Adam Henson is perhaps the best-known farmer in the UK, presenting on BBC's Countryfile to millions of viewers each Sunday evening. He's also appeared on Lambing Live, Secret Britain, Coast and Inside Out. Adam also runs the award-winning Cotswold Farm Park in Gloucestershire, which welcomes family visitors all year round and is home to many rare breeds. He has a monthly column in Countryfile magazine, as well as the Cotswold Life magazine. He has written several books including the Sunday Times bestseller Like Farmer, Like Son. This is his first children's book and it is the perfect introduction to the farm.

Adam Henson

Adam Henson presents Countryfile, often from his 650-hectare farm in the Cotswolds. Having studied Agriculture at college, Adam took over Bemborough Farm from his father, Joe. The farm now grows wheat, spring barley and oilseed rape, runs a flock of 400 commercial ewes and has the UK's leading collection of rare breeds, many of which are in demand for film sets and advertisements. Cotswold Farm Park (www.cotswoldfarmpark.co.uk) offers a total countryside experience for all the family, welcoming more than 100,000 visitors each year. 
 
Adam presented Lambing Live with Kate Humble, writes for Countryfile magazine and has appeared on Radio 4's On Your Farm and Farming Today. He is the author of three previous books, Adam’s Farm: My Life on the Land, the Sunday Times bestseller, Like Farmer, Like Son and A Farmer and His Dog.

Adam Higginbotham writes for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, GQ, Businessweek, Smithsonian, Men’s Journal, and The Atavist. He began his career in magazines and newspapers in London, where he was the editor-­in-chief of The Face and a contributing editor at The Sunday Telegraph. The author of Midnight in Chernobyl, he lives in New York City.

Adam Higginbotham

Adam Hills is an internationally recognised comedian and host of award-winning Channel 4 show The Last Leg. His collection of stories from a life in comedy, Best Foot Forward, was a Times bestseller.

Adam Hills

Adam Howling

Adam J. Kurtz

Adam Jacot de Boinod

ADAM JOHNSON won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2013 for his second novel, the New York Times bestseller The Orphan Master’s Son (‘Excavates the very meaning of life’ New York Times). His short story 'Nirvana' won the prestigious Sunday Times/EFG Short Story Award. He is the author of acclaimed story collections, Fortune Smiles and Emporium and the novel Parasites Like Us. He teaches creative writing at Stanford University and lives with his family in San Francisco.

Adam Johnson

Adam Kay is a former doctor who has written five million books and sold seven copies. No, hang on – he’s written seven books and sold five million copies. His debut book, This is Going to Hurt, is a literary sensation: a Sunday Times number one bestseller for over a year, winning a record-breaking four National Book Awards and selling over 3 million copies. Kay adapted This is Going to Hurt as a BAFTA-winning comedy-drama series for the BBC. Adam Kay’s children’s books have been translated into 32 languages and sold over 1 million copies, making him one of the UK’s bestselling children’s authors. Kay’s Anatomy became the fastest-selling children’s general non-fiction hardback of the decade. His first picture book, Amy Gets Eaten, was published in 2023, and his first children’s novel, Dexter Procter the Ten-Year-Old Doctor, was published in September 2024.

Adam Kay

Adam studied illustration and animation, and received a BA followed by an MA from the Edinburgh College of Art. As a student he won a competition to create a short film for MOMI and Channel 4, and once his career producing animated commercials was under way, he became an illustrator as well. He has regular columns in the UK and the US.

Adam Larkum

Adam Lashinsky

Adam Macqueen

Adam Mars-Jones

Adam O'Riordan was born in Manchester in 1982, where he currently lives. In 2008 he became the youngest Poet-in-Residence at The Wordsworth Trust, the Centre for British Romanticism. His first collection In the Flesh (2010) win a Somerset Maugham Award. He is the Academic Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Adam O'Riordan

Adam Phillips, formerly Principal Child Psychotherapist at Charing Cross Hospital, London, is a practising psychoanalyst and a visiting professor in the English department at the University of York. He is the author of numerous works of psychoanalysis and literary criticism, including most recently On Giving Up, On Wanting to Change, Attention Seeking, In Writing, Unforbidden Pleasures and Missing Out. He is General Editor of the Penguin Modern Classics Freud translations, and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature.

