 2 History

Mark Bostridge

Alan Bishop

A selection of the powerful and poignant wartime letters of Vera Brittain and her friends.‘If war spares me,’ wrote Vera Brittain to her brother Edward in 1916, ‘it will be my one aim to immortalise in a book the story of us four.’ Seventeen years later, Vera was to achieve her aim with the acclaimed Testament of Youth. 
 
This series of letters was the inspiration behind Testament. Written between Vera, her brother, her fiancé Roland Leighton and their two best friends Victor Richardson and Geoffrey Thurlow, they give a unique perspective on the most horrifying conflict the world has ever seen. 
 
They show the heartbreaking disillusionment of an idealistic public-school generation, raised on ideas of patriotism and duty, as the reality of war emerged. Yet they also give a fascinating insight into the era as a whole: their generation’s literary tastes and the place of women in society. 
 
Read by Amanda Root, Jonathan Firth, Rupert Graves, James Wallace and Robert Portal, and first heard on BBC Radio 4, these deeply moving letters let us hear for ourselves the voices of Vera Brittain’s lost generation.

Letters from a Lost Generation

First World War letters of Vera Brittain and four friends

Richard Coles

Richard Coles examines same sex desire through the ages, in a journey reaching from the UK to India, Egypt, Greece and Native America. In episode one, his quest takes him to Saqqara, Egypt and the contested tomb of two men, Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum. Were the men lovers or brothers? He explores the ideas of the 'sexologists' and tells the story of Anne Lister, a 19th century Yorkshirewoman who had same sex relationships. In episode two, Richard explores the homosexuality of the ancients, tracing the transition from classical celebration to religious repression. Part three focuses on the complex relationship between sexuality and gender as Richard surveys the so-called 'third sex' in places such as India, Indonesia and Thailand. He concludes the series by looking at the globalisation of gay identity. Is the West attempting to promote ideas of gay liberation which are alien to the developing world? Producer: Laurence Grissell.

Out In The World A Global Gay History

Eric Appleby

Phyllis Kelly

A landmark drama series telling the compelling real-life WW1 love story of English soldier Eric Appleby and his Irish sweetheart Phyllis Kelly 
 
Eric Appleby was an engineering student from Liverpool, who joined the Royal Field Artillery when war began in 1914. Posted to Athlone, he met and fell in love with solicitor's daughter Phyllis Kelly at a dance. Their romance was interrupted when he was sent to fight in the trenches on the Western Front, but they kept their love alive through a series of wonderfully crafted letters. 
 
This radio series charts their extraordinary correspondence, including over 200 letters, field service postcards and telegrams in which Eric describes his experiences from the time he left Athlone in March 1915 until the tail-end of the Somme offensive in October 1916. Discovered on a top shelf in Belfast's Linen Hall Library by producer Ian Dougan, the letters reveal a touching, unique and bittersweet story. 
 
From memories of their courting days of dances and boat trips, to quarrels, jealousy and the pain of being apart, Eric pours out his deepest feelings of love and loneliness to Phyllis. And as the casualties mount around him, he confides to her the horrors he has witnessed, painting a vivid, shocking picture of the stress and terror of life at the Front. In each letter, the voices of Eric and Phyllis interweave, as if in an intimate conversation, as they reach out across the miles that separate them. 
 
Read by Ruairí Tohill and Roisin Gallagher, and featuring music and sound effects that bring the story to life, this remarkable, moving series will touch your heart. Also included is a 30-minute documentary, Introducing Love Letters from the Front, in which the actors discuss the challenges of performing the letters (they never met during the recording, so that their two perspectives could be kept separate). Plus, presenter Maggie Cronin talks to Phyllis Kelly's relatives, Tom and Patrick, about who Eric and Phyllis really were; and discusses the remarkable context in which their memorable words were written. 
 
 
Read by Ruairí Tohill and Roisin Gallagher 
Produced by Ian Dougan 
First broadcast BBC Radio Ulster &amp; BBC Radio Foyle, 21 April-28 October 2016 
 
Introduction to Love Letters from the Front 
Presented by Maggie Cronin 
With Ruairí Tohill, Roisin Gallagher, Tom Kelly and Patrick Kelly 
First broadcast BBC Radio Ulster &amp; BBC Radio Foyle, 17 April 2016 
 
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Love Letters from the Front

A BBC Radio dramatisation of a true love story

Jonathan Bardon

From The Ice Age to Northern Ireland's Peace Settlement and everything in between, the acclaimed academic Dr Jonathan Bardon presents a history of Ireland spanning 10,000 years. 
 
Beginning with the Ice Age and Ireland's first plants and wildlife, this history encompasses the arrival of Christianity, the age of the Celts, the Viking era, Brian Boru, the Norman invasion, the plantation and the famine through to rebellion, partition and the creation of the Irish Free State. 
 
Recorded to mark BBC Radio Ulster's 30th birthday, this landmark series gets behind the historical headlines to produce a marvellous mosaic of Ireland's rich and turbulent history, delivered with clarity and narrative skill. 
Each programme was read by local actors Frances Tomelty, James Greene and Richard Dormer, who interweave eye-witness accounts, letters and diary extracts from the times with the historical facts.

A Short History Of Ireland

Fergal Keane

A BBC Radio collection about Ireland and the Irish, hosted by Fergal Keane - plus bonus material 
 
Award-winning BBC foreign correspondent Fergal Keane grew up in Dublin and County Cork, and has always felt a deep attachment to his ancestral homeland. In these six absorbing programmes, he takes a wide-ranging look at Ireland's history, culture and people, in topics ranging from the political to the personal . Also included are two moving autobiographical pieces about fatherhood and his own childhood. 
 
How the Irish Shaped Britain explores the profound influence the Irish have had on the United Kingdom over many centuries. Beginning in the ancient Celtic world, Fergal travels through the time of the Vikings to the 19th and 20th Century and on to the present day, examining how Irish migrants and their descendants have shaped literature, business, sport and the physical landscape. 
 
Troubles Shared sees Fergal and fellow journalist Peter Taylor discussing their experiences of reporting on the Northern Ireland conflict. Over two episodes, they revisit the province to talk about what they saw, and ask what it all means now. Meanwhile, No Man is an Island takes Fergal from the Republic to Northern Ireland, as he charts the seismic changes that have taken place in both regions and reflects on the sectarian feuding which has dominated the history of Ulster. 
 
Keane on Keane... finds him presenting a profile of his uncle, celebrated playwright John B Keane. Visiting Dublin and the dramatist's home town of Listowel, Fergal hears how a country publican became an internationally-acclaimed writer. Another iconic figure is recalled in United Irishman, in which Keane recounts the colourful life of Wolfe Tone, the Protestant founding father of Irish republicanism. 
 
