The short life of A.J.A. Symons (1900-41) was described by his biographer as an intricate and largely harmless confidence trick. His many interests included the collection of musical boxes and rare books as well as the study and practice of forgery; they left him time to edit an anthology of Edwardian verse and compose studies of H.M. Stanley and other notable figures. He is remembered for The Quest for Corvo, one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, and for co-founding the Wine and Food Society.

A. J. A. Symons

A. J. Liebling, born in Manhattan in 1904, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935 and contributed innumerable articles to the magazine throughout his lifetime, on subjects ranging from food to boxing and France to horse racing. As a war correspondent during the Second World War, he reported from France, England and Algeria, and participated in the Normandy landings. In later life he married the writer Jean Stafford, his third wife. He died in 1963.

A. J. Liebling

A. J. Rosen is an author of YA fantasy novels and is an ambassador for Wattpad, known as @agatharoza. Entwined is her first novel.

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

A. O. Scott has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000. His writing has appeared in many other publications, including the New York Review of Books, Slate, the New Yorker and the Nation. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2010, Scott is currently Distinguished Professor of Film Criticism at Wesleyan University. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
@aoscott

A. O. Scott

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A. S. Byatt

A. T. Williams won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2013 for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa. He lives in Warwickshire.

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by the Guardian newspaper, and ‘the real thing’ by the Washington Post, A.C. 'Ava' Glass is the CWA Dagger-shortlisted author of Alias Emma (The Chase), The Traitor and The Trap. The Traitor was a 2023 Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. Alias Emma was a Barnes and Noble book of the month. A former crime reporter and communications consultant, for five years Ava worked closely with spies. Her time in that world fascinated her, and the people she met back then inspire every book she writes.

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

Arthur Edward Waite was the designer and co-creator of the now famous Rider Waite Tarot deck. 
 
An American-born British poet and scholarly mystic, his strong interest in all esoteric matters - divination, magic, Kabbalism, alchemy and Freemasony - led to him penning a number of books. These include the Key to the Tarot, The Book of Ceremonial Magic and A New Encyclopedia of Freemasony.

A.E. Waite

A.E. Warren is the author of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series, which consists of Subject Twenty-One, The Hidden Base, The Fourth Species and The Final Rising. 
 
After spending eight years working as a lawyer, she began to write in the evenings and early mornings as a form of escapism from life in a very small cubicle with lots of files. She self-published her first novels in her spare time, which were picked up by Del Rey UK which is the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. 
 
 She is an avid reader, occasional gamer and fair-weather runner. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and hopefully, one day, a wise border terrier named Austen.

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A.J. Cronin

A K Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins and Doctor Who figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit award and is in development for a major 8-part TV series by Company Pictures. Her second, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, came out in February 2016. She's written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish and her short stories have featured in anthologies including Great British Horror and Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

A.K.Benedict

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

A.L. Kennedy

A.M. Ellis is a speculative fiction author and lover of everything steeped in myth and mystery. Her stories often lean into diverse voices, not only in her identity as a Black woman, but in exploring neurodivergence and mental health. A proud introvert and nostalgic gamer, she lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband and three children.

A.M. Ellis

A.N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work. He lives in North London.

A.N. Wilson

A. T. Emerald lives with her husband and baby daughter in Nottinghamshire. She discovered her love of writing in 2020 and has not shut up about enemies to lovers ever since. She loves iced matcha, torrid love confessions with knives pressed to throats (fictional, of course) and does not accept bills for any therapy her books might incur.

A.T. Emerald

A.W. Priest

A.B.C. Merriman-Labor was a barrister, writer and munitions worker born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1877. His published works include A Series of Lectures on the Negro Race and The Story of the African Slave in a Nutshell. He also edited two editions of the Handbook of Sierra Leone. He arrived in the UK in 1904 to study law. In 1907, he organised a centenary commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in Westminster Abbey. He later embarked on an 'entertainment-lecture' tour called Life and Scenes in Britain, travelling across thousands of miles of West, South West and Central Africa, which he expanded on to create Britons Through Negro Spectacles.

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

Aaliya Jaleel is a freelance illustrator, designer, and visual development artist, currently majoring in Animation at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the illustrator of Under My Hijab and Muslim Girls Rise. You can visit her online at www.aaliyamj.com.

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

After more than fifteen years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, Dr Aaron Balick has taken the amazing insights from psychology and psychotherapy out of the consultation room and made them accessible to the wider world. 
 
He has been an ‘agony uncle’ for many years for both CBBC and BBC Radio 1, as well as on television, including BBC Worldwide, BBC 3 and BBC Learning.

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

Aaron Dignan is the founder of The Ready--a global organizational transformation and coaching practice--that helps companies large and small adopt new forms of self-organization and dynamic teaming. Clients include Johnson &amp; Johnson, Microsoft, Lloyds Bank, Citibank, Boeing, Mailchimp, Airbnb, Dropbox, and charity: water. 
 
He is also the founder of Murmur--a SaaS startup that helps teams scale culture through the magic of working agreements. The Murmur platform will allow every team on the planet to define and share their ways of working. 
 
Dignan is the author of Brave New Work (2019) and Game Frame (2011), co-host of the Brave New Work podcast, and a friend to misfit toys.

Aaron Dignan

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AgeRange

Series

Imprint

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Alexander McCall-Smith

Rachel Joyce

Charles Dickens

Anton Chekhov

Leo Tolstoy

Elizabeth Gaskell

Jeremy Front

A sparkling seasonal anthology of BBC dramas and readings 
 
Christmas is the perfect time to curl up with a good story, and this cracking collection brings you 30 wonderfully diverse tales inspired by this most special of seasons. From Santa Claus, gift-giving and family gatherings, to an unexpected encounter in a snowstorm and an alternative take on the Nativity, they're sure to get you in the festive mood. 
 
Here are modern readings of classics such as Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Tree', Anton Chekhov's 'At Christmas Time', Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Fir Tree', O Henry's 'The Gift of the Magi', Elizabeth Gaskell's 'Christmas Storms and Sunshine' and Leo Tolstoy's 'Papa Panov's Special Christmas'. Alongside them is some superb short fiction by contemporary authors, including Stella Duffy ('South'), Paul McVeigh ('Daddy Christmas'), Laura Barnett ('Survivors'), and nine delightful stories by Alexander McCall Smith. Among the stellar narrators are Don Gilet, Nina Sosanya, Hannah Gordon, Stephanie Cole and Meera Syal. 
 
Interspersed with these are a range of spellbinding plays, including Rachel Joyce's poignant Christmas by the Lake; festive action comedy Lena Marsh, Live and Schticking! by Jeremy Front; a very unusual and very dangerous Santa in The Morpeth Carol by Timothy X Atack; and Robert Hudson and Marie Phillips' epistolary animal tale, Some Hay in a Manger, introduced by Stephen Fry. All feature star casts including Niamh Cusack, Robert Lindsay, Sam Troughton, Clare Corbett, Tamsin Greig and Joel Fry. 
 
Heartwarming and heartfelt, comic and bittersweet, moving and magical, these fantastic, evocative stories are a real Christmas treat. 
 
Note: Chapter metadata updated in January 2023. 
 
