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

Aiden Aslin is a British-born resident of Ukraine. Living in Mykolaiv with his fiancé, he joined the Ukrainian marines in 2018 and was called to the frontline ahead of the Russian invasion in February 2022. He was one of over a thousand soldiers who surrendered after the month-long siege at the Mariupol steelworks, whereupon he was singled out for his British passport. His surrender, captivity, treatment and subsequent release received global media attention.

Aiden Aslin

Aiko Bethea is the founder of RARE Coaching &amp; Consulting, a leadership development company that helps aspiring leaders successfully navigate the workplace with more impactful approaches to leadership. She has worked with Fortune 100 companies, research &amp; academic institutes, and global non-profit organisations. Bethea is also Senior Leadership Consultant for the Brené Brown Education &amp; Research Group and was named by Forbes as a leading anti-racism educator. Bethea was a contributing writer in the New York Times bestselling anthology You Are Your Best Thing (2021). Anchored, Aligned, Accountable is her first book.

Aiko Bethea

Ailie Busby

Ailsa McFarlane was born in 1997 in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Snowdonia in the United Kingdom. After leaving school, she studied veterinary science before dropping out to travel the United States and Europe by road. Highway Blue is her first novel.

Ailsa McFarlane

Aimee Bender is the author of the novels The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, a New York Times bestseller, and An Invisible Sign of My Own; and of the collections The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, Willful Creatures and The Color Master. Her work has been widely anthologised and has been translated into sixteen languages. She lives in Los Angeles.

Aimee Bender

Aimé Césaire (1913-2008) was a Martinican poet and politician who played a leading role in the struggle to liberate the French colonies of Africa and the Caribbean. Renowned for co-founding the Négritude movement, Césaire was a pioneer in surrealist poetry. His achievements as a writer were recognised worldwide with awards including the International Nâzim Hikmet Poetry Award, the Laporte Prize, the Viareggio-Versilia Prize for Literature, and the Grand Prix National de Poésie; in 2002, he was made Commander of the Order of Merit of Cote d'Ivoire. His works include the plays A Tempest (1969) and A Season in the Congo (1966), the searing political essay Discourse on Colonialism (1956), and the long poem Return to My Native Land (1950), dubbed "nothing less than the greatest lyrical monument of this time" (Andre Breton).

Aimé Césaire

Aingeala Flannery

Aingelda Ardizzone

Ainsley Harriott is nothing short of a cookery legend; a pioneer in quick and easy home cooking, he has hosted some of the UK's most popular culinary series. His love of food and people, together with his natural curiosity and accessible recipes, make him a much-loved British TV personality. Recent popular ITV shows include Ainsley's Caribbean Kitchen, Ainsley Mediterranean Cookbook, Ainsley's Food We Love and now Ainsley's Good Mood Food.

Ainsley Harriott

Air Fryer UK

Aishling Morgan

Aisling Bea

Aisling Fitzsimons

Aislinn Hunter is the author of a novel, Stay; a collection of stories, What's Left Us; and two collections of poetry, Into the Early Hours and The Possible Past. The World Before Us is her first book of fiction in twelve years. After travelling to London and Edinburgh over the past few years to study for a PhD, Aislinn Hunter now lives and teaches in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Aislinn Hunter

Aiste Gazdar

Ajahn Sumedho

Ajay Chowdhury, the inaugural winner of the Harvill Secker-Bloody Scotland prize, is a tech entrepreneur and theatre director. His children’s book – Ayesha and the Firefish, was published in 2016 and adapted into a musical which premiered in San Francisco. 
 
 
The Waiter (Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month), was published in 2021, and is the first in his critically-acclaimed crime series about Detective Kamil Rahman, an ex-policeman from Kolkata who has moved to Brick Lane in London. It is being adapted for television by Moonage Pictures.The Cook (Guardian Top Crime Books of the Year) was published in May 2022 to excellent reviews and deals with the issue of homelessness. The third book in the series – The Detective (Sunday Times Top Crime Books of the Year) – is about government surveillance and AI. The Spy (Longlisted Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing), the fourth book, sees Kamil infiltrate a terrorist cell. The Shadow (A Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month) is the latest book in the series.