There Will Be Sunlight Later gives Fergal's impressions of life in Northern Ireland, as he talks to the country's citizens and listens to their poetry and music. And in two bonus essays, Letter to Daniel and My Grandmother's House, we receive insights into Fergal's own family life, through his poignant message to his newborn son and his recollections of his early days and his grandparents' home in Cork. 
 
 
How the Irish Shaped Britain 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by John Murphy &amp; Adele Armstrong 
Mixed by Eloise Whitmore 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 11-25 January 2021 
 
Troubles Shared 
Presented by Fergal Keane and Peter Taylor 
Produced by Conor Garrett 
First broadcast BBC Radio Ulster, 31 October-7 November 2020 
 
No Man is an Island 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Tony Grant 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 November and 9 December 1996 
 
Keane on Keane... 
With Fergal Keane and John B Keane 
Produced by Chris Spurr 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 January 2005 
 
United Irishman 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Chris Bowlby 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14 November 1998 
 
There Will Be Sunlight Later 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Cathy Packe 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 October 1990 
 
From Our Own Correspondent: Letter to Daniel 
Read by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Tony Grant 
First broadcast as BBC Radio 4, 15th February 1996 
 
My Grandmother's House 
Read by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Tony Grant 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2 January 1999 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

How the Irish Shaped Britain

And 5 other BBC documentaries on Ireland

Daliso Chaponda

Britain’s Got Talent star Daliso Chaponda takes a comic look at the relationship between the UK and Africa in these two BBC Radio 4 series 
 
The UK and Africa have had a long and complicated past. These two series look at the history of this relationship, with Daliso as our relationship guidance counsellor, helping us navigate the rocky historical waters between the two places.A Malawian comedian who grew up all over the world, Daliso straddles cultural divides. He will help us all better understand how to sort out our differences. Or not... 
 
Along with his sidekick ‘The Other Guy’ (James Quinn), Daliso explores how the UK and Africa first met; looks at the people on both sides who don't want the relationship to work; considers charities and organisations who want to help and discusses the process of immigration. In addition, he talks about his personal experience of both cultures, from growing up in Africa to his experiences of racism in England. 
 
Shrewd, daring and irreverent, Daliso Chaponda finds the comedy in complex issues, raising awareness as well as laughs in this hilarious and thought-provoking show. 
 
Nominated for the 2019 Rose d'Or Award for Audio Entertainment. 
 
Written and performed by Daliso Chaponda 
The Other Guy: James Quinn 
Additional material: Scott Bennett 
Voice of: Dylan Morris 
Theme music by Lawi 
Producer: Carl Cooper 
Production Coordinator: Beverly Tagg 
A BBC Studios Production 
Photo by Steve Ullathorne 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 2-23 May 2018 (Series 1), 23 Oct - 13 Nov 2019 (Series 2)

Daliso Chaponda: Citizen of Nowhere

Series 1 and 2

Mark Lawson

Mark Lawson takes an international look at celebrated literary detectives, talking to their creators to explore how mystery fiction reflects society's trends and tensions 
 
'Masterly'' Gillian Reynolds, The Telegraph 
 
Throughout its long history, crime fiction has broadened our horizons, introducing us to unfamiliar places, people and cultures and showing us new ways of looking at the world. In this fascinating series, Mark Lawson takes a global tour of the genre, putting detective novels under the magnifying glass to examine how they have depicted - and predicted - social and political change. Focussing on famous fictional investigators - from Hercule Poirot, Jules Maigret, Van der Valk and Martin Beck; through Dalgliesh, Rebus, Jane Tennison and Harry Hole; to Benny Griessel, Tess Monaghan and Easy Rawlins - he explores what these iconic protagonists can tell us about the historic character of their nations. 
 
Through the framework of their cases, he pursues the shadows of the Second World War and the Cold War; conflicts between the politics of the left and right; the rise of nationalism; and the pressures caused by migration. He also finds out how crime novels have portrayed transitional societies in South Africa and Northern Ireland; examined the legacies of military rule in Argentina and the Castro revolution in Cuba; and tackled post-colonialism in Australia and Nigeria. 
 
Helping Lawson with his inquiries are authors including Andrea Camilleri, who discusses the effects of both the Mafia and Berlusconi on Italian society; Brian McGilloway, who talks about the Troubles and the wave of Irish crime fiction that the peace process has provoked; and Petros Markaris, whose detective series prophesied the Greek financial crisis. Plus, Laura Lippman and Walter Mosley reveal how they introduced the experience of women and black Americans into their work; Russian writer Boris Akunin and Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov meditate on Dostoevsky, Putin, censorship and their different approaches to crime writing; and in a special episode on TV detectives, Lawson talks to creative talent from the ITV hit Broadchurch, the Danish show The Killing and the French success Spiral about the medium's suitability as a crime scene and the rise of female investigators. 
 
Production credits 
Written and presented by Mark Lawson 
Produced by Robyn Read and Martin Williams 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Series 1 
Belgium - Hercule Poirot and Jules Maigret 22 October 2012 
With Val McDermid, Lord Grey Gowrie, Andrea Camilleri and David Suchet 
Germany - Inspector Barlach 23 October 2012 
With Josie Rourke, Simon McBurney, Jerzy Kromolowski, Mary Olson-Kromolowski, Katharina Hall and Ferdinand von Schirach 
Czechoslovakia - Lieutenant Boruvka 24 October 2012 
With Paul Wilson 
Netherlands - Commissaris Van Der Valk 25 October 2012 
With Lord Grey Gowrie and Saskia Noort 
Sweden - Inspector Martin Beck 26 October 2012 
With Jo Nesbø, Henning Mankell, Åsa Larsson, Camilla Lackberg, Jens Lapidus, Val McDermid and Gunnar Staalesen 
UK - Commander Dalgliesh and Chief Inspector Wexford 29 October 2012 
With PD James and Ruth Rendell 
Sicily - Inspector Rogas 30 October 2012 
With Paul Bailey, Gianrico Carofiglio, Andrea Camilleri and Petra Reski 
Spain - PI Pepe Carvalho 31 October 2012 
With Antonio Hill and Jason Webster 
Britain - DCI Jane Tennison 1 November 2012 
With Lynda La Plante, Saskia Noort, Ian Rankin and Val McDermid 
Italy - Inspector Montalbano 2 November 2012 
With Andrea Camilleri 
Germany - PI Kemal Kayankaya 5 November 2012 
With Jakob Arjouni 
Scotland - DI John Rebus 6 November 2012 
With Ian Rankin 
Sweden - Kurt Wallander and Lisbeth Salander 7 November 2012 
With Henning Mankell, Kenneth Branagh, Liza Marklund, Camilla Läckberg and Eva Gabrielsson 
Norway - Harry Hole 8 November 2012 
With Jo Nesbø, Liza Marklund and Gunnar Staalesen 
Russia and Ukraine - Erast Fandorin 9 November 2012 
With Boris Akunin, Ian Rankin and Andrey Kurkov 
 