Adam Phillips

Adam Rackley

Adam Richardson is the UK's top trending health and fitness coach with a rapidly growing audience across both TikTok and Instagram. Adam is passionate about removing barriers to exercise and movement, a philosophy that is key to his work as a Personal Trainer in which he strives to help his clients feel more confident, as well as more fit and healthy.

Adam Richardson

Adam Roberts is the author of The Amateur Gourmet and Secrets of the Best Chefs, and coauthor of Give My Swiss Chards to Broadway. He started his food blog, The Amateur Gourmet, in 2004 and currently writes The Amateur Gourmet Newsletter on Substack. Roberts has also written for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, and for film and television. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband and their dog, Winston. Food Person is his first novel.

Adam Roberts

Adam Roberts is acknowledged as the senior scholar of international relations in the UK. He was Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at Oxford University 1986-2007, and President of the British Academy 2009-13 - the head of humanities in Britain. He was on the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London (2002-08), a member of the UK Defence Academy Advisory Board (2003-15) and is now on the Board of Advisers of the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare at the United States Military Academy, West Point.

Adam Robinson is based in the Middle East and is a regular contributor to newspapers in the Arab world and also to the British media. He is the author of numerous books on the region, including Bin Laden: Behind the Mask of the Terrorist.

Adam Robinson

Adam Ross

Adam Rutherford is an award-winning writer, broadcaster, and geneticist at University College London. His books include A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, The Book of Humans, and the Sunday Times bestseller How to Argue with a Racist. He has written and presented numerous documentaries for BBC radio and television, including Inside Science and The Cell. Adam has also worked as a science advisor on many films, including the Oscar-winning Ex Machina (2015) and Annihilation (2018).

Adam Rutherford

Adam Smith

Adam Smyth runs the 39 Step Press, an experiment in printing, from a cold barn in Oxfordshire. He is also Professor of English Literature and the History of the Book at Balliol College, University of Oxford.

Adam Smyth

Adam Sweeting

Adam Tandy

Adam Thirlwell was born in London in 1978. The author of three previous novels, his work has been translated into thirty languages. His essays appear in the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, and he is an advisory editor of the Paris Review. His awards include a Somerset Maugham Award and the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 2018 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has twice been selected by Granta as one of their Best of Young British Novelists.

Adam Thirlwell

Adam Thorpe was born in Paris in 1956. His first novel, Ulverton, appeared in 1992 and he has published two books of stories and ten further novels, most recently Missing Fay (2017), and six poetry collections. 
 
 
www.adamthorpe.net

Adam Thorpe

Adam Tooze is the author of the highly praised Crashed, The Deluge and The Wages of Destruction, all published by Allen Lane. He has been the recipient of the Wolfson Prize for History, the Longman-History Today Book of the Year Prize and the Lionel Gelber Prize. Tooze has taught at Cambridge and Yale and is now Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History at Columbia University.

Adam Tooze

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William Shakespeare

David Tennant stars as Malvolio in Shakespeare's comedy of disguise, madness and love. 
 
One of Shakespeare's happiest plays, Twelfth Night is both a comedy of misrule and a trenchant attack on puritanism. Disguise and deceit leads to misadventure, madness and mistaken love. Orsino loves Olivia, but she loves Cesario, who really does love Orsino (for Cesario is actually Viola). But Malvolio believes his mistress, Olivia, loves him, as he is a victim of a trick played on him by those who would make him mad. Naomi Frederick and Paul Ready are Viola and Orsino in his sparkling BBC Radio 3 production.

Twelfth Night

A BBC Radio 3 full-cast drama

Ian Kelly

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Ian Kelly’s biography of one of the most beguiling and controversial individuals of any age. 
 
