Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Love and death are the principal players in these two BBC Radio full-cast dramatisations of chilling Ruth Rendell stories. In "The Bridesmaid", when Philip embarks on an affair with Senta, his sister's bridesmaid, she reminds him of the stone statue he adored as a child. Yet Senta is married, and Philip's overwhelming aversion to violence leads indirectly to murder and horror as he is drawn into erotic but murderous complicity.

Toby Stephens stars in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Raymond Chandler’s final completed Philip Marlowe mystery.Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily.In ‘Playback’, Marlowe is awakened early in the morning by a phone call from a lawyer.

When their friend Keith Brandon is charged with murdering a policeman, Gemma, Liam and Andy decide to bunk off school and go to the trial. Keith had a knife, a motive and has confessed to the crime, but they're sure he didn't do it - so when he's found guilty, they can't believe it. Determined to prove Keith's innocence, they take their story to the local media, but no-one will take them seriously. Then Gemma comes up with an unorthodox way of appealing for new evidence: setting up their own pirate radio station.

Theo is determined to seek happiness with her husband's business rival, Vincent. Having fled London for Paris, however, she soon learns of Richard's financial collapse - and discovers that rather more than just his job is at stake.

Where has scientist George Cameron disappeared to? What deadly formula has he discovered? Why is his daughter Lucy in such terrible danger? And why was the meek chemist Tibbs so ruthlessly killed? The fate of the country lies in the hands of one man - Dick Barton - Special Agent! An abridged reading of a classic Dick Barton adventure, written by Mike Dorrell and read by Toby Stephens.

This series of puzzles is explored in a six-part thriller starring David Ashton, Stella Forge, Vivienne Dixon and Ian Stewart. From Edward Boyd, the author of The Same River Twice, The Candle of Darkness and Castles in Spain.

When Dr Anna Diaz moves from an urban practice in Cardiff to take on a new job in Bly, a remote village in rural Wales, she finds a community reeling from the unexpected death of their last GP and a startling number of curious rare medical conditions. Among them, a young woman who has become so hairy she looks like an ape, a farmer who is growing new bones, a teacher who hasn't slept for a month, and an old man who has gained enormous amounts of weight and has horns growing out of his head. Deeply unsettled, the locals feel something viral and horrendous is happening to them...

Sick of the spying business, professional assassin Art Gordo decides to quit the Secret Service - but his old life won't leave him alone. It's Christmas, three months after his retirement, and Gordo is visited by an old colleague with a proposition. A senior MI7 agent has been selling secrets to the opposition and needs to be eliminated - and the job can't be traced back to the Department. What's more, the task must be completed within the next five days. Clarke's offering big money - but despite the temptation, Art turns him down. Only someone won't take 'no' for an answer.

Christmas Day in a chilly Norfolk village and a trip to the pantomime provide Horace Rumpole with the opportunity to solve a crime involving a duplicitous dame and to indulge in a little seasonal, charitable blackmail.

A trilogy of contemporary plays inspired by tales from The Arabian Nights: Arabian Afternoons includes The Casper Logue Affair by Sebastian Baczkiewicz, The Porter and the Three Ladies by Rachel Joyce and A Dish of Pomegranates by Peter Jukes.

Polina Nazarova is a soprano whose past is dangerously entangled with the present. Given the opportunity to sing her Tosca opposite the arrogant and cruel Andre Breon, it seems that her desire for revenge may prove irresistible.

Toby Ellis was looking after his four-month-old nephew, Derek Ellis. He nipped into his local newsagents, leaving the pram outside. Toby claimed he left the child for no longer than two minutes - but during this time, little Derek was abducted. Six days later the baby’s body was discovered, buried in a nearby wooded area. No one was ever charged with the murder, and the case has remained ongoing. As part of their final media degree assessment, three university students decide to make a podcast about the cold case which happened in Colecastle 14 years ago.

Described by Len Deighton as ‘a classic writer of espionage fiction’, Ted Allbeury based his many acclaimed spy novels on his own real-life experiences. In World War II, he served as an intelligence officer with Special Operations Executive, and subsequently ran agents across the border between East and West Germany during the Cold War. He began writing in his fifties, and went on to pen over 40 bestselling books, five of which are dramatised here alongside three plays specially written for BBC Radio and two bonus documentaries.

September 1791. Newly promoted Lieutenant General Jacques Lacroix is transferred from Paris to Amiens, tasked to solve crimes and arrest criminals. But in these days of revolution, it’s increasingly tricky for him to identify the criminals amongst all the agitators, rabble-rousers and counter-revolutionaries. And his job is about to get even harder as he finds himself investigating a slew of grisly murders.... 

One of seven 'unmade movies' available on audio, The Blind Man is set in 1961 and features a famous blind jazz pianist, Larry Keating, who agrees to a pioneering surgical procedure: an eye transplant. The operation is a success, but his new eyes are those of a murdered man - and burned onto their retina is the image of his killer. Can Larry track him down before he strikes again? 

Denise Mina is well known for her bestselling 'Tartan Noir' novels. She has twice won the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award, and her 'Paddy Meehan' series has been adapted for BBC TV. Before becoming a novelist, she studied law, and she has a particular interest in true crime. In these six episodes, she uncovers some of Scotland's most dramatic trials that continue to fascinate us years later. Also included is a bonus documentary, The Street Lawyer.

One of seven of these 'unmade movies' available on audio, Victory is a dark, morally complex drama set in the Dutch East Indies in 1900. It tells the story of Baron Heyst, a mysterious Swedish recluse living alone on a deserted island whose life is changed forever when he visits a neighbouring island and falls in love with young English violinist Lena. Pursued by predatory older men, Lena is drawn to Heyst and escapes with him to his island retreat....  

It's January 1969, the winter after the summer of love, and Jill and David's fledgling relationship is about to be put to test by the outbreak of Hong Kong flu. As they huddle under blankets together, full of flu, neither of them is aware of how this moment will impact them in both the near and distant future.

Terry Prince is an ex-SAS professional occasionally hired by the Secret Services to do special 'jobs'. His latest mission seems straightforward enough: find and retrieve a top secret file, belonging to the Department of Internal Security, that has been leaked to a left-wing magazine. Arriving at the offices of Socialist Attack, he discovers the editor dead - and he himself suspected of murder. Falsely accused, he goes on the run from both the Internal Security Department and gangsters from London’s underworld.

A man witnesses a murderous attack on a young woman in a mirror - yet when he turns round there is nothing there. Can he prevent a premonition coming true? Basic human loyalty and jealousy are at the fore in this chilling tale.