Series 2 
Greece - Inspector Costas Haritos 8 July 2013 
With Petros Markaris 
Argentina - Superintendent Perro Lascano 9 July 2013 
With Ernesto Mallo and Claudia Pineiro 
Ireland - Inspector Benedict Devlin 10 July 2013 
With Brian McGilloway 
South Africa - Detective Captain Bennie Griessel 11 July 2013 
With Deon Meyer and Sifiso Mzobe 
Screenland - DS Ellie Miller, DI Sarah Lund, Captain Laure Berthaud 12 July 2013 
 
Series 3 
Cuba 17 November 2014 
With Leonardo Padura and Caroline Garcia-Aquilera 
USA 18 November 2014 
With Laura Lippman and Walter Mosley 
Poland 19 November 2014 
With Zygmunt Miloszewski and Joanna Jodelka 
Australia 20 November 2014 
With Peter Temple and Gabrielle Lord 
Nigeria 21 November 2014 
With Helon Habila and CM Okonkwo 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Foreign Bodies

Crime Fiction Around the World

Matt Thompson

This 30-part Radio 4 series explores how our interactions with sound have shaped us over 100,000 years. These specially extended episodes, recorded on location around the world and in collaboration with curators of the British Library Sound Archive, take us from prehistory to the present, encompassing the shamanistic music of our cave-dwelling ancestors, the massacre of noisy cats in pre-revolutionary Paris, the nerve-destroying din of trench warfare, right through to the cacophony of the modern metropolis. This is sound as life and death, pleasure and pain, power and revolution. Written and presented by Professor David Hendy from the University of Sussex. Produced by Matt Thompson for Rockethouse Productions. Theme tune composed by Joe Acheson from Hidden Orchestra. Readings Director Cherry Cookson. Assistant Producer - Cathy FitzGerald  Includes a specially-composed 15-minute companion piece by electronic musician Matthew Herbert in which he retells the story of the whole series using only the sounds themselves.

Noise A Human History - The Complete Series

Denise Mina

Denise Mina examines the most famous - and infamous - cases in Scottish legal history, and participates in a mock trial 
 
Denise Mina is well known for her bestselling 'Tartan Noir' novels. She has twice won the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award, and her 'Paddy Meehan' series has been adapted for BBC TV. Before becoming a novelist, she studied law, and she has a particular interest in true crime. 
 
In these six episodes, she uncovers some of Scotland's most dramatic trials that continue to fascinate us years later. Also included is a bonus documentary, The Street Lawyer. 
 
The Paisley Snail - 1928. When May Donoghue pours ginger beer into her ice-cream float and a decomposed snail slithers out of the bottle, it sparks a case that will make legal history... 
 
Oscar Slater - Rich spinster Marion Gilchrist is brutally murdered in her Glasgow home in 1908. The hunt for her killer leads to Scotland's most dramatic miscarriage of justice: the Oscar Slater trial. 
 
The Douglas Cause - In this notorious 18th Century cause célèbre, two leading aristocratic families go head-to-head in a scandalous inheritance battle involving a secret elopement and stolen babies. 
 
The Moorov Doctrine - Glasgow, 1930, and a #MeToo-style case of sexual harassment in the workplace establishes one of the most important legal principles in Scottish law today. 
 
Madeleine Smith - In 1857, socialite Madeleine Smith is on trial for murder, accused of poisoning her French lover Emile L'Angelier. But did she do it, or not? 
 
Burke and Hare - Denise Mina looks at the notorious 19th Century murderers, talking to fellow authors Marisa Haetzman and Ian Rankin about the legalities of body snatching and the legacy of Burke and Hare's grim deeds. 
 
The Street Lawyer - Mina joins street lawyer Emmanuel De Abreu and sixth-formers from Glasgow's Lochend Community High School as they take on the roles of defence and prosecution to simulate a famous US murder case. 
 
 
Credits 
 
Denise Mina's Case Histories 
Presented by Denise Mina 
Legal consultant: Andrew Tickell 
Produced by Liza Greig 
Edited by Heather Kane 
Senior Producer: Lynsey Moyes 
 
With Katie Barclay, Alice Bowman, John Cairns, Clare Connelly, Owen Dudley Edwards, Lindsay Farmer, Pamela Ferguson, Michael Fry, Eleanor Gordon, Marisa Haetzman, Martin Hannan, David Hay, Andy Hughes, Helena Kennedy, Bruno Longmore, Hamish MacPherson, Nadine Martin, Mandy McIntosh, Allan Nicol, Janet Philip, Ian Rankin, Alison Rosie and Susanne Tanner 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio Scotland, 1 May - 27 December 2019 
 
The Street Lawyer 
Presented by Denise Mina 
With Emmanuel De Abreu and pupils from Lochend Community High School 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio Scotland, 2 April 2019 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Denise Mina’s Case Histories

A BBC Radio True Crime Series

Mark Jones

A unique collection of historic recordings covering the events of 1916, from the final evacuation of Gallipoli to the aftermath of the Somme. These fascinating and often poignant first-hand accounts describe the humiliating retreat by Allied forces from Gallipoli, starvation during the Siege of Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia, the Easter Rising - viewed from both sides of the Irish divide - and the costly battles of Jutland and the Somme. At Jutland, the only full-scale fleet-to-fleet encounter of the war, 6,000 sailors died. Survivors are haunted by memories of their drowning comrades but it is the Somme which arouses the strongest feelings. Soldiers speak bitterly of the carnage and needless sacrifices as men were cut down ‘like sickled grain’. With a final toll of over 600,000 Allied casualties and no decisive breakthrough, the battle marked the point at which hope began to fade. Among the reminiscences, conscientious objectors defend their beliefs, the poets Edmund Blunden and Robert Graves offer their own distinctive observations on life in the trenches and a fusilier on the Western Front recalls meeting his new battalion commander, Lt-Col Winston Churchill. Finally, David Lloyd George, looking back on 1916, remembers a ‘dark and desperate’ time for the country.Duration: 2 hours approx.

