Listen free for 30 days
-
Home Front: The Complete BBC Radio Collection Volume 3
- Narrated by: Helen Schlesinger, Billy Kennedy, Geoffrey Palmer, Kathryn Beaumont, full cast, Mark Heap, Roy Hudd
- Series: Home Front, Book 11-15
- Length: 39 hrs and 21 mins
- Radio/TV Programme
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £31.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Tommies
- The Complete BBC Radio Collection
- By: Michael Chaplin, Nick Warburton, Avin Shah, and others
- Narrated by: Lee Ross, Pippa Nixon, Indira Varma
- Length: 30 hrs and 36 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We follow the fortunes of Mickey Bliss and his fellow signallers from the Lahore Division of the British Indian Army as they experience life - and death - on the front line. Meanwhile, Dr Celestine de Tullio battles to save soldiers suffering from gas gangrene and trench fever - and experiences the fighting firsthand when she enlists in the Serbian Army and commands a dangerous offensive. They are all cogs in an immense machine, one which connects situations across the whole theatre of the war, over four long years.
-
-
Great, but there is a chapter missing
- By Roger Townsend on 15-11-18
-
Behind the Author's Desk: Dramas of Famous Writers' Real Lives
- A BBC Radio 4 Drama Collection
- By: Lucy Caldwell Caldwell, Stephen Wakelam, Katie Hims, and others
- Narrated by: Andrew Scott, Glenda Jackson, Toby Jones, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
18 biographical dramas based on the lives and loves of celebrated writers.
-
Stone: The Complete Series 8 and 9
- BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Crime Dramas
- By: Danny Brocklehurst
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hugo Speer stars as John Stone in the final two series of this gritty, fast-paced crime drama. Manchester detective DCI Stone and his team are faced with more morally challenging cases in these hard-hitting stories. When a dead body is discovered at an inner city hotel DCI Stone is forced to navigate the murky and transient world of catering.
-
-
More please!
- By Carl S on 09-05-22
-
Victoria Station
- A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Drama
- By: Steve Chambers
- Narrated by: full cast, Sean Baker, Philip Jackson, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In these two series, set on selected dates in January 1895 and December 1896, we follow the day-to-day shenanigans of Bridgford station master Joe Braddock and his staff, along with a motley crew of passengers and passers-by. Each episode is a self-contained drama, as well as telling the ongoing story of the crises and challenges tackled by the team, and their rivalries, enmities, friendships and burgeoning romances.
-
-
LOVE THIS - EXCELLENT LITTLE STORIES - MORE PLEASE AUDIBLE
- By Highlight on 01-05-22
-
Cromwell vs the Crown: God’s Revolution
- A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Historical Drama
- By: Don Taylor
- Narrated by: full cast, Bernard Hepton, Nigel Anthony, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1647. Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army has routed the Royalists, and the king, having fled to Scotland, has been ransomed, sent back across the border and imprisoned. It seems the war is over, but there is trouble ahead. Parliament wants to disband the army and install its own militia - an act that looks, to Cromwell's loyal soldiers, like outright betrayal.
-
-
Loved it on Radio4 Extra so I bought the audiobook
- By Rufus on 29-01-22
-
Curious Under the Stars
- The Complete BBC Radio 4 Magical Comedy Drama
- By: Annamaria Murphy, Alan Harris, Meic Povey
- Narrated by: Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Louise Ford, Elis James, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Gareth finds his wife, Diane, in bed with another man, the couple attempt to save their marriage by uprooting from London to the West Wales village where Gareth grew up and buying the local pub. It's a bit of a dive - the wallpaper's peeling, there are squirrels in the saloon bar and something's growing out of the pool table. But it's got potential and they're determined to make a go of it. Soon, the locals are flocking to The Druid's Rest - and as Diane discovers, her husband's old friends are an eccentric bunch.
-
-
An extremely good story for cosy fireside reading in a little cottage in the woods...
