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

A six-part BBC Radio 4 crime drama set in 19th-century London. It is 1830, a year after Sir Robert Peel’s creation of the Metropolitan Police, known as the 'Peelers'. As the brand-new bobbies patrol the beat in their smart blue uniforms, armed only with truncheons and rattles, they form the first line of defence against crime. But as this thrilling series opens, the fledgling detective force is proving unpopular, sparking deep political unrest and public protests. Rioters take to the streets of London, and the police struggle to contain the violence. 

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.

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.

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.

Unabridged readings of four spine-tingling stories. This suspenseful anthology collects together four gripping tales of gruesome scientific experiments and chilling supernatural events - all read in full by some of the very best voice actors. With over 18 hours of electrifying listening, tracked by chapter, these classic tales will have you on the edge of your seat.

The year is 1920, and an ambitious doctor meets a nun apparently traumatised by what she witnessed in the Great War. An attempt to restore the woman's sanity results in the uncovering of something very sinister indeed.

A BBC Radio 4 fictional dramatisation of Léon Theremin’s espionage work in the lead up to the Cold War, written by Melissa Murray. Theremin was originally broadcast as the ‘Saturday Play’ on 3 January 2009 and repeated on 9 October 2010.Léon Theremin, gifted inventor and reluctant spy, is forced to find a way to bug the US Embassy in London. Now he has to save himself and his former lover from both the CIA and the KGB. Starring Tom Hollander as Theremin and Kate Ashfield as Alex.

Property magnate Max Silver is in trouble. His West End properties are starting to crumble, his assets are turning into liabilities, and his business empire's on the rocks. With the company in danger of going under, he shakes up his property portfolio, ditches his shiftless partner, Larry, and brings his brother Teddy and daughter Zara on board. Then the Lord Mayor of London asks him to build an iconic skyscraper in the heart of the capital - a 1,000-ft state-of-the-art tower that will show off London to the world, and be a defiant new national symbol. 

When Tom Caine wakes one morning to discover he can't stop bursting into song, his life takes a dramatic turn for the worse. Who are the strange bunch of musicians following him around? And why can no one else see them? When one of his impromptu performances gets him arrested for inciting a riot at a football match, Tom realises he needs to try and take control of the imaginary band inside his head. But can he keep his job, his girlfriend and his sanity in the process?

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.

Thorndyke is arguably the first true forensic detective, for while we remember Sherlock Holmes for his genius in unearthing significant detail, only Thorndyke's methods pass the test of real-world authenticity. It might be maintained that while Holmes perhaps did it with style, Thorndyke does it with science.

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.

Rex Obano has written for the stage, television, radio and film. His plays have twice been shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award and he received the Roland Rees Bursary in 2018. He is part of the writing team for the BBC Radio series Faith, Hope and Glory and his TV credits include Shakespeare & Hathaway. Included here are five of his acclaimed dramas, as well as a fascinating discussion programme, Black Tudors.

Roguish Londoner Milkie leaves a glittering society gala to do a favour for glamorous actress Beth Williams. But no good deed goes unpunished, as Milkie soon discovers when an unexpected trip to the Welsh mountains sees him embroiled in a murderous conspiracy.

A thrilling saga of criminal masterminds, espionage and adventure, Edward J. Mason's Dick Barton: Special Agent was a huge hit on the BBC Light Programme between 1946 and 1951. Together with his mates Jock Anderson and Snowy White, ex-Commando Dick faced dastardly villains and deadly peril—but always triumphed ('With one bound, Dick was free!') Half a century later, Edward J's son Lol paid affectionate tribute to the much-loved radio hero with this sparkling pastiche, featuring the joint escapades of father-and-son duo Dick and Richard Barton.

Philip Marlowe’s on a case: his client, a dried-up husk of a woman, wants him to recover a rare gold coin called a Brasher Doubloon, missing from her late husband’s collection. That’s the simple part. It becomes more complicated when Marlowe finds that everyone who handles the coin suffers a run of very bad luck: they always end up dead.

Having lost her husband and only child to the war in Afghanistan, a young woman turns to an Irish couple for hope in the form of a miracle. But dark forces are at work, and the price to pay for salvation may be too much to bear.

Afghanistan, 2009. Eighteen-year-old squaddie Briggsy is just three weeks into his first posting in Helmand Province and he's thrilled to be part of the action. But when his Rifle Section loses a man in battle, Briggsy is forced to confront the realities of war. Also included is the fascinating interview with Andy McNab, in which he speaks to Jo Fidgen about his childhood, military career and writing.

The Hook, one of seven 'unmade movies' available on audio, is set in New York's docks in 1951, where hundreds of longshoremen queue up at dawn hoping to be given a counter and a place in the day's gang. It's hard, dangerous work, but in a world ruled by corrupt union bosses on the take, they have no choice but to accept it. Then a tragedy occurs, and one man, Marty Ferrara, decides to fight back....  

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....