First World War: 1916

Voices from the BBC Archive

Michael Portillo

Michael Portillo uncovers the forgotten events concealed by famous moments in history 
 
History is complicated, and to make sense of it, we construct a narrative, editing and shaping the past to form a coherent story. But in doing so, there is much we leave out, leading to gaps in our collective memory. In this series, broadcaster and former politician Michael Portillo revisits some of history's best-known moments to fill in some of these gaps, rediscovering forgotten events that augment our understanding and shift our perspective. 
 
Reappraising milestones such as the Spanish Armada, the French Revolution, the First World War and the Great Depression, he probes our selective amnesia, asking what we have mythologised, and what we've ignored. Was Alfred the Great really a bold English hero, or an Anglo-Saxon spin doctor? Why is Georgian England remembered for its elegant architecture and regency refinement when this period of history was full of riots and political strife? And could the Bengal famine of 1943, a horrific event in British India that cost at least 1.5 million lives, have been avoided? 
 
Talking to leading historians and experts, Portillo peels back the layers of history to uncover the uncomfortable truths and murky, ambiguous stories behind iconic events such as the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688, the struggle for Indian independence and the Boston Tea Party. He also reveals a Suffragette plot to assassinate Herbert Asquith; shows how a disastrous attempt at overseas colonisation led to the 1707 Act of Union merging England and Scotland; and takes a look at the real losers of the Battle of Trafalgar - the Spanish. 
 
Not revisionist, but restorative, this fascinating series challenges the orthodox view of history without glossing over its complexities, presenting a surprising, thought-provoking re-evaluation of our past and reminding us that the events we choose to remember are not always those that are the most significant. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Michael Portillo 
Produced by Julia Adamson, Tom Alban, Marya Burgess, Joanne Cayford, James Cook, James Crawford, Neil George, Laurence Grissell, Julia Johnson, Roger Mahony, Neil McCarthy, Paula McGinley and Philip Sellars 
Consultant: Chris Williams of the Open University 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Series 1 
The Battle of Mers-el-Kebir 16 May 2005 
The Spanish Armada 23 May 2005 
The French Revolution 6 June 2005 
 
Series 2 
Jack the Ripper 27 November 2006 
The First World War 4 December 2006 
The 1945 Labour Government 11 December 2006 
 
Series 3 
On Suffragettes 24 December 2007 
The Darien Scheme 31 December 2007 
The Bengal Famine 7 January 2008 
The Battle of Trafalgar 14 January 2008 
 
Series 4 
The League of Nations 15 December 2008 
Alfred the Great 22 December 2008 
 
Series 5 
Chamberlain and 'Peace for our Time' 1938 14 December 2009 
The Hanseatic League 21 December 2009 
The Glorious Revolution 28 December 2009 
 
Series 6 
King Harold 15 November 2010 
The Violent Side of Indian Independence 29 November 2010 
The Great Depression in the USA 6 December 2010 
 
Series 7 
The Real Boston Tea Party, 1773 13 November 2011 
Police Strike 20 November 2011 
The English Armada 4 December 2011 
 
Series 8 
The Georgian Façade 11 June 2012 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Things We Forgot to Remember

A BBC Radio 4 history series

Michael Portillo presents these specially selected shows exploring the history of democracy and the modern political system 
 
In a parliamentary career spanning over 20 years, Michael Portillo served as a Conservative MP and held numerous Cabinet posts. Few people are better placed to comment on politics than him, and in these thought-provoking programmes, he gives us his take on the development of democracy and contemporary political theory. 
 
In the three-part series Democracy on Trial, Portillo investigates the difficult and dangerous global journey taken by this fragile ideal over 2,500 years, and the surprisingly tenuous grip it holds upon the world today. From Athens in the fifth century BC to the present day, he examines the effectiveness of a form of government we take for granted, and analyses its rise, fall and future. 
 
For Whom the Division Bell Tolled sees him looking at the history and peculiarities of the back-bencher, asking historians whether these traits have been present since the very first Parliaments in the 1300s. Across three episodes, he traces the origins of the back-bench revolt, recalls the good and noble works of back-benchers from the past, and wonders whether those on the back bench have always been more interested in keeping their jobs than changing the world. 
 
In The Right Stuff, Portillo considers the lasting influence of the author and philosopher Ayn Rand, questioning whether her work remains a blueprint for those on the political right. Talking to contemporaries and critics, he probes the origins and impact of Rand's writings, and assesses how her controversial ideas relate to the current political landscape. 
 
Capitalism on Trial finds him pondering years of bailouts, stagnating growth and market instability, and asking whether free-market capitalism is looking a little tarnished. Over two programmes, he talks to leading thinkers including Amartya Sen, Will Hutton and Gillian Tett as he weighs up the costs and benefits of the economic system that governs our lives. 
 
Finally, in Things We Forgot to Remember: The 1945 Labour Government, Portillo looks back at Clement Attlee's postwar government, querying how radical their agenda really was and how much our collective memory of it is due to myth-making by subsequent Labour administrations. 
 
Production credits 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Democracy on Trial 
Episode 1 11 May 2010 
Episode 2 18 May 2010 
Episode 3 25 May 2010 
Produced by Philip Sellars and Julia Johnson 
 
For Whom the Division Bell Tolled 
Episode 1 14 May 2008 
Episode 2 21 May 2008 
Episode 3 28 May 2008 
Produced by Philip Sellars 
 
The Right Stuff 11 November 2008 
Produced by Owen McFadden 
 
Capitalism on Trial 
Episode 1 27 September 2011 
Episode 2 4 October 2011 
With Amartya Sen, Will Hutton, Ha-Joon Chang, Gillian Tett, Nigel Lawson and Hernando De Soto 
Produced by Julia Johnson 
 
Things We Forgot to Remember: The 1945 Labour Government 6 May 2007 
With Denis Healey, Peter Carrington and Tony Benn 
Produced by Julia Adamson 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Michael Portillo: On Politics

A BBC Radio Collection

Samuel Pepys

Hattie Naylor

Kris Marshall and Katherine Jakeways star as Mr &amp; Mrs Pepys in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of the world famous diaries. 
 
Samuel Pepys was 26 when he decided to start keeping a diary, in January 1660. For the next ten years he faithfully recorded the day's events and confessed his innermost thoughts. That diary has since become one of our most important, and fascinating, historical documents. 
 
Pepys gave us eyewitness accounts of some of the great events of the 17th century, including the Great Fire of London and the Second Dutch War. He also told us what people ate and wore, what they did for fun, the tricks they played on each other, what they expected of marriage, and even how they conducted love affairs. He described London - the frozen river Thames, the rising crime rate and the poverty - and recorded the details of his own life: his wife, rivals, lovers and friends, his work for the Navy, his drinking and social life. 
 
