Showing results for "bbc dramatisation" in Dark Humour

Viktor Alekseyevich Zolotaryov is an aspiring writer in Ukraine, with only his pet king penguin, Misha, for company. After Viktor gets a job writing obituaries for a local newspaper, he soon finds that his articles are being used as a hit list by some unknown organisation. Feeling as lost and unhappy as his penguin, Viktor’s life takes a complicated turn when he takes in Sonya, the young daughter of an old friend, and hires Nina to be her nanny. Can Viktor protect everyone and keep himself (and his penguin) alive, or is he destined to become the subject of the paper’s latest obituary?

Joe Orton was among the towering geniuses of 1960s theatre. His life was tragically cut short in 1967, but he left behind him a handful of shocking and scabrous black comedies that will live on in the public imagination for years to come. Featured here are two of his lesser-known works, The Erpingham Camp and The Ruffian on the Stair, collected together as a double bill.

Sir Lenny Henry has had a long and successful career as a comedian, impressionist, actor and presenter. Having starred in several plays in the West End and on radio, he was inspired to complete an MA in screenwriting and in 2011 penned his first radio drama, Corrinne Come Back and Gone, which opens this collection. He continued his writing career with three more Radio 4 plays and nine episodes of his comic monologue series Lenny Henry’s Rogues Gallery. Collected here for the first time, listen to these poignant and humorous original dramas.

Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884-1969) was an English novelist who was a bestseller in the mid-20th century. She published eighteen highly acclaimed works of fiction in her lifetime, inspired by her own tragic experiences of family life. Her works consist mainly of dialogue and focus on family life among the late Victorian or Edwardian upper middle class. They deal with money, power, status, incest, adultery, murder, homosexuality – about which she was years ahead of her time – and all the passions and stresses of family life, described with brilliant wit and perception.

Robin Glendinning's BBC Radio 4 full-cast black comedy telling the story of a real mystery. Originally broadcast in the ‘Saturday Play’ slot on 11 July 2009. In 1946, the Duke of Windsor (formerly Edward VIII) and his wife (formerly Wallis Simpson) paid a visit to Britain, hoping to secure...