- By S. Cocks on 27-05-21
-
Tommies
- The Complete BBC Radio Collection
- By: Michael Chaplin, Nick Warburton, Avin Shah, and others
- Narrated by: Lee Ross, Pippa Nixon, Indira Varma
- Length: 30 hrs and 36 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We follow the fortunes of Mickey Bliss and his fellow signallers from the Lahore Division of the British Indian Army as they experience life - and death - on the front line. Meanwhile, Dr Celestine de Tullio battles to save soldiers suffering from gas gangrene and trench fever - and experiences the fighting firsthand when she enlists in the Serbian Army and commands a dangerous offensive. They are all cogs in an immense machine, one which connects situations across the whole theatre of the war, over four long years.
-
-
Great, but there is a chapter missing
- By Roger Townsend on 15-11-18
-
Behind the Author's Desk: Dramas of Famous Writers' Real Lives
- A BBC Radio 4 Drama Collection
- By: Lucy Caldwell Caldwell, Stephen Wakelam, Katie Hims, and others
- Narrated by: Andrew Scott, Glenda Jackson, Toby Jones, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
18 biographical dramas based on the lives and loves of celebrated writers.
-
Stone: The Complete Series 8 and 9
- BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Crime Dramas
- By: Danny Brocklehurst
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hugo Speer stars as John Stone in the final two series of this gritty, fast-paced crime drama. Manchester detective DCI Stone and his team are faced with more morally challenging cases in these hard-hitting stories. When a dead body is discovered at an inner city hotel DCI Stone is forced to navigate the murky and transient world of catering.
-
-
More please!
- By Carl S on 09-05-22
-
Victoria Station
- A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Drama
- By: Steve Chambers
- Narrated by: full cast, Sean Baker, Philip Jackson, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In these two series, set on selected dates in January 1895 and December 1896, we follow the day-to-day shenanigans of Bridgford station master Joe Braddock and his staff, along with a motley crew of passengers and passers-by. Each episode is a self-contained drama, as well as telling the ongoing story of the crises and challenges tackled by the team, and their rivalries, enmities, friendships and burgeoning romances.
-
-
LOVE THIS - EXCELLENT LITTLE STORIES - MORE PLEASE AUDIBLE
- By Highlight on 01-05-22
-
Cromwell vs the Crown: God’s Revolution
- A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Historical Drama
- By: Don Taylor
- Narrated by: full cast, Bernard Hepton, Nigel Anthony, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1647. Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army has routed the Royalists, and the king, having fled to Scotland, has been ransomed, sent back across the border and imprisoned. It seems the war is over, but there is trouble ahead. Parliament wants to disband the army and install its own militia - an act that looks, to Cromwell's loyal soldiers, like outright betrayal.
-
-
Loved it on Radio4 Extra so I bought the audiobook
- By Rufus on 29-01-22
-
Curious Under the Stars
- The Complete BBC Radio 4 Magical Comedy Drama
- By: Annamaria Murphy, Alan Harris, Meic Povey
- Narrated by: Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Louise Ford, Elis James, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Gareth finds his wife, Diane, in bed with another man, the couple attempt to save their marriage by uprooting from London to the West Wales village where Gareth grew up and buying the local pub. It's a bit of a dive - the wallpaper's peeling, there are squirrels in the saloon bar and something's growing out of the pool table. But it's got potential and they're determined to make a go of it. Soon, the locals are flocking to The Druid's Rest - and as Diane discovers, her husband's old friends are an eccentric bunch.
-
-
An extremely good story for cosy fireside reading in a little cottage in the woods...
- By S. Cocks on 27-05-21
-
Pilgrim: The Collected Series 1-4
- The BBC Radio 4 fantasy drama series
- By: Sebastian Baczkiewicz
- Narrated by: Paul Hilton
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first four series of the original BBC Radio 4 fantastical drama series set in a world almost, but not quite, like our own. Paul Hilton stars as William Palmer, the immortal, reluctant and unthanked hero protecting mankind from an enemy they resist believing in: the Grey Folk. Thrilling, dark and contemporary, the dramas are set in a recognisable present day but one haunted by the folktales of the British Isles: drowned villages, changeling children, werewolves and unruly nature spirits.