Over 350 years may have passed since Pepys first put pen to paper, but the man and his preoccupations feel surprisingly familiar. In this major BBC Radio dramatisation of the journals, the sights and sounds of his world are vividly conjured. This collection comprises all ten radio series plus a special Saturday Drama centring on the Great Fire of London. 
 
 
Featuring Kris Marshall and Katherine Jakeways, as well as; ewan Baily, Rebecca Newman, Matthew Gravelle, Manon Edwards, Blake Ritson, Dick Bradnam, Lee Mingo, Andrew Wincott, John Biddle, Stephen Marzella and Bendan Charleson.

The Diary of Samuel Pepys

The BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

Tony Benn

A collection of Tony Benn&rsquo;s private audio diaries, documentaries and archive interviews 
 
Tony Benn was the patriarch of the Labour left, a radical statesman, orator and anti-war campaigner who spent over 50 years as an MP, serving in the Cabinet under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. A prolific diarist, his political memoirs have been compared to Pepys in their detail, scope and accuracy. Three volumes are included here, read by Benn himself, together with four fascinating programmes focussing on the man behind the diaries. 
 
Part I: Tony Benn&rsquo;s Diaries 
 
The Benn Tapes 1 &ndash; For over 25 years, Tony Benn sat late into the night dictating his personal account of the daily happenings at the heart of government. In this unique series, he shares his remarkable recordings from history&rsquo;s front line, recalling events such as Harold Wilson&rsquo;s surprise 1976 resignation; the miners&rsquo; strike of 1984-1985 and the 1992 general election. 
 
The Benn Tapes 2 &ndash; This second series of behind-the-scenes revelations sees Benn recounting why he believes nuclear power is unsafe, disclosing what went on during Cabinet reshuffles and tracing the split in the party following its 1979 defeat, the emergence of the Social Democratic Party, and his challenge to deputy leader Denis Healy. 
 
Free at Last!: The Diaries 1991-2001 &ndash; Spanning Tony Benn&rsquo;s final decade as an MP, this third volume covers the Gulf War, the rise of New Labour, the death of Diana Princess of Wales and peace in Northern Ireland. Mixing political observations with a moving account of family life, it is full of humour, insight, joy and sadness. 
 
Part 2: Tony Benn&rsquo;s Life 
 
In the Psychiatrist&rsquo;s Chair: Tony Benn &ndash; Dr Anthony Clare talks to the legendary parliamentarian about his life, his career and how his guiding principles were influenced by his parents&rsquo; social and political convictions. 
 
Sentimental Journey: Tony Benn &ndash; Arthur Smith accompanies Tony Benn on a trip back to the place where he was born, grew up, and spent most of his political life &ndash; the City of Westminster. 
 
With Great Pleasure: Tony Benn &ndash; The veteran politician presents a selection of the prose and poetry that has shaped his personal philosophy, including the words of Mahatma Gandhi, Dwight D Eisenhower, Oscar Wilde and John Bunyan. 
 
Night Waves: Tony Benn &ndash; In an event from the 2008 Free Thinking festival, Tony Benn talks about the value of experience and discusses his own life experience with presenter Susan Hitch and the audience. 
 
 
Cast and credits 
 
The Benn Tapes 
Read by Tony Benn 
Produced by Keith Jones 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21 Jul-8 Sep 1993 (Series 1), 17 Oct- 5 Dec 1994 (Series 2) 
 
Free at Last!: The Diaries 1991-2001 
Read by Tony Benn 
Produced by Jane Ray 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 13-17 Oct 2003 
 
In the Psychiatrist&rsquo;s Chair: Tony Benn 
Presented by Dr Anthony Clare 
A Michael Ember production 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 13 Aug 1995 
 
Sentimental Journey: Tony Benn 
With Arthur Smith and Tony Benn 
Produced by Dilly Barlow 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 Jul 2006 
 
With Great Pleasure: Tony Benn 
Presented by Tony Benn 
Readers: Saffron Burrows, Jim Findley and Carl Prekopp 
Produced by Christine Hall 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 Jul 2007 
 
Night Waves: Tony Benn 
Presented by Susan Hitch 
With Tony Benn 
Produced by Allegra McIlroy 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 11 Dec 2008 
 
&copy; 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Tony Benn at the BBC

The Benn Tapes, Free at Last! and more

Jimmy Perry

David Croft

Twenty episodes from the first BBC Radio series plus an hour-long Christmas special, starring Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and Clive Dunn. 
 
In 1973 the BBC adapted its hit TV series for radio, featuring the original TV cast and characters. Three series were broadcast between 1974 and 1976, with episodes adapted from their TV counterparts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles. 
 
Now you can enjoy once again these unique recordings, with a supporting cast including John Laurie, James Beck, Arnold Ridley and Ian Lavender. Among the twenty-one episodes are The Man and the Hour, The Battle of Godfrey’s Cottage, Sgt Wilson’s Little Secret, Something Nasty in the Vault, The Menace from the Deep and No Spring for Frazer.

Dad’s Army

The Complete Radio Series One

Two BBC Radio programmes exploring President John F. Kennedy's shocking assassination on 22 November 1963. In Something Is Terribly Wrong, first broadcast in 2003, Alan Thompson charts the confusion and disbelief after the assassination. He returns to key sites in Dallas, and talks to eyewitnesses including Nellie Connally (ex-First Lady of Texas), Jim Leavelle (ex-Dallas detective), Jim Ewell (ex Dallas Morning News correspondent), Aubry Rike (ambulance driver/witness), and Ken Dowe, from Dallas radio station KLIF. Using rare, vivid archive material, he relives the events as they unfolded over three days that shocked the world. In Letter from America, first broadcast two days after the President's assassination, renowned broadcaster Alistair Cooke uses his weekly radio missive to reflect upon the legacy of John F. Kennedy, and to observe that the American nation feels it has been robbed of a brother.

The Last Day Of JFK

Lenny Henry

Lenny Henry presents this groundbreaking BBC radio series exploring a century of black British theatre, TV and film 
 
In this fascinating ten-part series, Lenny Henry traces the long and painful road that black Britons have travelled on stage and screen, from the overt racial discrimination of the 19th Century, via the thinly veiled slurs that persisted through the first 70 years of the 20th, to today's more equal society. 
 
Interviewing playwrights, actors, directors and filmmakers – including Mustapha Matura, Roy Williams, Lolita Chakrabarti, Michael Buffong, Horace Ové and Steve McQueen – he tells the story of black drama and the influential artists who have shaped it over the past hundred years. 
 
