Steve Roud was Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song, and the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004. His publications include London Lore (2008) and The Lore of the Playground (2010). He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song. He lives in Sussex.

Steve Roud

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Agatha Christie

June Whitfield stars as Miss Marple in eight thrilling full-cast BBC Radio 4 dramatisations. 
 
A Pocket Full of Rye A spate of unusual deaths is linked to the nursery rhyme 'Sing a Song of Sixpence'. 
 
4.50 from Paddington After witnessing a murder on a train, Mrs McGillicuddy calls on Miss Marple. 
 
At Bertram’s Hotel Crime lurks beneath the surface of a respectable Mayfair hotel. 
 
The Body in the Library A mysterious blonde is found murdered in Dolly Bantry’s library. 
 
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side At a benefit held at Gossington Hall, harmless Mrs Badcock is fatally poisoned. 
 
A Caribbean Mystery Bored in paradise, Miss Marple finds her interest aroused by an old soldier’s tale. 
 
Murder at the Vicarage Everyone in St Mary Mead detested Colonel Protheroe – but who killed him? 
 
A Murder is Announced A startling entry in a local paper’s personal column leads to a deadly shooting. 
 
These BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations feature eight of Miss Marple’s most complex and intriguing cases. Based on the original novels by Agatha Christie, they are performed by a stellar cast. 
 
Duration: 16 hours approx.

Marple's Casebook

Classic Drama from the BBC Radio Archives

John Masefield

When Kay Harker meets a mysterious Punch and Judy man on his way home for Christmas, he little realizes that he is about to be plunged into adventure. The old man entrusts Kay with a strange puzzle box - the Box of Delights - before suddenly disappearing. Kay soon discovers two things: the box can transport him through time and space, and there is a plot to steal it. He must battle heroically against terrifying forces of evil in order to win the day... This thrilling BBC Radio adaptation boasts a stellar cast, including Donald Sinden, Lionel Jeffries, Spike Milligan and Celia Imrie. 
 
3 CDs. 3 hrs.

The Box Of Delights

John Finnemore

Every episode of the hit BBC Radio 4 airline sitcom is collected together in this special box set, including the Christmas special final episode, and several bonus features. 
 
Cabin Pressure is set in the wing and a prayer world of a tiny, one-plane charter airline, staffed by two pilots - one on his way down, and one who was never up to start with. Whether flying a cat to Abu Dhabi, dealing with a nervous bassoonist, hunting for a cleverly-hidden lemon or attempting to celebrate Christmas in seven minutes, no job is too small, but many, many jobs are too difficult. Carolyn Knapp-Shappey, MJN Air's formidable boss, has employed two of the very cheapest pilots money can buy: Captain Martin Crieff, who's always wanted to fly and won't let a little thing like lack of ability stop him, and First Officer Douglas Richardson, smooth-voiced old sky-god and eternal schemer. Passenger service is provided by the relentlessly cheery Arthur. 
 
Written by John Finnemore, Cabin Pressure stars Stephanie Cole as Carolyn, Benedict Cumberbatch as Martin, Roger Allam as Douglas, and John Finnemore as Arthur. 
 
‘The more I listen to John Finnemore's Cabin Pressure, the more I think what a stonking masterpiece it is. Perfect in every department.’ – Philip Pullman

Cabin Pressure: A-Z

The BBC Radio 4 Airline Sitcom

Douglas Adams

Eoin Colfer

Don't panic! This brand new collector's edition box set contains the only audiobooks you'll ever need on your galactic travels - the complete BBC radio productions of Douglas Adams's legendary saga. Included are: 
 
The two original series, the Primary and Secondary Phases, remastered by Dirk Maggs with vibrant sound and music and including a 55-minute feature programme, Douglas Adams's Guide tothe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and a fascinating 50-minute interview with Douglas Adams 
 
Extended editions of the Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases, directed by Dirk Maggs and featuring over 1½ hours of material not heard on BBC Radio 4 
 
The concluding Hexagonal Phase, with a further 50 minutes of extra unbroadcast content 
 
A special bonus disc featuring Douglas Adams's appearance on BBC Radio 4's Bookclub, in which he talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about comedy, sci-fi, the creation of his characters and his influences 
 
Grab your towel, pour yourself a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and get set for over 20 hours of unmissable radio adventure! 
 
