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

A. J. A. Symons

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

A. J. Liebling

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

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

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

A. O. Scott

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

A. S. Byatt

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

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

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

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

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

A.E. Waite

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

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A.J. Cronin

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

A.K.Benedict

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

A.L. Kennedy

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

A.M. Ellis

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

A.N. Wilson

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

A.T. Emerald

A.W. Priest

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

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

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

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

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

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

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

Aaron Dignan

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Jim Eldridge

Karl Howman stars in Jim Eldridge's sitcom about a likeable ex-convict trying to turn over a new leaf 
 
Released from prison early, chirpy Cockney conman Terry King is given a chance to find his feet again. His challenge is to breathe new life into a run-down community centre - with the support of Sandra Gaines, a social worker with a warm heart but an unhappy past. If he succeeds, he'll prove that rehabilitation is possible. But if he fails, he'll be sent back to jail... 
 
Situated in the middle of a rough council estate, Grove Hill Farm needs a lot of work. The windows are broken, the plumbing's out of action and part of the centre was burned down during a riot. But it's not just the buildings that could use some TLC - the community's pride needs restoring too. Can Terry get the locals to come together and make the centre a neighbourhood hub again? He's got big plans - concerts, dances, bingo - but first he must raise the funds, and win over the residents... 
 
As he uses his charm and his con artist skills to start turning the place around, he finds himself growing closer to Sandra, and love slowly blossoms between the two of them. But will Terry be able to stay out of trouble - and out of prison? And as the end of his sentence approaches, will he and Sandra finally get together? 
 
Created by Jim Eldridge, whose numerous radio credits include King Street Junior and Albert &amp; Me, this feel-good comedy drama stars Karl Howman (Brush Strokes, EastEnders) as Terry and Phyllis Logan (Lovejoy, Downton Abbey) as Sandra. 
 
Production credits 
Written by Jim Eldridge 
Directed by Marilyn Imrie and David Hitchinson 
Music: Jacqueline Dankworth and Harvey Brough 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 January-2 March 1999 (Series 1), 26 July-30 August 2000 (Series 2), 12 October-16 November 2001 (Series 3) 
 
Cast 
Terry King - Karl Howman 
Sandra Gaines - Phyllis Logan 
Steve Addison - Ben Crowe 
Mr Wade/Harry Howard/Bert Higgs/Mr Addison - Geoffrey Whitehead 
Mr Preston - David Holt 
George - Chris Pavlo 
Whizzer/Sam Stone/Police officer/Don Gaines - Giles Fagan 
Hobb/Ed Bayliss - Harry Myers 
Ellie Higgs - Priyanga Elan 
Woman on the estate - Frances Jeater 
Supt. Anne Robinson - Rachel Atkins 
Gail Gaines - Victoria O'Donnell/Jennifer Wheelan 
Mrs Watson - Ann Beach 
Mrs Barnes - Jillie Meers 
Mick/Mr Evans - Gavin Muir 
Keith/Jerry - David Thorpe 
Annie - Alison Pettitt 
Mavis - Tilly Vosburgh 
Warren/Scaggs - Clinton Mullings-Dodson 
Mrs Wilson - Maggie McCarthy 
Ernie/Mr Marsden - Roger Walker 
Miss Graham/Mrs Baxter - Richenda Carey 
Marlene - Hetty Baynes 
Andrew - Tom George 
Pianist at concert - Peter Ringrose 
Mrs McKendrick - Sandra Voe 
Drunk man/Barman - Ewan Bailey 
Netball player - Helen Longworth 
Girl at club - Sarah Paul 
Matt - Ray Lonnen 
David - Sean Baker 
Wendy Wilson - Clare Corbett 
Matthew - George Allonby 
Mary - Elaine Claxton 
Mrs Barnes/Pauline - Carolyn Pickles 
Wally - Carl Prekopp 
 
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Coming Alive: The Complete Series 1-3

A BBC Radio 4 Comedy drama

Vince Powell

All three series of the BBC radio comedy about the turbulent relationship of an odd couple 
 
Dithering undertaker's assistant Bernard Pringle has finally got engaged to his sweetheart, Iris Bickerdyke - but Iris still has to persuade her fiancé to buy her a ring. And goodness knows when he'll manage to get her down the aisle... 
 
