Aeschylus

Aesop lived in the early sixth century BC on the island of Samos, which lies off the coast of modern Turkey. He originally came from Thrace which was a separate country in those days, though it now forms part of Greece and Bulgaria. Very little is known about his life except that he worked as a slave on Samos for a master called Iadmon, and that he became a very famous storyteller. He was so famous that almost any fable which could have been told by him became attributed to him.

Aesop

Afsaneh Knight

Afsaneh Moqadam

Afua Hirsch is a writer, filmmaker, and journalist. She is the author of Brit(ish), the Sunday Times bestseller that explores Britishness, identity and belonging, for which she was awarded the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction. She co-presented Enslaved, a 6-part series about the transatlantic slave trade with Samuel L Jackson. She is the presenter of the Audible podcast series We Need To Talk About the British Empire, and Africa Rising, an ongoing flagship series about art and culture for the BBC, through her production company Born in Me Productions. She is a longtime columnist for the Guardian and is a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California.

Afua Hirsch

AGAPI STASSINOPOULOS is an author, blogger and international speaker who inspires audiences around the world. She has spoken at many corporations and conferences, such as Nike Women, Starbucks,Time Inc., Virgin, Johnson &amp; Johnson and the American Heart Foundation. She was born in Athens and trained in London at RADA before gaining a Master’s in psychology at the University of Santa Monica. She has collaborated with her sister, Arianna Huffington, to develop talks and seminars, and has worked with the Oprah Winfrey network. She is currently hosting a new podcast series in collaboration with The Huffington Post, entitled ‘Sundays with Agapi’, which includes guided meditations and interviews with prominent guests. She lives in Los Angeles.

Agapi Stassinopoulos

Agatha Christie

Aggie MacKenzie

Aghnia Mardiyah is a London-based Illustrator and Character Designer with a passion for children's books and animation. She is drawn to fun, bright and vibrant colours. When she isn't disappearing under piles of work, she loves to travel! Exploring foreign places, exciting new sights and sensations is what inspires her the most!

Aghnia Mardiyah

Agnes Callard is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. Her primary areas of specialization are ancient philosophy and ethics. She has written for The New York Times, New Yorker, Atlantic, Harper’s, Boston Review, and penned a monthly column for the Point. From 2019 to 2020, she held a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for the research that contributes to this book.

Agnes Callard

Agnes Jekyll

Agnes Bertha Marshall (24 August 1855-29 July 1905) was an English culinary entrepreneur who became a leading cookery writer, dubbed the 'Queen of Ices'. Her 1888 cookery book included a recipe for 'cornets with cream', possibly the earliest publication of the edible ice cream cone. Marshall was born in Walthamstow. She wrote four books: Ices Plain and Fancy: The Book of Ices (1885), Mrs A B Marshall's Book of Cookery (1888), Mrs A B Marshall's Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes (1891) and Fancy Ices (1894).

Agnes Marshall

Agnes Prus

Agri Ismaïl is a Kurdish author based in Sweden who has worked as a corporate lawyer in London, Dubai, and Iraqi Kurdistan. His work has been published in The White Review, The Rumpus, Litro, 3:AM Magazine, and Asymptote amongst other places. His piece 'Haunted Home' won the 2016 Stack award for best non-fiction for The Outpost, runner-up in the Lifted Brow &amp; RMIT non/fictionLab Prize for Experimental Non-Fiction, and he was longlisted for the 2017/2018 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize. Hyper is his first novel.

Agri Ismaïl

Aharon Appelfeld authored more than 45 acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction and received many international awards including the MLA Commonwealth Award, the Independent Foreign Fiction prize, the prix Médicis étranger, the Israel prize, and the Nelly Sachs prize. Born in Czernowitz, Bukovina (now part of Ukraine) in 1932, he survived the Holocaust and passed away in Israel in 2018.

Aharon Appelfeld

Ahmadou Kourouma

Ahmed Alnaouq is a Palestinian journalist and human rights activist based in London. He is the co-founder and director of We Are Not Numbers and a journalist with Palestine Deep Dive. Ahmed holds a degree in English Literature from Al-Azhar university in Gaza, and an MA in International Journalism from Leeds University, where he was a Chevening Scholar. 
 
Pam Bailey is a social-justice activist and journalist based in Washington DC. She lived and worked in the Gaza Strip following the 2008/9 Israeli assault, and co-founded We Are Not Numbers. Today, in addition to her ongoing dedication to the Palestinian cause, she dedicates herself to two nonprofits that advocate for people detained in American prisons -- including one she co-founded in 2020, called More Than Our Crimes.

Ahmed Alnaouq

Ahmed Errachidi

Ahmed Rashid

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

Ahron Bregman is the author of four books about Israel and the Arabs: The Fifty Years War (with Jihan el Tahri), Israel's Wars, A History of Israel and Elusive Peace. He teaches at the Department of War Studies, King's College London.

Ahron Bregman

Ai Qing is regarded as one of the finest modern Chinese poets, whose free verse was influential in the development of new poetry in China.

Ai Qing

Ai Weiwei

Aidan Chambers was born in County Durham in 1934. After national service in the Royal Navy he became a teacher and then, for seven years, a monk. His young adult novels have been widely acclaimed, with POSTCARDS FROM NO-MAN'S LAND winning the prestigious Carnegie Medal and the US Michael L Printz Award. With his wife Nancy he ran Signal magazine and he has served as the president of the School Library Association. His devoted services to children's literature were recognised by his receipt of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002.

Aidan Chambers

Aidan Higgins was born in 1927. Langrishe Go Down, his first novel, won the James Tait Black memorial Prize and the Irish Academy of Letters Award, and was later filmed for television with a screenplay by Harold Pinter. His second novel, Balcony of Europe, was shortlisted for the 1972 Booker Prize. The novel Lions of the Grunewald appeared in 1993 and a collection of shorter fiction, Flotsam and jetsam, in 1996. Donkey's Years and Dog Days were the first two volumes of the Higgins Bestiary which concludes with this volume.

Aidan Higgins

Aidan Mathews

Aidan Potts

Aidan Smith

Aidan Storey

Aidan Trimble is the Chief Instructor to the Federation of Shotokan Karate and a former British, European and World Karate Champion, winning the world title in Tokyo - the home of Karate. Aidan has trained with some of the world's leading teachers of 'traditional' and 'sport' karate and is now an award-winning instructor and teacher who is in demand throughout the world. He can be contacted via www.fsk-karate.com.

Aidan Trimble

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Nick Perry

Babelsberg Film Studios, 1929. 
 
A major new movie is in production when its star Krista Wolff suddenly disappears. The head of the studio and the film's writer are desperate to find her. Each have their own reasons. 
 
 Nick Perry's suspenseful drama is set amid the creative ferment of 1920s Berlin, centred around Babelsberg Film Studio, the world's oldest large-scale film studio. Out of the darkness of military defeat, political chaos, poverty and hyperinflation springs the phenomenon of Weimar culture, a defiant celebration of humanity and artistic expression in all its diverse forms. 
 
People flock to Berlin to be a part of the cultural explosion. Writer Jonas Beck, actress Krista Wolff and war veteran Peter X are among them. 
 
 Jonas Beck . . . . . Paul Chahidi 
 Otto Lenz . . . . . Anton Lesser 
 Lottie . . . . . Clare Corbett 
 Peter X . . . . . Carl Prekopp 
Fischer . . . . . Michael Jibson 
 Krista . . . . . Cassie Layton 
 
 The songs are written by Nick Perry, Nathan Perry and Maureen Glackin, and the music is arranged and performed by Peter Ringrose. 
 
 Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko

Babelsberg Babylon

A BBC Radio thriller

Claire McGowan

They all thought she was dead. But now she’s back. 
 
Golden girl Zoe’s been dead for ten years, her body dragged from the river Black after a night out to celebrate the end of school. But now a woman who says she’s Zoe has turned up in her hometown of Blackwater, on the Irish border, with no memory of the last decade. She claims she woke up in a forest nearby, bruised and bleeding, and doesn’t know where she’s been all this time. What happened to her? Is she really Zoe? And if so, who is in her grave? 
 
Someone is hiding something. Is it Paul, who went to prison for Zoe's murder? Zoe's uncle Phil, a former detective superintendent with an explosive secret? Or Steve, the police office who found 'Zoe's' body in the river? Then there's Zoe's friend Danny, who wasn't where she said she was on that night ten years ago. 
 
As they sift through their conflicting memories of that day ten years ago, they start to discover that not everyone is happy that Zoe's back from the dead. 
 
Cast 
Zoe - Clare Dunne 
Steve - Richard Clements 
Paul - Aston Kelly 
Phil - Sean Kearns 
Danny - Roisin Gallagher 
 
Produced by Celia de Wolff

Blackwater

A BBC Radio crime drama

Alan McDonald

A BBC Radio 4 crime drama about a Merseyside mum-turned-private eye 
 
Single mum Rosie Monaghan is 39 and redundant. Wondering what to do with the rest of her life – and with two kids to support – she decides to start a new career as a private detective. 
 
In Series 1 she begins her first investigation, involving a mystery client and a seemingly innocent death that no one else thinks is murder. But being a private eye proves trickier than she thought. The job itself is fraught with problems (how do you tail someone without them noticing?), and the demands of love, children and her bank manager are all jostling for her attention. Can she solve the case and confront the murderer? And will the guilty be brought to justice? 
 
Series 2 finds Rosie back in business, with a rent-free corner of an office, and an ‘anything investigated’ ad in the paper. Among the cases that come her way are a mysterious briefcase full of cash, a missing wife whose husband is ‘one card short of a full deck’, and a series of racial attacks on a corner shop. 
 
Written by Alan McDonald, this intriguing crime series stars Paula Wilcox (Upstart Crow, Mount Pleasant) as Rosie. 
 
Cast 
Rosie Monagahan – Paula Wilcox 
Margie – Elizabeth Estensen 
Jerry – Christopher Bramwell 
Bob – Dominic Grounsell 
Carol – Helen Roberts 
Mike – Steve Hodson 
Martin Bullivant – Paul Barber 
Andrew Stephenson – Kim Wall 
Bill Jones/Deputy Chief Constable – Dominic Letts 
Elsie/Dorothy – Pauline Yates 
Detective Sergeant Murdoch – Gareth Armstrong 
Hickey – Michael Onslow 
Helen Thackray – Rachel Atkins 
James MacLeish – James Telfer 
Old woman – Diana Payan 
Graham – David Thorpe 
Auntie – Jillie Meers 
Paddy/Daz – Peter Kenny 
Debbie – Barbara Dryhurst 
Barbara Rowan/Jessica – Elaine Claxton 
Joe Geoghegan/Gregson/Derek – Gavin Muir 
Dan McGuinness/Billy – Tom Bevan 
Mr Khadur– Lyndam Gregory 
Mrs Khadur – Nina Wadia 
Gricewell – Don McCorkindale 
Planner – Don Warrington 
Peggy – Margaret John 
Ginny – Tina Gray 
WPC/Chantal – Deborah Berlin 
Miranda – Tara Dominick 
Bren – Siriol Jenkins 
Nat – Paul Panting 
With Federay Holmes, Matthew Morgan, Nicholas Murchie, Teresa Gallagher, Vivienne Rochester, James Taylor, Malcolm Ward, Suzannah Corbett and Dominic Traynor 
 
Written by Alan McDonald 
Directed by Tracey Neale 
Music composed by Peter Howell 
 
Series 1: 
Ep 1: Down These Mean Streets 
Ep 2: Following From In Front 
Ep 3: Back Against the Wall 
Ep 4: If Looks Could Kill 
Ep 5: Count Your Blessings 
Ep 6: In Dreams 
 
Series 2: 
Ep 1: Starting Over 
Ep 2: Softies 
Ep 3: The Front Man 
Ep 4: Massaging the Truth

Unofficial Rosie: The Complete Series 1 and 2

Peter Turnbull

All 18 episodes of the police procedural featuring the Glaswegian cops of P Division 
 
Glasgow's finest are on the case in these thrilling radio adaptations, based on the books by Peter Turnbull. 
 
In the four-part serial Condition Purple, a murdered prostitute is found in the heart of Glasgow's prosperous business quarter. Could a tattoo on her body hold the key to finding her killer? In Two Way Cut, another four-parter, a headless body without a speck of blood on it has the cops puzzled - and who was the strange figure that PC Hamilton saw running along by the canal? 
 
Series 1 of Code Four One sees a skeleton found on a building site in The Bonepit, while in The Ladder, a wealthy couple disappear, believed murdered - but where are the bodies? And in the tense two-parter Long Pig/The Torchman, a brutal crime is linked to other murders, and a psychological profiler is called in to help find the serial killer... 
 
Series 2 of Code Four One opens with McInroy's Point, in which a policewoman is suspected of killing her own mother. A seeming suicide puts the police on the trail of a cult in Suffer the Children, and a young woman is found strangled in Kissogram. In Secret Affair, a murder in a rock band raises old nightmares for DS Sussock; in The Good Thief, a well-known TV personality is killed during a burglary; and in Hooked, when a pillar of the community is found dead in his office, P Division uncover his sordid past. 
 
Dramatised by Stephen Mulrine, this gritty, atmospheric series stars Martin Cochrane and Crawford Logan as DI Fabian Donoghue, Ralph Riach and Jake D'Arcy as DS Ray Sussock, Frank Gallagher as DC Malcolm Montgomery, Andrew Conlan as DC Tony Abernethy, Martin McCardie as PC Phil Hamilton, and Ann Louise Ross and Eliza Langland as WPC Elka Willems. 
 
Written by Peter Turnbull 
Dramatised by Stephen Mulrine 
Produced and directed by Hamish Wilson 
Recorded in a BBC studio and on location in Glasgow 
 
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

P Division

The Complete BBC Radio crime series

Georgette Heyer

BBC Radio adaptations of three of Georgette Heyer's sparkling Regency romances and a classic comedy thriller 
 
The acknowledged 'queen of Regency romance', bestselling author Georgette Heyer, also penned a dozen delightful mystery novels. Included here are dramatisations of four of her finest stories from both genres, full of her characteristic wit, charm and period detail. 
 
Regency Buck 
Pretty but shrewd Judith Taverner gallops in from the provinces and daringly defies the gaming, drinking and brawling world of Regency London to claim her rights, her fortune - and who knows, perhaps her happiness? Starring Elizabeth Proud as Judith Taverner and Simon Shepherd as Peregrine Taverner. 
 
Friday's Child 
'I'm going back to London! And I'm going to marry the first woman I see!' is the cry of young Lord Sheringham when his proposal of marriage is rejected by Isabella, the Incomparable. True to his word, he takes the even younger Hero Wantage as his bride... Starring James Frain as Viscount Anthony Sheringham and Elli Garnett as Hero Wantage, with Simon Russell Beale as Jasper Tarleton. 
 