-
-
Excellent and fascinating
- By Rosemary White on 07-12-16
-
The Citadel: Series 1-6
- By: A. J. Cronin
- Narrated by: George Blagden, Richard Fleeshman
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young and idealistic, he is full of enthusiasm when he first arrives in the small mining village of Drineffy, where he is to work as assistant to the elderly Dr Page. But he soon encounters corruption, apathy, and appalling medical practices and becomes determined to storm the citadel of the medical establishment and make a difference.
-
-
What an amazing book
- By katybarstool on 03-07-20
-
Stone: The Complete Series 5-7
- BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Crime Dramas
- By: Danny Brocklehurst
- Narrated by: Craig Cheetham, Deborah McAndrew, Hugo Speer, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Manchester detective DCI Stone and his team are faced with 10 complex, morally challenging cases in this collection of hard-hitting radio dramas. As series 5 opens, Stone is still reeling from the mishandled shooting of Callum Gartside, a gunman who had murdered his own family. With his personal life in tatters, he must find the strength to hold it together and do his job.
-
-
Superb
- By Mr Blint on 25-03-19
-
Stone: The Complete Series 1-4
- 17 BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Crime Dramas
- By: Danny Brocklehurst
- Narrated by: Craig Cheetham, Deborah McAndrew, full cast, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seventeen stories from the gritty crime series created by Danny Brocklehurst, starring Hugo Speer as Manchester detective John Stone. This collection brings together Series 1 to 4 of this intelligent detective drama, tackling morally ambiguous, complex and challenging subjects. DCI Stone and his team investigate a series of brutal murders and missing person cases, among other grisly crimes. Starring Hugo Speer as DCI John Stone, Craig Cheetham as DI Mike Tanner and Deborah McAndrew as DS Sue Kelly.
-
-
Will definitely listen to again.
- By Mark Renny on 14-06-18
-
A Small Town Murder: The Complete Series 1-14
- By: Scott Cherry
- Narrated by: Meera Syal, Matthew Marsh, full cast
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
West Midlands copper Jackie Hartwell has one of the toughest jobs in CID: comforting and supporting grieving relatives in the aftermath of a serious crime. But there's much more to what she does than providing tea and sympathy. Part social worker, part savvy investigator, she needs to be able to win the trust of families, while simultaneously keeping a watchful eye on their behaviour and reactions. Because often, the suspect she's searching for isn't far from home....
-
-
Varied and interesting
- By Jk on 15-05-22
-
Detective
- The Complete BBC Radio 4 Crime Drama
- By: Robert Barr
- Narrated by: full cast, Ray Brooks
- Length: 17 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
DS Dave Brook is a long-serving, ducking-and-diving police officer who takes armed robberies and violent crime in his stride. But then he is teamed up with young 'grammar school boy' DC Blair Maxton from sleepy Epsom. How will Max cope with the mean streets of his new patch? Among the thrilling cases in these four series, the detectives tackle an armed gang, confront a notorious crime family, search for a missing wife, investigate a gruesome ax murder and the death of a reclusive young woman, and assist ‘The Sweeney’ flying squad.
-
-
wish there were more.
- By Mr. C. A. Rixen on 15-08-19
-
North by Northamptonshire
- The Complete BBC Radio Comedy
- By: Katherine Jakeways
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Palmer, Mackenzie Crook, Sheila Hancock, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All three series of the BBC radio bittersweet comedy narrated by Sheila Hancock following the adventures of the residents of a small town in Northamptonshire - plus special episode 'Full Stop'. Relationships have come and gone but life continues in Wadenbrook, where Sheila Hancock takes us behind closed doors to reveal the inhabitants' heartbreak and happiness.
-
-
missing episode?