The course of their true love runs rather less than smooth in these 20 episodes, as a trip to the cinema turns into an off-screen disaster, Iris faces competition in the shape of new office secretary Crystabelle, and Bernard is all at sea after he's asked to scatter a client's ashes. There are problems with their parents too, as Iris's mum Daisy is conned out of her inheritance and Bernard's dad Wilf is caught with his guard - and his trousers - down. But as father and son stride to the crease in the annual cricket match, Bernard finds himself just 22 yards from glory - can he save the day? 
 
Written by Vince Powell, who scripted a string of successful TV sitcoms including For the Love of Ada, Bless This House and Here's Harry for Harry Worth, this warm-hearted comedy stars Gorden Kaye ('Allo 'Allo!) as Bernard and Su Pollard (Hi-de-Hi!) as Iris. 
 
Written by Vince Powell 
Produced by Mike Craig 
 
Cast 
Iris - Su Pollard 
Bernard - Gorden Kaye 
Wilf - David Ross 
Daisy - Paula Tilbrook/Marlene Sidaway 
Mr Foley/Police Sergeant - Peter Wheeler 
Mr Matthews - John Jardine 
Miss Parker/Myrtle/Doreen/Crystabelle - Julie Higginson 
Tommy/Mr Cameron - Roger John-Lee 
Other parts played by members of the cast 
 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 2, 11 February-1 April 1993 (Series 1), 3 December 1994-12 January 1995 (Series 2), 18 January-22 February 1996 (Series 3)

For Better Or For Worse: The Complete Series 1-3

A BBC Radio comedy drama

Isy Suttie

The Sony Award-winning comedian and Peep Show star talks life and love 
 
Isy Suttie is our guide to all things love-related in these five fantastic series. Come with her as she shares her relationship stories, talks about the couples she's tried to bring together, evokes bittersweet memories of her childhood and adolescence, and shares a couple of the weird and wonderful things that give her pleasure. 
 
In her award-winning show Isy Suttie's Love Letters, she recounts love stories affecting people she's known, intertwined with anecdotes and songs about her own disastrous romantic life and eventual happiness. 
 
Isy Suttie's Guide to Love and Romance sees her chatting to friends and partner Elis James, and sourcing extracts from The Listening Project, to paint a picture of love in the 21st Century - from first loves and Valentines to hook-ups and break-ups. 
 
And in Isy Suttie's Guide to the Family, she returns to her teenage home town, Matlock, for a celebration of family life and growing up. Along the way, she reminisces with old friends in The Shoe Box of Memories, and treats us to some classic BBC comedy from Sarah Millican's Support Group, After Henry, Old Dog and Partridge and Not in Front of the Children. 
 
Ever since she was little, Isy has experienced something she calls 'head squeezing' - a euphoric, incredibly relaxing version of goosebumps that starts around her scalp and spreads down her arms. Its official name is ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response), and in Brain Tingles, she investigates this mysterious phenomenon, chatting to scientists and fellow 'ASMRians' to explore why it happens and whether it can play a role in creativity. 
 
Finally, in While My Guitar Gently Bleeps, Isy takes a nostalgic look at chiptune: the catchy, evocative videogame music of the 1980s and '90s that she loved as a geeky kid. She meets the musicians using joysticks and old computers to create unique electronic tunes - and even tries her hand at writing her own digital classic... 
 
 
Isy Suttie's Love Letters 
Written and performed by Isy Suttie 
Pilot ('Pearl and Dave') first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 11 January 2012 
Produced by John Pocock 
Series 1 first broadcast BBC Radio 4 Extra, 1-22 April 2013 
Produced by Lianne Coop 
Series 2 first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 April-21 May 2014 
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner 
 
Isy Suttie's Guide to Love and Romance 
Written and performed by Isy Suttie 
Produced by Stephen Garner 
Featuring 'Valentine's Day' by John Osborne (2013) and extracts from The Listening Project 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4 Extra, 10 February 2018 
 
Isy Suttie's Guide to the Family 
Written and performed by Isy Suttie 
Produced by Stephen Garner 
Featuring The Shoebox of Memories and episodes from Sarah Millican's Support Group, After Henry, Old Dog and Partridge and Not in Front of the Children 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4 Extra, 5 December 2015 
 
