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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Roald Dahl

In interviews ranging from 1972 to 1989, Roald Dahl talks about writing for children; his medical inventions to aid his ailing son and wife (the actress Patricia Neal) when they were seriously ill, and writing his short stories. He also covers his school days; military service; writing for films (including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and the link between cruelty and laughter. 
 
These archive recordings, many of which have not been heard since they were first transmitted, open a window into the past and shine a light on the one of the icons of our time. 
 
 Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Roald Dahl In His Own Words

Various

Part of BBC Radio 3's 'The Essay' strand, The Book That Changed Me features writers, academics and other eminent professionals discussing the literary works that have had the greatest impact on their lives. 
 
This fascinating selection contains some of the best episodes from the series, including legendary songwriter Steve Earle on Truman Capote's masterpiece In Cold Blood; academic Monica Siddiqui on Austen's Pride and Prejudice; and Tony Blair's onetime strategist Alastair Campbell on Flaubert's seminal Madame Bovary. 
 
Renowned film director Richard Eyre reveals how Angus Calder's social history The People's War evokes memories of his childhood; neurobiologist Colin Blakemore explains why he loves Darwin's lesser-known work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals; visual artist Tacita Dean describes how Marguerite Yourcenair's Fires helped her find her voice as a writer, feminist and filmmaker; and David Simon, creator of TV's The Wire, relates how James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men made him realise the importance of reportage. 
 
Absorbing and enlightening, this entertaining collection sheds new light on the intellectual lives of a host of famous names, and celebrates the transformative power of literature. 
 
Production credits 
Produced by Smita Patel 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the following dates: 
 
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell 14 March 2011 
With Alan Johnston 
The Wrench by Primo Levi 15 March 2011 
With Edmund de Waal 
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin 17 March 2011 
With Colin Blakemore 
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 18 March 2011 
With Mona Siddiqui 
Othello by William Shakespeare 25 October 2011 
With Musa Okwonga 
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 20 January 2014 
With Alan Johnson 
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 19 January 2015 
With Steve Earle 
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 20 January 2015 
With Jude Kelly 
What a Carve-Up! by Jonathan Coe 21 January 2015 
With Jon Ronson 
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 22 January 2015 
With Lolita Chakrabarti 
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee 31 October 2016 
With David Simon 
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 1 November 2016 
With Pauline Black 
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X 2 November 2016 
With Ben Anderson 
Fires by Marguerite Yourcenair 3 November 2016 
With Tacita Dean 
The People's War by Sir Richard Eyre 4 November 2016 
With Angus Calder 
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 2 April 2018 
With Afua Hirsch 
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 3 April 2018 
With Henry Marsh 
The Arabian Nights translated by Richard Francis Burton 4 April 2018 
With Zarah Hussain 
Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert 5 April 2018 
With Alastair Campbell 
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett 6 April 2018 
With Inua Ellams 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The Book That Changed Me: 20 Essays on Influential Literature

A BBC Radio 3 Collection

James Walton

Highlights from the light-hearted literary quiz chaired by James WaltonThe Write Stuff is the book-based panel show that takes a witty and whimsical look at well-known authors and their work. Host James Walton challenges the erudite contestants with tricky literary teasers, which they endeavour to answer using a combination of knowledge and guesswork.Each episode is themed around an ‘Author of the Week’, who is the subject of the introductory rounds in which the panellists read out favourite quotations from their writing and field questions about their life. Among the intervening rounds are ‘Connections’, ‘Odd One Out’, a music round, an archive round and a fast-paced, fingers-on-buzzers round of general literary knowledge. And for the rib-tickling finale, the contestants are tasked with penning parodies in the style of the chosen author, resulting in comic gems such as Jerome K Jerome’s ‘Three Men on a Club 18-30 Holiday’, a hardboiled crime novel in the style of Virginia Woolf, and a Twitter thread by Jane Eyre.Collected here are 40 of the finest episodes from the show’s 17 series, featuring iconic writers from Jane Austen and Charles Dickens to James Joyce, Anton Chekhov, William Wordsworth and John Milton. Pitting their wits against each other are the fiercely competitive team captains Sebastian Faulks and John Walsh, aided by celebrity guests including Stephen Fry, Miles Kington, Philippa Gregory, Sue Limb, Simon Brett, Lynne Truss, John O’Farrell, Natalie Haynes and Mark Billingham. Also included is a Christmas special, filled with festive quizzing and seasonally themed pastiches.Clever, funny and decidedly unstuffy, this knockabout show is a must for bookworms, bibliophiles and anyone who enjoys mixing some laughter with their literature.Production creditsCompiled, written and presented by James WaltonProduced by John Rolph, Katie Marsden, Dawn Ellis, Alexandra Smith and Sam MichellReaders: Rachel Atkins, Beth Chalmers and Becky HindleyFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: Jane Austen 31 July 1998DH Lawrence 28 August 1998Charles Dickens 4 September 1998Arthur Conan Doyle 14 July 1999The Brontë Sisters 21 July 1999James Joyce 28 July 1999Oscar Wilde 11 August 1999William Wordsworth 11 April 2001Samuel Taylor Coleridge 10 April 2002Virginia Woolf 17 April 2002George Orwell 2 April 2003Dylan Thomas 12 May 2004Rudyard Kipling 26 May 2004Alexander Pope 9 June 2004Samuel Pepys 16 June 2004The Write Stuff at Christmas 29 December 2004Lord Byron 25 May 2005John Milton 22 June 2005Charles Dickens 29 June 2005Henry James 19 June 2006Thomas Hardy 17 July 2006F Scott Fitzgerald 9 April 2007John Keats 16 April 2007Jonathan Swift 7 April 2008Hans Christian Andersen 14 April 2008George Eliot 28 April 2004DH Lawrence 3 November 2008Marcel Proust 19 October 2010Daniel Defoe 27 January 2012Gustav Flaubert 3 February 2012HG Wells 24 February 2012The Brontës 12 May 2013Mark Twain 19 May 2013Greek Tragedy 26 May 2013William Blake 9 June 2013Gerald Manley Hopkins 19 October 2014Jerome K Jerome 26 October 2014Henry Fielding 2 November 2014Virginia Woolf 9 November 2014© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The Write Stuff

40 Episodes from the Panel Game of Literary Correctness

Tim Key

Ever wondered just how much of life you can understand through poetry? 
 
Tim Key is never far from stage and screen - from Peep Show to Alpha Papa to Taskmaster. But now he's back doing what he does best - attempting to recite poetry whilst tormenting his friend and musician, the equally brilliant, and long suffering, Tom Basden. 
 