Contents 
Christmas by the Lake by Rachel Joyce 
Christmas Short Stories by Alexander McCall Smith: 
· 'Motordrome' 
· 'The Revenge, or Otherwise, of Herbie Bontemps' 
· 'How to Escape in Gaelic' 
· 'The Colourful Life of Cousin Grace' 
· 'Good President Wenceslas' 
The Christmas Present by Ben Crompton 
Christmas Compass: Series 1: 
· 'North' by Malachy Tallack 
· 'South' by Stella Duffy 
· 'East' by Ruth Thomas 
· 'West' by Mike McCormack 
A Time to Dance by Lucy Gannon 
Christmas Compass: Series 2 by Alexander McCall Smith 
· 'Winter Journey' 
· 'In the DRC' 
· 'Primatologist' 
· 'On The Island' 
Midnight at Christmas by Elliott Kerrigan 
'The Fir Tree' by Hans Christian Andersen 
'At Christmas Time'by Anton Chekhov 
'Papa Panov's Special Christmas' by Leo Tolstoy 
Some Hay in a Manger by Robert Hudson and Marie Phillips 
'Daddy Christmas' by Paul McVeigh 
'Christmas Storms and Sunshine'by Elizabeth Gaskell 
The Morpeth Carol by Timothy X Atack 
'Survivors' by Laura Barnett 
Lena Marsh, Live and Shticking!by Jeremy Front 
'A Christmas Tree' by Charles Dickens 
'The Gift of the Magi' by O Henry 
Get Santa by Peter Gibbs 
'Home' by Christine Dwyer Hickey 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

A BBC Christmas Collection

30 Festive Dramas and Stories

Sarah Millican

Joe Lycett

Bridget Christie

Susan Calman

Jon Richardson

Russell Kane

James Acaster

Mark Watson

Jenny Eclair

Aisling Bea

Romesh Ranganathan

Dane Baptiste

Shazia Mirza

Sanjeev Kholi

Angela Barnes

A cracking collection of comic monologues, written and read by leading comedians 
 
Recorded in front of a live audience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, this fantastic anthology features a host of diverse short stories, composed and performed by a veritable Who's Who of stand-up comedians. By turns hilarious and irreverent, poignant and bittersweet, together they make up a superb selection box of tasty treats. 
 
Among the all-star line-up, Romesh Ranganathan tells a comic tale of unrequited love among the orangutans; Susan Calman takes a wry look at office politics; Jon Richardson explores the perils of internet dating; and Sarah Millican takes us into the worlds of a compassionate undertaker's assistant and an elderly woman who fears she's becoming invisible. 
 
Russell Kane recalls his tempestuous ex; Aisling Bea recounts the dark, funny tale of a pensioner with murder in mind; Robert Florence reveals the shady doings of the Scottish branch of the Illuminati; and satirist John O'Farrell asks, 'what if Judas had written the Gospels'? 
 
Also sharing their fantastic fiction are a wealth of other literary comics, including Sanjeev Kohli, Joe Lycett, Bridget Christie, James Acaster, Jenny Eclair, Shazia Mirza and Mark Watson. Short story fans, rejoice: here are five hours of some of the most charming, absurd, dark, thoughtful and funny tales you'll ever find in one place. 
 
Contents: 
1. May Contain Nuts by Janey Godley 
2. The Hair of the Dead by Sarah Millican 
3. Gone Phishing by Jon Richardson 
4. The Woman Who Sniffed by Susan Calman 
5. Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Be in the Green by Patrick Monahan 
6. On the Dot by Shazia Mirza 
7. Stairlift Us Up Where We Belong by Sarah Millican 
8. Spooky and the Van by Joe Lycett 
9. A Difference of Opinion by Bridget Christie 
10. The Three Times I Dumped Eleanor, and the Manner of Her Death by Russell Kane 
11. Sorry For Your Loss by James Acaster 
12. Club Sandwich by Mark Watson 
13. The Understudy by Jenny Eclair 
14. Kill Dilly by Aisling Bea 
15. I Bought a Monkey To Stand Out in the New York Art Scene by Sanjeev Kohli 
16. Love and Orangutans by Romesh Ranganathan 
17. Bad Fairytale by Grainne Maguire 
18. The Gospel According to Judas by John O'Farrell 
19. Pick Me Up by Angela Barnes 
20. Apocalypse Soon by Dane Baptiste 
21. Cats Who Walk Like Gentlemen by Robert Florence 
 
Production credits: 
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 August 2009-6 September 2015 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Comic Fringes

21 short stories by top comedians

Jenny Stephens

A collection of futuristic sci-fi dramas 
 
From acclaimed director and scriptwriter Jenny Stephens, here are a trio of sensational science fiction serials: supernatural espionage thriller Project Raphael, its sequel Project Archangel, and the dark, dystopian Jefferson 37. All feature a full cast of veteran actors including Dan Hagley, Emily Chennery, Sunny Ormonde, John Flitcroft, Oliver Hembrough and Dharmesh Patel. 
 
Project Raphael - Deep in the heart of Yorkshire, British Intelligence are working with 'revenants' - spies from beyond the grave - in a bid to learn the secrets of the mysterious Nablovski Colony. But recently deceased agent Raphael is proving hard to find. Desperate to contact him, his fellow MI7 agents arrange a meeting with local psychic Malcolm Holmes: but when he brings his friend, would-be ace reporter Polly, along, the duo find themselves in great danger. As uncomfortable truths are revealed, can they reach out to Raphael - and avoid becoming revenants themselves? 
 
Project Archangel - When ghost-hunter Malcolm Holmes receives a visit from a menacing customer at his mother's health food shop, he becomes involved once more in the murky world of paranormal espionage. Tricked into flying to Moscow with Polly, he is embroiled in the dangerous machinations of Nablovski agent Victor Peshkov - and meets the ghost of someone he once knew very well... 
 
Jefferson 37 - In the not-too-distant future, human spare-part surgery has become the norm. State-of-the-art science village Abbotsville specialises in creating clones for organ replacement - for those who can afford it. But what happens behind its barbed-wire fences is shrouded in mystery and controversy. So when marketing expert Eleanor is called in to revamp Abbotsville's image, she is intrigued - but she soon discovers there's more to the clone farm than meets the eye... 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Jenny Stephens 
Directed by Peter Leslie Wild 
 
Project Raphael 
Agent Finch - Deborah McAndrew 
Agent Evans - Aneirin Hughes 
Malcolm Holmes - Dan Hagley 
Polly Williams - Emily Chennery 
Moira Holmes - Sunny Ormonde 
Agent Raphael - John Flitcroft 
PC Ahmed - Saikat Ahamed 
Emily Cross - Sophie Samuda 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio, 14-16 January 2008 
 
Project Archangel 
Malcolm Holmes - Dan Hagley 
Polly Williams - Emily Chennery 
Moira Holmes - Sunny Ormonde 
Agent Winston Cardell - Delroy Brown 
Victor Peshkov - Christian Rodska 
Mike - Richard Derrington 
Agent Raphael - John Flitcroft 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio, 13-16 December 2010 
 
Jefferson 37 
Jefferson 37 - Oliver Hembrough 
Patel 2 - Dharmesh Patel 
Eleanor Riley - Alison Carney 
Dr Abbots - David Birrell 
Dr Martell - Rob Swinton 
Lucy White 44 - Emily Chennery 
Paul Smith - Alex Jones 
Saskia Treby 9 - Helen Monks 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio, 11-14 February 2008 
 
Copyright © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Project Raphael

Three BBC Radio sci-fi thrillers

Adam Tandy

Nat Sones

Six sensational spoofs of classic 1950s American science fiction stories 
 
BBC Audio present six fantastic tales of twisted futures and times beyond tomorrow... 
 