Faro's Daughter 
Deborah Grantham's position in a gaming house makes her utterly unsuitable as a wife for a nobleman, so Max Ravenscar determines to rescue his cousin from her clutches. But the bribe he offers does not go down well, and a battle of wits commences... Starring Sylvestre Le Touzel as Deborah Grantham and Nathaniel Parker as Max Ravenscar, with Anna Massey as Lady Bellingham. 
 
Envious Casca 
An English country Christmas in the 1930s, a Tudor manor house decked with holly, a family gathered for seasonal cheer - and a murder. Inspector Hemingway is on the case, but can he shake off amateur sleuths Toby and Jane French? Starring Peter Kelly as Inspector Hemingway, James Fleet as Toby and Helen Baxendale as Jane. 
 
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Georgette Heyer BBC Radio Drama Collection

Four full-cast dramatisations

Simon Brett

Jeremy Front

Bill Nighy returns as the loveably louche actor-cum-amateur detective Charles Paris 
 
Charles Paris is in Oxford, appearing in a re-imagining of Hamlet by a high-concept drama company. No fan of immersive theatre, he's unimpressed with the director's vision and less than thrilled to be rehearsing alongside puppeteers and mime artists. 
 
But he soon finds himself back on familiar territory when the actress playing Ophelia goes missing, only to turn up dead. Did she take her own life, or was there foul play? As he amasses a list of suspects who might have wished her harm, Charles takes on the mantle of detective once more to decide if this is to be or not to be a murder case... 
 
Scripted for radio by Jeremy Front from a story by Simon Brett, A Doubtful Death stars Bill Nighy (Emma, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) as Charles Paris, with Suzanne Burden as Frances and Jon Glover as Maurice. 
 
Also included is an exclusive 18-minute afterword in which Jeremy Front discusses his experience of adapting an unproduced screenplay, reveals what it's like to work with recurring characters and actors, and explains the mechanics of recording for radio. 
 
Simon Brett OBE has written 19 Charles Paris novels as well as many other detective novels. Jeremy Front is a dramatist and comedic writer; he has won awards for his adaptation of Sword of Honour and co-writes and stars in the series Incredible Women with his sister, Rebecca. 
 
Credits 
Written by Jeremy Front 
From a story by Simon Brett 
Produced and directed by Sally Avens 
Production Coordinator: Cynthia Fagan 
Studio Managers: Anne Bunting, Keith Graham and Jenni Burnett 
Interview produced by Ania Duggan and Roshni Radia 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 22 May-12 June 2020 
 
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Charles Paris: A Doubtful Death

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

Lucia Haynes

Eileen Horne

Anita Vettesse

“They charged you with murder David. Why is that?... David? Why do the police think you murdered your son?” 
 
Jamie was 19. He was an ambitious personal trainer who wanted to be a social media influencer. But now his hopes and dreams will never be realised. Jamie was found killed at the family home, discovered by his dad – who’s now been charged with his own son’s murder. 
 
In this gripping crime drama, revealed through recordings of sessions led by forensic psychiatrist Dr Alex Bridges (Lolita Chakrabarti), we hear from those closest to Jamie and find out more about the family’s secrets. 
 
David, a photographer, describes a picture-perfect life, his “beautiful” son and a happy home. But is he hiding something? 
 
Will the truth about Jamie’s murder finally be revealed? 
 
Also featuring bonus content from real-life forensic psychiatrist Dr Gwen Adshead, who was series consultant for This Thing of Darkness. Her appearance on BBC show The Life Scientific is presented as part of this audio release, where she reveals how she treats the minds of real-life violent offenders. 
 
Cast 
Alex … Lolita Chakrabarti 
 David … Robin Laing 
Laura… Shauna Macdonald 
Hannah … Jessica Hardwick 
Liam/Dougie … Simon Donaldson 
 Kyle/Tyler … Reuben Joseph 
 Frankie … Brian Vernel 
Karen … Victoria Liddelle 
 
Series created by Audrey Gillan, Lucia Haynes, Eileen Horne, Gaynor Macfarlane, Anita Vettesse and Kirsty Williams. 
 Series consultant: Dr Gwen Adshead 
Written by Lucia Haynes (episodes 1, 2 and 4) and Anita Vettesse (episodes 3, 5, 6 and 7), with monologues by Eileen Horne 
 Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane and Kirsty Williams 
 A BBC Scotland Production directed by Gaynor Macfarlane

This Thing of Darkness

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast thriller

Nick Fisher

All five series of the BBC Radio 4 crime drama featuring Detective Superintendent Julie Enfield, starring Imelda Staunton 
 
Dogged DSI Julie Enfield probes eight gruesome cases in these dark, atmospheric radio dramas. 
 
Terminus finds her investigating the 'Lucky Charm' murders, as she searches for an elusive serial killer who haunts the railway station. In The Smithfield Murders, a grisly killing at London's famous meat market sparks another troubling investigation, while in The Net and the Canal, Enfield and her team look into a series of mysterious murders along Regent's Park Canal. Leaves of the Dead presents her with a trio of inexplicable deaths in the British Library - could they be ritual murders? 
 
Murder West One comprises the stand-alone dramas A Cure for Death, The Art of the Matter, Five Star Killing and Soho Espresso. In these four episodes, the DSI faces a medical mystery behind the discovery of a dumped body, investigates a clever scam and a missing masterpiece, unravels a high-class murder at a glitzy London hotel and heads to a coffee bar where a man lies dead upstairs - but who killed him? 
 
Created by BAFTA-winning scriptwriter Nick Fisher, this thrilling series stars Imelda Staunton as DSI Julie Enfield. 
 
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

DSI Julie Enfield Investigates

Guy Meredith

All four series of the jaunty crime drama featuring two ex-spies who set up a private detective agency 
 
London, 1953. Josephine Daunt and Susan Dervish both worked for the Ministry of Defence during the Second World War, doing top-secret, highly dangerous espionage work. But in peacetime, they find themselves without a job and feeling useless. Determined to put their talents to good use, they decide to set up a detective agency, with the help of former private eye Bill Mackie. 
 
From their Covent Garden office, they handle a steady flow of business. But the ladies' lives really become exciting when they rescue a woman from drowning - only to discover that she's not what she seems. Soon, the daring duo are caught up in all manner of challenging cases, including a sporting assignment involving a priest and an Olympic boxing hopeful; a request to bid on a Monet that takes them on a trail across the Channel; a commission to investigate film actress Belinda Lane; and a theft at a fashion designer's workshop that leads them into a world of Teddy boys, political machinations and murder... 
 
Guy Meredith's light-hearted crime series stars Anna Massey as Josephine Daunt, while Imelda Staunton, Frances Barber and Sylvestra Le Touzel play Susan Dervish. Bill Paterson and Sean Scanlan co-star as Bill Mackie. 
 
Written by Guy Meredith 
Format by Imelda Staunton and Anna Massey 
Series 1 produced by Cherry Cookson and directed by Janet Whitaker 
Series 2-4 produced and directed by Colin Guthrie 
Clarinet played by Julian Stringle (Series 3, Episode 1) 
 
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Daunt & Dervish

Gerard Stembridge

Someone doesn’t want the truth to be uncovered… 
 
Saturday April 26th 2003: 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. Cause of death: a blow to the head. 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 – Natalie Driver, Vic Grant and JJ Collins – decide to make a podcast about the cold case which happened in Colecastle 14 years ago. 
 