Audio updated in 2020.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Complete Radio Series

John Peel

A collectible slipcase containing three exciting Doctor Who audiobooks, each featuring the Daleks! In Daleks: The Chase, the TARDIS is pursued through Time and Space by the Daleks, who are intent on preventing any future intervention in their plans by the Doctor. In Daleks: Mission to the Unknown and Daleks: The Mutation of Time, the leader of Earth in the far future, Mavic Chen, has allied himself with the Daleks. When the Doctor steals the core of the Time Destructor, his arch enemies pursue him across the galaxy in order to retrieve it. Read by Maureen O'Brien, Peter Purves and Jean Marsh, with Nicholas Briggs as the voice of the Daleks, these recordings feature specially composed music and sound effects. 
 
15 CDs. 17 hrs 45 mins.

Doctor Who: Dalek Menace! (Classic Novels Boxset)

The Unexpected Guest begins on a foggy night at a lonely country house, where a woman with a gun in her hand is quietly surveying the dead body of her husband. It looks like a straightforward case of murder. Or is it? As the ghosts of an old wrong begin to emerge from the past, the case begins to look anything but straightforward, and it is up to Sergeant Cadwallader and Inspector Thomas to discover the unexpected truth... In The Pale Horse, a dying woman gasps out her bizarre story to Catholic priest Father Gorman - but no sooner has he written it down than he is violently killed. The only clue he leaves is a twisted scrap of paper on which are written nine names. On the trail of these names Inspector Lejeune, together with academic Mark Easterbrooke and his crime writer friend Ariadne Oliver, are led inexorably to The Pale Horse Inn, in the village of Much Deeping. The three women who live there - a psychic, a medium and a witch - all seem to have some link to Father Gorman’s death. And each of them has their own secrets... These two Agatha Christie stories, each with a twist in the tale, are dramatised with full casts including Siôn Probert and Stephanie Cole. 
 
2 CDs. 2 hrs.

The Unexpected Guest & The Pale Horse

Donald Cotton

Paul Erickson

Glyn Jones

These classic soundtrack adventures, with additional linking narration, have all been remastered and include bonus interviews with William Russell, Maureen O'Brien, Peter Purves and Anneke Wills. The Sensorites: the Doctor and friends meet the alien Sensorites... The Romans: in first-century Rome, Ian and Barbara are sold into slavery and the Doctor encounters Nero... The Space Museum: the Doctor and his companions see a terrible potential future... The Ark: the Doctor, Steven and Dodo come face-to-face with the last humans and their servants, the Monoids... The Gunfighters: 1881, Tombstone. The TARDIS crew are in trouble, as they try to avoid getting caught in the crossfire at the OK Corral... The War Machines: The TARDIS lands in London in 1966 - only to find that the brand new Post Office Tower is home to a monstrous supercomputer. This box set also contains bonus PDF files of the original TV scripts. 
 
13 CDs. 12 hrs 30 mins.

Doctor Who Collection 6: The TV Episodes

Patricia Highsmith

A suspenseful full-cast BBC radio adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's classic psychological thriller 
 
When Guy Haines meets Charles Bruno in the dining car of a Texas-bound train, they share their secrets in the way that only strangers can. Charles confides his hatred for his controlling father, Guy confesses that he is divorcing his unfaithful wife. As the drink flows and the conversation turns darker, Charles proposes the perfect solution to both their problems - a murder swap - and Guy laughingly agrees. 
 
Back home, he quickly forgets their drunken pact: but Charles does not. Soon Guy is facing a nightmarish choice - fulfil his part of the bargain, or be framed for a murder he didn't commit... 
 
Dramatised for radio by award-winning playwright Craig Warner, this disturbing tale of obsession, blackmail, guilt and fear stars Michael Sheen (Good Omens, Staged) as Guy Haines and Anton Lesser (Game of Thrones, Endeavour) as Charles Bruno. 
 
Credits 
Written by Craig Warner, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith 
Original music by Craig Warner 
Directed by Andy Jordan 
 
Cast 
Charles Bruno........................Anton Lesser 
Guy Haines........................Michael Sheen 
Anne........................Saskia Reeves 
Gerard........................Bill Nighy 
Elsie Bruno........................Jane Whittenshaw 
Alex........................Denys Hawthorne 
Myers........................Roger May 
Treacher........................Stephen Critchlow 
Cop........................John Hartley 
Frear........................Andrew Branch 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 25 January 1996 
 
Strangers on a Train © 1993 by Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich, all rights reserved. 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Strangers on a Train

A BBC Radio full-cast dramatisation

David Llewellyn

When Yasmin finds a jewelled egg in her grandfather's shed, her first thought is to sell it. Unfortunately, the object is no valuable Faberge antique, but a dangerous weapon from another planet. Worse still, the buyer she finds online is a Russian secret agent working for the Committee for Extraterrestrial Research, who promptly swipes it, kills her brother Sayed and lands her in hospital. When Sgt Andy Davidson realises that he's not dealing with an ordinary double shooting, he calls Gwen Cooper, who breaks the bad news about the egg and its deadly contents. With no Torchwood to help, and Gwen in America, it's up to Andy and Yasmin to follow the trail of the Shiva virus - all the way from Cardiff to the British Museum... Written specially for AudioGO by David Llewellyn, Fallout is read by Tom Price, who played Sgt Andy in the hit TV series. 
 