From ruminating on the meaning of family via his narrative poem The Godfather, attempting to get to the bottom of death via his poem The Boy Who Faked His Own Death, and also organising an impromptu stag party, Tim Key uses poetry to help him understand every situation. 
 
'In any other sphere apart from comedy, we'd probably class this way of looking at the world as certifiable. Here it feels like genius.' The Telegraph 
 
"The show... has a kind of artistry and strange beauty that makes it unlike any other hour of stand-up you are likely to see." The Observer 
 
'...You never know when Key will suddenly toss you a fantastic joke or startlingly well-constructed line.' Radio Times 
 
Audio updated April 2019

Tim Key's Late Night Poetry Programme: The Complete Series 1-4

The BBC Radio 4 comedy

Lenny Henry

A collection of BBC radio shows presented by comedian and actor Lenny Henry. 
 
Stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, TV presenter: Lenny Henry is a multi-talented Renaissance man with a wide range of interests. But there are a few things (and people) he just doesn't get, despite their iconic status - and in What's So Great About...?, he explores them to find out what makes them so appealing. He questions the mystique surrounding Method Acting; discusses the benefits of Life Coaches with Phill Jupitus; hears about the joy of Maths from Carol Vorderman and asks Simon McBurney and Fiona Shaw to persuade him of the genius of Samuel Beckett. He also investigates the art of Jackson Pollock, meets stars from the world of Snooker to discover the lure of the cue and chats about Chaucer with Terry Jones. 
 
Lenny was once sceptical about Shakespeare too, but he's now a passionate convert. In Lenny Henry Plays Othello, we follow him as he embarks on his first straight stage role and first Shakespearean role, playing one of theatre's most tragic characters. From voice coaching to first night nerves, we eavesdrop on his journey from comedian to tragedian. 
 
In August Shines, inspired by his theatrical success in August Wilson's Fences, Lenny travels to Pittsburgh to tell the story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American playwright. The city was also home to the bad-boy pop artist whose work Lenny explores in Andy Warhol: Time Regained. Visiting the Warhol Museum, he learns about the 'Time Capsules' - an artwork consisting of 300,000 eclectic objects assembled across the last 13 years of Warhol's life - and joins the audience for the unboxing of the mysterious Capsule 528... 
 
Finally, in the compelling 10-part series Raising the Bar: 100 Years of Black British Theatre and Screen, Lenny traces the long, painful road that black Britons have travelled on stage and screen, from the overt racial discrimination of the 19th Century, via the veiled slurs that persisted throughout the 20th, to today's more equal society. Talking to playwrights such as Kwame Kwei-Armah, and actors and directors including Carmen Munroe, Yvonne Brewster and Steve McQueen, he tells the story of black drama and the influential artists who have shaped it over the past century, and looks to the future to examine the prospects for young black British talent. 
 
Published by Penguin Random House Ltd 
Licensed by BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
MCPS 
Presented by Lenny Henry 
 
What's So Great About...? 
Produced by Simon Elmes 
With Ellen Burstyn, James Lipton, Phill Jupitus, Carol Vorderman, Celia Hoyles, Professor Brian Butterworth, Simon McBurney, Fiona Shaw, John Calder, James Knowlson, Brian Sewell, Julian Joseph, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Dennis Taylor, John Virgo, John Parrott, Terry Griffiths, Ardis Butterfield, Mike Poulton, Terry Jones 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 5 July 2008-11 June 2011 
 
Lenny Henry Plays Othello 
Produced by Simon Elmes 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20 February 2009 
 
August Shines 
Produced by Simon Elmes 
With Chris Rawson, Professor Larry Glasco, Kim Ellis, Jeff Folino, Sala Udin, Nelson Harrison 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 9 October 2014 
 
Andy Warhol: Time Regained 
Produced by Simon Elmes 
With Ben Harrison, Rick Armstrong, Tim Marlow, Erin Byrne, Benjamin Liu, Donald Warhola 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 11 September 2014 
 
Raising the Bar: 100 Years of Black British Theatre and Screen 
Presented by Lenny Henry 
Produced by Simon Elmes 
Series Consultant: Dr Michael Pearce 
Featuring: Bola Agbaje, Yvonne Brewster, Michael Buffong, Lolita Chakrabarti, Isaac Julien, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Mustapha Matura, Steve McQueen, Carmen Munroe, Horace Ové, Winsome Pinnock, Paulette Randall, Roy Williams 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 9-20 November 2015

Lenny Henry's What's So Great About...?

And 4 other BBC documentaries

Lemn Sissay

Award-winning writer Lemn Sissay explores the idea of uniqueness across different aspects of his life 
 
'Creative, surprising - and unique' The Telegraph 
 
If you Google 'Lemn Sissay', all the results will be about him - he's the only person in the world with that name. But that's not the only thing that makes him unique. In this fascinating series, he mixes stand-up, poetry and interviews to explore four more situations in his life where he stood out, alone, and examines how that uniqueness made him feel. 
 
'The Only Poet on the Bill' finds Lemn considering his formative years on the 1980s comedy circuit, and chatting to fellow poet Tony Walsh about performing his poem 'This is the Place' at the vigil for the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. In 'The Only Non-Graduate at the Graduation', he reflects on being appointed Chancellor at Manchester University, and giving out degrees despite not having one himself. He also speaks to the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Donna Ludford, about how she felt becoming a councillor without having attended university. 
 
'The Only Black Man in the Village' sees Lemn drawing on his experience of growing up in an all-white town, and talking to Oscar-nominated writer/director Cornelius Walker about his documentary Black Sheep. And in 'The Only Foster Child in the House', he discusses his adolescence in children's homes and his lifetime of advocacy for young people raised in the care system, as well as speaking to campaigner and care leaver champion Terry Galloway. In each episode, Lemn is joined by Henry Normal, who interrupts at will to ask questions about the show. 
 
Comprising Lemn's signature blend of artistic yet extraordinarily honest comedy, this absorbing series explores issues of race, class, education and lack of empowerment, asking thought-provoking questions about how we define ourselves, and why it matters. 
 
Cast and credits 
Written and performed by Lemn Sissay 
With Tony Walsh, Donna Ludford, Cornelius Walker, Terry Galloway 
Commentary: Henry Normal 
Recorded by Jerry Peal 
Sound mixing by Rich Evans 
Produced by Ed Morrish 
A Lead Mojo production for BBC Radio 4 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 3-24 March 2023 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Lemn Sissay is the One and Only

A BBC Radio 4 Series

Thomas More

Michael Symmons Roberts

Michael Symmons Roberts’ full-cast dramatisation of Thomas More’s classic work, plus an accompanying documentary exploring its legacy 
 
Thomas More's classic work of speculative fiction, Utopia, was published over 500 years ago, yet has entered the culture so deeply that the name of his fictional island is still how we refer to our hopes and dreams of a better society. This immersive dramatisation is adapted by the award-winning poet and author Michael Symmons Roberts, and is paired with a documentary programme that further explores More’s iconic book. 
 