Their Gaze Was Green - With the Earth under threat from Venusian terrorists, can clean-cut space heroes Jack and Chip thwart their evil, tentacled nemeses? 
 
And Mother Makes Millions - A dashing male stranger enters a dystopian world where human women have become infertile. Is he really humanity's saviour, or does he have a sinister agenda? 
 
I've Got Your Number - Cal Newton goes from hero to zero when his unique, numbered ID gets copied. Can he defeat his evil alter ego, Anti-Cal, and take back his life? 
 
Land of Plenty - In tomorrow's world, all human food is delivered in sealed mag-cans to the residents of Mars. But what if the tin-openers fail, and people are forced to eat deadly leftovers? 
 
Unstoppable! - When the interstellar Jupiter Express hurtles out of control towards Earth, it's up to ace galactic survey explorer Biff Morrow to save the day... 
 
Night of the Cicadas - A mad scientist has created a new breed of huge, mutant, people-eating bugs, intent on taking over the world. Could this be the end for humankind? 
 
Inspired by the pulp sci-fi of 'Fifties America, these perfectly pitched parodies are redolent of the atomic age - when the space race was at its height, Cold War paranoia was at fever pitch and the future seemed both thrilling and terrifying. They star John Guerrasio, Jeff Harding, Allison Warnyca, Lewis McLeod, Colin Stinton and Liza Ross. 
 
Production credits 
Written by Adam Tandy and Nat Sones 
Produced by Adam Bromley 
Starring John Guerrasio, Jeff Harding, Allison Warnyca, Lewis McLeod, Colin Stinton and Liza Ross 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 7, 18 March 2006 (Land of Plenty), 31 July-4 August 2006 (Their Gaze Was Green, And Mother Makes Millions, I've Got Your Number, Unstoppable!, Night of the Cicadas) 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Atomic Tales

A BBC Radio 4 Sci-Fi drama

Michael Butt

Marcy Kahan

Nick Warburton

Gary Ogin

Seven BBC full-cast romantic comedies about love, longing and life-changing moments 
 
 Written by a host of top radio writers and starring some of Britain's finest actors, these sparkling, beautifully crafted comedy dramas are centred around people with unconscious yearnings. From the serial seducer to the lonely mother's boy, each is looking for love - but will they find it? 
 
 Vongole by Michael Butt: Oxford professor Tristram Swann's favourite pastime is wooing his female students with Petrarch and pasta. But what is he really after? Starring Bill Nighy. 
 
 The Non-Entity by Marcy Kahan: Once a successful Soviet hack, Dimitri hasn't sold a story since the fall of Communism. So why has a British publisher flown out to Moscow to see him? Starring Kenneth Cranham, Eleanor Bron and Sylvestre Le Touzel. 
 
 Toad Squad by Nick Warburton: Bitter at being retired prematurely, Reg embarks on a mission to protect the humble toad. Starring Philip Jackson and Amanda Root. 
 
 The Anniversary Waltz by Jeremy Front: Deli owners Max and Shirley spend their days sniping at one another - but a sudden epiphany makes them realise things have got to change... Starring Prunella Scales, Roger Allam and Rebecca Front. 
 
 Catching Heathcliff by Nick Warburton: Lindsey dreams of someone brooding and passionate - and then Morton walks into her book group... Starring Philip Jackson and Amanda Root. 
 
 Battersea Triangle by Michael Butt: Passive Dougie is trapped in a relationship with his domineering boss, Angela. When he meets the docile India, his problems seem to be over - but are they just beginning? Starring Mark Benton, Christine Kavanagh and Indira Varma. 
 
 The Dangers of Self-Hypnosis by Gary Ogin: Having had no luck with speed-dating, Maurice turns to a self-hypnosis CD to find romance. Exploring his subconscious, he finds the beautiful Rachel... Starring Richard Coyle, Prunella Scales and Sophie Winkleman. 
 
 
 Produced and directed by Peter Kavanagh 
 
 Vongole 
 Tristram - Bill Nighy 
 Minnie - Emma Callander 
 Helen - Miranda Colchester 
 Freddie - Stephen Critchlow 
 Mamma/Judy - Carolyn Jones 
 Written by Michael Butt 
 
 The Non-Entity 
 Dmitri - Kenneth Cranham 
 Annoushka - Eleanor Bron 
 Claire - Sylvestra Le Touzel 
 Robert - Stephen Critchlow 
 Written by Marcy Kahan 
 
 Toad Squad 
 Reg - Philip Jackson 
 Bel - Amanda Root 
 Mr Topping - Jonathan Coy 
 Written by Nick Warburton 
 
 The Anniversary Waltz 
 Shirley - Prunella Scales 
 Max - Roger Allam 
 Roszinka - Rebecca Front 
 Girl - Rosie Fellner 
 Marcy - Liza Sadovy 
 Toastmaster/Old man - Bruce Purchase 
 Written by Jeremy Front 
 
 Catching Heathcliff 
 Graham - Philip Jackson 
 Lindsey - Amanda Root 
 Heathcliff/Morton - Mark Straker 
 Postman - Nick Warburton 
 Written by Nick Warburton 
 
 Battersea Triangle 
 Dougie - Mark Benton 
 India - Indira Varma 
 Angela - Christine Kavanagh 
 Fiona - Emily Rose Smith 
 Written by Michael Butt 
 
 The Dangers of Self-Hypnosis 
 Maurice - Richard Coyle 
 Mother - Prunella Scales 
 Rachel - Sophie Winkleman 
 Abigail - Christine Kavanagh 
 Hypnotist/Judge - Sam Dale 
 Daniel - Mark Straker 
 Written by Gary Ogin 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Hopes and Desires

Seven BBC full-cast romantic comedies

Various

10 dramas focusing on women's untold stories from history. 
 
This diverse, eclectic collection of plays explores an array of social, political and historical events from a female point of view. In these captivating dramas, we see the world through their eyes, giving us a fresh perspective on a female history that is too often unrecorded, misrepresented or misunderstood. 
 
Featuring a multiplicity of styles and genres, and written by a wide variety of authors, they range from comedy dramas themed around the Bayeux Tapestry and the 1962 Cheltenham Literary Festival, to award-winning, thought-provoking tales of Nigerian teenagers kidnapped by Boko Haram. A contemporary version of the heroines from Greek mythology, Persephone and Demeter; Profumo affair from a female perspective, Britain's last witch (Helen Duncan); a legendary ballerina (Margot Fonteyn); a little sister (Dious, sibling of St Anthony) and a youngest daughter (Judith Shakespeare). 
 