Brain Tingles 
Presented by Isy Suttie 
Produced by Nicola Swords 
With Joe Lycett, Rhodri Marsden, Zoe Fothergill, Charlotte Luke, Claire Tolan, Dr Nick Davis, Dr Tom Hostler, Dr Giulia Poerio, Theresa Veltri 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 24 December 2015 
 
While My Guitar Gently Bleeps 
Presented by Isy Suttie 
Produced by Benn Cordrey 
With Aoife Wilson, Steve McNeil, Andrew Schartmann, Graeme Booth, Rob Hubbard, Ben Daglish, Joe Bleeps, Jesper Holm and Søren Trautner Madsen from the band Press Play On Tape, and performers and customers at Manchester's SuperByte Festival 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 7 June 2016

Isy Suttie’s Love Letters & Other Matters of the Heart

The complete series 1 and 2 of the award-winning BBC Radio comedy

Jan Etherington

The first six episodes of the BBC radio comedy drama about a couple who have been married for over 40 years but are still passionate about life, love and each other 
 
Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam play a married couple who met in the Summer of Love and have stayed together ever since. Children of the Sixties, they are still free spirits, drawn together by their love for music and one another. 
We follow their conversations from the café to the kitchen table, taking in everyday chores, dealing with problems with long-held friendships and tackling their frustrations with each other. With warmth, wit and honesty, they talk about the indignities of ageing (he has a dodgy knee and is on statins, she resents her new, tri-focal glasses), their desire to still be seen as attractive and their fears and vulnerabilities around growing older. 
 
There's jealousy and talk of affairs, confessions are made and long-held secrets are unearthed - but underlying it all is their enduring love for each other and their desire to keep the passion alive. 
 
Written by award-winning comedy writer and journalist Jan Etherington, and based on her own 35-year marriage, this gentle comedy will ring a bell with couples of all ages. 
 
Starring Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam 
Produced by Claire Jones 
A BBC Studios Production 
 
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Conversations from a Long Marriage

A BBC Radio 4 comedy drama

Marcy Kahan

Stephen Mangan and Claire Skinner star in all five series of the popular BBC Radio 4 comedy drama. 
 
Bill works as an economist in a right-wing institute giving succour to bankers and businessmen. Bella is a confirmed socialist who teaches yoga and waters the plants in Canary Wharf. Years ago they shared a flat before Bill got married and moved to America. Now he's back and feeling a little off-kilter, so he decides to rekindle his friendship with Bella. 
 
Once a month they get together for lunch, where they talk about everything from politics to Proust, parenting and the perils of online dating. The only thing they never discuss is how much they love each other.... 
 
In Marcy Kahan's delightful "platonic romantic comedy", we join Bill and Bella as they meet, eat and disagree about everything; and over the course of five series, we learn their hopes and dreams and listen in as their lives change direction and come together. 
 
Cast and credits 
Bill..........................Stephen Mangan 
Bella......................Claire Skinner 
 
Written by Marcy Kahan 
Produced and directed by Sally Avens 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 15-19 July 2013 (Series 1), 22-26 September 2014 (Series 2), 11-15 May 2015 (Series 3), 18-22 July 2016 (Series 4), 24-28 July 2017 (Series 5) 
 
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Lunch: The Complete Series 1-5

The hit BBC Radio 4 Comedy Drama

Gavin Petrie

All four series of the BBC radio comedy drama about a couple experiencing love for the second time – plus special festive episode The Fight Before Christmas 
 
Bill and Faith are both divorcees, late in love but new to each other. As they battle to forge a relationship together, they discover that the course of true love doesn’t always run smoothly. 
 
In these 31 episodes, they move in together, plan a wedding and deal with the challenges of married life – all the while trying to balance the demands of Gavin’s ex-wife, Liza, and her teenage children, Hannah and Joe. From bickering about the kids to worrying about money, trying to find time for romance and dealing with feelings of jealousy, the duo’s relationship comes under fire from all sides. Can they make love work the second time around? 
 