In Utopia, a full cast brings to life More's strange and enchanting island. More travels to Antwerp, to sort out a dispute in the commercial wool trade. While he is there, he meets an old man who is clearly widely travelled. When More complains about the petty politics of the trade dispute, the stranger says he has seen another way of living. He introduces himself as the adventurer Raphael Hythloday, and describes a thrilling journey exploring an unmapped part of the ocean, discovering an island society unlike any seen before. The island is called ‘Utopia’... Starring Raad Rawi as Raphael Hythloday, Nacho Aldeguer as the young Raphael, and Michael Peavoy as Thomas More. 
 
In the accompanying documentary, Utopias, Michael Symmons Roberts examines the book’s intellectual legacy. It generated an idea that has been hotly contested throughout the hundreds of years since its release; a slippery tale that blurs fact and fiction and which has left readers trying to fathom whether More was presenting the island of Utopia as a model society or as a salutary tale. He also eavesdrops on figures from the BBC archives describing what their personal Utopias might look like – including Tony Benn, Jeanette Winterson, Aldous Huxley, Nawal El Saadawi and Iain Banks. 
 
Michael Symmons Roberts is an award-winning poet, author and dramatist. His poetry book Corpus won the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize and the Griffin Poetry Prize. In 2007 he received the Arts Council Writers Award. He was elected a Fellow of the English Association in 2012 and in 2014 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has worked with composer James MacMillan for the BBC Proms and won awards for his radio adaptations of His Fearful Symmetry and Soldiers in the Sun. 
 
Cast and credits 
 
Utopia 
Written by Thomas More 
Adapted by Michael Symmons Roberts 
Directed by Susan Roberts 
Raphael Hythloday - Raad Rawi 
Young Raphael - Nacho Aldeguer 
Thomas More / Achorian - Michael Peavoy 
Peter Giles - Cameron Blakeley 
Abraxa - Emily Pithon 
Barzanes - Jonathan Keeble 
Macaria - Fiona Clarke 
First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 24 January 2016 
 
Utopias 
Presented by Michael Symmons Roberts 
Produced by Geoff Bird 
First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 23 January 2016 
 
©2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Utopia

A Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisation & more

Miles Jupp

Miles Jupp probes mysteries both fictional and autobiographical in these ten radio investigations 
 
Actor and comedian Miles Jupp puts his inquiring mind and talent for comic analysis to work, as he turns his quizzical gaze on the world of fiction. 
 
In these ten entertaining documentaries, he explores why some books, games and binge-watched box sets are, as they say, 'literally unputdownable'; peers into Plotto, an ingenious manual of story devices, to discover whether it really can make writing easy; takes a sideways look at some familiar characters from literature, including James Bond, Dracula, Fu Manchu and Carruthers; delves into the intricacies of the locked-room murder; and revisits his old prep school to find out whether a book of stirring 19th-century verse can work its magic on today's young people. And there's a shock in store for Miles as, researching his Huguenot ancestors, he finds cracks appearing in his family tree... 
 
Included in this collection are: 
Miles Jupp is Literally Unputdownable 
Miles Jupp and the Plot Device 
The Soviet James Bond 
The Woman Who Invented James Bond? 
The Trainspotter's Guide to Dracula 
Miles Jupp in a Locked Room 
Fu Manchu in Edinburgh 
By Jove, Carruthers! 
Miles Jupp's Muscular Lines 
Miles Jupp is Insufficiently Belgian 
 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Miles Jupp 
Produced by David Stenhouse 
Actor: David Jackson Young, with additional contributions from Crawford Logan, David Rintoul and Samantha Bond 
 
Miles Jupp is Literally Unputdownable first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 28 June 2020 
Featuring DJ Taylor; Paula Hawkins; Jed Mercurio; Will Storr and Frederick Forsyth 
 
Miles Jupp and the Plot Device first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 December 2015 
Featuring Mike Ashley; Professor Paul Collins of the University of Portland Oregon; John Harvey; Jeffrey Marks; Val McDermid and Damon Rochefort 
 
The Soviet James Bond first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 December 2014 
Commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and produced by BBC Radio Scotland 
Featuring Professor Ian Christie of Birkbeck College; Mark Liederman, Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder; Olga Semyonova; Vitali Vitaliev and Simon Winder 
 
The Woman Who Invented James Bond? first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10 December 2016 
Featuring Pam Hirsch; John Pearson; Nigel West and Simon Winder 
 
The Trainspotter's Guide to Dracula first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 October 2017 
Featuring Sir Christopher Frayling; Andras Hlavacska; Zita Hummer; Tudor Salajan; Alexandru Simon and Dacre Stoker 
 
Miles Jupp in a Locked Room first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21 May 2012 
Featuring Robert Adey; Mike Ashley; Paul Doherty; Jasper Fforde; Christopher Fowler; Paul Halter; Daniel Mallory; Denise Mina; John Pugmire and Soji Shamada 
 
Fu Manchu in Edinburgh first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 April 2010 
Featuring Sascha Auerbach; Paul Bailey; Alan Bennell; Grant Buttars; Owen Dudley Edwards; Bill Maynard; Dr Jonathan Murray; Matthew Sweet and Shenxiao Tong 
Reader: Crawford Logan 
 
By Jove, Carruthers! first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12 May 2009 
Featuring Louis Barfe; Owen Dudley Edwards; Bruce Durie; Roger Johnson; Sam Llewellyn and Celia Mitchell 
 
Miles Jupp's Muscular Lines first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 3 January 2010 
Featuring Leslie Barr; Colonel Tim Collins, OBE; Owen Dudley Edwards; Sir Ranulph Fiennes and vox pops with pupils from St George's School, Windsor Castle 
 
Miles Jupp is Insufficiently Belgian first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 March 2015 
Written by Miles Jupp and David Stenhouse with additional material by James Kettle 
Featuring Nick Barrett; Bella Jupp, Gillian Jupp, Rob Jupp, Rupert Jupp, Thomas Jupp, Christine Sas and Lieven Schiere

Miles Jupp is Literally Unputdownable

Ten lively literary investigations

Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Bragg and guests tell the story of the novel over 400 years, via key literary works and movements 
 
'One of Radio 4's quiet jewels in its crown' The Guardian 
 
In 1998, a brand new culture show was launched on Radio 4, featuring Melvyn Bragg and a panel of leading academics discussing the ideas, individuals and events that have shaped our world. In Our Time rapidly became one of radio's most well-loved programmes, regularly attracting over 2 million listeners eager to learn more about the topic of the week - which could be asteroids, Zoroastrianism or anything in between. 
 