In this fascinating biography of the notorious libertine, Ian Kelly draws on documents by Casanova, his friends and his lovers (male and female) in order to bring fresh insights to the man’s life and world. The sights and smells of Eighteenth Century Europe are brought keenly to life, as are the colourful incidents of Casanova’s life. As the young cleric he embarked upon a scandalous affair with a married woman, fleeing eventually to Constantinople. He created a stir at the French court of King Louis XV, began intrigues in London that led him to a soaking in the Thames, and sought to meet Catherine the Great at a ball in St Petersburg. His own memoirs ensured his lasting fame, and changed the way we think and write about ourselves and about sex. 
 
Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock; The Imitation Game; Star Trek Into Darkness) is the reader of this abridged edition, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Ian Kelly's Casanova

A BBC Radio 4 reading

A full-cast BBC Radio 3 production of Shakespeare’s quick-witted summer tragedy. 
 
In a town full of hatred, where the streets ring with the Capulet/Montague feud, and swords are too easily drawn, Romeo and Juliet find each other - and love - and never let go. 
 
In Shakespeare’s famous play, first performed in 1595, the warring Capulets and Montagues have been sworn to keep the peace on pain of death. When Capulet’s daughter Juliet meets Montague’s son Romeo at a masked ball, they immediately fall in love. 
 
With the help of Friar Lawrence and Juliet’s Nurse, the pair decide to marry in secret. Disaster strikes when Romeo is banished for murder, and flees after just one night with his new wife. Juliet, meanwhile, is betrothed against her wishes to Count Paris. Friar Lawrence intervenes to help, but tragedy is at hand… 
 
Rising young stars Trystan Gravelle and Vanessa Kirby play the star-crossed lovers, with David Tennant as Prince Escalus, Rosie Cavaliero as the Nurse and Ron Cook as Friar Lawrence.

Romeo and Juliet

A BBC Radio 3 full-cast dramatisation

Jamie Parker stars as the Prince of Denmark in this brand new BBC Radio 4 full-cast production. 
 
At the Castle of Elsinore in Denmark, the court is uneasy. The king of Denmark has recently died and the throne has been claimed by the king's brother, Claudius. 
 
Prince Hamlet, still in mourning for his father, distrusts Claudius and believes that what has happened at the court 'cannot come to good’. The ghost of his father has told him he was murdered by Claudius. Can it be true? He arranges for a troupe of players to emulate such a murder before the court, in the hope that the truth will out. 
 
As circumstances play out, and Hamlet is variously counselled and challenged by the King and Queen, Laertes, Polonius, Ophelia, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the fabric of the court starts to unravel. Soon Hamlet’s indecision leads to a series of tragic events - and to what end?

Hamlet

A BBC Radio full-cast dramatisation

Dante Alighieri

Stephen Wyatt

Blake Ritson, David Warner, Hattie Morahan and John Hurt star in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Dante's epic poem. 
 
Inferno: Thirty-five year old Dante finds himself in the middle of a dark wood, in extreme personal and spiritual crisis. Hope of rescue appears in the form of the venerable poet Virgil, now a shade himself, who offers to lead Dante on an odyssey through the afterlife, beginning in the terrifying depths of Hell. 
 
Purgatorio: Dante is led up Mount Purgatory by his guide. They encounter numerous souls who have embarked on the same difficult journey - one that will eventually lead to their spiritual salvation. 
 
Paradiso: Dante's journey comes to a glorious conclusion as he is led by Beatrice, through the spheres of Paradise and into the presence of God himself. As they ascend, they encounter a number of souls who have also achieved blessedness. 
 
Many years later, the older Dante reflects on the episodes from his life that have inspired his great poem. 
 
 
 ©2014 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2014 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Divine Comedy

Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso

Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston star in Shakespeare's tragedy of love and power. 
 
As part of BBC Radio 3's celebration of the 450th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare, Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston star in this brand new production. 
 
Lovers, politicians, superstars. Antony &amp; Cleopatra is Shakespeare’s late and epic tragedy of mature love, and the catastrophic fall from grace and power that it brings about. Irresistibly drawn together, the couple are surrounded by friends, enemies, admirers and critics, none of who remain unscathed by the folly and heartbreak of this magnificent pair. As empires clash around them, their destiny seems inevitable: to love each other ‘til death and even beyond. 
 