Inspired by the real lives of its writers, husband and wife Jan Etherington and Gavin Petrie, this funny, bittersweet sitcom was adapted for ITV where it ran for five seasons and was followed by an equally successful sequel, Faith in the Future. It stars Lynda Bellingham as Faith and James Bolam as Bill. 
 
Written by Jan Etherington and Gavin Petrie 
Produced by Pete Atkin (Series 1), Sioned Wiliam (Series 2) and Paul Schlesinger (Series 3 and 4 and The Fight Before Christmas) 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4: 3 November-22 December 1988 (Series 1), 31 October-19 December 1989 (Series 2), 9 April-28 May 1991 (Series 3), 18 June-23 July 1992 (Series 4), 25 December 1992 (The Fight Before Christmas) 
 
Cast 
Faith……………………Lynda Bellingham 
Bill……………………James Bolam 
Hilary……………………Celia Imrie/Geraldine Fitzgerald 
Liza……………………Belinda Lang 
Hannah……………………Kelda Holmes/Emma Gregory/Julia Sawalha 
Joe……………………Mark Denham 
Grace/Jill……………………Moir Leslie 
Alex……………………John Samson/Mark Straker 
Ray……………………Nicholas Courtney/Ian Lindsay 
Ted/Mr Burrows……………………Norman Bird 
Treadwell……………………Richard Tate 
Christian/Gideon/Waiter……………………Ian Targett 
Richard……………………John Moffatt/Christopher Good/Geoffrey Whitehead 
Steve……………………Guy Brougham 
Rachel……………………Rebecca Front 
Police Officer……………………Deborah Rowbottom 
Dennis……………………Brian Bowles 
Mr Roper……………………Danny Schiller 
Marjorie……………………Jo Kendall 
Registrar……………………John Baddeley 
Video Man……………………Richard Tate 
Cabbie……………………Ben Onwukwe 
Gina……………………Danielle Allen 
Kevin……………………Mark Straker/David Learner 
Karel Cerny……………………Nigel Carrington 
Clayton……………………David Learner 
Chris……………………Peter Gunn 
Louise……………………Melanie Hudson 
Course Leader/Duncan……………………Nick Murchie

Second Thoughts

Series 1-4 of the BBC Radio 4 sitcom

Jeremy Front

Jack &amp; Millie is the brainchild of Jeremy Front who, with his sister Rebecca Front had been improvising these two characters for years - and now they’ve been brought to life in a new show... 
 
 
This new comedy show written by Jeremy Front (writer of the Charles Paris mysteries for Radio 4) and starring Jeremy Front and Rebecca Front as Jack &amp; Millie Lemman - an older couple who are fully engaged with contemporary life whilst being at war with the absurdities of the modern world... 
 
 
The show also features Millie’s frenemy Shirley - played by Tracy-Ann Oberman, Jack’s all-too-easygoing friend Harry (Nigel Lindsay), their high-pressure son Melvin (Harry Peacock) and their high-maintenance (and Catholic) (and French) daughter-in-law Delphine (Jenny Bede - most recently heard in an episode of “John Finnemore’s Double Acts” alongside Mathew Baynton). 
 
 
Jeremy Front, Rebecca Front ,Tracy-Ann Oberman, Nigel Lindsay, Sue Kelvin, Adam G Goodwin and Llewella Gideon star in the first episode – “Death And The Maven” -, where Film Club Leo dies suddenly, Jack &amp; Millie have to make a choice between good behaviour and cheesecake... in this new comedy starring Jeremy and Rebecca Front 
 
In Episode 2, entitled “Special Lunch” and starring Jeremy Front, Rebecca Front, Harry Peacock, Jenny Bede and Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong, Jack &amp; Millie have a son. And Melvin has an app. And Melvin’s wife, Delphine has a dog. And Daniel Craig has both his eyebrows. A Special Lunch turns into a Totteridge tale of decking, Bond, beef tomahawks and a married lifetime’s-worth of verbal sparring... 
 
Show 3, and Jeremy Front, Rebecca Front, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Nigel Lindsay, Rebecca Gethings, Naz Osmanoglu and Luke Sumner star in “Deliver Us From Ebay” - Jack &amp; Millie discover the 11th Commandment - Thou shalt not try and please a son’s scary ex-girlfriend. And what’s really in the mysterious neighbour’s packages...? 
 