1 CD. 1 hr 2 mins.

Torchwood Fallout

Bert Coules

Clive Merrison and Andrew Sachs star in seven original BBC Radio 4 full-cast adventures for Holmes and Watson. 
 
How many times did Dr John Watson tantalise us with passing references to a mystery which his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, never wrote about in full? In these original adventures Bert Coules, the chief dramatist of BBC Radio 4’s celebrated Sherlock Holmes canon, has imaginatively fleshed out seven such unrecorded cases. 
 
The Determined Client: Miss Addleton engages Holmes to save her father's good name. 
The Striking Success of Miss Franny Blossom: Holmes investigates a respectable gambling club. 
The Thirteen Watches: Bizarre events on an express train brings a railway baron to Baker Street. 
The Ferrers Documents: A slum landlord and a missing witness figure in a dark tale of hatred and revenge. 
The Remarkable Performance of Mr Frederick Merridew: A night at the music hall ends in tragedy. 
The Eyes of Horus: A priceless Egyptian artefact vanishes from a locked casket in a locked vault. 
The Marlbourne Point Mystery: Holmes and Watson discover death, treachery and betrayal on an isolated coastal headland.

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Collection 2

Seven BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas

Mark Morris

Ross Chapman is one of life's losers. So when he survives a point-blank shooting, dons a superhero costume and becomes a crime-busting vigilante, something strange is clearly going on. And Ross's transformation isn't the only odd thing happening in Cardiff. Time is distorting - around the city, some people are aging, dying and decomposing in a matter of minutes, while others are reverting to childhood. Sgt Andy Davidson knows he's out of his depth - so when Jack Harkness sweeps into the police station, he's glad of the help that only Torchwood can provide. But for Jack, the stakes are higher than ever. He's seen a vision of Gwen, dead, murdered by an unknown gunman. And if he can't solve the mystery of Mr Invincible, he can't save her... Written specially for AudioGO by Mark Morris, Mr Invincible is read by Tom Price, who played Sgt Andy Davidson in the hit BBC television series. 
 
1 CD. 1 hr 4 mins.

Torchwood Mr Invincible

Ian Edgington

Washington D.C., post-Miracle. The city has been hit by a spate of very unusual serial killings. The victims are different ages and genders and the locations vary, but each body has one thing in common – it has been reduced to a dried-up, desiccated husk. Special Agent Lucas Avery has dealt with some tricky puzzles in his time, but this is stranger than anything he’s ever encountered. His one lead is a pair of names: ‘Gwen’ and ‘Rhys’... For Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams, still recovering from the recent, traumatic events that shook the world, life is about to get difficult and dangerous again. For it’s not just Homeland Security on their trail, but something else – something alien, terrifying and deadly... Written specially for audio by Ian Edginton, Army of One is read by Kai Owen, who played Rhys Williams in the hit BBC television series. 
 
1 CD. 1 hr 10 mins.

Torchwood Army Of One

Lou Wakefield

Carole Hayman

When Irene Spencer meets Vera Small at her daughter Lesley’s wedding reception, they embark upon a correspondence that is quite unlike any other in the history of letter-writing. Both Irene and Vera are happily widowed and endowed with errant offspring. They live in a world of church fêtes and amateur dramatics, but love nothing more than dipping their pens in the vitriol pot – while remaining the firmest of pen-pals. Feisty, naughty and endlessly funny, Ladies of Letters provides a hilarious insight into suburban friendships as they really are! ‘Quite honestly as I laid the last letter aside I felt a better person for having glimpsed behind the net curtains of Mrs Small’s and Mrs Spencer’s life.’ - Sue Townsend. 
 
1 CD. 1 hr 30 mins.

Ladies Of Letters

Tom Jamieson

Nev Fountain

The 15th series of the award-winning BBC Radio 4 impressions show starring Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens and others, plus the 2015 Christmas Special and 2016 New Year's Day Special, which is A Look Back at the Year 2020! Duration: 3 hours 10 mins.