But the students’ podcast stirs up big trouble for the trio. After the first one goes out, Vic receives a call from a listener, claiming to have new evidence about the day Derek was snatched. He and JJ go to meet the source – only to disappear themselves. The only contact Natalie has received is a text sent from JJ's phone which reads ‘We're watching you. Stop this now.’ Now Natalie is in hiding, claiming she fears for her safety. Her nightly podcasts are attracting more and more interest – #whereisnatalie and #findvicandjj are rife with speculation. But are the three students actually in danger? Or – as their lecturer Dr Lena Bewick believes – is this all an elaborate media hoax? 
 
Written by Gerard Stembridge, who wrote the screenplay for Ordinary Decent Criminal starring Kevin Spacey, this compelling drama will appeal to anyone who loves true-crime podcasts like Serial, In the Dark and Criminal. Sophie Jo Wasson stars as Natalie, with Thomas Finnegan as Vic and Rhys Dunlop as JJ. 
 
Natalie Driver – Sophie Jo Wasson 
Dr Lena Bewick – Sanchia McCormack 
JJ Collins – Rhys Dunlop 
Vic Grant – Thomas Finnegan 
Angela – Gemma Cunningham 
Toby/Andy/Halpin – Michael Patrick 
 
Written by Gerard Stembridge 
Produced and directed by Gemma McMullan

Hiding Out

A BBC Radio full cast crime drama

Marcy Kahan

The Master turns sleuth and spy in this quintet of radio dramas 
 
Actor, playwright, songwriter, director, author and star – as far as we know, Noël Coward never added ‘detective’ or ‘undercover agent’ to his astonishing achievements. But could the intriguing gaps in his memoirs be hiding a thrilling secret life? 
 
Design for Murder 
In this wry backstage whodunit set just before World War II, Coward must put aside the play he’s writing to track down a murderous psychopath in London’s West End. 
 
Blithe Spy 
This Second World War espionage adventure finds Coward in New York, where he turns secret agent and uses his talent to amuse to help Britain battle the Nazis. 
 
A Bullet at Balmain’s 
1948, and the celebrated playwright is in post-liberation Paris to take the lead role in his play Present Laughter. But the murder of a fashion-house mannequin provides a stylish distraction. 
 
Death at the Desert Inn 
1955. When $300,000 is left in a satchel in Noël Coward's Las Vegas suite, it’s the prelude to a baffling murder mystery, complete with Judy Garland, a showgirl, a Broadway agent, an unlikely croupier, and a US Congressman. 
 
Our Man in Jamaica 
1961. Reconciled to being out of fashion, Noël Coward is determined to finish his first novel – until his neighbour Ian Fleming sets him a challenge: become a spy once more to help destabilise Fidel Castro… 
 
Written by Marcy Kahan and starring Malcolm Sinclair as Coward, Eleanor Bron as his devoted secretary Lorn Loraine and Tam Williams as his devoted valet Cole Lesley, these light-hearted thrillers see Noël Coward solving crimes and foiling villains with his favourite weapon: wit. 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Marcy Kahan 
Starring Malcolm Sinclair as Noël Coward, Eleanor Bron as Lorn Loraine and Tam Williams as Cole Lesley

The Noël Coward Quintet

Detective. Spy. The entirely fictional adventures of Noël Coward

John Buchan

Five BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of John Buchan's espionage thrillers featuring gentleman spy Richard Hannay 
 
The forerunner to James Bond, secret agent Richard Hannay is a thoroughly British action hero, pursuing ruthless villains, foiling deadly plans and risking life and limb for his country. This gripping collection encompasses all five of Hannay's adventures, adapted for radio with superb casts including Tom Baker, Clive Merrison, Stuart Milligan, Jasmine Hyde and Patrick Malahide. 
 
The 39 Steps 
When a man is murdered in Richard Hannay's London flat, he goes on the run pursued by the police - and a gang of German spies intent on recovering a secret notebook which could destroy the British naval fleet. Starring David Robb as Hannay. 
 
Greenmantle 
1915. Summoned to the War Office, Hannay is told of an impending Holy War in the East. Greenmantle - once a mythical figure, now made flesh - is preparing to lead a great Islamic army against the infidel English. Hannay's mission: to identify Greenmantle and destroy him. Starring David Robb as Hannay. 
 
Mr Standfast 
Recalled from the Western Front, Hannay is ordered to pose as a pacifist and sent to Glasgow. Along the way, he meets a teenage Secret Service agent who will change the course of his life. Starring David Robb as Hannay. 
 
The Three Hostages 
When a gang of international criminals kidnaps a trio of hostages, the Secret Service brings Hannay out of retirement to track them down. But the mission will pit him against an adversary who can control men's minds... Starring David Robb as Hannay. 
 
The Island of Sheep 
A chance meeting in a train and a villainous vendetta shake Richard Hannay out of a complacent middle age, as dangerous men go in pursuit of treasure. Starring Nigel Anthony as Hannay. 
 
'The BBC radio sound effects department is on top form, adding thrills that no printed book can rival' The Times 
 
Please note: the vintage stories in this collection reflect the attitudes of their time.

The 39 Steps and Other Richard Hannay Adventures

A BBC Radio collection of full-cast dramatisations

Brian B Thompson

All 18 episodes of the BBC Radio series featuring bickering detective duo Trueman and Riley 
 
 DI Trueman and DS Riley are reluctant partners in crime-fighting, paired up after high-flyer Trueman suffered a nervous breakdown that left him struggling to get back on his feet. Working with Riley isn’t exactly what the doctor ordered – but the sergeant turns out to be much more of a help than a hindrance when it comes to cracking cases. 
 
 First broadcast as Trueman in 2002, the pilot episode centres around a student found shot dead next to a bag of cocaine. Renamed Trueman and Riley, Series 1 opens with the detectives relocated from Hull to Leeds, where they probe a man’s disappearance en route to a secret new job in Vanished. 
 
 Written by BAFTA-winning dramatist Brian B Thompson, this smart, entertaining crime drama stars Robert Daws as Trueman and Duncan Preston as Riley. 
 
 Written by Brian B Thompson 
 Produced and directed by Toby Swift and Jenny Stevens 
 
 
 Trueman 
 Angel Heights 
 Sir James Huntley – Michael Cochrane 
 Helen Turner – Sammy Dobson 
 Keith Fletcher – Gerard McDermott 
 First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 15 July 2005 
 
 The Road to Hull 
 Frank Stuart – Henry Goodman 
 Terry Stuart – Harry Myers 
 Annabelle – Jo Theaker 
 First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 22 July 2005 
 
 High Windows 
 Jimmy McEwan – Gerard Kelly 
 Kate Saunders – Susan Penhaligon 
 Phoebe Beresford – Naomi Kerbel 
 First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 29 July 2005 
 
 Trueman and Riley 
 Vanished 
 Janie Tully – Amy Robbins 
 Nick Tully – John Dougal 
 Barmaid – Rachel Bavidge 
 First broadcast on BBC Radio 7, 8 January 2008 
 
 Story 
 David – Anthony Glennon 
 Harriet – Jasmine Callan 
 Aaron – Paul Richard Biggin 
 First broadcast on BBC Radio 7, 9 January 2008 
 
 Bond 
 Karen – Rachel Bavidge 
 Bill – Paul Rider 
 Gerard – Mark Straker 
 Jane – Christine Kavanagh 
 Receptionist – Anthony Glennon 
 First broadcast on BBC Radio 7, 10 January 2008 
 