Episode 4 stars Jeremy Front, Rebecca Front, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Nigel Lindsay, Harry Peacock, Jenny Bede and Lauren O' Rourke in “The Kids Are Alright” - All grandkids make mistakes. But only Jack &amp; Millie’s do it quite so loudly and on video... 
 
And in the bonus Pilot edition, “Kafka Died At 39”, a phone, a strudel &amp; Franz Kafka combine to make Jack &amp; Millie’s day rather complicated in this new comedy about an older couple getting to grips with a French daughter-in-law, gassy beer, Eye-Closing Leon and a married lifetime’s-worth of verbal sparring... 
 
 
The show comes from Pozzitive, proud producers of Cabin Pressure, Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones!, Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, The Brig Society, The Castle, Armando Iannucci’s Charm Offensive, Shush! &amp; Kevin Eldon Will See You Now...

Jack & Millie

The BBC Radio 4 comedy

Jason Hazeley

Joel Morris

Agendum: Series 1

The BBC Radio 4 current affair pardody

Anne Tyler

Captivating BBC radio adaptations of three of Anne Tyler’s bestselling novels 
 
Award-winning author Anne Tyler is loved worldwide for her fiction exploring the intricacies of marriage and domesticity. These three acclaimed books, each set in Baltimore, describe the small triumphs and tragedies of everyday American family life, as relationships are made and broken, and families come together, drift apart, hurt and heal each other. 
 
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (Tracks 1 and 2) 
Abandoned by her salesman husband, Pearl Tull attempts to keep her family together – but her anger and fierce maternal energy has damaging effects on her three children. 
 
Ladder of Years (Tracks 3 and 4) 
An unexpected romantic encounter in the grocery aisle is the beginning of a new adventure for homely Delia Grinstead, leading her to make a sudden, impulsive change in her life. 
 
The Amateur Marriage (Tracks 5 and 6) 
We follow the turbulent relationship of Michael and Pauline Anton over sixty years, from their whirlwind romance in 1941, to marriage, parenthood and beyond. 
 
Multi-layered and universal, with details that ring sharply true and characters that are both recognisable and entertaining, these three dramatisations feature a distinguished cast including Barbara Barnes, Lorelei King and Nathan Osgood. 
 
Dramatised by Rebecca Lenkiewicz 
Produced and directed by David Hunter 
 
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant 
Pearl...Barbara Barnes 
Narrator...Lorelei King 
Beck...Nathan Osgood 
Young Cody...Max Baldry 
Young Ezra...Richard Linnell 
Young Jenny/Jane...Eloise Webb 
Cody...Ben Crowe 
Ezra...Simon Lee Phillips 
Jenny...Fenella Woolgar 
Josiah...Matthew Watson 
Harley...David Seddon 
Mrs Payson/Mrs Scarlatti...Joanna Brookes 
Ruth...Amaka Okafor 
Slevin...Will Howard 
Joe/Driver...David Seddon 
Priest/Driver/Dr Vincent...Paul Stonehouse 
Teacher/Driver...Philippa Stanton 
Mr Murphy...Sean Murray 
 
The Ladder of Years 
Delia...Nancy Crane 
Adrian...Ian Conningham 
Sam...Nathan Osgood 
Eliza...Jessica Turner 
Narrator/Woman...Barbara Barnes 
Rosemary/Debbie/Mother/Binky...Rhiannon Neads 
Skipper...David Acton 
Carroll/Clerk...Sam Valentine 
Driscoll/Ramsay/Vernon/Assistant...Mark Edel-Hunt 
Susie...Roslyn Hill 
Mr Maxwell/Nat...David Hounslow 
Linda/Belle...Jane Slavin 
Eliza...Jessica Turner 
Eleanor...Carol MacReady 
Mr Pomfret....Stephen Critchlow 
Noah...Sean McCrystal 
Joel...Sam Dale 
Rick Rack/Telephone Voice...Jude Akuwudike 
 