Beginning with the breakthrough arrival of Kwame Kwei-Armah's celebrated tragedy Elmina's Kitchen to the West End, he goes on to examine the evolving depiction of Afro-Caribbeans on TV from Love Thy Neighbour to Desmond’s; explores the complex stage history of Othello; focuses on how Caribbean migration has been reflected on stage and screen; and journeys back to the 1960s and 70s to explore the spirit of protest that welled up with the advent of the Black Power movement. 
 
In addition, he looks at the burgeoning black theatre companies of the 1970s and 80s; charts the breakthrough of a host of powerful new voices in the 90s; scrutinizes attitudes towards homosexuality; investigates the current blossoming of new theatrical voices with roots in Africa and concludes with a look at future prospects and opportunities for black British talent.

Raising the Bar: 100 Years of Black British Theatre and Screen

All five volumes from the landmark BBC radio series This Sceptred Isle: The Twentieth Century 
 
Christopher Lee's vivid, compelling history tells the story of Britain from the death of Queen Victoria to the dawning of a new millennium. This collection includes the original volumes 1-5: 
 
1901-1919: The Victorian era comes to an end, Suffragettes demand 'Votes for Women', the Titanic sinks and the Great War casts a long shadow. 
 
1919-1939: Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour PM, millions of workers take industrial action during the General Strike, Wall Street crashes and Hitler rises to power. 
 
1939-1959: The horrors of the Second World War and the onset of the Cold War, Indian independence, the founding of the NHS, the beginning of a new Elizabethan age and the Space Race. 
 
1959-1979: War in Vietnam, Profumo causes a scandal, the Beatles generate worldwide hysteria, Britain joins Europe and Thatcherism is born. 
 
1979-1999: The nation celebrates a fairytale royal wedding, Argentine troops invade the Falklands, disaster strikes at Chernobyl, the Berlin Wall falls - and as the year 2000 approaches, construction begins on London's Millennium Dome. 
 
Narrated by Anna Massey, with additional readings by Robert Powell, this is the definitive radio account of one of the most exciting and fast-moving periods in the history of the United Kingdom. 
 
 
NB: Due to the age of these recordings, sound quality may vary 
 
 
Production credits 
Written by Christopher Lee 
Narrated by Anna Massey, with additional readings by Robert Powell 
Produced by Pete Atkin 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 August-31 December 1999

This Sceptred Isle: Collection 3: The 20th Century

The Classic BBC Radio History

James Cary

Set during World War Two, Hut 33 follows the adventures of a team of codebreakers at Bletchley Park as they work tirelessly to break German codes, matching wits with the fabled Enigma Machine. Unfortunately, they hate each other. 
 
Archie is a stroppy Geordie socialist revolutionary, while Professor Charles Gardner is a toffee-nosed snob. In theory, the immensely stupid 3rd Lt. Joshua Featherstonhaugh-Marshall is in charge of the hut, but he is still struggling with even the most basic concepts such as his name. They are joined by child prodigy Gordon, and the silent Winstanley. There’s also Mrs Best, the lascivious landlady, and the hut’s Polish secretary Minka, the only competent member of the team – although her answers to everything usually involve violence. 
 
Starring Tom Goodman-Hill as Archie, Robert Bathurst as Professor Charles Gardner, Alex MacQueen as 3rd Lt. Joshua Featherstonhaugh-Marshall, Fergus Craig as Gordon, Lill Roughley as Mrs Best, and Olivia Colman as Minka. 
 
Produced by Adam Bromley

Hut 33: The Complete Series 1-3

The hit BBC Radio 4 comedy

David Reynolds

David Reynolds’ major BBC Radio 4 series explores the origins of contemporary USA from its beginnings to the present day 
 
This epic narrative tells America’s story through the voices of those who lived it - presidents and farmers, mothers and children, settlers and soldiers, slaves and Indians. The series celebrates the country’s achievements but also examines its paradoxes by investigating three abiding themes of American life: empire, liberty and faith. 
 
Empire of Liberty: From the arrival of Native Americans from Asia, to the slave trade and the forced relocation of the Indians, the first series describes how the US expanded to cover a whole continent, laying the foundations of a superpower - if the country could remain united. 
Power &amp; Progress: The second series depicts the tragedy and heroism of the Civil War (1861-65), which finally ended slavery - though not racial discrimination - and the dynamism of the reunited nation as it grew into an industrial giant. America’s role in the Second World War is also examined. 
Empire &amp; Evil: The final series chronicles America’s long struggle with the Soviet Union, and examines the effect of that confrontation on American values, particularly in Vietnam and Watergate. The country’s struggle to overcome its racist past led from the Civil Rights Movement to its first black president. Also examined is the impact of Elvis on popular music, the battle over abortion and the story of the personal computer and the information revolution.

America: Empire of Liberty

The complete BBC Radio 4 series

Specially selected history series presented by Michael Portillo, exploring the most significant events before, during and after the First and Second World Wars 
 
Journalist and broadcaster Michael Portillo has always been fascinated by the past. A former politician and history graduate, he has presented several TV documentaries, including Portillo's Empire Journey and Great British Railway Journeys. Now, in these fascinating radio programmes, he turns the spotlight on World War One and Two, examining the cultural, political and economic upheaval surrounding these devastating global conflicts. 
 
1913: The Year Before sees him challenging the notion that the Great War was responsible for seismic shifts in British society. Over 10 episodes, he looks at themes including the suffrage movement, the Irish question, the decline of the liberal party and the arts, and argues that to a great extent, Britain was already in the process of transforming itself by 1913. 
 
The 2-part series The Great War of Words finds Portillo revealing how our understanding of World War One has been distorted by historians, politicians and cultural commentators. He analyses Germany's invasion of neutral Belgium in August 1914, showing how it transformed Britain's war into a moral cause; and considers how arguments over the origins of the war and the issue of war guilt evolved into a fierce, high-stakes battle for meaning. A follow-up episode, The Great War of Words: Peace before Annihilation?, centres around the factors that prevented peace breaking out between 1914 and 1918, and the attempts that were made to achieve it. 
 
In four episodes from Things We Forgot to Remember, he delves into the First World War and the interwar years, reflecting on the Somme and the victories of 1918, the failings and successes of the League of Nations, the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin and Neville Chamberlain's notorious 1938 declaration of 'peace for our time'. 
 
The aerial bombardment of Britain is the subject of The Blitz, in which Portillo chairs a discussion with leading historians about the strategy and legacy of Nazi Germany's decision to bomb and destroy key British cities. And in a concluding programme, Things We Forgot to Remember: Morgenthau Plan and post-war Germany, he recalls the short-lived precursor to the Marshall Plan, which aimed to destroy German industry and turn the country into an agrarian 'pastoral' society. 
 