Ajay Chowdhury

Ajaz Ahmed is the CEO of AKQA, the ideas and innovation company he founded aged 21. AKQA today employs over 1,500 people in 15 offices around the world. In 2014 AKQA won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation. Ajaz co-authored Velocity: The Seven New Laws for a World Gone Digital. For essays and thoughts visit http://www.akqa.com/ajaz.

Ajaz Ahmed

Akasha Moon is a professional Tarot reader, medium and vocational healer. Under her other pen name Kala Trobe, she has published Invoke the Goddess and Invoke the Gods with Llewellyn. She's passionate about her subject and believes that, although it can bring about some serious benefits, magic can be a lot of fun.

Akasha Moon

Akiyuki Nosaka (1930-2015) was a novelist, singer, lyricist and former member of the House of Councillors in Japan. Born in Kamakura, Kanagawa, his memories of living through the Second World War – including the loss of his adoptive father in the 1945 Kobe bombings – served as the inspiration for his most famous short stories. In 1967, he won the Naoki Prize for Grave of the Fireflies and American Hijiki, both based on the Japanese experience of the War. Nosaka also wrote erotic fiction, including The Pornographers (1963), and in later life he continued his career as a newspaper and TV journalist, as well as a politician and chanson singer.

Akiyuki Nosaka

Dr Akong Tulku Rinpoche was an experienced meditation master of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He was co-founder of the Samye Ling Tibetan Centre and supervised many other centres in Europe, Africa and Asia. He formed several humanitarian organisations for the aid of refugees, the distressed and the poor and was advisor to a large number of people, including therapists in the UK and Europe. He died in 2013.

Akong Tulku Rinpoche

Akshi Singh is an associate editor at Parapraxis and deputy editor at Critical Quarterly, and is the editor of a special collection of Critical Quarterly presenting new writing on Marion Milner. She collaborates regularly with the Derek Jarman lab, and writes for the London Review of Books. Singh moved to the UK from India to study for a PhD in psychoanalysis and literature with Jacqueline Rose. She is currently training to be a psychoanalyst at the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research.

Akshi Singh

Al Ewing

Al Franken

Al Gore

Al Holloway

Al Murray is a Perrier Award-winning comic, TV personality and, as 'The Pub Landlord', the author of the bestselling The Pub Landlord's Book of British Common Sense and Think Yourself British. Most recently, he has taken on the leadership of the Free United Kingdom Party (FUKP).

Al Murray

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DJ Britton

As Chief Executive of her local council, Robyn has just days to stop recycling being wiped from her ambitious environmental plans. But the credit crunch continues to put pressure on other priorities. Meanwhile, her daughter Afrah provides a safe house for a fiercely committed environmentalist from Eastern Europe.  Written by D. J. Britton and starring Lesley Sharp, Anamaria Marinca, Lizzy Watts, Sam Dale, Ben Askew, Stephen Hogan and Philip Fox. Produced by Pam Marshall.

Welcome To The Wasteland

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation

Simon Brett

Jeremy Front

Charles Paris is his own worst enemy, a louche lush who can resist anything except temptation – especially in the form of women and alcohol. 
 
He’s been out of work so long now he feels he may never get a job and he’s driving Frances, his semi-ex-wife, mad. So when he’s offered a small role in a play, she nearly pushes him out of the door. But it seems that The Message is Murder is such a terrible production that someone wants to kill off the cast. First there is a series of nasty accidents, then someone attempts to stab Charles. Can he find the murderer before they strike again? 
 
Bill Nighy stars as Charles Paris in this entertaining dramatisation by Jeremy Front. 
 
Written by Jeremy Front, based on the novel by Simon Brett. 
 
Duration: 1 hr 50 mins approx.

Charles Paris: Murder in the Title

Gareth Roberts

Somebody’s interfering with time. The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack arrive on modern-day Earth to find the culprit - and discover a Neanderthal Man, twenty-eight thousand years after his race became extinct. Only a trip back to the primeval dawn of humanity can solve the mystery. Who are the mysterious humans from the distant future now living in the distant past? What hideous monsters are trying to escape from behind the Grey Door? Is Rose going to end up married to a caveman? Caught between three very different types of human being - past, present and future - the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack must learn the truth behind the Osterberg experiment before the monstrous Hy-Bractors escape to change humanity’s history forever... This is a gripping adventure featuring the Ninth Doctor as played by Christopher Eccleston, together with Rose and Captain Jack as played by Billie Piper and John Barrowman in the hit series from BBC Television. It is read by Anthony Head, who played Lucas Finch/Brother Lassar in the Doctor Who episode 'School Reunion'.