This specially curated collection charts the evolution of the novel as a literary form throughout the past four centuries, analysing 25 works ranging from Cervantes' 17th century epic Don Quixote to George Orwell's 1945 political fable Animal Farm. Some of the best books of all time are examined and elucidated here, including Robinson Crusoe, Tristram Shandy, Emma, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Crime and Punishment, Ulysses and Mrs Dalloway. Three additional programmes, on 'The Novel', 'Victorian Realism' and 'Literary Modernism', set these masterpieces in their historical context. 
 
Devotees of fiction, In Our Time fans and the intellectually curious will love these dynamic, stimulating discussions, which open the door to a whole world of classic literature and invite us to venture in. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Olivia Seligman, Natalia Fernandez, Thomas Morris, Simon Tillotson, Julia Johnson, Luke Mulhall 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: The Early Novel 
 
The Novel 11 November 1999 
With D J Taylor and Gillian Beer 
 
Don Quixote 16 March 2006 
With Barry Ife, Edwin Williamson and Jane Whetnall 
 
Robinson Crusoe 22 December 2011 
With Karen O'Brien, Judith Hawley and Bob Owens 
 
Voltaire's Candide 3 May 2012 
With David Wootton, Nicholas Cronk and Caroline Warman 
 
Tristram Shandy 24 April 2014 
With Judith Hawley, John Mullan and Mary Newbould 
 
Emma 19 November 2015 
With Janet Todd, John Mullan and Emma Clery 
 
Frankenstein 16 May 2019 
With Karen O'Brien, Michael Rossington and Jane Thomas 
 
Eugene Onegin 22 June 2017 
With Andrew Kahn, Emily Finer and Simon Dixon 
 
Part II: The Victorian Novel 
 
Victorian Realism 14 November 2002 
With Philip Davis, AN Wilson and Dinah Birch 
 
A Christmas Carol 16 December 2021 
With Juliet John, Jon Mee and Dinah Birch 
 
Jane Eyre 18 June 2015 
With Dinah Birch, Karen O'Brien and Sara Lyons 
 
Wuthering Heights 28 September 2017 
With Karen O'Brien, John Bowen and Alexandra Lewis 
 
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 30 September 2021 
With Alexandra Lewis, Marianne Thormählen and John Bowen 
 
Moby Dick 7 December 2017 
With Bridget Bennett, Katie McGettigan and Graham Thompson 
 
North and South 9 March 2017 
With Sally Shuttleworth, Jenny Uglow and Dinah Birch 
 
Aurora Leigh 24 March 2016 
With Margaret Reynolds, Daniel Karlin and Karen O'Brien 
 
Crime and Punishment 14 November 2019 
With Sarah Hudspith, Oliver Ready and Sarah Young 
 
Middlemarch 19 April 2018 
With Rosemary Ashton, Kathryn Hughes and John Bowen 
 
Tess of the d'Urbervilles 5 May 2016 
With Dinah Birch, Francis O'Gorman and Jane Thomas 
 
The Time Machine 17 October 2019 
With Simon Schaffer, Amanda Rees and Simon James 
 
Part III: The Modernist Novel 
 
Literary Modernism 26 April 2001 
With John Carey, Laura Marcus and Valentine Cunningham 
 
Heart of Darkness 15 February 2007 
With Susan Jones, Robert Hampson and Laurence Davies 
 
James Joyce's Ulysses 14 June 2012 
With Steven Connor, Jeri Johnson and Richard Brown 
 
The Great Gatsby 14 January 2021 
With Sarah Churchwell, Philip McGowan and William Blazek 
 
Mrs Dalloway 3 July 2014 
With Hermione Lee, Jane Goldman and Kathryn Simpson 
 
Kafka's The Trial 27 November 2014 
With Elizabeth Boa, Steve Connor and Ritchie Robertson 
 
Decline and Fall 21 February 2013 
With David Bradshaw, John Bowen and Ann Pasternak Slater 
 
Animal Farm 29 September 2016 
With Steven Connor, Mary Vincent and Robert Colls 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios 
Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Classic Novels

A BBC Radio 4 Collection

Terry Pratchett

Sir Terry Pratchett was a much-loved writer who gained international fame for his Discworld fantasy series. In this recording we hear - in his own words - about science-fantasy and comedy writing. He discusses his fans and followers, how he enjoys writing and the importance of the Discworld characters. We hear his thoughts on fame and isolation, his attitude to money, and about his reaction to diagnosis with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He also discusses his inspirations and the business of being a writer, and talks openly about making his documentary on assisted death for television. 
 
The interviews included are: Bookshelf, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 24 January 1991, featuring Nigel Ford); Profile, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 4 March 1992, featuring Michael Rosen); Kaleidoscope, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 24 November 1995, featuring Brian Sibley); Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 9 February 1997, featuring Sue Lawley); The Big Question, BBC television (first broadcast 1 February 1998, featuring Mark Lawson); Open Book, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 29 April 2001, featuring Charlie Lee-Potter); Open Book, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 28 September 2003, featuring Mariella Frostrup); On the Ropes, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 20 May 2008, featuring John Humphrys); Front Row, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 1 September 2008, featuring Mark Lawson); Front Row, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 18 October 2011, featuring Mark Lawson). 
 
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Terry Pratchett In His Own Words

Natalie Haynes

Four more series of Natalie Haynes' BBC Radio 4 show taking a comic look at the ancient world 
 
Author, broadcaster and 'rock star classicist' Natalie Haynes is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome. In these four series, she explores some of the most prominent historical and mythological figures from the classical world, telling their stories through a mix of stand-up comedy and conversation. 
 
Series 5 asks how much Aristotle knew about elephants' tongues and bivalves on Lesbos; introduces us to Claudia Severa and other Roman-British women;and investigates Suetonius - biographer of the Caesars - and why Augustus used hot nuts to soften the hair on his thighs. Natalie also recounts the original epic story of Homer's The Iliad from memory (complete with magic bra and a very sulky Achilles). 
 
In Series 6, Natalie stands up for Helen of Troy (expect new insights into feathery sex); Penthesilea, Amazon warrior queen, (with a natty line in ankle boots); Eurydice (chased by a sex pest and killed by a snake on her wedding day); and Penelope (lots of suitors, but fortunately an adept weaver). 
 
Natalie also discusses Medusa, beloved sister and mother (but a hairdresser's nightmare); gives us the lowdown on Pandora (she of the box, which turns out to be a jar);tells the story of Jocasta (still spellbindingly shocking today); and asks whether Clytemnestra was the worst wife in Greek mythology (she murdered her husband, but was a good mother). 
 