Production credits 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
1913: The Year Before 
The Long Summer 10 June 2013 
Women's Rebellion 11 June 2013 
The Irish Question 12 June 2013 
The Tides of War 13 June 2013 
Cultural Upheaval 14 June 2013 
Labour Relations & the Triple Alliance 17 June 2013 
Poverty 18 June 2013 
Politics and the Tory Gamble 19 June 2013 
The Empire 20 June 2013 
The Great Change 21 June 2013 
Produced by Tom Alban 
 
The Great War of Words 
Episode 1 4 February 2014 
Episode 2 11 February 2014 
The Great War of Words: Peace before Annihilation? 28 April 2015 
Produced by Mark Burman 
 
Things We Forgot to Remember 
First World War 4 December 2006 
The League of Nations 15 December 2008 
Jesse Owens and the Nazi Olympics 22 November 2010 
Chamberlain and 'Peace for our Time' 1938 14 December 2009 
Morgenthau Plan and post-war Germany 4 June 2012 
Produced by Tom Alban, Joanne Cayford and Neil McCarthy 
 
The Blitz 8 September 2010 
With Juliet Gardiner, Sir Ian Kershaw and Terry Charman 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Michael Portillo: On the World Wars

A BBC Radio History Collection

Tim FitzHigham

Award winning comedian-author-adventurer, Tim FitzHigham and his nemesis Alex Horne embark on recreating bizarre and amusing bets from the 18th and 19th century in this engaging radio series. 
 
'His unflappable pluck in the face of impossible (or at least ridiculous) odds seldom fails to amuse' 
The Guardian 
 
Award-winning comedian Tim FitzHigham has a history of performing eccentric, record-breaking feats, including rowing across the Channel in a Victorian bathtub and blowing up the world's largest human-inflated balloon (he passed out twice during the attempt). Now, in this BBC Radio 4 series - based on his hugely successful 2011 Edinburgh Fringe show - he takes on some of the greatest (and oddest) bets in history, as he seeks to win a series of wacky wagers placed by Georgian and Victorian gamblers. 
 
In these nine episodes, he attempts to make a woollen coat from scratch - going from the sheep's back to his own back in a single day, tries to toss a cheeseboard over 4½ miles in under 100 throws, strives to outrun a racehorse in a 100-yard dash and endeavours to travel 25mph on water utilising only the methods existing in 1765. 
 
Tim also sets out to navigate central London blindfolded, bets that his pig can go over a bridge faster than a rower can scull across the river beneath it; and finds out if it's possible to cook a pudding ten feet underwater. In addition, accompanied by his nemesis Alex Horne, he recreates two legendary bets involving sending a missive 50 miles in an hour (using only the means available to a gentleman in 1753), and riding a horse from London to Dover and back before Alex can make a million dots on a piece of paper... 
 
Production credits 
Performed, written by and starring Tim FitzHigham with Alex Horne, Olivia Fitzroy and Bob Slayer 
Additional material by Paul Byrne, Jon Hunter and Joe Oldak 
Produced by Colin Anderson and Joe Nunnery 
Coat material supplied by the Derbyshire Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 17 February 2013 (Pilot), 6-27 April 2014 (Series 1) 1-22 April 2015 (Series 2) 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Gambler: Complete Series 1-2

A BBC Comedy

Chloe Hadjimatheou

Helena Merriman

Carrie Grace

Three dramatic true stories, this is investigative journalism at its very best. 
 
'Slick, efficient and professional... hugely engaging' The Spectator (on Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel) 
'Thrilling... a really great listen'The Guardian (on Tunnel 29) 
'Brilliantly produced' The Observer (on Mayday) 
 
In these three gripping series, prominent journalists investigate fascinating human stories, shining a light on history and politics and deepening our understanding of the word we live in. 
 
Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel tells a shocking tale of sex, death and power, as Carrie Gracie delves into the mysterious murder that led to the toppling of charismatic Chinese politician, Bo Xilai, and the rise of his greatest rival, President Xi Jinping. The story of the killing of British businessman and fixer Neil Heywood in Chongqing in 2011 is one the authorities do not want told. Gracie was warned off making this programme, her phones were tapped and her emails hacked. But she would not be silenced. Here, she uncovers a tragedy 'with no heroes but only villains and victims', and takes us into the dark heart of Chinese politics. 
 
In Tunnel 29, Helena Merriman recounts the incredible story of Joachim Rudolph, who, in the early 1960s, joined a group digging a tunnel under the Berlin Wall, and helped smuggle out 29 people. It's a story of the young people who risked everything, the spy who betrayed them, and the terrible price paid by those who were caught - and of the love that developed between the refugees who found freedom. Based on interviews with the tunnellers, thousands of documents from Stasi archives, and recordings from the tunnel, it is an astonishing tale of one of the most daring escape attempts of the 20th Century. 
 
Mayday investigates the extraordinary case of James Le Mesurier, an ex-British army officer found dead in an Istanbul street in 2019. The co-founder of the White Helmets - a civil defence force who pull survivors from bombed-out buildings in Syria - he was a hero to many, awarded an OBE for his efforts. But he also attracted deep suspicion, and accusations of being a spy, faking rescue videos - and involvement in appalling atrocities... Talking to Le Mesurier's widow, friends and colleagues, Chloe Hadjimatheou attempts to discover who he really was and how he died, and unravel a tangle of truth and lies. Also featured is a special extended version of The Canister on the Bed, exploring the events of the Douma massacre. In addition, bonus programme Mayday: The Evidence Gatherers reveals how a Western-funded NGO, responsible for extracting over a million documents from Syria allegedly containing evidence of torture and genocide, is now fighting a disinformation war. 
 