Doctor Who: Only Human

Eric Saward

The Doctor has regenerated, having sacrificed his fifth persona to save Peri’s life. But things are not going well...   On this occasion the process of regeneration is by no means smooth, for the even-tempered, good-humoured Fifth Doctor has given way to a rather disturbed and unsettled successor.   In a particularly irascible moment the new Doctor comes dangerously close to committing a shocking crime. Overwhelmed with guilt for his violent behaviour, the repentant Time Lord decides to become a hermit...   Colin Baker reads Eric Saward’s complete and unabridged novelisation, first published by Target Books in 1986.

Doctor Who: The Twin Dilemma

Charles Dickens

Mike Walker's adaptation of Charles Dickens's classic tale of family relationships tells the story of Paul Dombey, head of the House of Dombey, who lacks a son and cannot reconcile himself to his only daughter.   First published in monthly parts between October 1846 and April 1848.   Narrated by Alex Jennings. Starring Robert Glenister, Helen Schlesinger, Fenella Fielding, Abigail Hollick, Trevor Peacock, Adrian Lukis, Nicky Henson, Joseph Arkley, Geraldine James, Claire Rushbrook, Nadine Marshall, Sam Pamphilon, Katy Cavanagh, and Lloyd Thomas. Other parts played by Ben Crowe, Alex Lanipekun and Simon Treves. Music by Nicolai Abrahamsen. Directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Jessica Dromgoole.

Dombey And Son

Stan Hayward

Laid-back daydreamer Henry’s Cat gets up to mischief and adventures with the help of his best friend Chris Rabbit. Along with animal friends Mosey Mouse, Douglas Dog, Sammy Snail, Pansy Pig, Denise Duck, Ted Tortoise and Philippe Frog, the gang enjoy all sorts of exciting activities from photography and song-writing to chasing aliens and inventing things! Henry’s Cat spends his days dreaming, having adventures and trying to avoid Constable Bulldog the growling policeman and Farmer Giles who are all too often angered by the gang’s activities. Henry’s Cat loves to sleep and have fun, but most of all he loves to eat! Mike Harding reads these exciting children’s stories written by Stan Hayward. 
 
The Stories are: 
The Letter, The Record, The Restaurant, The Funny Day, The Television Advert, The Magician, The Election, The Photographer, The Cowboy, The Distant Cousin, The Special Treat, A Funny Sort of Christmas, The Superspy, The Extra Special Day (Parts 1, 2 and 3), The Challenge (Parts 1 and 2), The XYZ Files (Parts 1 and 2) and The Treasure Island (Parts 1 and 2).

Henry's Cat (Complete)

Donald Stewart

‘The history of crime detection has produced no more famous name than that of Sexton Blake’William Franklyn stars as paperback hero Sexton Blake, with David Gregory as his assistant Tinker, in four original BBC Radio dramatisations from 1967. Lost from the BBC archives for over 40 years, these rediscovered episodes are presented for the very first time.‘Lilies for the Ladies’: In the first episode of the series, Blake investigates the unexplained murders of four wealthy society women. ‘The Sin-Eater’: An old friend of Blake’s receives a series of cryptic messages written on playing cards. Featuring James Beck (Private Walker, Dad’s Army).‘Bluebeard’s Keys’: Blake is sent a mysterious key in the post. The attached note reads: ‘This is Bluebeard’s first key.’Plus a special bonus episode - ‘Murder on the Portsmouth Road’. In one of Britain’s earliest surviving drama recordings (from 1930), Arthur Wontner stars as Sexton Blake, tracking down a killer on a stormy night.WARNING: Due to the archive and off-air nature of some of the source material, the sound quality may vary.  Also, some of the language on this recording reflects the era in which it was first recorded.