Embroidering the Truth 
Queen Edith - Katy Brand 
Bishop Odo - Charlie Anson 
Other cast, Katy Sobey, Lisa Zahra, Jonny Holden, Rosie Cavaliero, Tracy Wiles. Written by Abigail Youngman. Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 17 October 2019 
 
Girls 
Tisana - Amaka Okafor 
Ruhab - Faith Alabi 
Haleema - Joan Iyiola 
Written by Theresa Ikoko. Directed by Abigail Gonda. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14 July 2017 
 
The Bulbul Was Singing 
Laura - Rebecca Humphries 
Ariman - Shaniaz Hama Ali 
Other Cast: Paul Hickey, Jonny Holden, Saya Zahawi, Catherine Cusack, Shaun Mason, Debbie Korley, Chris Pavlo 
Written by Judy Upton. Directed by Emma Harding. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 19 August 2019 
 
Seven Pomegranate Seeds 
Performed by Niamh Cusack, Ruth Bradley and Leah McNamara 
Written by Colin Teevan. Produced and directed by Allegra McIlroy. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 7 January 2020 
 
Festival 
Elizabeth Jane Howard - Melody Grove 
John Moore - Tony Gardner 
Kingsley Amis - Jonathan Forbes 
Other cast: Will Howard, Emma Handy, John Lightbody. Written by Sarah Wooley. Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 July 2018 
 
Well, He Would, Wouldn't He? 
Mandy (younger) - Aimee-Ffion Edwards 
Christine Keeler - Lyndsey Marshal 
'Pops' Murray - Stephen Marzella 
Stephen Ward/Peter Rachman - Ewan Bailey 
Other cast: Adrian Schiller, Alex Dower, Anthony Courier. Written by Charlotte Williams. Directed by Kate McAll. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 23 February 2013 
 
Tony's Little Sister and the Paradox of Monasticism 
Anthony - Duncan Preston 
Dious - Samantha Spiro 
Satan - Tim McMullan 
Other cast Ben Crowe, Rachel Bavidge. Written by David and Caroline Stafford. Produced by Marc Beeby. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 August 2007 
 
Judith Shakespeare 
Judith Shakespeare - Amanda Root 
William Shakespeare - Michael Pennington 
Henry, Earl of Southampton - Anton Lesser 
Other Cast, Andrew Wincott, Melinda Walker, Thomas Connor, Stephen Critchlow, Ann Beach, Colleen Prendergast, Jillie Meers 
Written by Nan Woodhouse. Directed byTracey Neale. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 April 1996 
 
An Unchoreographed World 
Margot Fonteyn - Sophie Jerrold 
Constant Lambert - Richard McCabe 
Other cast Oliver Millingham, Kate Littlewood 
Chorus - Anne-Marie Piazza, Maria Askew, Ffion Jolly, Ben Ashton &amp; Coen de Groot 
Written by Frances Byrne. Produced and directed by Mark Smalley. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 22 May 2008 
 
The Last Witch Trial 
Lucy - Indira Varma 
Margo - Lyndsey Marshal 
Other Cast: Joanna Monro, Vineeta Rishi Sam Dale, Michael Shelford, Keely Beresford 
Written by Melissa Murray. Directed by Marc Beeby. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 4 June 2010 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

HER Story: Women’s Untold Histories

10 BBC Radio full-cast dramas

William Ingram

Richard Davies

Maurice Travers

Barry Campbell

Roald Dahl

Rene Basilico

Elizabeth Morgan

Charles Birkin

Twenty tales of terror and suspense, brought to you by sinister storyteller Vincent Price 
 
Horror legend Vincent Price presents an anthology of eerie, unsettling tales with a devilish twist - some purportedly based on his own adventures, others narrated by him in his own inimitable style. 
 
Listen to his horrifying accounts of an unnerving piscatorial experience Down Under, a violinist with very special hands, a Bonfire Night party when a bullying father disappeared and a secretary's murderous revenge. Here, too, are the spine-chilling stories of a beloved cat with an unusual inheritance, a scientist whose experiments on his own son lead to unforeseen danger and a phoney clairvoyant and her client, who seeks a preview of eternity... 
 
Among the star casts are Garard Green, Peter Cushing, Bill Kerr, Coral Browne, Christopher Bidmead, Adrienne Corri, Betty Huntley-Wright, Freddie Jones, Edward Woodward, Annette Crosbie, Maurice Denham and Hywel Bennett. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by and starring Vincent Price 
Produced by John Dyas 
 
Remains to be Seen 
Dramatised by William Ingram from the story by Jack Ritchie. First broadcast BBC World Service, 1 September 1973 
 
William and Mary 
Dramatised by Barry Campbell from the story by Roald Dahl. First broadcast BBC World Service, 8 September 1973 
 
Cat's Cradle 
Dramatised by Richard Davis from the story 'The Squaw' by Bram Stoker. First broadcast BBC World Service, 15 September 1973 
 
Meeting in Athens 
Dramatised by Maurice Travers from the story 'So Pale, So Cold, So Fair' by Charles Birkin. 
First broadcast BBC World Service, 22 September 1973 
 
The Man Who Hated Scenes 
Dramatised by William Ingram from the story by Robert Arthur. First broadcast BBC World Service, 29 September 1973 
 
Lot 132 
Written and dramatised by Elizabeth Morgan. First broadcast BBC World Service, 6 October 1973 
 
The Waxwork 
Dramatised by Barry Campbell from the story by AM Burrage. First broadcast BBC World Service, 13 October 1973 
 
Fish 
Written and dramatised by Rene Basilico. First broadcast BBC World Service, 20 October 1973 
 
Soul Music 
Written and dramatised by William Ingram. First broadcast BBC World Service, 27 October 1973 
 
Guy Fawkes' Night 
Written and dramatised by Richard Davis. First broadcast BBC World Service, 3 November 1973 
 
Come As You Are 
Written and dramatised by William Ingram. First broadcast BBC World Service, 6 April 1974 
 
The Ninth Removal 
Dramatised by Barry Campbell from the story by R Chetwynd Hayes. First broadcast BBC World Service, 20 April 1974 
 
An Eye for an Eye 
Written by William Ingram. First broadcast BBC World Service, 27 April 1974 
 
Blind Man's Bluff 
Written and dramatised by William Ingram. First broadcast BBC World Service, 4 May 1974 
 
Goody Two Shoes 
Written and dramatised by William Ingram. First broadcast BBC World Service, 30 May 1983 
 
To My Dear, Dear Saladin 
Written by William Ingram. First broadcast BBC World Service, 6 June 1983 
 
The Family Album 
Written by William Ingram. First broadcast BBC World Service, 13 June 1983 
 
Out of the Mouths 
Written by William Ingram. First broadcast BBC World Service, 20 June 1983 
 
Not Wanted on the Voyage 
Written by William Ingram. First broadcast BBC World Service, 27 June 1983 
 
Is There Anybody There? 
Written by William Ingram. Music by Derek Price 
First broadcast BBC World Service, 4 July 1983 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distributio Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Price of Fear: 20 tales of suspense told by Vincent Price

A BBC Radio 4 vintage horror series

Joan Bakewell

Humphrey Carpenter

Francine Stock

Matthew Parris

Famous fans choose their favourite writers for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives 
 
For 20 years, Great Lives has been a cornerstone of the Radio 4 schedules, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. Each week, a well-known personality is invited to select someone who has inspired them. They then discuss the 'Great Life' with the presenter and a guest expert to decide whether their hero really merits the accolade. 
 