- By Dino of the Day on 14-10-21
-
The Stuarts
- The Epic BBC Radio 4 Drama
- By: Mike Walker
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser, Bill Paterson, Blake Ritson, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas telling the stories of Mary Queen of Scots and the Stuart royals. Under the Stuarts, Britain entered the modern world. But with great change came turmoil, and for 111 years, the Stuart monarchs faced dynastic struggles, religious conflict, the rise of parliamentary democracy - and civil war. These dramas chart that turbulent epoch through its royal family, from Mary, Queen of Scots to the ‘last Stuart’, Bonnie Prince Charlie’s daughter Charlotte.
-
-
Well worth buying, as were the Plantagenet series (also by Mike Walker) 5* for the story.
- By Rufus on 02-09-19
-
Brief Lives: Series 1-6
- The BBC Radio 4 Full Cast Psychological Crime Drama
- By: Tom Fry, Sharon Kelly
- Narrated by: David Schofield, Denise Welch, full cast, and others
- Length: 21 hrs and 54 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first six series of the popular radio drama set in a Manchester legal practice, starring David Schofield. Frank Twist and Sarah Gold lead a maverick team of freelance paralegals operating in the mean(ish) streets of Manchester. Their agency operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, dispatching legal representatives to set free burglars, muggers and even some innocent people who find themselves on the wrong side of a cell door.
-
-
Tedious. Repetitive. Office soap
- By Graham W on 27-09-20
-
Shardlake: The Complete BBC Radio Collection
- Six BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations
- By: CJ Sansom
- Narrated by: full cast, Jason Watkins, Justin Salinger, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete collected dramatisations of C. J. Sansom's historical mystery series: Set during the reign of Henry VIII, these six stunning dramas follow the adventures of hunchbacked lawyer-detective Matthew Shardlake as he navigates the dangerous world of Tudor England, solving crimes and seeking out murderers.
-
-
Shardlake
- By Lee on 20-03-22
-
Masters' India Saga
- A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation
- By: John Masters
- Narrated by: full cast, Bill Nighy, Juliet Stevenson, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An 18-part serialisation of John Masters' chronicles of the Savage family, spanning the years 1825-1946 and set against the backdrop of British rule in India. Based on the hugely popular novels of John Masters, this landmark BBC Radio adaptation charts the history of the British in India through the perspective of one family over several generations. Ranging over more than 120 years, these thrilling tales of love, murder and espionage take us from the expansion of the East India Company to the last days of the Raj and the approach of Independence.
-
-
ONE OF THE BEST AUDIOBOOKS I HAVE EVER OWNED
- By Highlight on 04-05-22
-
Jack Aubrey & Stephen Maturin: Master & Commander & Other Adventures
- A BBC Radio 4 Full Cast Drama Collection
- By: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrated by: Richard Dillane, Michael Troughton, Adjoa Andoh, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widely regarded as the most engaging historical novels ever written, the 21 books in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series have garnered millions of fans since the publication of the first volume over 50 years ago. Included here are BBC radio adaptations of the first seven thrilling stories.
-
-
Great listen!
- By Anonymous User on 17-06-22
Summary
Series 11-15 of the major BBC Radio 4 drama charting life on the home front during the First World War- plus special extended episode 'Home Front: A Fragile Peace'.
First heard on radio between 4 August 2014 and 9 November 2018, each episode of Home Front is set exactly 100 years before the broadcast date, and each follows one character’s day. Together they create a mosaic of experience from a wide cross section of society, mixing historical fact with enthralling fiction to explore how ordinary people coped with daily life in wartime Britain.
Back in Folkestone, the residents are dealing with the aftereffects of a devastating air raid. Howard Argent is kept busy at the Bevan while Ulysses Pilchard experiments with electroshock therapy. Meanwhile, women’s suffrage, prostitution and unmarried mothers are hot topics, and Kitty Lumley experiences the sharp end of intolerance.
In Tyneside, ripples from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution lead to a rise in union activity, and the factory faces the threat of strike action from the munitionettes.
And in Devon, women, children and prisoners of war are being put to work on the land. With Britain on the brink of starvation, summer 1918’s harvest is crucial - but conscientious objectors, unwilling or unable to help, arouse fury.
As the Great War moves towards its end, can the wounded communities back home find some sort of peace, however fragile?