NB: Contains strong language and scenes which some listeners might find upsetting 
 
Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel 
Presented by Carrie Gracie 
Produced by Maria Byrne and Neal Razzell 
Sound mix by James Beard 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 13-17 March 2017 
 
Tunnel 29 
Written, presented and produced by Helena Merriman 
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck 
Editor: Richard Knight 
Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt 
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 21 October-1 November 2019 
 
Mayday 
Produced, written and presented by Chloe Hadjimatheou 
Editor: Emma Rippon 
Researcher: Tom Wright 
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman 
Sound design and mix: Neil Churchill 
Additional mixing Graham Pudifoot 
Editing assistance: Robbie Wojciechowski 
Arabic translation and additional research: Vanessa Bowles and Abdul Kader Habak 
Turkish researcher: Nevin Sungur 
Narrative Consultant: John Yorke 
Original music: Nick Mundy and Bu Kolthoum 
End track: Zamilou by Bu Kolthoum 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 9-20 November 2020 
 
Mayday: The Evidence Gatherers 
Produced, written and presented by Chloe Hadjimatheou 
Editor: Emma Rippon 
Researchers: Orla O'Brien and Lara Al Gibaly 
Executive producer Maggie Latham 
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman 
Sound design and mix: Neil Churchill 
Commissioner for Radio 4: Richard Knight 
Prof Paul McKeigue and Ivan played by Mark Fleischman 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 7 April 2021 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Intrigue: 3 explosive true stories

Tunnel 29, Mayday & Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel

Susan Morrison

Comedian Susan Morrison zips through the centuries to explore Scottish history in this brilliant BBC radio series 
 
Glaswegian comedian and history enthusiast Susan Morrison mines the rich, sometimes murky, depths of Scotland's past. Aided by a host of 'history detectives', the amazing stories she uncovers are sometimes dark, sometimes funny - but always fascinating. 
 
From Black Flag pirates to WW2 spies, from jousting knights to accused witches, and from princess nuns to lion-taming ancestors, Susan examines the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. Mary Queen of Scots and King Robert Bruce rub shoulders with medieval heresy hunters and male prostitutes, Highland bandits mingle with heroic nurses, and a revolutionary football player shares the spotlight with a ghost-busting minister in these 40 enthralling episodes. 
 
We meet a female slave owner, a dashing privateer, a First World War poet and a family planning pioneer; visit a Pictish monastery, a Goth pub and the lost village of Lassodie; find out about some of the bloodiest, most destructive campaigns on Scottish soil - the 16th Century wars of the 'Rough Wooing' - and dig deep into the intriguing world of Victorian true crime, and the grisly world of 18th Century dissection... 
 
Plus, there's a wealth of special shows themed around topics including Halloween, the Diaspora Tapestry, Suffragettes, the Scottish Women's Institute and World War One. 
 
Bin your Outlander box set and wave bye-bye to Braveheart - this is Scotland like you've never seen it before. 
 
©2021 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2021 BBC Worldwide Ltd 
Presented by Susan Morrison 
Resident historian and producer: Dr Louise Yeoman 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland, 16 May 2017- 6 December 2018.

Time Travels in Scotland

A BBC History

Alistair Cooke

This selection contains eight of Alistair Cooke's Christmas and New Year Letters from America, broadcast in December and January over the five decades of his career and covering a range of festive topics from the light-hearted to the sombre. 
 
Starting with his December 2001 Letter - broadcast in the wake of 9/11 - he remembers introducing Leonard Bernstein to Handel's 'Messiah', muses on the creation of A Christmas Carol and shares his memories of two friends who died in 1977, Groucho Marx and Bing Crosby. 
 
Here, too, are Cooke's reflections on Christmas in Vermont, the early days of television in the USA, cigarette advertising and sport, the Millennium Bug and the Nixon family's first days in the White House. The Letters are introduced and linked by the BBC's Justin Webb, who sets them in their historical context and adds his own observations. 
 
'Cooke's debonaire, transatlantic tones are unmistakable...' - FT Magazine.

Letters From America: Seasonal Letters

Andrea Catherwood

Ian Hislop

Allan Little

Jeremy Bowen

A BBC Radio 4 season exploring the history and future of the United Kingdom 
 
In this remarkable collection exploring the state of the United Kingdom and the future of its union, five presenters examine the identities, history and struggles of the nations, and ask what keeps them together as a united country. 
 
In the first episode, Jonathan Freedland and a team of historians and BBC correspondents take The Long View of the Union of the United Kingdom, at the constitutional, economic and cultural bonds between the nations, particularly after Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, and at three moments in the UK's history when its future was under similar scrutiny. 
 
In A Sea Between Us, Andrea Catherwood looks back at the Ireland she left, when the the IRA was still active, the prospect of a united Ireland seemed remote, and unionist parties enjoyed a comfortable majority at the polls. Now, she meets voices from Belfast's unionist community, looks at the Northern Ireland Protocol's potential damage to Northern Ireland's place in the UK, and talks to those from a traditionally pro-union background, who now say they're agnostic about their country's place in the UK. 
 
The Ghost Kingdoms of England sees Ian Hislop telling the stories of the four great Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms - East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex - celebrating their golden ages and trying to understand their journey from groupings of North Sea peoples to powerful kingdoms, and eventually a single entity. He talks to such varied experts as curator of Medieval coinage Gareth Williams, head of archeology at Durham University Sarah Semple, writer Bernard Cornwell, and art historian Janina Ramirez, as he uncovers how the regional identities have left their mark, and how the nations stabilised into becoming 'England'. 
 
In Two Kingdoms, Allan Little presents the epic story of how and why Scotland entered into union with England, why that Union endured for so long, and the historic changes that have brought Scotland closer to independence than it's been since 1707. This is a story about the emergence of a powerful partnership forged in Empire, industry and war, and Allan asks what happens when their values diverge and then clash, with profound consequences for millions of people on both sides of the border. 
 
The final episodes, Being Welsh, see Jeremy Bowen examine what it means to be Welsh, taking in Welsh politics, language, history and culture from the starting point of a Cardiff Stadium rugby match. With contributions from Jac Larner, Martin Johnes, and Siân James, as well as Rhys Jones, Rebecca Thomas, and Uzo Iwobi, Being Welsh investigates the distinct identities across the country, the construction of modern Wales, and the complicated relationship between Wales and England. 
 
'Sensitive but to the point... clear and fair' Guardian 
 
Presented by Jonathan Freedland, Andrea Catherwood, Ian Hislop, Allan Little and Jeremy Bowen 
Produced by Mohini Patel, Conor Garrett, Tom Alban, Jonathan Brunert, Caitlin Smith and Glyn Tansley 
 
The Long View 
Produced by Mohini Patel 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2021 
 
A Sea Between Us 
Produced by Conor Garrett 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2021 
 
The Ghost Kingdoms of England 
Produced by Tom Alban 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2021 
 
Two Kingdoms 
Produced by Jonathan Brunert and Caitlin Smith 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2021 
 
Being Welsh 
Produced by Glyn Tansley 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January and February 2022 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

This Union

A BBC Radio 4 series exploring the history and future of the U.K.

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16 books for 9 to 12-year-olds that love adventures

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24 must-read books for 9-12-year-olds

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The 100 best children's books of all time, as chosen by our readers

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Showing results for: ‘joseph delaney’

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