This special collection, celebrating the programme's 20th anniversary, contains the very best episodes featuring authors' lives - from novelists to poets, playwrights to food writers. The eclectic selections include Armando Iannucci on Charles Dickens, Caroline Criado Perez on Jane Austen, and Rich Hall on Tennessee Williams. Two Prime Ministers, John Major and Boris Johnson, discuss the lives of Rudyard Kipling and Samuel Johnson respectively, while MP Rory Stewart champions Sir Walter Scott and Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate, nominates Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 
 
From Fay Weldon on H. G. Wells, to Prue Leith on Elizabeth David, the lives of the guests themselves are revealed to be just as fascinating as those of their chosen candidates for greatness. 
 
Illuminating and insightful, these gripping Great Lives episodes track the highs and lows of some of the most illustrious characters in the world of literature, sifting fact from fiction to show why they achieved so much and how they have inspired and influenced so many. 
 
List of episodes and date of first broadcast on BBC Radio 4: 
 HG Wells 12.10.2001 
 George Eliot 7.6.2002 
 Lord Byron 19.7.2002 
 Charles Dickins 21.11.2003 
 Edith Wharton 14.5.2004 
 George Orwell 12.11.2004 
 Robert Burns 31.12.2004 
 Elizabeth Gaskell 20.5.2005 
 Robert Louis Stevenson 22.4.2005 
 George Sand 8.4.2005 
 Vasily Grossman 28.10.2005 
 Anton Chekhov 17.4.2007 
 George Bernard Shaw 29.5.2007 
 Elizabeth David 25.9.2007 
 Katherine Mansfield 22.1.2008 
 Charles Bukowski 8.4.2008 
 Dr Samuel Johnson 8.9.2009 
 Rudyard Kipling 29.9.2009 
 Alfred, Lord Tennyson 4.8.2009 
 Tennessee Williams 15.12.2009 
 Bertolt Brecht 06.04.2010 
 Michel de Montaigne 21.09.2010 
 Samuel Beckett 21.12.2010 
 DH Lawrence 14.12.2010 
 Lewis Carroll 3.5.2011 
 Simone de Beauvoir 19.04.2011 
 Hans Fallada 6.9.2011 
 William Shakespeare 30.08.2011 
 Sir Walter Scott 14.8.2012 
 John Updike 07.01.2014 
 Elie Wiesel 13.12.2016 
 CS Lewis 03.01.2017 
 Jane Austen 7.5.2019 
 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
 
Presented by Matthew Parris, Francine Stock and Humphrey Carpenter 
Produced by Perminder Khatkar, Miles Warde, Jolyon Jenkins, John Byrne, Maggie Ayre, Toby Field, Alasdair Cross, Mary Ward Lowery, Peter Everett, Mark Smalley, Isobel Eaton, Jolyon Jenkins, Christine Hall, Lizz Pearson, Beth O'Dea, Paul Dodgson, Nicola Humphries, Chris Ledgard, Melvin Rickarby, Camellia Sinclair, Eliza Lomas, Beatrice Fenton

Great Writers' Lives

A BBC biography collection

Mary Cooper

Jonathan Tafler

Anna Linstrum

Alistair McGowan

Elizabeth Lewis

Robin Brooks

Lucy Caldwell

Sarah Wooley

Stephen Wakelam

Frances Bingham

David Pownall

Katie Hims

Ian Billings

Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre

Judith Adam

18 biographical dramas based on the lives and loves of celebrated writers 
 
These surprising, revealing dramas take a behind-the-scenes look at some of our best-loved authors, mingling fact and fantasy to explore their extraordinary hidden lives. From love affairs, friendships and family relationships to traumas, tragedies and journeys of self-discovery, we glimpse the unwritten worlds that shaped their unforgettable fiction. Among the star casts are Andrew Scott, Toby Jones, Richard Dormer, Glenda Jackson, Bella Ramsey, Julia Davis, Ian McDiarmid, Haydn Gwynne, David Threlfall, Alistair McGowan, Tom Goodman-Hill, Hattie Morahan, Rosie Cavaliero, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Paul Ritter and Lia Williams 
 
Jane and Tom - Writing to her sister, Jane Austen describes her love for Tom Lefroy - a love that would lead to Pride and Prejudice. 
 
When Fanny Met Germaine - A delightful romp through the passionate, scandalous friendship between two 18th Century writers: Fanny Burney and Mme de Stael. 
 
Comrade Ackland - Dorset, 1936. Newly returned from an illicit trip to Civil War Spain, Sylvia Townsend Warner and her lover Valentine Ackland have an unexpected visitor.... 
 
Tongues of Fire - 1913. When a Nobel laureate visits Dublin's Abbey Theatre, fireworks erupt between WB Yeats and Sean O'Casey. 
 
A Year at the Races - Approaching the end of his career, Groucho Marx meets a wisecracking fan determined to teach him new comedy tricks. 
 
Spike and the Elfin Oak- A comic fantasy inspired by Spike Milligan's madcap attempts in the mid-1960s to preserve a curious sculpture in Kensington Gardens. 
 
Everybody's Got Conditions - Casting Bette Davis in his play The Night of the Iguana proves the biggest mistake in Tennessee Williams' career... 
 
I Believe I Have Genius- Humble and obscure, young Charlotte Brontë travels to Brussels to study at a girls' school. 
 
Marian and George - Marian Evans (aka George Eliot) must choose between her adored brother and the love of her life... 
 
Lying Low - An intriguing drama imagining what happened to Samuel Beckett during his mysterious three weeks in Folkestone in 1961. 
 
A Terrible Beauty - WB Yeats travels to France to propose to beautiful Maud Gonne, soon after her husband's execution in the 1916 Easter Rising. 
 
The Watcher on the Wall - Dramatised from his letters, this is the story of Louis MacNeice's transatlantic love affair and the poetry it inspired. 
 
Edith Sitwell in Scarborough - Returning to her birthplace, Edith Sitwell sets out to wreak revenge. 
 
Mrs Tolstoy - A five-part drama charting the tempestuous marriage between Leo and Sofya Tolstoy. 
 
The 'B' Word - The opening night of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion causes a scandal and sparks a passionate love/hate triangle... 
 
The Rules of Palship - The young Noël Coward demanded fierce loyalty from his friends - but did he live up to his own high standards? 
 
The Lost Road - A playful tribute to the long friendship between CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien and how it influenced their respective masterpieces. 
 