Guests include Dr Adam Rutherford, Professor Edith Hall, Professor Llewelyn Morgan, Dr Paul Roberts, Anita Anand, and Chris Riddell. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Natalie Haynes 
Music by Sarah Gabriel and Sarah Angliss 
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery 
 
Special guests: Dr Adam Rutherford, Professor Edith Hall, Professor Llewelyn Morgan, Dr Paul Roberts, Anita Anand, and Chris Riddell 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 23 December 2019-13 January 2020 (Series 5), 17 May-7 June 2020 (Series 6), 18 May-8 June 2021 (Series 7), 13 September-4 October 2022 (Series 8) 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics: Series 5-8

More comical tales from Ancient Greece and Rome

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

Sarah Dillon

Corin Throsby

Literary detectives Sarah Dillon and Corin Throsby investigate the stories behind the stories of nine great novels 
 
In this engrossing series, Drs Sarah Dillon and Corin Throsby set off on a quest to discover how some of our most famous, best-loved books were written. What was happening in the author's lives, and how did that influence the process of creation? Following the clues, they attempt to solve the mysteries of these great works of literature - uncovering a wealth of fascinating information along the way. 
 
Beginning with Great Expectations, Sarah asks why Dickens wrote it so quickly - in a mere 9 ½ months - and why he famously changed the ending right at the moment. She investigates why it took Jean Rhys 27 years to publish Wide Sargasso Sea, and reveals the story behind Jane Austen's last completed novel, Persuasion, and its posthumous publication. We hear of James Joyce's epic struggles to publish Dubliners - including battles with publishers, a fire at the printers and leaving Ireland for good - and trace the remarkable clandestine journey of EM Forster's gay love story Maurice, passed hand to hand from Cambridge to America by men who risked prosecution for possessing it. 
 
Sarah also discovers the story behind RL Stevenson's horror tale Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a work he claimed was inspired by a dream, and shows how adultery, revolution and exile played a part in the writing of Victor Hugo's masterpiece Les Misérables. Next, Corin Throsby takes up the baton to divulge how Truman Capote met and befriended two psychopathic murderers to create the 'non-fiction novel' that would launch the true crime genre: In Cold Blood. The final literary pursuit explores how William Golding's Lord of the Flies was saved from the reject pile by lucky chance - and how it went on to become a modern classic. 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. ? 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
Presented by Sarah Dillon and Corin Throsby 
Produced by Sara Conkey and Miles Warde 
Edited by James Cook 
Readers: Juliet John, Samuel West, Diana Quick, Jessica Raine, Damien Molony, Paul Chahidi, Aurélie Amblard and Matthew Bisson 
 
With guests including: Michael Slater, John Drew, Elaine Savory, Carole Angier, Diana Athill, Ruth Webb, Dr Kathryn Sutherland, Paula Byrne, Margaret Drabble, Timothy Young, David Norris, Terence Killeen, Wendy Moffatt, Philip Gardner, Peter Parker, Sir Christopher Frayling, Claire Harman, Jeremy Hodges, Professor Richard Dury, Jean-Marc Hovasse, Louis Hegarty Lovett, Vincent Gille, Florence Naugrette, Thomas Fahy, Brenda Currin, Ed Pilkington, James Linville, Ralph Voss, Ebs Burnough and Lawrence Elman 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3, 10 January 2016-22 March 2020

Literary Pursuits

The mysteries behind 9 classic books

Jane Austen

A female-centred collection of four dramatisations celebrating Jane Austen’s classic novels - plus bonus series When I Met Jane Austen 
 
On 16 December 1775, a literary icon was born. Jane Austen’s groundbreaking novels pioneered the romantic comedy genre and put women front and centre, depicting their innermost thoughts and feelings. To celebrate her 250th anniversary, here are four new dramas, focusing on the fabulous, flawed, funny and fascinating women who blaze out from her books. Full of her characteristic wit and biting comedy, they feature star-studded casts including Tamsin Greig, Isabella Laughland, Luke Thompson, Miles Jupp, Adjoa Andoh, and Ben Hardy. 
 
Pride and Prejudice – Featuring one of the best-loved heroines in literature – lively, quick-witted Elizabeth Bennet – this dramatisation tells the story of the five Bennet sisters’ romantic escapades, as they endeavour to fulfil their mother’s dreams and marry well. 
 
Sense and Sensibility – When their father’s death turns their world upside down, rational, reserved Elinor Dashwood and her impulsive, emotional sister Marianne leave their old lives behind and embark on a voyage of romantic discovery. 
 
Northanger Abbey – Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is a kind, honest and unworldly young woman with a head full of Gothic novels and little experience of the real world. So when wealthy, handsome Henry Tilney invites her to Northanger Abbey, she is determined to discover its dark secrets... 
 
Mansfield Park – Aged just nine, Fanny Price is sent away from her impoverished parents to live with her rich relatives at Mansfield Park. Shaped by family and adversity, this displaced child becomes a fiercely moral young woman with an unshakable conscience – and as she navigates the complexities of love and jealousy, her true strength of character is revealed. 
 
When I Met Jane Austen – Ten of the world’s most prominent authors and thinkers talk to Jane Austen biographer Paula Byrne about when they first encountered the great writer. Featuring contributions from David Baddiel, Andrew Davies, Amy Heckerling, Marlon James, Philippa Perry, Gurinder Chadha, Val McDermid, Colm Toibin, Katherine Rundell and Kate Atkinson. 
 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Jane Austen 
 
Pride and Prejudice 
Starring Tamsin Greig, Isabella Laughland, Luke Thompson, Miles Jupp, Rosie Cavaliero, Lucy Doyle, Kitty O’Sullivan, Gaia Wise, Imogen Front, Louis Landau, Toby Regbo, Adjoa Andoh, Catherine Bailey, Josh Bryant-Jones, Sasha McCabe, Jasmine Hyde, Clive Haywood, and Sarah Thom 
 
Dramatised by award winning writer Rachel Joyce 
Produced by Tracey Neale 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 Dec 2025 
 
Sense and Sensibility 
Starring Tamsin Greig, Madeleine Mantock, Rose Basista, Ben Hardy, Enyi Okoronkwo, Richard Goulding, Ava Talbot, Jasmine Hyde, Carolyn Pickles, Clive Hayward, Django Bevan, Sasha McCabe, and Bethan Rose Young 
 
Dramatised by Claudine Toutoungi 
Produced by Anne Isger 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 Dec 2025 
 
Northanger Abbey 
Starring Madeleine Gray, Will Howard, Cecilia Appiah, Ella Smith, John Heffernan, Scarlett Courtney, Jasmine Hyde, Josh Bryant-Jones, and Django Bevan 
 