 Speed 
 Frank Butters – Sam Dale 
 Melanie – Christine Kavanagh 
 Eric Simonelli – John Dougal 
 Inez – Miranda Keeling 
 Svetlana – Jasmine Callan 
 First broadcast on BBC Radio 7, 11 January 2008 
 
 The Road to Nowhere 
 With Laura Molyneux, Hannah Storey, Malcolm Tierney, Benjamin Askew and Matt Addis 
 First broadcast BBC Radio 7, 16 March 2009 
 
 The Three Degrees 
 With Jonathan Tafler, Caroline Guthrie and Paul Rider 
 First broadcast BBC Radio 7, 17 March 2009 
 
 A Man’s World 
 With Benjamin Askew, Caroline Guthrie, Lizzy Watts, Stephen Critchlow, Janice Acquah and Stephen Hogan 
 First broadcast BBC Radio 7, 18 March 2009 
 
 The Other Chic 
 With Melanie Kilburn and Philip Fox 
 First broadcast BBC Radio 7, 19 March 2009 
 
 Love Bytes 
 With Rebecca Manley, Matt Addis, Malcolm Tierney, Stephen Critchlow, Benjamin Askew, Jonathan Tafler, Lizzy Watts and Paul Rider 
 First broadcast BBC Radio 7, 20 March 2009 
 
 Every Dog Has His Day 
 Sally – Katherine Dow 
 Blyton Brandon – Harry Livingstone 
 Patrick Makin – Gerard McDermott 
 Track Announcer – James Lailey 
 First broadcast BBC Radio 4 Extra, 26 March 2012 
 
 Angel Delight 
 Angel – Tracy Wiles 
 David Farr – Peter Hamilton Dyer 
 Martin Beer – Don Gilet 
 Ophelia Nuts – Susie Riddell 
 Cafe Owner – Harry Livingstone 
 First broadcast BBC Radio 4 Extra, 27 March 2012 
 
 Family Business 
 Bill – Gerard McDermott 
 Charlie – David Hargreaves 
 Dermot – James Lailey 
 Sandra – Christine Absalom 
 Waitress – Tracy Wiles 
 First broadcast BBC Radio 4 Extra, 28 March 2012 
 
 Green Machine 
 Terry – Don Gilet 
 Jenny – Susie Riddell 
 Tyler – Tom Meredith 
 Mr Eagle – James Lailey 
 Woman – Christine Absalom 
 First broadcast BBC Radio 4 Extra, 29 March 2012 
 
 Home Truths 
 Sue Stokes – Lorraine Ashbourne 
 Becki – Holly Matthews 
 PC – Harry Livingstone 
 First broadcast BBC Radio 4 Extra, 30 March 2012

Trueman and Riley

The complete BBC Radio crime drama

Gregory Evans

All three series of the thrilling crime drama set in 1890s Whitechapel 
When Welsh farm girl Megan Evans comes to London to visit her brother who is running the family's dairy business, she finds him strangely unwelcoming. She begins to suspect that he is hiding something, and after she makes some unpleasant discoveries, he is forced to reveal a devastating secret. To save herself and the family business, Meg must risk everything and confront the dangerous gangster Moses Lipski... 
But there are more problems ahead for Meg. Her life is further complicated by the unexpected arrival of her troubled sister, Beth, and an unwelcome visitor who claims to be her half-brother. Meanwhile, dark forces are gathering, and Meg’s plans for expansion are threatened by powerful enemies who will stop at nothing to ruin her. 
With her business under threat and her burgeoning relationship with Samuel feeling the strain, the stakes are raised still further when a body is discovered in the Thames mud that threatens to destroy everything she has worked for... 
Written by Gregory Evans, this gripping series about gangsters, gambling and an innocent abroad stars Bettrys Jones as Meg, with co-stars including Trystan Gravelle, David Horovitch and Brian Protheroe.

Blood and Milk

A BBC Radio Full-Cast Crime Drama: Series 1-3

Tom Fry

Sharon Kelly

The first six series of the popular radio drama set in a Manchester legal practice, starring David Schofield 
 
Frank Twist and Sarah Gold lead a maverick team of freelance paralegals operating in the mean(ish) streets of Manchester. Their agency operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, dispatching legal representatives to set free burglars, muggers and even some innocent people who find themselves on the wrong side of a cell door. 
 
Frank and Sarah have a history, and a child, but now their relationship is purely business, and in these 30 episodes, they and their colleagues deal with cases ranging from shoplifting to attempted murder. Among their clientele are a suspected rapist, a young teacher accused of having an affair with a sixth-former, a girl arrested for assaulting a police officer and a local councillor who’s been caught selling drugs. In addition, Sarah and Frank themselves become the subjects of police interest when they’re called into Manchester Central for questioning – and that’s just the start of their Kafkaesque journey... 
 
Created by Tom Fry and Sharon Kelly, these gripping dramas combine complex crime stories with witty humour. David Schofield stars as Frank Twist, with Gina Bellman, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Kathryn Hunt and Caroline Burns Cooke as Sarah Gold. 
Written by Tom Fry and Sharon Kelly, Elizabeth Heery (Series 4 Episode 3, Series 5 Episode 4), Eve Steele and Ed Jones (Series 4 Episode 4), Eve Steele (Series 5 Episode 2), Lizi Patch (Series 6 Episode 2), Nuala O’Sullivan (Series 6 Episode 4) 
Produced and directed by Susan Roberts (Series 1), Gary Brown (Series 2-6) 
Music by Carl Harms

Brief Lives: Series 1-6

The BBC Radio 4 full-cast psychological crime drama

Series 7-11 of the BBC radio drama about Frank Twist and his team of legal eagles, starring David Schofield 
 
Frank Twist and Sarah Gold run The Agency, a paralegal firm based in sunny Manchester. With the help of their team of freelancers, they operate a round-the-clock advice service, going into police stations across the North West to offer help and support to those in custody. 
 
In these 26 episodes, their clients include the good, the bad and the ugly: from a teenager pulled in for texting an indecent photo of his girlfriend to a man detained for suspected arson at a primary school. There’s also the high-powered lawyer and her daughter caught with drugs after a house party, the naked young woman arrested for protesting against the fur trade, the judge accused of rape, the football hero with feet of clay and the local gangster’s son who gets into some serious trouble. 
 
On top of the challenges they face professionally, Frank and Sarah must also navigate their problematic personal lives. Recovering from a stroke, Frank is preparing to make a momentous decision about his future, and his complicated relationship with Sarah comes under further strain when buried truths are brought to light... 
 
Witty, sharp and full of twists, Tom Fry and Sharon Kelly’s thrilling legal drama stars David Schofield as Frank, with Kathryn Hunt and Sally Dexter as Sarah. 
Created by Tom Fry and Sharon Kelly 
Written by Tom Fry and Sharon Kelly, Nuala O’Sullivan (Series 7 Episode 2), Lizi Patch (Series 7 Episode 4), Philip Meeks (Series 8 Episode 2, Series 10 Episode 4), Michael Livesey (Series 8 Episode 5, Series 11 Episode 3) 
Produced and directed by Gary Brown 
Music by Carl Harms 
Starring David Schofield as Frank Twist

Brief Lives: Series 7-11

Sue Rodwell

All twelve episodes of the BBC radio detective drama, starring Annette Badland as DI Gwen Danbury 
 
Detective Inspector Gwen Danbury comes from a family of investigators. Her father was a policeman, and her mother Joan often discussed cases with him – on one occasion helping him to solve a tricky murder. 
 