Luxembourg Gardens - Re-imagined from Katherine Mansfield's stories, letters and journals, this Mansfieldesque play explores her last day in Paris, where she is dying of consumption aged 34. 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Behind the Author's Desk: Dramas of Famous Writers' Real Lives

A BBC Radio 4 drama collection

Oscar Wilde

Arthur Conan Doyle

Virginia Woolf

A treasure chest of timeless short stories by some of the world's greatest authors 
 
Suspense and horror 
1 The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire - Arthur Conan Doyle 
2 The Signalman - Charles Dickens 
3 Lost Hearts - MR James 
4 The Sealed Room - Arthur Conan Doyle. 
5 Mrs Badgery - Wilkie Collins 
6 Wailing Well - MR James 
7 The Open Window - Saki 
8 How it happened - Arthur Conan Doyle 
9 The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe 
10 The Cone - HG Wells 
11 A Haunted House - Virginia Woolf 
12 Rats - MR James 
13 The Oval Portrait - Edgar Allan Poe 
14 Tarquin of Cheapside - F. Scott Fitzgerald 
15 One Crowded Hour - Arthur Conan Doyle 
16 The Mezzotint - MR James 
17 The Masque of the Red Death - Edgar Allan Poe 
 
Love 
18 The Kiss - Kate Chopin 
19 Eleonora - Edgar Allan Poe 
20 About Love - Anton Chekhov 
21 The Lovers - Hans Christian Anderson 
22 Love - Guy De Maupassant 
23 The Sphinx Without a Secret - Oscar Wilde 
24 A Wedding Gift - Guy De Maupassant 
25 Kew Gardens - Virginia Woolf 
26 The District Doctor - Ivan Turgenev 
27 Happiness - Guy De Maupassant 
28 A Blunder - Anton Chekhov 
29 The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky - Stephen Crane 
30 In a Far-Off World - Olive Schreiner 
31 The Cook's Wedding - Anton Chekhov 
32 The Recruit - Honore de Balzac 
33 The Nightingale and the Rose - Oscar Wilde 
34 Pyramus and Thisbe - Ovid 
35 Aunt Hetty on Matrimony - Fanny Fern 
36 A Country Cottage - Anton Chekhov 
37 Marriage a la Mode - Katherine Mansfield 
38 The Statue of Limitations - Ernest Dowson 
39 The Dilettante - Edith Wharton 
 
Humorous 
40 Tobermory - Saki 
41The Mesmeric Mountain - Stephen Crane 
42 The Children's Joke - Louisa May Alcott 
43 At The Siren - Anton Chekhov 
44 The Garden Party - Katherine Mansfield 
45 The Cask of Amontillado - Edgar Allan Poe 
46 The New Dress - Virginia Woolf 
47 How I Built Myself A House - Thomas Hardy 
48 The Model Millionaire - Oscar Wilde 
49 A Pair of Silk Stockings - Kate Chopin 
50 At The Barbers - Anton Chekhov 
51 A Respectable Woman - Kate Chopin 
 
Folk &amp; Fable 
52 The Happy Prince - Oscar Wilde. 
53 The Elves and the Shoemaker - The Brothers Grimm 
54 The Emperor's New Clothes -Hans Christian Andersen 
55 The Tongue Cut Sparrow - Yei Theodora Ozaki 
56 Finn and the Scottish Giant - Harold F. Read 
57 The Postmaster - Rabindranath Tagore 
58 The Toys of Peace - Saki 
59 The Selfish Giant - Oscar Wilde 
60 The Flower Gatherer - Edward Thomas 
61 Araby - James Joyce 
62 The Interlopers - Saki 
63 Tom Thumb - The Brothers Grimm 
64 The Kabuliwalah - Rabindranath Tagore 
65 The Monkey's Paws - WW Jacobs 
 
Christmas 
66 The Little Match Girl - Hans Christian Andersen 
67 Papa Panov's Special Christmas - Leo Tolstoy 
68 Christmas Storms and Sunshine - Elizabeth Gaskell. 
69 The Gift of the Magi - O'Henry 
70 At Christmas Time - Anton Chekhov 
71 A Dill Pickle - Katherine Mansfield 
 
Classic Tales 
72 The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman 
73 The Fall of Lord Barrymore - Arthur Conan Doyle 
74 The Necklace - Guy De Maupassant 
75 Holiday Group - EM Delafield 
76 Three Questions - Leo Tolstoy 
77 The Cop and the Anthem - O'Henry 
78 The Fly - Katherine Mansfield 
79 The Christening - DH Lawrence 
80 After the Race - James Joyce 
81 The String Quartet - Virginia Woolf 
82 Two Friends - Guy De Maupassant 
83 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - Ambrose Bierce. 
84 A Gentleman Friend - Anthon Chekhov 
85 Ma'ame Pelagie - Kate Chopin 
86 Second Best - DH Lawrence 
87 El Verdugo - Honore de Balzac 
88 The Story of an Hour - Kate Chopin 
89 The Man of No Account - Bret Hart 
90 The Piece of String - Guy De Maupassant 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

BBC Classics: Ultimate Story Collection

90 unmissable tales

Robert Barr

Edgar Allan Poe

Julius Chambers

R. Austin Freeman

Arthur B Reeve

Matthias McDonnel Bodkin

Jacques Futrelle

Arthur Morrison

Ernest Bramah

Louisa Pirkis

Anna Katherine Green

The complete collection of all 16 episodes from this gripping BBC Radio crime series 
 
Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard was made to look a fool in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Now he gets his own back, introducing sixteen tales of detectives whose abilities rival that of the great Sherlock Holmes. 
 
Starring James Fleet (Series 1, 3 and 4) and Tim Piggott-Smith (Series 2) as Lestrade, with casts featuring Andrew Scott, Paul Rhys, Anton Lesser, Honeysuckle Weeks, Rupert Vansittart, John Sessions, Marcia Warren and Tim McInnerny. 
 
Dramatised for radio by Chris Harrald, these stories are written by masters of the crime and thriller genre, all contemporaries of Arthur Conan Doyle. 
 
They include: 
 The Murders on the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe 
The Problem of Cell 13 by Jacques Futrelle 
Murder By Proxy by Matthias McDonnel Bodkin 
The Mystery of Redstone Manor by Catherine Louisa Pirkis 
The Problem of the Superfluous Finger by Jacques Futrelle 
The Clue of the Silver Spoons by Robert Barr 
The Intangible Clue by Anna Katharine Green 
The Game Played in the Dark by Ernest Bramah 
The Kinght's Cross Signal Problem by Ernest Bramah 
A Snapshot by Matthias McDonnel Bodkin 
Seven, Seven, Seven - City by Julius Chambers 
The Moabite Cipher - by R Austin Freeman 
The Clairvoyants - by Arthur B Reeve 
The Stanway Cameo Mystery - Arthur Morrison 
The Secret of Dunstan's Tower - Ernest Bramah 
The Mystery of the Scarlet Thread - Jacques Futrelle 
 
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko (Series 1) and Liz Webb (Series 2, 3, 4) 
 
 
(c) BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 2021 
(p) BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 2021

The Rivals: Tales of Sherlock Holmes’ rival detectives

16 BBC Radio full-cast dramas

Alan Bennett

A unique collection of eight Alan Bennett stories, read by the author. Alan Bennett is one of Britain's best-loved authors and an acclaimed storyteller. This exclusive compilation includes eight of his best tales, collected together for the first time. 
 
Here is his celebrated, iconic memoir The Lady in the Van; as well as two fascinating autobiographical accounts of his family and childhood. Uncle Clarence sees Bennett visiting the grave of a relative who died in Flanders in 1917; while in Hymn he joins forces with composer George Fenton and the Medici String Quartet to explore his musical memories. 
 
Bennett's incisive, acute observations shine through in his fiction too, with wry, moving and darkly humorous meditations on death (Father! Father! Burning Bright and The Laying On of Hands), sex (The Shielding of Mrs Forbes) and middle-age ennui (The Clothes They Stood Up In). His gift for affectionate satire reaches its pinnacle in The Uncommon Reader, a delightful tale in which the Queen discovers the pleasures of literature. 
 