Dead Ringers: Series 15

The BBC Radio 4 impressions show

John Barrowman

Carol E. Barrowman

It starts with a series of unexplained events. Earth tremors across the globe. Women being driven insane by their heightened and scrambled senses. And the world is starting to notice - the number one Twitter trend is #realfemmefatales. Governments and scientists are bewildered and silent. The world needs Torchwood, but there's not much of Torchwood left. Captain Jack Harkness has tracked the problem to its source: a village in Peru, where he's uncovered evidence of alien involvement. In Cardiff, Gwen Cooper has discovered something alien and somehow connected to Jack. If the world is to be restored, she has to warn him - but she's quickly becoming a victim of the madness, too... From Torchwood star John Barrowman, and Carole Barrowman, this is an epic thriller that finds Captain Jack and Gwen in a race to save humanity itself. Read by Daniel Pirrie (Doctor Who, Downton Abbey). 
 
7 CDs. 8 hrs 12 mins.

Torchwood: Exodus Code

Five gripping full-cast adaptations of Patricia Highsmith's bestselling 'Ripley' series - plus bonus material 
 
Charming, cultured and clever, Tom Ripley has a taste for the finer things in life. And he is determined to get them, by any means necessary... 
 
These five plays - The Talented Mr Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water - chart Tom's journey from impoverished conman to wealthy bon viveur and serial killer. His homicidal adventures begin when he befriends shipping heir Dickie Greenleaf: he wants money, success, and he's willing to kill for it. But when he attains the luxurious lifestyle he craves, he is always on the edge of being discovered. Will his shadowy past finally catch up with him? 
 
BAFTA-winning actor Ian Hart stars as Ripley in these tense, thrilling dramas. Also included are two bonus documentaries: Looking for Ripley, in which crime writer Mark Billingham unravels the mystery behind our lasting fascination with Tom Ripley, and A Passionate Affair, presented by Marcel Berlins, who asks whether Patricia Highsmith fell in love with her suave, amoral anti-hero. 
 
Text © 1993 by Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich, all rights reserved. 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Complete Ripley: The Tom Ripley thrillers

Five BBC Radio full-cast dramatisations

J.R.R. Tolkien

Widely regarded as a broadcasting classic, the 1981 BBC Radio dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings stars Ian Holm, Michael Hordern, Robert Stephens, John Le Mesurier and Peter Woodthorpe. This box set contains all three parts of the epic tale - The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him the Rings of Power - the means by which he will be able to rule the world. All he lacks in his plan for domination is the Ruling Ring, which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Frodo Baggins... Brian Sibley, one of the original dramatists, has written new opening and closing narration for the character of Frodo, played by Ian Holm. This collection also includes a bonus CD featuring Stephen Oliver's complete musical score, and a demo version of 'Bilbo's Last Song'. 
 
13 CDs. 13 hrs 15 mins.

The Lord Of The Rings: The Trilogy

The Complete Collection Of The Classic BBC Radio Production

Arthur Conan Doyle

’It is the Valley of Fear, the Valley of Death. The terror is in the hearts of the people from the dusk to the dawn. Wait, young man, and you will learn for yourself’. Sherlock Holmes is intrigued and disturbed when he receives an ominous coded message: a Mr Douglas of Birlstone House is in terrible danger. Before Holmes can act, shocking news arrives. Douglas has been founded dead – his face blown off by a shotgun. Scotland Yard is stumped. Was this suicide or murder? But Holmes is in no doubt. For he recognises the calling card of his nemesis: Professor James Moriarty. In this thrilling tale of fear and tyranny, stretching from the stark American coal valleys to an English country manor, Holmes must battle his greatest – and most lethal – enemy... 
 
6 CDs. 6 hrs 17 mins.

Sherlock Holmes: The Valley Of Fear

Sebastian Baczkiewicz

How did Claudius become the man he is in Shakespeare's Hamlet? What were the real reasons behind the murder of his brother? How does he really feel about his nephew? These questions will be answered in this drama spiced with ghosts, pirates, magic and political skulduggery. 
 
Set in an alternative Europe in the 1930s, Elsinore is a prequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This compelling new drama imagines the turbulence of the Danish court, in a world where Denmark is a powerful, militarised country with a small empire around the Baltic that it is fighting hard to maintain. There is more than a hint of totalitarianism in the air. 
 
In this uneasy setting, Elsinore delves into the troubled, not to say murderous relationship between King Hamlet and his brother Claudius: one of the most interesting characters in the Shakespearean canon. Realism meets with moments of otherworldliness as the story unravels, taking in pirates and magic, rebellion and betrayal. 
 
A dark, exciting drama that touches on the events and people in Shakespeare's play, and brings us to the moment where Hamlet begins. 
 
From the extraordinary imagination of Sebastian Baczkiewicz, writer of the successful Pilgrim series. 
 
Duration: 3 hours approx.

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