Tackling themes including trauma and madness, industrial unrest, morality and sexuality, surrogate labour and the outbreak of peace are some of radio’s foremost dramatists including Katie Hims, Shaun McKenna and Sarah Daniels. Among the extensive cast are Helen Schlesinger, Kathryn Beaumont, Roy Hudd and Billy Kennedy, with guest appearances from Geoffrey Palmer and Mark Heap. Also included is 'Home Front: A Fragile Peace', a special 75-minute episode which flashes forward to explore the lives of the characters on 10 November 1919.
What listeners say about Home Front: The Complete BBC Radio Collection Volume 3
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- andrea ainley
- 18-04-19
Glorious, spellbinding production - BBC drama at its best
I missed this when on radio 4 but was interested enough to buy the three volumes. And I must admit I learnt a lot - things I never knew about WW1. They mention conscientious objectors but no mention of those Shot at Dawn for their beliefs. The role women played was bigger than I was aware and I enjoyed seeing life in 3 different environments Folkestone, tynemouth and Devon. From those in service, working class, middle class and gentry.
Would recommend that children listen to this as part of history lessons. And adults alike on how much devastation was caused by the War.
Brilliant casting - well known names. My only bone of contention was actors changing between volumes but given this was delivered over 4 years to commemorate the duration of the war - you can understand that actors were no longer available. But the majority of the characters stayed the same so was easy to follow their stories. At times sad, funny and tear jerking.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stirzaker Photography
- 01-03-19
Mostly Marvelous
I lived with the whole series, all three volumes for nearly 4 months, and I have loved every moment. I was devastated when it ended towards the end of my commute. Like the Archers I had grown to love and loathe the characters, and I mostly was gripped by the stories.
There is one negative, the obsession the writers appeared to have with gay issues, to a point where it threatened the whole integrity of the series. I am not homophobic, and of course, there were gay affairs in WW1. However, there so many in this, it was obvious the writers were looking at this from a 21st-century perspective. It is highly unlikely the real people would have got away, as lightly as the characters did.
That aside, the whole series does inform and the events are mostly historically accurate. One example is the sinking of The Onward, which did happen, and was salvaged ( to work as an IOM ferry, and become the first civilian ship to return soldiers on at Dunkirk) was raised using 5 locomotives, but not until 1920.
The last episode was radio at its best, all stories resolved and an insight into the future. Well done to all concerned.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lynne F
- 08-02-19
Heartbreaking and wonderful
An amazing production filled with characters each with their own distinctive story, their struggles and triumphs. I laughed and cried with them as I listened for many, many hours. (I have listened to all three volumes).
Now their war is over, but this memorable listening experience will stay with me for some time.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 28-09-21
awesome
it took me 2 years but Icompleted the trilogy, amazing series. definitely worth getting all 3.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- FH
- 21-09-21
Brilliant bbc
Listened to this several times when it was on the radio, was overjoyed to see it here - the final chapter made me cry as much as when I heard it the first time as the characters have such depth and are perfectly played that you do indeed feel sorrow it’s finished
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- WL123
- 27-07-21
Most immersive of the series
Really good series’s, worthy of the credits. By far one of the best buys in audible….I wish they had a WW2 one
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Annette S
- 02-06-21
Loved it.
Been part of my daily listening to audio books listened to all 3 books will miss it
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- GodfreyGerald
- 10-04-21
A thoroughly enjoyable listen
I would highly recommend if you enjoy radio dramas. I've listened to the whole series and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. The sadness and loss caused by war made me realise how lucky we are today and that we should appreciate the times we live in and not take life for granted.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amy Pritchett
- 14-03-22
superb storytelling
I chose to listen to Home Front on a whim, having stumbled across it by accident. Intrigued by the format, charmed by the actors, devastated and delighted by the stories, I can honestly say I've never listened to anything quite like it. I have a feeling it'll burrow down into my consciousness and stay there a while, which is perfectly fine by me. Listen if you get the chance, and let it cast it's spell. You'll be glad you did.