Produced by BBC Cymru Wales for BBC Radio 3, this radio production also features Geoffrey Streatfeild, Nigel Anthony, Don Gilet and Peter Polycarpou amongst its cast.

Antony and Cleopatra

Drama

Michael Frayn

Benedict Cumberbatch, Greta Scacchi and Simon Russell Beale star in Michael Frayn's award-winning play about the controversial 1941 meeting between physicists Bohr and Heisenberg. Copenhagen, Autumn 1941. The two presiding geniuses of quantum physics, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg meet for the first time since the breakout of war. Danish physicist Bohr and his wife, Margrethe, live in Nazi-occupied Denmark; their visitor, Heisenberg, is German, the two old friends, now on opposing sides have between them the ability to change the course of history. Frayn's Tony award-winning play imagines the three characters re-drafting the events of 1941 in an attempt to make sense of them. With Greta Scacchi as Margrethe Bohr, Simon Russell Beale as Niels Bohr and Benedict Cumberbatch as Werner Heisenberg. This new version of Copenhagen is adapted for radio and directed by Emma Harding.

Copenhagen

Robert Browning

Robert Browning's poetic masterpiece of sex, lies and murder, adapted by Martyn Wade. Episode 1: Rome is rife with speculation in the aftermath of a triple stabbing. Starring  Anton Lesser as Browning, with full cast. Directed by Abigail le Fleming.Episode 2: Accused of murder, Guido fights desperately for his life. Starring  Anton Lesser as Browning, with full cast. Directed by Abigail le Fleming.

The Ring And The Book

Nazrin Choudhury

Nazrin Choudhury's play, which won the Richard Imison Award for the best play by a writer new to radio, tells the story of a young British Asian woman whose life begins to unravel when she's faced with the possibility that her real father may actually be white. When Sharmila finds some letters in her late mother's belongings, she uncovers her mother's affair with a man called Peter while she was at university. More importantly, Sharmila discovers that  she may be the product of that affair. Outraged that her mother betrayed her and father for so long, Sharmila decides to track Peter down, and face the man who could be her father.

Mixed Blood

John Betjeman

In this fascinating collection of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive, John Betjeman (Poet Laureate 1972) talks about his life and career as one of the foremost poets of the 20th Century. 
 
The interviews included are: Asian Club, broadcast on BBC Radio, 7 July 1959 (featuring Arthur Russell and studio audience); People of Today, broadcast on BBC Radio, 24 December 1959 (featuring Irene Slade); Omnibus, broadcast on BBC TV, 5 November 1972 (featuring unnamed interviewer); Parkinson, broadcast on BBC TV, 17 February 1973 (featuring Michael Parkinson); Desert Island Discs, broadcast on BBC Radio, 12 April 1975 (featuring Roy Plomley); Parkinson, broadcast on BBC TV, 5 November 1977 (featuring Michael Parkinson); John Betjeman: A Tribute, broadcast on BBC TV, 5 June 1984 (featuring unnamed interviewers); Time Enough! Or Not Enough Time, broadcast on BBC TV, 8 May 1994 (featuring Jonathan Steadall). 
 
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

John Betjeman In His Own Words

Neil MacGregor

What was life like for Shakespeare's first audiences? In a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, how did Elizabethan play-goers make sense of their changing world? What did the plays mean to the public when they were first performed?   In this fascinating series, Neil MacGregor attempts to answer these questions by examining twenty objects from that turbulent period. There are grand objects such as a communion chalice, a Venetian goblet, and Dr Dee's mirror, as well as everyday items such as a theatregoer's fork and an apprentice's cap.   From Drake's circumnavigation medal to an eye relic, he uses these objects to explore the issues that shaped Shakespeare's plays, and considers what they reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England. Speaking to scholars, historians and experts, he discusses the topics raised - everything from exploration and discovery to violence, entertainment, and the plague.

Shakespeare's Restless World

Peter Jukes

A series of four plays by about Jake Thorne, a Methodist minister and police chaplain who is battling with his own demons at the same time as trying to resolve the problems of his parishioners. 
 