Sexton Blake Lilies For The Ladies & Other Stories

‘The history of crime detection has produced no more famous name than that of Sexton Blake’William Franklyn stars as paperback hero Sexton Blake, with David Gregory as his assistant Tinker, in four original BBC Radio dramatisations from 1967. Lost from the BBC archives for over 40 years, these rediscovered episodes are presented for the very first time.‘The Vampire Moon’: Sexton Blake and Paula Dane are out at a London restaurant, when one of their fellow diners suddenly collapses. His dying words warn of the danger of the Vampire Moon. Featuring Marjorie Westbury (Paul Temple).‘The Fifth Dimension’: Harry Monkton wins £84,000 on the Pools. Then, one day, the phone rings and he disappears‘First Class Ticket to Nowhere’: Lost in the fog, Sexton Blake and his friends stumble across a deserted railway station. Then there’s a gunshotPlus a special bonus episode - ‘Murder on the Portsmouth Road’. In one of Britain’s earliest surviving drama recordings (from 1930), Arthur Wontner stars as Sexton Blake, tracking down a killer on a stormy night.WARNING: Due to the archive and off-air nature of some of the source material, the sound quality may vary.  Also, some of the language on this recording reflects the era in which it was first recorded.

Sexton Blake The Vampire Moon & Other Stories

Geoff Bunn

Dr. Geoff Bunn presents a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe: the brain, in this major ten-part BBC Radio 4 series.Human beings have long been fascinated by the brain and how it fulfils its many functions. This groundbreaking cultural history explores the development of our ideas about the mind from Neolithic times to the present day.Starting with prehistoric trepanation and Ancient Egyptian practices, he then focusses on the ideas of Hippocrates, Galen and early Christian and Islamic scholars. He introduces pioneering scientists such as Thomas Willis and looks at the impact of electricity and evolutionary theory on our understanding of the brain. In addition, he explores the synapse and the part Freud almost played in the history of the brain, reflects on the invention of the EEG, and discovers the impact of neurology on how we understand ourselves today.The series is written and presented by Dr Geoff Bunn of Manchester Metropolitan University. Actors Paul Bhattacharjee and Jonathan Forbes provide the voices of those who have written about the brain across the ages. Actor Hattie Morahan gives the Anatomy Lesson establishing the part of the brain to be highlighted in each episode. The original, atmospheric score is supplied by composer, Barney Quinton. The producer is Marya Burgess.

History Of The Brain, A (Complete)

Natalie Haynes

BBC Radio 4 programme all about the fashion for keeping chickens in your back garden, a hobby which shows no sign of waning.   Natalie Haynes has heard some dark rumours about the true habits of the hen. Can they be true? However her own knowledge is limited entirely to chicken lives in Ancient Rome.     Natalie hears from chicken breeders and keepers; but perhaps the most keen insight is from ornithologist Mark Cocker, who explains how things look from the chickens' own perspective. Poultry and people can be very good for one another, but like any relationship it does require respect!  Last broadcast on 29 March 2011 and produced by Christine Hall.

Attila The Hen

Hugh Costello

A BBC Radio 4 drama by Hugh Costello, about some gripping events at the Vatican.   After the short reign and mysterious death of Pope John Paul I, the election of a new Pope takes place in an atmosphere of high tension between opposing factions.   Including those who want to elect the first non-Italian Pope for over four hundred years!   First broadcast on 25 February 2011. Starring David Calder, Alison Reid, Nicholas Le Prevost, Andrew Hilton, Nigel Anthony, Paul Humpoletz, Paul Nicholson, Christian Rodska, Jonathan Nibbs, Bill Wallis, David Collins, Paul Dodgson, John Sandeman and Kristian Phillips.

Conclave

Jacqueline Rayner

Rose and the Doctor return to present-day Earth, and become intrigued by the latest craze - the video game, Death to Mantodeans. Is it as harmless as it seems? And why are so many local people going on holiday and never returning? Meanwhile, on another world, an alien war is raging. The Quevvils need to find a new means of attacking the ruthless Mantodeans. Searching the galaxy for cunning, warlike but gullible allies, they find the ideal soldiers on Earth. Will Rose be able to save her family and friends from the alien threat? And can the Doctor play the game to the end and win? This is a gripping adventure featuring the Ninth Doctor and Rose, as played by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper in the hit series from BBC Television. It is read by Camille Coduri, who played Rose's mother Jackie Tyler in Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: Winner Takes All