Dramatised by Clara Glynn 
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2-9 Nov 2025 
 
Mansfield Park 
Starring Lydia Wilson, Bryan Dick, Tala Gouveia, Tom Mothersdale, Janice Acquah, Madeleine Worrall, Joshua Riley, John Hollingworth, Samuel Valentine, Faith Alabi, and Hollie Burgess 
 
Dramatised by Clara Glynn 
Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10-17 Jul 2022When I Met Jane Austen 
Presented by Paula Byrne 
With David Baddiel, Andrew Davies, Amy Heckerling, Marlon James, Philippa Perry, Gurinder Chadha, Val McDermid, Colm Toibin, Katherine Rundell and Kate AtkinsonProduced by Maggie Ayre 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 8-19 Dec 2025 
© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Jane Austen: The 250th Anniversary Collection

Four Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisations

Melvyn Bragg and guests analyse 25 key poets and literary works, tracing the evolution of poetry over 550 years 
 
'The best programme coming out of the entire corporation these days' Sunday Telegraph 
 
Since its debut in 1998, In Our Time has amassed a dedicated following of more than 2 million listeners. Hosted by Melvyn Bragg, with a panel of guest experts, each show features a plethora of fascinating facts and inspirational discourse on topics ranging from democracy to dark matter. 
 
This specially curated collection celebrates the rich diversity of poetry in English, focussing on 25 major works and writers from the mediaeval era to the 20th Century. Opening with a programme on Geoffrey Chaucer, often called the father of English literature, it encompasses some of the greatest poets of all time, including John Donne, Pope, Milton, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, W B Yeats and Wilfred Owen. 
 
Among the influential poems discussed are Shakespeare's sonnets, Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', Wordsworth's 'The Prelude' and the epic that made Byron famous, 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'. Also featured is a bonus episode, 'The Sonnet', exploring the most enduring form in the poet's armoury and how its fourteen lines have exercised poetic minds. 
 
Packed with stimulating ideas and spellbinding rhetoric, this absorbing anthology is guaranteed to bring unfettered enjoyment to all lovers of the written word. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Simon Tillotson, Thomas Morris and Natalia Fernandez 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Chaucer 9 February 2006 
Piers Plowman 29 October 2020 
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 13 December 2018 
Shakespeare's Sonnets 24 June 2021 
John Donne 12 January 2023 
Milton 7 March 2002 
Pope 9 November 2006 
Songs of Innocence and of Experience 23 June 2016 
Lyrical Ballads 8 March 2012 
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 4 March 2021 
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage 6 January 2011 
The Prelude 22 November 2007 
John Clare 9 February 2017 
Emily Dickinson 11 May 2017 
Christina Rossetti 1 December 2011 
The Charge of the Light Brigade 10 January 2008 
Tennyson's In Memoriam 30 June 2011 
Aurora Leigh 24 March 2016 
William Morris 5 July 2018 
Gerard Manley Hopkins 21 March 2019 
Walt Whitman 27 April 2023 
Thomas Hardy's Poetry 13 January 2022 
Yeats and Mysticism 31 January 2002 
Yeats and Irish Politics 17 April 2008 
Wilfred Owen 27 October 2022 
The Sonnet 21 June 2001 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Iconic Poets and Poems in English

John Mortimer

In this fascinating collection of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive, John Mortimer, creator of the much-loved Rumpole of the Bailey, talks about his life and career as a barrister, screenwriter and novelist. 
 
 The interviews included are: Desert Island Discs, first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20 January 1968 (featuring Roy Plomley); Parkinson, first broadcast BBC One, 31 October 1979 (featuring Michael Parkinson); Portrait, first broadcast BBC Two, 23 October 1989 (featuring Ludovic Kennedy) and In Touch, first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 December 1998 (featuring Peter White). 
 
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

John Mortimer In His Own Words

Joan Bakewell

Humphrey Carpenter

Francine Stock

Matthew Parris

Famous fans choose their favourite writers for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives 
 
For 20 years, Great Lives has been a cornerstone of the Radio 4 schedules, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. Each week, a well-known personality is invited to select someone who has inspired them. They then discuss the 'Great Life' with the presenter and a guest expert to decide whether their hero really merits the accolade. 
 
This special collection, celebrating the programme's 20th anniversary, contains the very best episodes featuring authors' lives - from novelists to poets, playwrights to food writers. The eclectic selections include Armando Iannucci on Charles Dickens, Caroline Criado Perez on Jane Austen, and Rich Hall on Tennessee Williams. Two Prime Ministers, John Major and Boris Johnson, discuss the lives of Rudyard Kipling and Samuel Johnson respectively, while MP Rory Stewart champions Sir Walter Scott and Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate, nominates Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 
 
From Fay Weldon on H. G. Wells, to Prue Leith on Elizabeth David, the lives of the guests themselves are revealed to be just as fascinating as those of their chosen candidates for greatness. 
 
Illuminating and insightful, these gripping Great Lives episodes track the highs and lows of some of the most illustrious characters in the world of literature, sifting fact from fiction to show why they achieved so much and how they have inspired and influenced so many. 
 
List of episodes and date of first broadcast on BBC Radio 4: 
 HG Wells 12.10.2001 
 George Eliot 7.6.2002 
 Lord Byron 19.7.2002 
 Charles Dickins 21.11.2003 
 Edith Wharton 14.5.2004 
 George Orwell 12.11.2004 
 Robert Burns 31.12.2004 
 Elizabeth Gaskell 20.5.2005 
 Robert Louis Stevenson 22.4.2005 
 George Sand 8.4.2005 
 Vasily Grossman 28.10.2005 
 Anton Chekhov 17.4.2007 
 George Bernard Shaw 29.5.2007 
 Elizabeth David 25.9.2007 
 Katherine Mansfield 22.1.2008 
 Charles Bukowski 8.4.2008 
 Dr Samuel Johnson 8.9.2009 
 Rudyard Kipling 29.9.2009 
 Alfred, Lord Tennyson 4.8.2009 
 Tennessee Williams 15.12.2009 
 Bertolt Brecht 06.04.2010 
 Michel de Montaigne 21.09.2010 
 Samuel Beckett 21.12.2010 
 DH Lawrence 14.12.2010 
 Lewis Carroll 3.5.2011 
 Simone de Beauvoir 19.04.2011 
 Hans Fallada 6.9.2011 
 William Shakespeare 30.08.2011 
 Sir Walter Scott 14.8.2012 
 John Updike 07.01.2014 
 Elie Wiesel 13.12.2016 
 CS Lewis 03.01.2017 
 Jane Austen 7.5.2019 
 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
 
Presented by Matthew Parris, Francine Stock and Humphrey Carpenter 
Produced by Perminder Khatkar, Miles Warde, Jolyon Jenkins, John Byrne, Maggie Ayre, Toby Field, Alasdair Cross, Mary Ward Lowery, Peter Everett, Mark Smalley, Isobel Eaton, Jolyon Jenkins, Christine Hall, Lizz Pearson, Beth O'Dea, Paul Dodgson, Nicola Humphries, Chris Ledgard, Melvin Rickarby, Camellia Sinclair, Eliza Lomas, Beatrice Fenton

Great Writers' Lives

A BBC biography collection

John le Carré

John le Carré was a bestselling author whose books include The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. 
 