Gwen already has a capable, efficient sidekick in the form of DS Henry Jacobs – but nevertheless, her mum insists on helping Gwen with her inquiries. In these three series, her interfering assistance proves invaluable as DI Danbury investigates a skeleton found in the Sussex woods, tracks down the killer of a respectable elderly lady, probes the theft of a valuable painting and encounters more than she bargained for on a murder mystery weekend... 
 
Miss Marple meets Midsomer Murders in this cosy crime series created by Sue Rodwell, whose writing credits include the radio version of Dixon of Dock Green. Annette Badland stars as DI Gwen Danbury, with Gudrun Ure, Stephanie Cole and Margaret Tyzack as Joan and John Duttine as Henry. 
Written by Sue Rodwell 
Directed by Glyn Dearman (Series 1), Rosemary Watts (Series 2 and 3) 
 
First broadcast between 1994 and 2004

DI Gwen Danbury: An Odd Body: Series 1-3

Raymond Chandler

They never came tougher than Marlowe, a cynical, world-weary, wise-cracking shamus whose honesty in a dishonest world sent him down the mean streets again and again in search of some kind of justice. 
 
Ed Bishop stars as Philip Marlowe in these powerfully atmospheric BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of Raymond Chandler's novels. 
 
The Big Sleep 
General Sternwood's daughters came in both the colours of trouble - blonde and brunette - and they had all the usual vices. With four million dollars behind them, blackmail was only a matter of time. And blackmail can be murder. 
 
The High Window 
Linda Conquest was very tough, very kissable and very missing, along with one very valuable old coin. But soon Marlowe finds that everyone who handles the coin suffers a run of very bad luck: they always end up dead. 
 
The Lady in the Lake 
Blonde, beautiful and wild, Crystal Kingsley had never been the faithful little wife. But when she goes missing for a month, and then a woman’s body surfaces in an isolated mountain lake, murder-a-day Marlowe is back in business. 
 
The Little Sister 
Marlowe is on the case of a missing brother from a two-bit Kansas town, who had the embarrassing habit of knowing guys who finished up on the wrong end of an ice-pick. Until, that is, he did too. 
 
The Long Goodbye 
Terry Lennox seemed like a nice guy. Okay, he was a drunk but maybe that could happen to anyone with too much money, too much time and a wife who played the field in a big way. Trouble was, when she ended up dead, it wasn't money that got Lennox to Mexico. It was Marlowe. 
 
Farewell My Lovely 
At six feet five, Moose Malloy is a big man who looks about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food – and about as dangerous. His girl Velma disappeared eight years ago, and now he wants to find her. 
 
Also included in a BBC Radio archive discussion, in which Raymond Chandler and Ian Fleming discuss thrillers and talk about their respective heroes: Philip Marlowe and James Bond. 
 
Originally broadcast between 1977 and 1988, these dramatisations also star Don Fellows and Robert Beatty. They were adapted by Bill Morrison and produced by John Tydeman. 
 
These are archive dramatisations of the original novels published between 1939 and 1953, and the language used reflects some of the attitudes of those times.

Raymond Chandler: A BBC Radio Collection

Starring Ed Bishop as Philip Marlowe

Oliver Emanuel

In a world without antibiotics, an everyday scratch turns a family’s world upside down in this dystopian BBC radio drama 
 
It is the near-future, and drug resistance has taken hold. Antibiotics are no longer available, and in the war between humanity and bacteria, one little girl is in the front line... 
 
Ten-year-old Sarah is not allowed to play outside. But one day, she and her brother break the rules and go into the nearby woods, where she scratches her knee. The wound gets infected, and soon becomes life-threatening. 
 
Now Sarah’s in a coma, in an isolated room in hospital. Her family and medical team are hoping this will stop the infection – but they’re running out of time. While Sarah’s imagination drifts to Hawaii, her parents are left to make an unbearable choice for their daughter… 
 
Winner of the 2019 BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Original Series, this potent, playful drama was written by acclaimed dramatist Oliver Emanuel, and stars Jocelyn Brassington, Christine Bottomley, Roderick Gilkison and Robin Laing. 
 
Written by Oliver Emanuel 
Produced and directed by Kirsty Williams 
Consultants: Prof Joanna Coast and Dr Adam Roberts 
The Truth About Hawaii was developed through Wellcome Experimental Stories in consultation with Prof Joanna Coast (Professor in the Economics of Health &amp; Care, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol) and Dr Adam Roberts (Senior Lecturer in Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and Resistance at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) 
 
Cast 
Sarah……………………Jocelyn Brassington 
Lizzie……………………Christine Bottomley 
Paul……………………Roderick Gilkison 
David/Woolfson……………………Robin Laing 
GP/Elvis Presley/Leo/Minister for Health ……………………Kevin Mains 
Doctor/Journalist/UN Secretary General/Headmistress……………………Anita Vettesse 
Kylie……………………Dani Heron 
Congolese Ambassador/Matron……………………Adura Onashile 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 22 January-2 February 2018

The Truth About Hawaii

A full-cast BBC radio drama

Mike Walker

Nine BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas by Mike Walker, chronicling Rome’s greatest rulers 
 
Drawing on historical sources including Suetonius’s ‘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. 
 
Meeting at Formiae – Julius Caesar secretly seeks senate leaders Cicero and Cato’s support to shake up the rule of Rome. Stars David Troughton as Caesar, Anton Lesser as Cicero and Stephen Critchlow as Cato. 
 
The Arena – As Julius’s appointed heir, young Octavian uses his legendary political skills to outwit enemies and rule Rome. Starring Adam Levy as Octavian. 
 
Peeling Figs for Julius – His name is now a byword for depravity, but growing up in Tiberius’s court, how evil was Emperor Caligula? Stars David Tennant as Caligula and Neil Dudgeon as Cassius Chaerea. 
 
The Best of Mothers – The murderous tale of Emperor Nero and his interfering mother Agrippina. Jonathan Forbes stars as Nero, with Frances Barber as Agrippina the Younger. 
 
The Glass Ball Game – The story of Emperor Hadrian and his relationship with Antinous, who died in mysterious circumstances. Starring Jonathan Hyde as Hadrian and Andrew Garfield as Antinous. 
 
Citizens in a Great City– Young Commodus buckles under the expectations put upon him by his father, the philosopher/emperor Marcus Aurelius. And Septimus Severus is called on to save the Empire from anarchy. Jim Sturgess stars as Commodus, with Ronald Pickup as Marcus Aurelius and Ray Fearon as Septimus Severus. 
 
Empress in the West– As the Roman Empire begins to fall apart, Victoria Poppea sees an opportunity to wield the power that her gender has always denied her. Stars Barbara Flynn as Victoria and Sam Troughton as Victorinus. 
 
The Maker of All Things– Constantine and Crispus are father and son – but can this indivisible bond survive politics? Sam Dale stars as Constantine the Great, with Joseph Kloska as Crispus. 
 
Empire Without End– With the Empire in the West under attack from Attila the Hun’s forces, an unlikely coalition of kingmakers selects the last Roman emperor. Starring Tom Hiddleston as Romulus Augustus.

Caesar!

Leslie Charteris

Leslie Charteris’ square-jawed, blue-eyed hero loved, fought and stole his way through Europe from the 1930s to the 1970s, endlessly pursuing blondes, baddies and boodle. Adored by women and feared by his foes, he was renowned for both his heroic exploits and his nefarious reputation - and he always left his trademark calling card at the scenes of his crimes: a sketch of a stick figure with a halo. 
 
