Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Literature & Fiction

Patrick Hamilton is renowned for his gritty, slice-of-life tales chronicling the hopes, dreams and obsessions of London's working class in the inter-war years. This collection brings together his key pieces, together with some lesser-known classics and a bonus 2004 documentary exploring his achievements and legacy.

Maurice Denham stars as John Mortimer's famous comic creation Rumpole of the Bailey. Defender of the underdog, friend of South London villains and scourge of QCs, much-loved barrister Horace Rumpole was first brought to life on television, and in 1980 BBC Radio 4 introduced him to the airwaves for a 13-episode series.

All three series of the BBC Radio 4 comedy drama about the collision between the old and the new in the Jewish community of Hillfield. Abraham Fine lives a settled, comfortable life as Rabbi of Hillfield’s Orthodox synagogue. But his world is turned upside down when a new Reform synagogue opens, led by a female Rabbi, Su Jacobs. Young, single, trendy and full of new ideas, she soon sets about modernisation - much to Rabbi Fine’s consternation.

Francis Urquhart, Chief Whip of the Conservative Party, wants to get to Number 10 and will stop at nothing in his pursuit of power. This full-cast dramatisation packs a powerful punch in the fast-paced political thriller based on Micheal Dobbs bestselling novel of the same name.

Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker and Peter Davison star as the Doctor in these six narrated full-cast TV soundtracks of classic Doctor Who TV serials.

Acclaimed as 'the most thoroughly European of British crime writers' (Guardian), Nicolas Freeling was well known for his novels featuring Dutch sleuth Van der Valk and French policeman Henri Castang. Included in this collection are six stories showcasing both detectives, as well as a bonus programme exploring Van der Valk and his creator.

Immensely popular and hugely influential, The Goon Show changed the face of British comedy. This 14th and final collection returns to the programme's fourth series and includes the episodes 'The History of Communications', 'The Kippered Herring Gang', 'The Tooth-Paste Expedition', 'The Case of the Vanishing Room', 'The Greatest Mountain in the World', 'Collapse of the British Railways Sandwich System', 'The Case of Agent X2 (aka The Silent Bugler)', 'The Story of Brain [sic] (aka Western Story)', 'The Saga of the Internal Mountain' and 'Bank of England Robbery'.

In this wonderful, fraught, witty, real comedy about a middle-aged mother desperate to begin her post-children life, Stella is wondering why those grown-up children are all still in her house. Dreaming of retiring to a life in the countryside with her husband, instead she's dealing with four extra people in the house, rooms that urgently need de-junking, surprise pregnancy tests, difficult neighbours and a mother who really isn't helping anything. When she attempts to clear the useless clutter from the house, Stella realises it's her children who really need to go.

A BBC Radio collection bringing together much-loved works by Alexandre Dumas and Alexandre Dumas fils, starring Timothy Spall, Anton Lesser, Iain Glen, Ruth Wilson and Dan Stevens. Alexandre Dumas père and fils are among the most popular and widely read authors in French literature, whose works have been adapted numerous times for stage, screen and radio. This BBC radio collection brings together three of their most famous tales of chivalry, heroism and romance.

It is 1962: the height of the Cold War and only months after the building of the Berlin Wall. Alec Leamas is a hard-working, hard-drinking British intelligence officer whose East Berlin network is in tatters. His agents are either on the run or dead, victims of the ruthlessly efficient East German counter-intelligence officer Hans-Dieter Mundt.

When Squire Fenton Babblewick inherits his uncle's Yorkshire estate, it's the perfect opportunity to realise his utopian dreams. He attempts to become a member of parliament, reform beetroots, win the love of lovely Lucinda, be a musical composer genius and buy a workhouse to turn it into a school. His ever present manservant - August Snipe, the true brains - watches in dismay as his master makes mistake after mistake. A sit-com set in the 18th century. 

Described by H P Lovecraft as 'the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere', Algernon Blackwood (CBE) was the acclaimed and prolific author of numerous ghost stories and horror tales. Throughout his lifetime, he wrote 14 novels, several children's books, a number of plays, and over 200 short stories. This anthology opens with a selection of stories featuring his most influential character, occult detective Dr John Silence.

First published between 1870 and 1893, Émile Zola’s 20-book cycle chronicling four generations of the Rougon-Macquarts was a shocking exposé of the decadence, degradation and moral decay of 19th-century France. It included some of his greatest novels, among them his masterpiece, Germinal. These innovative, ambitious dramas, first broadcast on Radio 4 over 24 hours in 2015-16, are a radical reimagining of Zola’s classic series, introducing us to 104-year-old matriarch, Dide, imprisoned in an asylum in southern France. 

Caroline, Fiona and Ruth are lifelong friends, who've grown up together, laughed and cried together, and stood by each other through thick and thin. They may not always see eye to eye, and they might drive each other crazy, but they can't do without each other. But life's got a lot more complicated since they were 22, when the only things they carried around were handbags. Now, in midlife, they've got more baggage than the average airport carousel.

When Merv and Pam got divorced, that should have been the end of their relationship. But here they are, trying to turn a veggie-and-vodka bistro in a cyber café, while Merv is still living in Pam's front garden in a small caravan. Merv's dreams of being a rock star failed a long time ago, so the Cyber Pass is now his only hope.

It's very easy to kill - so long as no one suspects you.' So says Miss Pinkerton when ex-policeman Luke Fitzwilliam meets her on a train. Luke doesn't take much notice of this little old lady's story about a serial killer on the loose in her village - until her predictions start to come true, when he feels compelled to check it out. Very soon the race is on to prevent any more murders...

Three BBC radio adaptations of famous novels by the prolific 19th-century author Mrs Oliphant - plus an episode of Reading Aloud, with extracts from her autobiography. Sometimes called ‘the feminist Trollope’, Margaret Oliphant wrote more than 100 works of fiction in a wide variety of genres, ranging from novels of small-town life to historical tales and supernatural stories. Included here are three of her best-loved works, brimming with dry wit, perceptive irony and flawed but fascinating heroines.

Landing on an apparently devastated planet, the Doctor and Romana make a horrifying discovery. The planet is Skaro, home-world of the Daleks. The Daleks are excavating in order to find and revive Davros, the scientific genius who first created them. They hope that he will give them the scientific superiority to break the deadlock with their Movellan enemies. Faced once more with the deadly and seemingly indestructible Daleks, the Doctor's wits and strength are stretched to their very limits.

Nine BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas by Mike Walker, chronicling Rome’s greatest rulers. Drawing on historical sources including Suetonius’ ‘Lives of the Caesars’, Mike Walker’s compelling drama cycle follows the story of the leaders of Rome, from Julius Caesar’s ascension to power to the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West in AD 475. 

The bohemian inhabitants of Marlborough Road lead lives of barely contained chaos, full of demands, distractions and domestic dramas. Fortunately, they have one person they can count on when things go wrong - Sally, their cleaning lady-cum-therapist.