The Amateur Marriage 
Pauline/Young Pauline...Julianna Jennings 
Michael/George/Pagan...Tom Forrister 
Narrator...Barbara Barnes 
Mrs Anton...Pandora Colin 
Wanda/Lindy/Gina...Sarah Ridgeway 
Mrs Brunek/Mrs Serge/Mrs Barclay/Donna/Marilyn...Sanchia McCormack 
Katie/Karen...Maeve Bluebell Wells 
Mrs Golka/Destiny/Karen...Chetna Pandya 
Mrs Kowalski/Anna/Katie...Georgie Glen 
Officer/Policeman...John Bowler 
John Piazy/Alex/Policeman/Becoming....Finlay Robertson 
Eustace/Dun...David Sterne 
Lindy...Kayla Gal 
George/Pagan...Finn Monteath 
Michael...Ian Porter 
Cabbie...Nicholas Murchie 
Pauline...Sara Stewart 
Pagan...Noel Brooke 
George...David Sturzaker 
Lindy...Jane Slavin 
Pauline...Sara Stewart

Anne Tyler: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Ladder of Years & The Amateur Marriage

Three BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations

Anna Symon

When Ed finds himself sleeping in the spare room he realises he might have to rediscover exactly what love is. But coming up with the correct definition proves harder than he first imagines.  Starring Paul Ritter, Tessa Peake-Jones, Aurelie Ambland, Jonathan Forbes, Peter Polycarpou, and Jane Whittenshaw. Directed by Sally Avens.

The Meaning Of Love

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation

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

Muriel Spark

BBC Radio dramatisations of some of Muriel Spark’s best works, plus bonus episode of The Essay: All Miss Brodie’s Girls 
 
Muriel Spark was one of Scotland’s brightest and most original literary talents. In a career spanning over 60 years, she published over 20 novels, as well as essays, poems and plays. Her work won her numerous awards and honours, and she was made a Dame in 1993 for her services to literature. These nine radio dramas showcase the breadth and variety of her oeuvre, with tales ranging from the humorous to the macabre, and featuring casts including Celia Imrie, Patricia Hodge, Siân Phillips, Mark Straker, Sorcha Cusack and Maggie Service. 
 
In The Girls of Slender Means, it is 1945, and a group of young women are bracing for the future as the world transitions to peace. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie focusses on an inspirational teacher whose illusions are shattered by a tragic betrayal. Based on Spark’s own Edinburgh schooldays in the 1930s, this classic tale was adapted as an Oscar-winning film and chosen as one of the BBC’s 100 ‘Novels That Shaped Our World’. Memento Mori, meanwhile, is a gloriously dark, metaphysical comedy, set among a group of elderly people tormented by an anonymous caller who repeatedly rings with the message ‘Remember, you must die’. 
 
The Vital Spark: The Driver’s Seat tells the tense, disturbing story of Lise, an enigmatic young woman travelling alone to a European city in search of ‘the one’, while The Abbess of Crewe is a sparkling satire on the Watergate affair, centred around a rigged election in a Benedictine convent. A Far Cry From Kensington evokes a witty slice of ’50s London life, as we meet the inhabitants of a rooming-house near South Kensington Underground, and the charming gentlemen and ladies of the shabby but genteel world of publishing. The winner of the 1962 Prix Italia, The Ballad of Peckham Rye is a musical version of Muriel Sparks’ magical realist fable, with lyrics by Spark herself and music by pioneering composer Tristram Cary. Also featured are an adaptation of Bang, Bang, You’re Dead, a short crime story set in Africa; and Spark’s first radio play, the ghost story The Party Through the Wall. Capping off the collection is a bonus programme, The Essay: All Miss Brodie’s Girls, presented by Ali Smith and exploring the many glittering facets of Muriel Spark. 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Muriel Spark 
First published 1957 (The Party Through the Wall), 1959 (Memento Mori), 1960 (The Ballad of Peckham Rye), 1961 (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), 1963 (The Girls of Slender Means), 1970 (The Driver’s Seat), 1974 (The Abbess of Crewe), 1982 (Bang-Bang You’re Dead), 1988 (A Far Cry from Kensington) 
 
Contents 
The Girls of Slender Means 
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 
Memento Mori 
The Vital Spark: The Driver’s Seat 
The Abbess of Crewe 
A Far Cry from Kensington 
The Ballad of Peckham Rye 
Bang, Bang, You’re Dead 
The Party Through the Wall 
The Essay: All Miss Brodie’s Girls 
 
