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

Author, curmudgeon and master of the complaining letter and the abusive email, Ed Reardon is back for a 16th series of this award-winning BBC Radio comedy.

A master of comic confusion, Harry Worth’s genial, bumbling characterisations charmed the nation on radio and TV from the late 1950s until well into the 1980s. This collection includes all 13 episodes of his eponymous show, Harry Worth in Things Could Be Worse, in which Harry blunders his way through a catalogue of mishaps and misadventures. Also featured are a selection of episodes from the hilarious sitcom Thirty Minutes’ Worth, which sees Harry confusing all and sundry once again, and eight of the surviving episodes from We’re in Business.

British comedy legend, Norman Wisdom plays small-time crook Norman Hood who’s just been released from prison for burglary. Hoping to make new life as an honest man, he is entrusted to widow Natalie Matthews (Moira Lister), who offers him a job and accommodation. However, she has an ulterior motive…Follow the farcical misadventures of Norman, played out with a huge cast of supporting actors as he tries to stick, but mostly fails, to the straight and narrow! Charming, gentle but ever so funny, Robbing Hood is a joy to listen to.

Get ready to be dragged kicking and screaming into the world of family life, Stockport-style, as 15-year-old Jason introduces us to the Conroy clan. There's dad Eddie, cabby and wannabe champion organist, mum Maureen, who's easygoing but wasn't born yesterday, older brother Michael, lead singer of The Sweater Girls, and sisters Colette (married to uptight bank clerk Dave) and Karen (newly returned from uni with a Sloane Ranger boyfriend).

Double Emmy-nominated actor, comedian and writer Nick Mohammed is well known for his portrayal of Nate in Ted Lasso and his stage and screen performances as his critically-acclaimed alter ego Mr Swallow. For radio, he has written and starred in four fantastic comedy series, collected together in this audio anthology and co-starring Anna Crilly (Lead Balloon) and Colin Hoult (After Life).

Immensely popular and hugely influential, the groundbreaking series The Goon Show changed the face of British comedy. Now, for the first time, this box set collection presents the episodes in chronological order as they were scheduled to be broadcast. This fourth volume includes: 'The Hastings Flyer - Robbed', 'The Mighty Wurlitzer', 'The Raid of the International Christmas Pudding', 'The Tales of Montmartre', 'The Jet-Propelled Guided NAAFI', 'The House of Teeth', 'The Choking Horror' and more.

In series 1 and 2, as his mum and wife, Mary, sit round his bedside and wonder how to wake him up, Ben’s mind is busy elsewhere. In his imagination, he lives with his two-year-old daughter, Blitz (now miraculously grown up), encounters celebrities such as Sue Lawley, Elvis Presley and Tom Paulin, relives memories from his past and gets into a compromising situation with a fellow inmate at a strangely familiar Torquay hotel. Meanwhile, an imaginary sitcom written by him, about coma patients in a hospital, plays in the background.

These 29 episodes encompass classic cosmic conundrums - including whether there is intelligent alien life out there, if infinity exists and how wormholes could allow us to time-travel - as well as probing more down-to-earth human quirks like our differing pain thresholds, our attraction to 'bad' foods like chips and chocolate and our varied regional accents. Plus, the duo embarks on a cheery evolutionary thought experiment as they wonder what would happen if humanity became extinct....

A fascinating collection of rare and remastered broadcast material starring Tony Hancock, Sid James and others. This first volume features the recently discovered soundtrack of 'The Horror Serial', a television episode of Hancock's Half Hour from 1959, plus remastered versions of the following radio shows: 'The Blackboard Jungle', 'The Student Prince' and 'The Test Match'. Also included are previously unreleased editions of 'Variety Bandbox', 'Calling All Forces' and 'Educating Archie'.

The Emperor Domitian has informers everywhere; no-one is safe. He rules Rome with a rod of iron, and he is dangerously unstable and paranoid. In the snake pit of Imperial Rome, all Pliny the Younger wants to do is get his letters ready for publication. Except if he, his mother, their Greek cook Doris (who narrowly missed out on becoming the next Oracle at Delphi), and Venta, their slave with secretarial skills, have any chance of surveying, they are going to have to negotiate a political minefield, keep their eyes peeled for spies and, most of all, not do anything to annoy the Emperor.

Nominated for a British Comedy Award for Best Radio Comedy, The Harpoon is a nostalgic, spiffing spoof of adventure story papers for boys from yesteryear - but on the wireless. In the style of publications such as the Boys' Own Paper - but with its tongue firmly in its cheek - it features a veritable feast of thrilling serials, 'How-Tos', readers' letters and patent cures - all introduced by 'your old chum, the Editor'.

 Paperback Hell takes a wry look at well-known genres riding high in the publishing charts and mercilessly lampoons them to hilarious effect. Featuring choice chapters culled from titles that bear a striking resemblance to something you've read before, it's the book show that seems determined to destroy the good name of literature. 

Rediscover the most popular family in Britain! The Huggetts dominated the airwaves in the 1950s. For nearly a decade their family capers entertained listeners with the trials and tribulations of everyday life in post-war Britain. An unashamedly working-class family, the Huggetts epitomise the spirit of a united nation relishing simple pleasures with a cheery, down-to-earth smile.

Chris Addison – the thinking idiot's pretend anthropologist – takes us on a comic journey through the vast and rich subject of human history in these eight hilarious comedy lectures. Aided by Professor Austin Herring (aka Geoffrey McGivern), Dan Tetsell and Jo Enright, who put their considerable talents to use in sketches illustrating the lectures, he examines how Homo sapiens became Top Species, charts the rise and fall of the Western world and looks at what’s next for the future of mankind.

Brothers Jack and Lesley Burrows are as different from each other as they can possibly be. After their mum passes away, there's a surprise at the reading of her will. An unexpected windfall has been left to them, but there's one very big catch: the brothers must commit to living together for three months. As far as Jack and Lesley are concerned, this is a total disaster. They will do everything they can to avert the crisis and get their hands on their cash legacy.

Little Blighty is an idyllic part of the world, with a church, a market, a small school and a pub, The Cock and Bull. Village life is pretty uneventful, though the humdrum happenings include social turmoil, economic upheaval and vicious political squabbles - all presided over by the redoubtable head of the Parish Council and secretary of the Rotarians, Mrs Roberts.

Love in Recovery follows the lives of five very different recovering alcoholics. Johnny Vegas is Andy, the sweet but simple self-appointed group leader. Sue Johnston plays straight talking Julie, who's been known to have the odd relapse here and there - and everywhere. Rebecca Front is the snobby and spikey Fiona, an ex-banker who had it all and then lost the lot. 

All 16 episodes of the BBC radio comedy about the dysfunctional Burbage siblings: Brothers Nigel and Michael share everything - home, work and acute neuroses. Several years ago, they gave up respectable careers to set up a website design company in Nigel's living room. That was their first mistake....

This sparkling comedy show written by Jeremy Front (writer of the Charles Paris mysteries for Radio 4) stars Jeremy and Rebecca Front as Jack and Millie Lemman - an older couple who are fully engaged with contemporary life whilst being at war with the absurdities of the modern world...

David Tennant, Sarah Alexander and Mark Bonnar star in all three series of the bittersweet comedy about shared parenting. Tangled love lives, secret affairs, frozen eggs and roving eyes - it's time to meet the Millers! The Go-Betweenies takes a candid look at a divorced North London family through the prism of two siblings (14-year-old Lucy and 10-year-old Tom) who schlep with varying degrees of enthusiasm between two sets of homes: Mum's comfy Highgate house and Dad's rackety new rental on the Holloway Road.