In the first of the plays, 'Bad Faith', we are introduced to Jake Thorne, a police chaplain. His job is to offer counselling and comfort to officers in trouble, victims and young offenders. But Jake has lost his faith and has decided, as a test for God, to behave appallingly towards those he's supposed to help. 
 
In the second play, 'Vengeance is Mine', Jake gets involved in a restorative justice programme which tries to reconcile a bereaved mother and the woman responsible for killing her daughter. 
 
'The Fire This Time' sees Jake takes on his arch-rival and nemesis Bishop Elias Wright in a battle over the soul of a mentally unstable parishioner, fighting the good fight against homophobia and Islamophobia along the way. 
 
In the final play, 'Nothing Sacred', Jake counsels a policeman who has lost his memory of a fatal blaze. Meanwhile Jake's father, Isaac, is slipping into dementia and seems intent on wreaking revenge on the whole world, particularly his own son. 
 
Starring Lenny Henry, Danny Sapani and Jenny Jules. Written by Peter Jukes. Producers: Steven Canny and Mary Peate. Executive Producer: Simon Elmes.

Bad Faith: The Complete Series

A Series of Four Plays - Bad Faith, Vengeance Is Mine, The Fire this Time, Nothing Sacred

Rory Robinson

A BBC Radio 4 drama written by Rony Robinson and directed by Pauline Harris.   Julia and David work together in the family archives. One day a mysterious envelope arrives for David, with letters from 43 women, all answering a lonely hearts advert he didn't place!   Starring David Calder as David, Barbara Marten as Julia, Helen Flanagan as Miranda and Sacha Dhawan as Ruskin.   First broadcast on 4 January 2011.

43 Letters

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation

John Mortimer

When Lewis Luby (Jeremy Irons) comes to, late at night in an Italian hospital, he finds himself lying under the monstrous big toe of God. Surely there has been some mistake: Luby, who has never for one moment believed in the immortality of the soul, cannot possibly be in heaven!  John Mortimer had the idea for 'Mr Luby's Fear of Heaven' when he first visited the Santa Maria della Scala hospital in Siena and saw patients lying in beds under ceilings decorated with 15th-Century frescoes depicting Heaven and Hell. The play was first produced for BBC Radio 3 in 1976, with John Gielgud in the title role. Later that year it was presented on stage as part of a double bill 'Heaven and Hell', with Denholm Elliot as Luby.  This BBC Radio 4 'Afternoon Play' production, starring Jeremy Irons as the protagonist, was first broadcast 31 December 2008 and repeated 15 February 2011. Stephen Critchlow, Marsha Fitzalan, Chris Pavlo, Donnla Hughes, Dan Starkey and Flaminia Cinque also feature amongst the cast.

Mr Luby's Fear Of Heaven

Trevor Preston

A BBC Radio 4 semi-autobiographical play by BAFTA award-winning writer Trevor Preston, telling the story of Charlie, who suddenly re-discovers the passion and energy of his youth. 'Small Acts of Kindness' was originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 15 March 2011.  In the late 1950s Charlie was a violent and uncontrollable entrant to art school. His teacher changed the course of his life. 'Small Acts of Kindness' catches up with Charlie as his mentor's death shifts everything once more. In his late sixties and with his writing career all but dried up, Charlie starts to paint again. Invigorated, he spends his free time supporting his contemporaries who have found themselves alienated and impoverished by modern life. Soon it is not just his desire to paint that is revived...  Starring Stephen Greif as Charlie, and also featuring Ann Beach, Susan Penhaligon, Joanna Monro, Sean Baker, Gethin Anthony, Sally Orrock and Christine Kavanagh amongst the cast.

Small Acts Of Kindness

Simon Passmore

A fast-paced psychological thriller from BBC Radio 4's 'Saturday Play' slot, originally broadcast 26 March 2011.  A city banker is found dead in an opulent apartment. At the funeral, his former girlfriend Helen is unexpectedly questioned about when she last saw him. Did he mention computer files, or give her anything as a keepsake? Helen's suspicions mount as she retraces his last movements. Her discoveries put her in the firing line...  A taut, character-driven conspiracy thriller, writhing with twists and heavy on menace, by one of radio's leading writers of thrillers, Simon Passmore. 'Leverage' stars Claire Foy, Blake Ritson, Charlie Cox, Sally Orrock, Joanna Monro, Nyasha Hatendi and Sean Baker.