This collection includes three classic cases: 
 
In The Saint Closes the Case, The Saint is confronted by arch-villain and armaments dealer Dr Rayt Marius as he enters into a deadly struggle to save the world from a dastardly new weapon…. 
 
In Saint Overboard, a villain plans to steal a shipment of sunken treasure. Simon Templar will go to any lengths to stop him - even under the sea. 
 
The Saint Plays with Fire sees our hero investigating a country house fire - and uncovering a Fascist conspiracy to seize power in France. 
 
Starring Paul Rhys as Simon Templar, and also featuring Patsy Kensit and Fiona Fullerton, this thrilling drama has all the verve and excitement of the original story. It is dramatised by Roger Danes and directed by Matthew Walters.

The Saint: Three BBC Radio full-cast dramatisations

Patrick Carroll

A six-part BBC Radio 4 crime drama set in nineteenth-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. 
 
The threat posed by the mob is not the only problem for young Martin Quin, onetime hero of Waterloo and now a police constable. First his fiancée, Maria Staples, breaks off their engagement due to her tyrannical father’s disapproval. Then Quin is involved in an altercation with Lord Trowle’s coachman, and the arrogant aristocrat insists he is charged with assault. Forced to defend himself in court, Martin finds himself facing imprisonment and ruin. 
 
Meanwhile, Bow Street runner Jeremiah Morley investigates shady printer Peter the Screever, and uncovers a heinous blackmail plot... 
 
Written by Patrick Carroll, this atmospheric series stars Richard E Grant as Lord Trowle, Norman Jones as Sir Robert Peel, Mick Ford as PC Martin Quin and James Booth as Jeremiah Morley. 
 
Written by Patrick Carroll 
Directed by Janet Whitaker 
Singer: Martin Carthy 
 
Cast 
 
PC Martin Quin……………………Mick Ford 
Jeremiah Morley……………………James Booth 
Sir Robert Peel……………………Norman Jones 
Lord Trowle……………………Richard E Grant 
Colonel Rowan……………………Peter Jeffrey 
Richard Mayne……………………Killian McKenna 
Maria Staples……………………Joanna Myers 
Sergeant Dutton……………………Ronald Herdman 
Inspector Beale/Frederick Roe……………………Timothy Bateson 
PC Atkinson/Sergeant Cazalet/Mr Evans……………………Alan Barker 
PC Smythe/Francis Place/Turnkey/Mr Luke……………………Mark Straker 
Lord Laverton/PC Rourke……………………James Greene 
Mr Yardley……………………Richard Pearce 
Arthur Jenkins/John Staples……………………Ian Lindsay 
Rev Charles Lyton……………………Timothy Carlton 
Mrs Gascoygne……………………Elizabeth Bell 
Peter the Screever……………………Fraser Kerr 
Beth/Florrie……………………Susan Sheridan 
Lucy/Mrs Gregory……………………Elizabeth Kelly 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 July-22 August 1991

Peeler

The BBC Radio 4 crime series

Edward Boyd

A bookseller turns P. I. in this intriguing five-part BBC radio thriller 
 
Grahame Mayer specialises in selling books, not solving mysteries. So when he’s asked to play private investigator and track down a soldier from the Spanish Civil War, he wonders if it’s some sort of test – and if so, what will happen if he fails... 
 
Armed with fresh information, he is sent to Glasgow on the trail of Jock Cameron, and a meeting with a former nurse who knew him back in Spain furnishes Grahame with further clues. But despite these new leads, the elusive Jock remains tantalisingly out of reach. 
 
Will a series of postcards, some holy pictures and an encounter with a pop star enable the reluctant sleuth to hunt Cameron down – or will it take a man’s death to release Mayer from his quest? 
 
Created by Edward Boyd, who wrote for a number of BBC TV shows including Z-Cars, this enthralling crime drama stars Ray Brooks, with a supporting cast including Garard Green, John Hannah and Alexandra Mathie. 
 
 
Written by Edward Boyd 
Produced at BBC Scotland by Patrick Rayner 
 
Cast 
 
Grahame Mayer……………………Ray Brooks 
Coleman……………………John Westbrook 
Teresa……………………Alexandra Mathie 
Forrest……………………Garard Green 
Hemingway……………………William Hope 
Cameron……………………John Hannah/Joseph Greig 
Rainsford……………………Jonathan Tafler 
Inspector McNeill……………………Carey Wilson 
Norah McGill……………………Sybil Wintrope 
Henderson……………………Joseph Brady 
Arnold……………………Ian Thompson 
Receptionist……………………Jennifer Piercey 
Man on plane/Millhouse……………………William Hope 
Miss McLauchlan……………………Yvonne Gilan 
Pat……………………Richard Jamieson 
Paula……………………Caroline Guthrie 
Waiter/Taxi driver……………………Gordon Reid 
Nuke……………………John McGlynn 
Apollyon……………………Billy McColl 
Dr Lovat……………………Roy Hanlon 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 October-20 November 1987

Castles in Spain

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast P.I. Detective series

Douglas Adams

The complete BBC Radio collection bringing together two full-cast dramatisations of Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently novels. 
 
In Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Dirk Gently has an unshakeable belief in the interconnectedness of all things, but his Holistic Detective Agency mainly succeeds in tracking down missing cats for old ladies. Then Dirk stumbles upon an old friend behaving bizarrely - and he's drawn into a four-billion-year-old mystery that must be solved if the human race is to avoid immediate extinction. 
 
In The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul Harry Enfield exuberantly returns as Dirk Gently, who, fallen on hard times and dressed as a gypsy woman, is using his irritatingly accurate clairvoyant powers to read palms. He is saved when a frantic client turns up with a ludicrous story about being stalked by a goblin waving a contract accompanied by a hairy, green-eyed, scythe-wielding monster. When Detective Superintendent Gilks decides a headless body found in a sealed room is the result of a particularly irritating suicide, Dirk is plunged into a mystery where the interconnectedness of all things is tested to the limit... 
 
Starring Harry Enfield as Dirk Gently along with Billy Boyd, Olivia Coleman, Andrew Sachs and Jim Carter. Guest stars include Peter Davison (Doctor Who), Jan Ravens (Dead Ringers), Philip Jackson (Poirot), John Fortune (Bremner, Bird &amp; Fortune), Morwenna Banks (Absolutely) and Stephen Moore (The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy).

Dirk Gently: Two BBC Radio full-cast dramas

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Bill Murphy

Andrew Martin

Martin Meehan

John Murphy

Francis Turnly

The complete series 1-5 of the thrilling mystery series. On sabbatical from the Franciscan order, Father Paolo Baldi is working as a philosophy lecturer in Dublin when his life takes an unexpected turn and he finds himself helping the police to solve crimes. 
 
Along with Tina, Paolo uncovers the truth behind the killings of several rockabilly band members, a high-profile case of a police officer&rsquo;s murder, as well as delving into the highly competitive world of celebrity chefs. He also exposes a rift in a community of environmental activists, enters the world of romantic poetry to solve a suspected suicide, investigates the killing of a politically-incorrect figurehead, and finds that the death of a homeless man is not as simple as it appears. 
 
Follow the priest-cum-sleuth&rsquo;s thrilling adventures as he solves mysteries throughout Ireland. 
 
David Threlfall, Tina Kellegher and T.P. McKenna star in this exciting series written by Simon Brett, Bill Murphy, Andrew Martin, Martin Meenan, John Murphy and Francis Turnly in the series created by Barry Devlin.