On this recording we hear - in his own words - about being brought up by his grandparents and feeling deserted by his mother and father. He talks about being creative as a means of escapism, by telling stories about his absent parents; as well as hating public school where he suffered severe beatings. We also hear about when he worked in the army as an interrogator and his experience working in British intelligence. He discusses becoming a writer, creating Smiley, working with Alec Guinness and why he hid behind two names. In addition, we learn about what he thought of awards - and critics. 
 
 Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

John Le Carré In His Own Words

Michael Portillo

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 25 major leaders, thinkers and writers of the classical world 
 
'The best thing on Radio 4, possibly the best thing on the radio full stop' 
The Spectator 
 
In Our Time is one of BBC Radio's most successful and best-loved programmes, with a weekly listenership of over two million. Since 1998, it has 'transformed the landscape for serious ideas at peak listening time' (The Times), introducing its audience to an astonishing array of intriguing topics, from the epic of Gilgamesh to the gin craze. 
 
This special thematic collection focusses on some of the most important rulers, philosophers and writers of ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt. Across 25 episodes, presenter Melvyn Bragg and a panel of top-class academics engage in lively and eloquent conversation as they explore the lives, reputations and impact of these pivotal figures. Their subjects include emperors, statesmen, military leaders, authors, poets, playwrights, fabulists and theorists - among them Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Socrates, Pythagoras, Ovid, Aesop and Sappho. 
 
Whether you're a long-standing In Our Time fan or a new listener, a student of ancient history or simply keen to expand your knowledge; this thoughtfully curated compilation of illuminating, accessible discussions is sure to enlighten and entertain. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Thomas Morris, Simon Tillotson, Victoria Brignell, Natalia Fernandez and Luke Mulhall 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Leaders of Ancient Rome 
 
Julius Caesar 2 October 2014 
With Christopher Pelling, Catherine Steel and Maria Wyke 
 
Cleopatra 2 December 2010 
With Catharine Edwards, Maria Wyke and Susan Walker 
 
Cicero 25 January 2018 
With Melissa Lane, Catherine Steel and Valentina Arena 
 
Agrippina the Younger 31 March 2016 
With Catharine Edwards, Alice König and Matthew Nicholls 
 
Nero 25 April 2019 
With Maria Wyke, Matthew Nicholls and Shushma Malik 
 
Constantine the Great 5 October 2017 
With Christopher Kelly, Lucy Grig and Greg Woolf 
 
Marcus Aurelius 25 February 2021 
With Simon Goldhill, Angie Hobbs and Catharine Edwards 
 
Pliny the Younger 12 December 2013 
With Catharine Edwards, Roy Gibson and Alice König 
 
Queen Zenobia 30 May 2013 
With Edith Hall, Kate Cooper and Richard Stoneman 
 
Part II: Leaders of Ancient Greece 
 
Pericles 17 September 2020 
With Edith Hall, Paul Cartledge and Peter Liddel 
 
Alexander the Great 1 October 2015 
With Paul Cartledge, Diana Spencer and Rachel Mairs 
 
Part III: Thinkers of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece 
 
Galen 10 October 2013 
With Vivian Nutton, Helen King and Caroline Petit 
 
Thucydides 29 January 2015 
With Paul Cartledge, Katherine Harloe and Neville Morley 
 
Xenophon 26 May 2011 
With Paul Cartledge, Edith Hall and Simon Goldhill 
 
Heraclites 8 December 2011 
With Angie Hobbs, Peter Adamson and James Warren 
 
Socrates 27 September 2007 
With Angie Hobbs, David Sedley and Paul Millett 
 
Archimedes 25 January 2007 
With Jackie Stedall, Serafina Cuomo and George Phillips 
 
Pythagoras 10 December 2009 
With Serafina Cuomo, John O'Connor and Ian Stewart 
 
Part IV: Writers of Ancient Rome 
 
Seneca the Younger 23 February 2017 
With Catharine Edwards, Mary Beard and Alessandro Schiesaro 
 
Josephus 21 May 2015 
With Tessa Rajak, Philip Alexander and Martin Goodman 
 
Ovid 29 April 2021 
With Maria Wyke, Gail Trimble and Dunstan Lowe 
 
Horace 15 November 2018 
With Emily Gowers, William Fitzgerald and Ellen O'Gorman 
 
Part V: Writers of Ancient Greece 
 
Aesop 20 November 2014 
With Pavlos Avlamis, Simon Goldhill and Lucy Grig 
 
Herodotus 23 September 2021 
With Tom Harrison, Esther Eidinow and Paul Cartledge 
 
Sappho 9 April 2015 
With Edith Hall, Margaret Reynolds and Dirk Obbink 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Key Figures in Ancient History

Liz Lochhead

Five full-cast dramas by the celebrated Scottish writer Liz Lochhead, plus a short story 
 
Liz Lochhead is a widely recognised poet, playwright and performer. She was the Makar, Scotland’s national poet, between 2011 and 2016, and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2015. The six pieces in this anthology are characterised by their evocative language and focus on different facets of female identity: from schoolgirls, wives and mothers to convention-defying creators and ‘cunning women’. 
 
Blood and Ice – Summer, 1816. Following their scandalous elopement, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her lover Percy Shelley decamp to Lake Geneva. There, they are joined by Lord Byron and his mistress Claire Clairmont, and one night, in a villa by the shore, they challenge each other to write a ghost story. Mary’s tale will become the most famous Gothic novel of all time – and the creature at its centre will haunt her for the rest of her life. Starring Gerda Stevenson, Stephen Boxer, Jack Klaff and Stella Gonet. 
 
Quelques Fleurs – Liz Lochhead plays lonely, ‘born to shop’ housewife Verena, with Stuart Hepburn as her oil-rig worker husband in these tragicomic intercut monologues, which paint a portrait of a childless couple trapped in an unhappy marriage. 
 