Leverage (BBC Radio 4 The Saturday Play)

Lou Ramsden

Hazel (Kathryn Hunt) spends her life describing plays for visually impaired people. But when she starts to describe the real world to her new friend Davy (Nicholas Boulton), is she giving an accurate picture of the world around her? She's looking for an escape from the pressures of looking after her disabled mother, but is she looking in the right place?   'Pouring Poison' was written by Lou Ramsden after spending time with audio describers in London theatres, and also stars Jonathan Keeble, Alison Pettitt, Marian Kemmer and Dan Hagley amongst the cast.

Pouring Poison

Noël Coward

Laura Jesson is a happily married woman until a chance encounter in a train station café draws her to Dr Alec Harvey. Literally bumping into each other brings temptation, danger and guilt into their lives, and a doomed love affair ensues...   A classic love story, 'Brief Encounter' was made into a much-loved and hugely successful film in 1945, starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard.   This 2009 adaptation is faithful to Coward's original screenplay and features a distinguished cast including Jenny Seagrove and Nigel Havers.

Brief Encounter

Louise Ramsden

A BBC Radio 4 drama by Louise Ramsden, based on Seaneen Molloy's blog 'The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive', her account of learning to live and love with bipolar disorder. Originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 8 May 2009.  Facing life as a newly-diagnosed manic depressive, Seaneen fears that Rob has become more nurse than boyfriend, and begins to wonder if the only way to save a brilliant relationship is to leave it. The play charts her determination to cope with her illness and to live life independently.  Starring Séainín Brennan as Seaneen and Joseph Kloska as Rob. Also featured in the cast are Janice Acquah, Toni Midlane and Philip Fox. Comments from the blog are read by members of the Radio Drama Company. Except for Seaneen and Rob, all the characters are fictional. 'The Do's and Don'ts for the Mentally Interesting' was directed by Fiona Kelcher.

The Dos And Don'ts For The Mentally Interesting

Julia Blackburn

Julia Blackburn's play captures the warm, heartfelt and comic story of the Victorian poet and painter Edward Lear's lifelong friendship with his eccentric Greek servant, Giorgio, who inspired him to address the painful truths in his life while making us laugh. Stars Andrew Sachs as Edward Lear and Alexi Kaye-Campbell as Giorgio Kokalis. Also featured in the cast are Mark Meadows, Ross McKendrick, James Rastall and Kim Hicks. Directed by Mary Ward-Lowery. The Need for Nonsense was originally broadcast on 9 February 2009, and repeated on 17 January 2011.

The Need For Nonsense

Stephanie Dale

A BBC Radio 4 drama by Stephanie Dale, originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 10 January 2011.  When art teacher Rachel, walking home festooned with end-of-term gifts from her pupils, bumps into Tyrone on his first day in London it is the beginning of a passionate love affair. Soon it makes sense for Tyrone, now working as a chef in a local up-market cafe, to move into Rachel's flat. But it's not long before there are tiny bits of grit starting to despoil the love oyster. As things get more serious, issues of control, jealousy, trust and violence rise to the surface in this thriller exploring a lesser-known side of domestic abuse.  'Believe Me' stars Naomi Frederick as Rachel and Alex Lanipekun as Tyrone. Also included in the cast are Leah Brotherhead, Sally Orrock, Lloyd Thomas and Sean Baker. Directed by David Hunter.

Believe Me

Karen Laws

Fiona Evans

A BBC Radio 3 drama that was developed with a community group in Byker, Newcastle which takes a journey into the reality of neglect as one child's life spirals out of control. Originally broadcast as part of the 'Drama on 3' collection on 25 October 2009.  In a fractured society Lives a fractured family. In their fractured home Lies a fractured body.  Recorded in front of an audience as part of the 'Free Thinking 2009' Festival of Ideas at The Sage in Gateshead, this hard-hitting play explores how a tragedy can unfold right before the eyes of a child's family and carers.  'Beware the Kids' stars Matthew McNulty as Mark and Rosie Stancliffe as Jaden. Also featured amongst the cast are Judi Earl, Jane Holman, Tony Neilson and Max Watson. Written by Karen Laws and Fiona Evans, and directed by Kate Rowland.