Father Paolo Baldi Mysteries

The Complete BBC Radio Crime series

Ian McMillan

Dave Sheasby

Martyn Wiley

Fine Time Fontayne stars as pitman-turned-private eye Stephen J Blackburn in this whimsical detective series 
 
When he’s made redundant from his job at a South Yorkshire pit, Stephen J Blackburn sets out to forge a new career as a private investigator. With his trainee assistant Tracey, he looks into a series of complicated cases ranging from plagiarism to missing persons. 
 
In Series 1, the duo are confronted with Hungarian exiles, a philandering husband, a long-lost brother, a purloined TV script and a time-share cash con. Series 2 finds them faced with seven stolen sculptures, a ransomed Filofax, a husband who reappears after 30 years, and a routine marital case that starts to look like their final investigation. And in Series 3, Steven and Tracey get digging in the murky world of flowers, crack a pub quiz fraud scam, look into the theft of a ventriloquist’s dummy and track down an Irish labourer– a case which turns out to be far more complex than expected... 
 
Starring Fine Time Fontayne (Coronation Street) as Stephen J Blackburn and Judy Flynn (The Brittas Empire) as Tracey Duggan. 
 
Written by Ian McMillan, Martyn Wiley and Dave Sheasby 
Directed by Dave Sheasby 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 July-15 August 1989 (Series 1), 20 June-11 July 1991 (Series 2), 18 March-8 April 1993 (Series 3) 
 
Cast 
 
Stephen J Blackburn……………………Fine Time Fontayne 
Tracey Duggan……………………Judy Flynn 
Mam……………………Rita May 
Dad……………………John Branwell

The Blackburn Files: The Complete Series 1-3

The BBC Radio 4 Crime Drama

Ngaio Marsh

A collection of the BBC’s dramatisations of Ngaio Marsh’s most famous sleuth: Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. 
 
This collection would include the following works by Ngaio Marsh: 
 
A Man Lay Dead - The gentleman detective tackles a country house party murder. 
 
A Surfeit of Lampreys - Gentleman sleuth Inspector Alleyn probes a grisly death of the head of a spendthrift aristocratic family. 
 
Opening Night - When a leading actor is found gassed in his dressing room, it looks like suicide. But it transpires he was so detested that everyone had a motive for his murder. 
 
When In Rome - 1970s Rome. Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn is incognito and on the trail of a vast drugs syndicate - and some exceptionally unsavoury blackmail. But he hasn't reckoned on murder.

The Ngaio Marsh BBC Radio Collection

Four full-cast Dramatisations

Matthew Broughton

When Jasper finds his father dead, a dark mystery begins to unfold. His dad kept a secret: Jasper has a twin brother, Eddie, whom he's never met. This new discovery offers a temptation - what if they swapped lives? 
 
As Jasper escapes the confines of his faltering marriage and attempts to track down his father's killer, he soon discovers that with his new found freedom comes the threat of extreme danger. And Eddie finds that life in his brother’s shoes is something he may not be willing to give up. 
 
A dark thriller in two parts that reflect each other: The first tells Jasper's story. The second tells Eddie's. 
 
Shaun Dingwall (New Tricks, Young Victoria, Doctor Who) stars opposite himself as the two brothers, Jasper and Eddie. Valene Kane (The Fall) makes her radio debut as Jasper's wife Caitlin. With supporting performances from Vera Filatova (Peep Show) and Kenneth Cranham (Made in Dagenham, Layer Cake, Shine on Harvey Moon). 
 
Jasper/Eddie - Shaun Dingwall 
Caitlin - Valene Kane 
Ricky Paggett - Kenneth Cranham 
Nancy - Vera Filatova 
Terry - Simon Ludders 
Doctor/Policeman/Prison Warder/Waiter - John Norton 
Directed by James Robinson

Demon Brother

Barbara Machin

A gripping five-part crime thriller set 15 years before Waking the Dead. 
 
Set in 1984 – a world without DNA, CCTV, mobiles, or the internet – The Unforgiven reveals how the iconic Waking the Dead team got together, before they became an official cold case unit. 
 
Trouble erupts as a serial killer launches a huge legal appeal against his conviction, claiming police corruption and pointing the finger directly at young DC Peter Boyd – and implicating forensic scientist, Frankie Wharton. With Boyd forced to disappear, criminal profiler Grace Foley and cops Spencer Jordan and Mel Silver join Frankie to clear their names and save Boyd from disgrace and possible prison. Told over five days, with each character taking turns to tell their story, this heart-stopping case sees them racing to beat the clock as the unthinkable unfolds. 
 
Written by Barbara Machin, who created Waking the Dead for BBC1, this electrifying drama stars the original cast of the Emmy-winning hit TV series – Sue Johnston, Holly Aird, Claire Goose and Wil Johnson.

The Unforgiven

The BBC Radio 4 Prequel to Waking the Dead

Matt Hartley

Lucy Catherine

Caroline Horton

Timothy X Atack

'One of the best dramas - on television or radio - currently on offer' Radio Times 
'The most brilliant drama' and 'really, really well produced' Dolly Alderton 
 
Tracks: Chimera 
 
A tower block collapses in London. Hundreds are killed. 
Except a man standing alone on the roof, who walks out of the rubble unscathed. 
 
And things are about to get stranger, because Dr Helen Ash is pregnant. But she hasn't had sex since her husband died 18 months ago. 
 
What connects her unexplained pregnancy, a mysterious phone message from a woman who died in the building collapse, and the man on the roof of the high-rise? 
 
The gripping conspiracy thriller and winner of Best Sound (BBC Audio Drama Awards) and Best Fiction (British Podcast Awards) returns for a third series. 
 
 
Tracks: Indigo 
 
Dr Helen Ash is involved in a road accident. But where was she going in such a hurry? And why can't she remember? 
 
The answer lies in the riddle of Helen's daughter, Frances, who's older than she should be. And a mysterious 'child-mother', who's younger than she should be... 
 
Romola Garai returns as Helen Ash in the compelling fourth series of Tracks. 
 
 
Cast of Tracks: Chimera 
Helen.... Hattie Morahan 
Freddy..... Jonathan Forbes 
Rachel.... Fiona O'Shaughnessy 
Other parts played by Rhodri Meilir, Eiry Thomas, Zahra Ahmadi, Clare Cage, Marc Danbury, Stewart Wright, Richard Elfyn, Kerry Shale, Elina Alminas, Carys Eleri, Morgan Watkins, Jeanette Percival, Matthew Gravelle, Richard Nichols, Amerah Saleh, Adam Deacon, Bijan Daneshmand, Emma Handy, Lea Mornar, Francois Pandolfo, Simon Armstrong, Saffron Coomber and Sean Murray 
 
Lead writer.... Matthew Broughton 
Episodes written by Matthew Broughton, Matt Hartley, Lucy Catherine, Caroline Horton and Timothy X Atack 
Directed by James Robinson, Rebecca Lloyd-Evans and Carl Prekopp 
Produced by James Robinson 
A BBC Cymru Wales Production 
 
Cast of Tracks: Indigo 
Helen.... Romola Garai 
Freddy.... Jonathan Forbes 
Other parts played by Andrew Gower, Georgia Henshaw, Sally Orrock, Carys Eleri, Sion Pritchard, Joanna van Kampen, Scarlett Courtney, Adam Courting, Lucy Reynolds, Ashleigh Hadadd, David Hounslow, Sinead MacInnes, Juliet Cowan and Marc Danbury 
 
Written by Matthew Broughton 
Produced and Directed by James Robinson 
A BBC Cymru Wales Production

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