Showing results for "bbc" in City Life

Anthony Trollope was one of Victorian England’s most popular and prolific authors. He worked for the Post Office while establishing himself as a writer, and is credited with introducing the pillar box to Britain. Best known for his ‘Barsetshire’ and ‘Palliser’ novels, he wrote over 50 works in total, including short stories, travel books, biographies and a posthumously published autobiography. Collected here are a selection of superb adaptations of his much-loved novels, as well as a fascinating documentary and an original radio play by Patricia Cumper.

Comedy drama set in Hardacre's, the worst advertising agency in London For three decades, Rupert Hardacre was one of the big beasts of advertising: he worked hard, played hard, and lived hard. But he fell harder... Driven out of every reputable agency in town for drinking all their whiskey and...

A trio of novels by the award-winning author, dramatised with full casts for BBC Radio Carlisle-born author Margaret Forster wrote over 25 acclaimed novels, as well as numerous memoirs and biographies. She was best known for her classic Georgy Girl, a zeitgeist tale of Swinging Sixties London...

Living in flats in a converted house in North London, a group of middle-aged neighbours navigate their careers, love lives and family dramas in this charming sitcom full of heart.

Elizabeth Gaskell was one of Victorian England's pre-eminent female novelists. Admired by Charles Dickens, who described her as his 'dear Scheherazade', she mingled storytelling and social realism to superb effect in her highly acclaimed fiction. This comprehensive collection comprises dramas and readings of her finest works and some lesser-known pieces.

Full-cast dramatisations of three insightful novels by Christopher Isherwood, plus a bonus interview Novelist and playwright Christopher Isherwood is best known for The Berlin Stories of pre-Hitler Germany, which inspired the musical Cabaret. Many of his works have been adapted for stage and...

Dramatisations of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most popular works, plus bonus documentary Often described as ‘the laureate of the Jazz Age’, F. Scott Fitzgerald captured the reckless, hedonistic spirit of 1920s America in his classic novels The Great Gatsby, The Beautiful and Damned and Tender is...

Rudy Sharpe is the irrepressible owner of a tiny, ramshackle record store, stacked from floor to ceiling with piles of vinyl. It’s a place with real soul, where the slogan is ‘If we don't have it – them don't mek it’. Helping out behind the counter is Tasha, Handsworth’s only Black goth girl, while Rudy’s best friend Clifton regularly drops in to talk music, women and rum.

Sean Lock stars in a surreal comedy masterpiece set in a heavily-bugged London tower block 'Minor-key masterpiece' The Telegraph First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, these classic cult comedies sparked a critically-acclaimed BBC TV show that ran for two series between 2002 and 2003. Starring the...

Brought to you by Penguin. Sex and the City' with a killer edge for fans of QUEENIE, EXPECTATION and MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER See me, see trouble Ronke, Simi, Boo are three mixed-race friends living in London. They have the gift of two cultures, Nigerian and English, though they don't all...

Based in the little town of Bridgeford, High-Lites salon boasts the most misanthropic hairdresser in Britain: sharp-tongued, mean-minded Bev. With the help of her soft-hearted (though slightly dim) assistant, Shirley, she tends to the tresses of a motley crew of local characters. As she cuts their hair, she finds out everything that's going on in their lives - and wastes no time in spreading some gossip of her own.

When Stuart is made redundant from his post as an advisor at Rayleigh Job Centre, he finds it hard to let go. Losing his job is tough enough, but worse than that is losing his chance of finally forging a relationship with his colleague, senior job seeker Nicola, who he's been yearning for ever since their one-night stand seven years ago. Queuing up to sign on, he finds himself reunited with his old school mates Joe and Terry, who he thought he outgrew years ago. They're delighted to have him back in their gang and are soon far too busy to find a job.

A BBC Radio collection of dramatisations and readings of Maeve Binchy’s sparkling stories Irish writer Maeve Binchy was one the best-loved and most successful authors of her time. Her bestselling books sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and were translated into 37 languages. This...

When Margaret Hale is forced to leave her home in the tranquil rural South of England for the industrial Northern town of Milton, she finds herself in a very different country run by men, like mill owner John Thornton, with very different beliefs to her own. Margaret is sickened by the working conditions she witnesses and, sympathetic to the poor workers, clashes with their boss, Thornton.

Award-winning novelist Vikram Seth is renowned worldwide for his magnum opus A Suitable Boy. But his dazzling debut, though less well-known, is equally innovative, masterly and ambitious. First published in 1986 and inspired by Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, it is written entirely in verse, comprising almost 600 stanzas of rhyming sonnets. This epic poem focusses on the interconnected stories of five young professionals, as they make their way in the 'unfettered city' of San Francisco in the '80s.

Stunning full-cast production of the classic mystery thriller set on the cusp of the First World War First published in 1920, The Great Impersonation was a runaway best-seller. Listen now to this stunning full-cast adaptation, available as a download for the first time. It’s early 1914 and two...

A trio of novels by the renowned author, dramatised for BBC Radio Guyanese writer E. R. Braithwaite is probably best known for his semi-autobiograpical, internationally bestselling novel To Sir with Love, which was adapted as an award-winning film starring Sidney Poitier. Collected here are...

The darkly comic ups and downs of a Manchester taxi company Dave is one of Irwell Cars' best drivers, although his life doesn't always reflect that. A run-down office with an uncertain future, Irwell Cars isn't offering Dave much - except the chance to pine after Lind, the long-suffering radio...

Is the world ready for The Velveteens? An all-girl punk band try to make it to the top Get your crimper out, your mohawk ready and your best punk pout on - the Queens of Noise have arrived! Set in 1980s London, this modern music drama charts the rise of a girl punk band. Packed with classic hits...

Some would say the Market is the last authentic part of the city centre. This northern city has reinvented itself as a business and financial centre, bristling with designer shops and bars. A cosmopolitan, twenty-four hour city. Yet slap bang in the centre the Victorian City Market remains what it has always been; a place where you can get anything and see anything - a place teeming with life. The market is the real face of the city - mucky, multicultural and magnificent.