Beware The Kids (BBC Radio 3 Drama On 3)

Kwame Kwei-Armah

In 2010, the 30th anniversary year of the Independence of Zimbabwe, BBC Radio 4 commissioned two Friday Plays from leading writers. The first play, ‘God's President: Mugabe of Zimbabwe’ by Kwame Kwei-Armah, tells the story of the tense negotiations around the Lancaster House Conference, and the road to Zimbabwe's Independence.  On 4th March 1980 the Shona majority in Rhodesia was decisive in electing Robert Mugabe to head the first post-independence government as Prime Minister. Six weeks later, on April 18th, Zimbabwe celebrated its first Independence Day.  There were three months of talks in the lead up to independence and following these, on the 21st December 1979, the Lancaster House Agreement finally brought independence to Rhodesia following Ian Smith's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965.  Margaret Thatcher's government had invited Bishop Muzorewa and Ian Smith, and the leaders of the Patriotic Front, led by Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe to participate in a Constitutional Conference at Lancaster House in London, to be chaired by the foreign secretary, Lord Carrington.  The purpose of the Conference was to discuss and reach agreement on the terms of an Independence Constitution, and to ensure that elections should be supervised under British authority to enable Rhodesia to proceed to legal independence and the parties to settle their differences by political means.  Starring Lucian Msamati as Robert Mugabe, Danny Sapani as Edgar Tekere and Chuk Iwuji as Bishop Muzorewa. Also amongst the cast are Richard Cordery, Tony Bell, Jude Akuwudike, William Gaminara, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Ben Onwukwe, Lloyd Thomas, Sean Baker, David Seddon and Alison Pettit. Directed by Jeremy Mortimer.

God's President Mugabe Of Zimbabwe (BBC Radio 4  Friday Play)

J B Priestley

The Birling family are spending a happy evening celebrating the engagement of Sheila Birling to Gerald Croft - a marriage that will result in the merging of two successful local businesses.  Yet just when everything seems to be going so well, they receive a surprise visit from an Inspector Goole who is investigating the suicide of a young girl.   As the Inspector reveals more about the circumstances that led to the death of Eva Smith, each member of the family comes under the spotlight, and questions of guilt and responsibility are raised...   Toby Jones, David Calder, Frances Barber and Morven Christie are amongst the cast in this BBC Radio 4 production from 2010.   The Classic Radio Theatre range presents notable radio productions of much-loved plays by some of the most renowned playwrights, and starring some of our finest actors.

An Inspector Calls (Classic Radio Theatre)

Anton Chekhov

Madame Ranyevskaya and her daughter Anya have returned home from Paris to discover that their family estate – which includes their beloved cherry orchard – has to be sold to cover the family’s debts. They believe a miracle can save their orchard. But will their stubborn pride and fond, childhood memories be enough?   Chekhov’s tragic-comedy is about the passing of an era and is a timeless study of a Russian aristocratic family desperately clinging to the past.   Among the star cast in this 1974 production are Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, Sinéad Cusack, Anna Massey, Patricia Routledge and Andrew Sachs.

The Cherry Orchard

A BBC Radio 3 full-cast dramatisation of Shakespeare’s classic ‘Cymbeline’, starring Bill Wallis. Originally broadcast in December 2006 as part of the ‘Drama on 3’ collection.  Shakespeare's play, set during the Roman invasion of Britain, centres around the banishment of the man who has incurred the wrath of the king by secretly marrying his daughter. Confusion follows in an intricate plot in which nobody is quite who they seem to be.  Featuring Bill Wallis as Cymbeline, Nia Roberts as Imogen, William Houston as Posthumus, Siân Phillips as the Queen and Andrew Wincott as Iachimo. Also stars Russell Gomer, Joseph Kloska, Gareth Armstrong, Christian Shaw, Meilyr Sion, John Labanowski, Richard Elfyn, Dorien Thomas and Manon Edwards. Directed by Alison Hindell.