Maleficium – Taking its title from a Latin word meaning ‘malevolent sorcery’, this chilling play draws on real accounts of witch trials to create voices for three women: Alice, Margery and Jinnet – a farm labourer, a farmer's wife and an elderly wisewoman. When two of them are accused of witchcraft by the other, they are brought to the point of tragedy… Starring Clare Corbett, Siobhan Redmond and Freda Dowie. 
 
Fancy You Minding That – Separated by three generations and by the 400 miles from London to Glasgow, a grandmother, mother and daughter recall their very different, very painful memories of the men in their lives. With Phyllis Logan as Valerie, Jennifer Piercey as Ina and Catherine Clarke as Kate. 
 
Cuba – Scotland, 1962. With the Cuban Missile Crisis at its height, best friends Barbara and Bernadette believe the world is about to end. They decide to spend their last days making a stand for women and peace – only to find themselves facing a very personal betrayal. Julie Wilson Nimmo, Pauline Lockhart and Liz Lochhead star. 
 
‘The Cure’ – Hoping to impress her handsome house captain, a schoolgirl takes to the athletics track – but the course of true love does not run smoothly. Read by Grace Glover. 
 
Text copyright © Liz Lochhead 1982 (Blood and Ice), 1986 (Fancy You Minding That), 1991 (Quelque Fleurs), 1994 (‘The Cure’), 1998 (Cuba), 2001 (Maleficium) 
 
© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Blood and Ice & other plays

Five Full-Cast BBC Radio Productions

Alan Ayckbourn

Alan Ayckbourn is a multi-award-winning playwright, whose plays have been seen in the West End, on Broadway and worldwide. In this collection we hear - in his own words - about his family and upbringing; on being a writer and director, as well as those who influenced him. He discusses the characters he creates and his time in Scarborough, and also his childhood and his love of theatre. Alan also talks about his relationships - on and off stage - and touches on his personal life. 
 
 The interviews on this collection include: Today, BBC Radio 2 (first broadcast 2 March 1979); Saturday Review, BBC 2 (first broadcast 4 June 1980); The Levin Interview, BBC 2 (first broadcast 1 July 1984); Kaleidoscope, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 21 November 1984); The Michael Parkinson Programme, BBC Radio 2 (first broadcast 28 May 1987); Meridian, BBC World Service (first broadcast 5 September 1989); Omnibus, BBC 1 (first broadcast 13 February 1990); Alan Ayckbourn in Conversation, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast May 1991); Simon Mayo, BBC Radio 2 (first broadcast 24 January 2010); Imagine, BBC 1 (first broadcast 15 November 2011). 
 
 Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

In His Own Words

Robert Macfarlane

Deborah Levy

Jenn Ashworth

Kamila Shamsie

Michael Donkor

Michèle Roberts

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Ross Raisin

Owen Sheers

Nicholas Shakespeare

Nat Segnit

Sophie Coulombeau

Christopher Hope

Scarlett Thomas

Erica Wagner

Nicola Barker

Ian Samson

Kirsty Gunn

Philip Hoare

22 writers talk about their memorable excursions and the act of walking, and share their creative observations 
 
In these six series, taken from BBC Radio 3's The Essay, an array of novelists, poets, journalists and biographers chart the varied and inspiring walks they have taken around Britain and elsewhere. Here are treks taken at daybreak and after dark; in winter and in spring; in the footsteps of the past; and - in the case of Robert Macfarlane - along the ridges of the South Downs. 
 
Dawnwalks and Night Walks find Nicholas Shakespeare, Nicola Barker, Kamila Shamsie, Ian Sansom, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Owen Sheers, Janice Galloway and John Walsh taking early morning and late-night strolls around locations ranging from their back garden and local cemetery to Manhattan, Paris, Tasmania and the Antarctic. 
 
Springwalks and Winterwalks feature Michele Roberts, Ross Raisin, John Walsh, Kirsty Gunn, Philip Hoare, Deborah Levy, Christopher Hope, Scarlett Thomas, Erica Wagner and Owen Sheers, as they sample the transforming qualities of spring and the wonders of winter. From Poland and the Languedoc to Hampstead Heath and the Yorkshire Wolds, they delight in the details of the landscape and reflect on what it means to them. 
 
Strange Strolls sees Jenn Ashworth, Michael Donkor, Stephanie Victoire, Nat Segnit and Sophie Coulombeau embarking on walks of entertaining eccentricity, revisiting favourite places including Wandsworth Bridge, the Blue Ridge mountains of Appalachia and Ibiza. 
 
And in A Five-Day Journey, Robert Macfarlane walks the length of the South Downs in monsoon rain and in sunshine, discovering its chalk trails and its ghosts. He ponders the relationship between paths and stories; explores the poet Edward Thomas' love affair with tracks; considers the concept of the Aboriginal Australian songline; re-imagines the life of artist Eric Ravilious; and contemplates the sometimes eerie relationship between walking, collecting and creation. 
 
Intimate, evocative and immersive, these 30 uplifting programmes transport us to a wealth of wonderful places, and offer fascinating personal insight into the inner worlds of our walker-writers. 
 
Production credits 
Produced by Duncan Minshull, Ciaran Bermingham and Tim Dee 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the following dates: 
 
Dawnwalks 
Nicholas Shakespeare 28 March 2016 
Nicola Barker 29 March 2016 
Kamila Shamsie 30 March 2016 
Ian Sansom 31 March 2016 
Lucy Hughes-Hallett 1 April 2016 
 
Night Walks 
Nicholas Shakespeare 27 October 2008 
Owen Sheers 28 October 2008 
Janice Galloway 29 October 2008 
Kamila Shamsie 30 October 2008 
John Walsh 31 October 2008 
 
Springwalks 
Michele Roberts in Poznan 31 March 2014 
Ross Raisin in the Yorkshire Wolds 1 April 2014 
John Walsh 2 April 2014 
Kirsty Gunn in Sutherland 3 April 2014 
Philip Hoare in Sholing 4 April 2014 
 
Winterwalks 
Deborah Levy on Hampstead Heath 18 February 2013 
Christopher Hope in Languedoc 19 February 2013 
Scarlett Thomas 20 February 2013 
Erica Wagner 21 February 2013 
Owen Sheers in Poland 22 February 2013 
 
Strange Strolls 
Jenn Ashworth - The Abiding Mental Riches of Preston 10 February 2020 
Michael Donkor - On Westminster Bridge 11 February 2020 
Stephanie Victoire - Dark Hollow Falls 12 February 2020 
Nat Segnit - The Other Ibiza 13 February 2020 
Sophie Coulombeau - Walking Matilda 14 February 2020 
 
A Five-Day Journey 
Marking 2 November 2009 
Haunting 3 November 2009 
Singing 4 November 2009 
Flying 5 November 2009 
Collecting 6 November 2009 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

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