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Muriel Spark: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

Nine Full Cast Dramatisations including The Girls of Slender Means, The Prime of Miss Brodie and more

David Mamet

A collection of dramas by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Mamet 
 
A novelist, playwright, filmmaker and director, David Mamet ranks among America’s most famous living writers. He has penned more than 40 stage plays and over 20 screenplays, won numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Glengarry Glen Ross, and was twice nominated for an Academy Award. Included here is one of his best-known plays, Oleanna, along with five pieces from earlier in his career – all featuring his trademark sharp, edgy dialogue that has come to be known as ‘Mamet-speak’. 
 
Oleanna – University student Carol visits her professor for help, then accuses him of sexual harassment. What follows is an explosive power struggle that threatens to destroy them both… An incendiary exploration of gender, class, education and perception, Mamet’s provocative 1992 play divided audiences, and remains equally controversial today. This compelling adaptation stars Mark Bonnar and Cecilia Appiah, who won an Audio Drama Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Carol. 
 
The Woods – Spending the weekend at a lakeside cabin, a young couple test their relationship to breaking point over a night of storytelling, arguments, passion and violence. Robert Bowman stars as Nick and Lisa Orgolini as Ruth in this brilliant ‘battle of the sexes’ drama. 
 
Joseph Dintenfass – In the New England countryside, Joseph has received visitors for the weekend. Late at night only Claire remains awake with him, and while she seems to offer a sexual relationship, in reality she is seeking something more. David Mamet’s one-act two-hander stars Edward Herrman and Jane Bertish. 
 
Prairie du chien – 1910, and on a night train heading West through Wisconsin, a card game flares into violence, and a haunting story of love, murder and the paranormal unfolds… Starring Lee Montague, Michael Feast, William Hootkin and John Higgins. 
 
The Duck Variations – One of the plays that launched Mamet’s career in the 1970s, this philosophical drama centres around two old men who meet on a bench overlooking the lake in a North American park. Their conversation encompasses not merely the habits of ducks, but also human nature. Cyril Shaps stars as George, with Harry Towb as Emil. 
 
Almost Done – A recollection of a cold walk through the snow leads a young mother-to-be to contemplate the stories she will hand down to her child. Susannah Fellows performs this pensive monologue on time, memory and ageing. 
 Text copyright © 1972 (The Duck Variations), 1977 (The Woods), 1978 (Prairie du chien), 1979 (Almost Done), 1985 (Joseph Dintenfass), 1992 (Oleanna)All rights reservedCast and creditsWritten by David MametOleannaJohn – Mark BonnarCarol – Cecilia AppiahProduced and directed by Gary BrownProduction Co-ordinator: Lorna NewmanSound Design: Sharon HughesTechnical Producer: Alison CraigThe WoodsNick – Robert BowmanRuth – Lisa OrgoliniAdapted and produced by Hilary NorrishProduction Assistant: Joanna HopperJoseph DintenfassJoseph – Edward HerrmannClaire – Jane BertishDirected by Ned Chaillet Prairie du chienThe Storyteller – Lee MontagueCard dealer – Michael FeastGin player – William HootkinsPorter – Joseph MydellListener – Jon HigginsListener’s son – Christopher L MartinDirected by Andy JordanThe Duck VariationsEmil – Harry TowbGeorge – Cyril ShapsDirected by Ronald MasonAlmost DonePerformed by Susannah FellowsProduced by Stuart Owen© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Oleanna, The Duck Variations & more

Six Full Cast BBC Radio Drama Productions

A Private Thriller

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

A Puffin Book

A Ripley Novel

A Slice of the Moon

A Victorian Mystery

A Walk in...

A Women’s Murder Club Thriller

A chef Paul Delamare Mystery

Aberrations

Across the Universe

Actiphons

Adelia Aguilar

Adrian Mole

Adventures in Time

Aftermath

Against War

Age of X

Agent 21

Agent Z

Detective Aidan Waits is a troubled junior detective haunted by his past. Facing an uncertain future, and disconnected from his history, DC Waits and his partner, Detective Inspector Peter 'Sutty' Sutcliffe work on Manchester's streets to uncover the city's worst criminals among the grime of the underworld.

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