Shakespeare's Cymbeline

Laurence Marks

Maurice Gran

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast drama by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. Originally broadcast in the ‘Saturday Play’ slot on 8 November 2008.  Wine shop owner Gerald desperately needs money: his business is failing and the landlord has raised the cost of the lease. When he inherits a watch that used to belong to wartime Nazi Joachim Von Ribbentrop he believes that his financial troubles are over. But it sparks conflict with his wife and brother, who question the ethics of the potential sale.                         Gerald is played by Allan Corduner, Ruth by Harriet Walter, Lila by Miriam Margolyes, David by Nicholas Woodeson and Sasha by Sophie Winkleman. Produced by Sally Avens.

Von Ribbentrop's Watch (Bbc Radio 4 Saturday Play)

Chris Harrald

Chris Harrald's Sony Radio Academy Award-winning play takes a light-hearted look at a chaotic day in the life of an emerging poet.  One morning in September 1957, Philip Larkin receives a very official looking letter which sends him into a spin. The events that unfold provide a delicious insight into Philip’s character, with a tremendous sense of period.  The Sony Gold citation said: 'Assured direction, excellent performances and concise, skilfully-researched writing all made this deceptively straightforward story a masterpiece. Funny and touching by turns, a single, seemingly insignificant incident in the life of Philip Larkin brought out the humanity and humour of a poet whose personal life is not commonly associated with either.'  Starring Adrian Scarborough as Philip Larkin with a cast including Anne Reid, Lynne Verrall, Stephen Critchlow and Chris Pavlo.

Mr Larkin's Awkward Day

A Sony Radio Academy Award-Winning Play

'For myself/ I knew as soon as I could read and write/ That I must be a poet. Even today,/ When all the way from Cambridge comes a wind/ To blow the lamps out every time they're lit/ I know that I must light mine up again.' From his earliest boyhood memories of Highgate and Archibald, his old stuffed bear, through to his undergraduate years at Oxford and his early career, John Betjeman’s unique narrative style poignantly describes the pains and pleasures of growing up. In the much-loved tones of Sir John himself, this magnificent autobiography in verse captures the voice of the late Poet Laureate. ‘Summoned by Bells can hardly help being a landmark... one seems to be living his childhood and boyhood with him’ - Stephen Spender.

Summoned By Bells A Life In Verse

Sir John Betjeman was one of the best-known and loved Poet Laureates. Even after his death, his popularity continues to garner acclaim and new admirers. Fortunately, he left behind a legacy of poetry readings and performances in the BBC archives that can be enjoyed in this comprehensive collection.   Selected from over thirty years of radio and television programmes, this compilation includes the very best of his performances and the most popular of his poems, among them 'Metro-land';  'A Subaltern’s Lovesong'; 'Diary of a Church Mouse'; 'In a Bath Teashop'; 'Pot Pourri from a Surrey Garden'; 'Youth and Age on Beaulieu River'; 'Trebetherick'; 'Myfanwy at Oxford'; 'Back from Australia' and 'Death at Leamington'.

Betjeman's Britain Poems From The BBC Archive

Black Star Series

Blacklist

Set inside Blandings Castle, this comedy series follows Lord Emsworth and his pig Empress as they meet with his dysfunctional family and friends, and the havoc that follows.

Blandings

Blandings Castle

Blood City Rollers

Bloodlines

Blossom Street

Blue Ant

Bluey

Bodyguard

Bodyguard Series

Bollocks to Alton Towers

Book of Dust Series

Borderlands

Born Wicked

Boudica: the last defender of the Celtic culture; the only woman openly to have led her warriors into battle; the only British warrior to have stood against the might of Imperial Rome - and triumphed. 
 
This is her story.

Boudica

Boy Soldier

Brain Chemicals

Brave Bunnies

Bridge

Bridget Jones's Diary

Brief Encounters

Bright Young Things

Brotherband

Arthur Bryant and John May are Golden Age detectives living in the modern world. Together they head up the Peculiar Crimes Unit, ready to solve any of the weird and wonderful crimes that fall across their desks.

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