Poignant, compassionate, wise and witty, the stories included are The Lady in the Van, Uncle Clarence, The Clothes They Stood Up In, Father! Father! Burning Bright, Hymn, The Laying On of Hands, The Uncommon Reader and The Shielding of Mrs Forbes. Duration: 13 hours approx.

Alan Bennett: Stories

Read by Alan Bennett

The complete audio collection of Alan Bennett’s celebrated monologues, published together for the first time and performed by some of Britain’s best actors 
 
The Talking Heads monologues are widely regarded as one of Alan Bennett’s finest dramatic achievements. First broadcast on BBC TV and BBC Radio 4 in the 1980s and 1990s, they won a host of awards and huge popular acclaim, and remain among his most admired works today.This collection includes all twelve Talking Heads, plus the precursor of that series, A Woman of No Importance. Beautifully crafted and full of compassion and wry observation, each tale is ripe with the quirky, insightful detail that has become Bennett's trademark. The monologues are:A Woman of No Importance (Patricia Routledge); A Chip in the Sugar (Alan Bennett); A Lady of Letters (Patricia Routledge); Bed Among the Lentils (Anna Massey); Soldiering On (Stephanie Cole); Her Big Chance (Julie Walters); A Cream Cracker Under the Settee (ThoraHird); Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet (Patricia Routledge); The Hand of God (Eileen Atkins); Playing Sandwiches (David Haig); The Outside Dog (Julie Walters); Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Penelope Wilton) and Waiting for the Telegram (Thora Hird). 
 
Intensely moving, deeply engrossing and highly entertaining, these spellbinding soliloquies are essential listening.

The Complete Talking Heads

The classic BBC Radio 4 monologues plus A Woman of No Importance

Francis Durbridge

For thirty years the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC Radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, a world where Sir Graham Forbes, of Scotland Yard, usually needed Paul's help with his latest tricky case.   Flying home from a lecture tour of America, Paul Temple encounters Mike Langdon who is seeking to persuade his employer's spoilt daughter Julie to give up her boyfriend, pop-singer Tony Wyman.   Meeting Paul at the airport, Steve is drugged and kidnapped. She is released without harm - but mysteriously in possession of a coat, bearing the label 'Margo'.   As Mike seeks Paul's help, the Temples enter into a dangerous web of lies and murder.

Paul Temple And The Margo Mystery

From 1938 to 1969 the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, where the women were chic and the men wore cravats - a world where Sir Graham Forbes, of Scotland Yard, usually needed Paul's help with his latest tricky case. In this adventure, Paul Temple is called in to investigate the disappearance of the Desmond baby, and the 'Sitter-In' Miss Millicent. When they visit Mary Desmond she is, understandably, very upset - it's already been a week since her eighteenth-month-old daughter vanished. The only clue is a telephone message left in Miss Millicent's handwriting: 'A Mr Vandyke telephoned, he left no message'. However, no-one knows who this mysterious Mr Vandyke is... This audio edition also includes the BBC Radio 4 programme The Radio Detectives: 'Send for Paul Temple', an affectionate look at the indomitable husband and wife team, Paul and Steve Temple. It features an exclusive interview with the definitive Paul Temple, Peter Coke, and rediscovered vintage recordings.

Paul Temple And The Vandyke Affair

Arthur Schnitzler

Nine full-cast dramatisations of Schnitzler’s sizzling psychological plays and stories, plus a reading of Dream Story 
 
The sharp, provocative works of Viennese writer Arthur Schnitzler have been banned for transgressive content, burned by the Nazis, and beloved by fellow writers and artists – many of whom took inspiration from his pieces for their own work. This includes his well-known 1926 novella Dream Story, which was reversioned as the 1999 hit Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut, and La Ronde or Love Game, which were adapted for the stage at various times by David Hare, Tom Stoppard, and David Harrower. 
 
This comprehensive collection features some of Schnitzler’s finest tales of love, sex, jealousy and desire, brought to life by ensemble casts, feauturing Angharad Rees, Anton Lesser, Malcolm Sinclair, Simon Shepherd, Carole Boyd, Martin Jarvis, Maureen O’Brien, and many others. Also included is the erotic, enigmatic Dream Story, read by award-winning actor Paul Rhys. 
 
Content List:<ul><li>The Spring Sonata</li><li>Playing with Love aka Love Games (aka Liebelei)</li><li>A Confirmed Bachelor</li><li>all seven acts from his play Anatol</li><li>Professor Bernhardi</li><li>Intermezzo</li><li>What a Hysterical Girl</li><li>Lieutenant Gustl</li><li>Festival of Bacchus</li><li>Dream Story</li></ul> 
With thanks to Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle for sourcing the recordings. 
 
 
Cast and credits 
 
The Spring Sonata 
Featuring: Alison Ram, James Duke, Claudia Harrison, Christopher Kent, Michael Jenn, David Thorpe, Fenella Norman, Vanessa Rosenthal, John McCraw, Catherine Kinsella, Dominic Curran, Sam Starling 
 
Dramatised by Vanessa Rosenthal 
Directed by Chris Wallis 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 27 Sep 2003 
 
Love Games 
Featuring: Angharad Rees, Anton Lesser, Diana Bishop, John Webb, Geoffrey Matthews, Carole Boyd, William Hope 
 
Translated by Charles Osborne 
Adapted for radio by John Scotney 
Directed by Walter Acosta 
Pianist: Mary Nash 
Technical presentation: Keith Perrin 
 
First broadcast BBC World Service, 20 Aug 1984 
 
A Confirmed Bachelor 
Featuring: Keith Drinkel, Cathy Sara, Jo Rafferty, Oona Beeson, Robert Lister, Sunny Ormonde, Richard da Costa, Marian Kemmer, Elizabeth Wofford 
 
Dramatised by Vanessa Rosenthal 
Directed by Peter Leslie Wild 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 19 Aug 2000 
 
Anatol 
Starring Malcolm Sinclair as Anatol and Simon Shepherd as Max 
 
With Victoria Carling, Pauline Moran, Julia Swift, Helena Breck, Jane Bertish, Richard Pearce, Emily Richard, Melinda Walker and Roy Miles 
 
Directed by Glyn Dearman 
Music by Colin Guthrie played by the composer, Perry Montague-Mason and Chris Laurence 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 22 Dec 1987, 24 Dec 1987 & 4 Aug 1989 
 
 
Professor Bernhardi 
Featuring Dorit Welles, Leslie Heritage, Gabriel Woolf, John John, John Rye, Jack May, John Wyse, David Spenser, Victor Lucas, Lewis Stringer, James Thomason, Gerald Cross, Richard Hurndall, Martin Friend, Patrick Tull, David Hadda, John Gabriel 
 
Produced by Archie Campbell 
Adapted for radio by Mollie Hardwick from the English version by Louis Borrell and Ronald Adam 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10 May 1971 
 
Intermezzo 
Featuring James Aubrey, Mel Martin, Tim Woodward, Kim Wall, Julie Berry, Haydn Gwynne, Alistair White, Jennifer Piercey, Elaine Claxton 
 
English version by Robert David MacDonald 
Original music composed, and piano played, by Terence Allbright 
Song sung by Anna Bernardin 
Directed by Glyn Dearman 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 21 Dec 1987 
 
What a Hysterical Girl 
Starring Carole Boyd as She, John Rye as He and Vernon Joyner as the Narrator 
 
Produced by Martin Esslin 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 22 Sep 1974 
 
Lieutenant Gustl 
Starring Hugh Hayes as Gustl 
With Michael Graham Cox and Ian Targett 
 
Translated by George Roubicek 
Dramatised by George Roubicek, Ivor Benjamin and Hugh Hayes 
Directed by Ivor Benjamin 
Produced by Caroline Raphael 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 Jun 1989 
 
Festival of Bacchus 
Featuring Martin Jarvis, Maureen O’Brien, Dinsdale Landen, Josie Kidd, Gordon Reid 
 
Translated and adapted for radio by Basil Ashmore 
Directed by Martin Jenkins 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 Jul 1980 
 
Dream Story 
Read by Paul Rhys 
Translated by JMQ Davies 
Produced by Eugene Murphy 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 22-31 Mar 2001 
 
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Arthur Schnitzler: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

Nine Full Cast Productions plus a reading of Dream Story

Stephen Gallagher

A collection of suspense-filled thrillers from master of the genre Stephen Gallagher 
 
A listening treat for fans of gripping drama: eight thrillers, plus a bonus story, from ‘the finest British writer of bestselling popular fiction since Le Carré’. Full of suspense and utterly immersive with full-cast production values, this collection is not to be missed. 
 
In sci-fi thriller Chimera, there are unexplained killings at a secret research establishment. Within hours, government officials are on the scene and the investigation is hushed up. But why? What was the real purpose of the Jenner Clinic…? Starring Brian Glover. 
 
In The Kingston File, Gary Kingston is just a name on a file until he suddenly appears to be involved in a series of frightening murders. Things take a terrifying turn when a social worker tries to sort him out. Starring Shaun Prendergast and Mick Ford. 
 
By the River, Fontainebleau is a tale of horror, set in France at the end of the nineteenth century. A young painter's obsession with a potential model leads him into a world of degradation and self-disgust. Starring Kim Wall and Stephen Rashbrook. 
 
In A Resistance to Pressure, Dr Lewis is a rising star, not only in the medical profession but also on the social scene. Then a telephone call on New Year's Eve changes everything… Starring Gareth Armstrong and John Rowe. 
 
An Alternative to Suicide is a gripping futuristic sci-fi thriller. Maverick Lesterman is a highly developed computerised human 'meat machine'. When he is involved in an unpleasant accident on board a spaceship, he is returned to earth to be 'comforted' by Esther Anderson, a 17-year-old clone. Maverick rediscovers areas of his submerged personality, with frightening consequences… Starring Michael Jayston and Catherine Kessler. 
 
Life Line explores what would happen if modern technology could open the way to communication beyond the grave. And if so, to what end? Please hold… Starring Nicholas Murchie and Julian Rhind-Tutt. 
 
The Humane Solution is a stunning thriller involving a journalist and his photographer, fog-bound at an airport in Holland. When a hijacking story breaks around them it seems unlikely the truth will ever be revealed. Can silence be bought and if so, at what price? Starring Patrick Mower. 
 
In horror tale The Horn, three strangers are trapped in a snowstorm on a remote stretch of motorway. They find themselves listening for the sound of a horn, which they believe will lead them to safety. They are very much mistaken… Starring Edward de Souza. 
 
In bonus story ‘The Visitor’s Book’, a happy couple rent a holiday home but they soon start to feel that something happened there the year before... Read by Terence Edmond. 
 
Stephen Gallagher’s screen writing credits include Doctor Who, Bugs, Chimera, Chillers, Murder Rooms and more. He was the writer-director of Oktober, creator of Eleventh Hour and lead writer on Crusoe. He is a member of the Writers’ Guild of America and former Norther Chair of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. 
 
Praise for Gallagher’s novel, Follower: 
 
"The finest British writer of bestselling popular fiction since Le Carré.” John Williams, The Independent 
 
"If thriller reading were a sin, Stephen Gallagher would be responsible for my ultimate damnation. His work is fast-paced, well-written, infused with a sense of dark wonder, and altogether fresh.” Dean Koontz 
 
“Stephen Gallagher has been breaking the crime/horror barrier for years, with terrific results…” Christopher Fowler, Time Out 
 
©2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Chimera & other thrillers

Eight Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramas

Michael Gilbert

Ten full-cast vintage BBC Radio crime dramas featuring Michael Gilbert’s most enduring characters, including Mr Calder and Mr Behrens, Inspector Hazlerigg and Inspector Petrella 
 
A treat for any fan of crime dramas, this collection stars legendary voices including Prunella Scales, Maurice Denham, Peter Gilmore, Carleton Hobbs and James Bolam. 
 
Smallbone Deceased: When Marcus Smallbone, a trustee of a large trust fund, disappears, it at first causes irritation in that most eminent firm of solicitors, Horniman, Birley and Craine. When his body is discovered in one of the firm's deed-boxes, irritation turns to shock and shock to fear as one by one, the members of staff come under suspicion… Starring Hywel Bennett as Inspector Hazlerigg. 
 
After the Fine Weather: In the tiny province of Lienz, a bishop is assassinated in the presence of his people. Laura Hart saw the crime, but she finds that in the tangled world of international frictions you might tell the truth but it's difficult to be believed – and dangerous when you are... Starring Prunella Scales. 
 
Double Double: Mr. Behrens and Mr. Calder belong to a very secret organisation headed by Mr. Fortescue – an organisation even more secret, and apparently more deadly, than the celebrated M.I.5. In this story, a terrorist group is plotting to assassinate a visiting Sheikh. Starring Stephen Murray as Calder, Peter Howell as Behrens and Carleton Hobbs as Fortescue. 
 
On Slay Down: Counter-intelligence agents Calder and Behrens are back, and this time the story begins with a tea-party. But the host and his guest come from the world of espionage... and there is work to be done. Read by Geoffrey Beevers. 
 
The Last Chapter: A man is found dead in circumstances which point to suicide – but was it suicide? Starring Maurice Denham, James Bolam and Anna Cropper. 
 
Flash Point: Will Dylan is an electoral favourite – intelligent, sharp and good-looking. Jonas Killey, a small-time lawyer, is hounding Dylan in the hope of bringing him into disrepute. But no government can afford bad press during a general election, and Jonas finds himself pursued by those who want to keep him quiet… Starring Brian Haines and Alan Rowe. 
 
This gripping collection also presents five full-cast detective stories written for radio, starring Peter Gilmore as Inspector Petrella. A missing baby, a strange suicide, a mysterious arson, a protection racket run by an elusive master criminal, and a large cache of money discovered during an office block demolition all feature, and Detective Inspector Petrella is on the case… 
 
Michael Gilbert was one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century. He published over 30 novels and 185 stories during his lifetime. His stories encompass police procedurals, spy novels, short stories, courtroom dramas, classical mysteries, adventure thrillers, and crime novels. He was called the ‘Grandmaster’ by the Mystery Writers of America and given the Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association for lifetime achievement. This is an audio treat for anyone looking to listen to a thrilling full-cast production of classic crime drama. 
 
Please note: several of the programmes in this collection are vintage radio recordings. Given the age of these productions, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Smallbone Deceased & other stories

10 Full-Cast Vintage BBC Radio Crime Dramas

A Private Thriller

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

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