Georges Simenon

Nicholas Le Prevost stars as the French detective in four new BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatizations  These new adaptations of classic stories find Maigret recreating four memorable cases for his creator Georges Simenon.  In ‘Maigret: A Man’s Head’, a convicted man is allowed to escape, then followed by police investigating a double murder. Maigret finds himself entering glittering society and a war of nerves with a suspect.   ‘The Bar on the Seine’ sees a condemned man telling Maigret about a riverside drinking hole where a murderer lurks undetected. Pursuing the clue, Maigret witnesses a death and discovers a much older crime...  ‘My Friend Maigret’ finds Maigret investigating the murder of a tramp on the French island of Porquerolles - but he is hampered by the attentions of Inspector Pyke of Scotland Yard.   Finally, in ‘Madame Maigret’s Own Case’, when Madame Maigret makes a friend outside her dentist’s office, she stumbles upon the resolution of one of her husband’s most stubborn investigations.

Maigret A Man's Head & Other Stories

Four full-cast dramatisations starring Maurice Denham as Inspector Maigret and Michael Gough as his creator Georges Simenon.  'Maigret and the Minister', 'Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets', 'Maigret and Monsieur Charles', and 'Maigret and the Madman of Bergerac'.   Georges Simenon and his masterful inspector, Jules Maigret, look back together over four of their greatest cases   Where is the vital report that holds the key to the fate of the French government? What is the secret behind the mysterious suicide in Bremen? Who is responsible for the sudden disappearance of one of Paris’s best known solicitors? And will the demented double murderer strike again?

Maigret And The Minister & Other Stories

Four gripping dramatisations starring Maurice Denham as Maigret and Michael Gough as his creator Georges Simenon; 'Maigret Goes to School', 'Maigret and the Old Lady', 'Maigret Hesitates' and 'The Patience of Maigret'   The world’s best-known French detective, Jules Maigret, talks to his creator Georges Simenon about four intriguing cases in these full-cast dramatisations that have been specially adapted for radio from the original novels.   There are two trips to the seaside for Maigret as he attempts to help a schoolmaster fight off an unfair charge of murder and soothes the fears of an elderly widow who fears she is about to be poisoned. An anonymous letter throws up a baffling problem: someone is about to be murdered, but who? Finally Maigret’s old bête noire, Manuel Palmari, has been found murdered. Will that help Maigret get to the bottom of his criminal empire at last?

Maigret Hesitates & Other Stories

Four gripping dramatisations starring Maurice Denham as Maigret and Michael Gough as his creator Georges Simenon   'Maigret Goes Home', 'Maigret Sets a Trap', Maigret at the Crossroads' and 'Maigret Has Doubts'   The world’s best-known French detective, Jules Maigret, talks to his creator Georges Simenon about four intriguing cases in these full-cast dramatisations that have been specially adapted for radio from the original novels.   Things are never the same when you go back, as Maigret discovers when an anonymous letter draws him to his place of birth. Montmartre is the scene of his next case, but can Maigret’s carefully prepared approach prevent the latest in a line of serial killings? A murder with unusual characteristics finds Maigret at the remote Three Widows Crossroads, and finally he regrets being forced to suppress his instincts about the indecipherable Josset case.

Maigret Sets A Trap & Other Stories

Four full-cast dramatisations starring Nicholas Le Prevost as Inspector Maigret  ‘The Yellow Dog’ sees Maigret upsetting the citizens of Concarneau as he begins his murder investigation. But there is poison in the Pernod, a howling yellow dog and, it seems, a madman on the loose...    In ‘Maigret and the Burglar’s Wife’, "Sad Freddie" is committing a burglary when he discovers the body of a dead woman, holding a telephone in her hand. Can Maigret believe the burglar’s wife in the face of other evidence?   ‘Inspector Cadaver’ sees Maigret dealing with an old enemy - an ex-police officer nicknamed ‘Inspector Cadaver’, who seems to be doing everything in his power to obstruct Maigret in his investigations.   Finally, in ‘Maigret’s Little Joke’, Maigret and his wife take a secret holiday in Paris. When a murder occurs, Maigret must get his information from the press and radio. How can he leave Janvier to solve the crime alone?

Maigret's Little Joke & Other Stories

William Wordsworth

BBC Radio 4 presents William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem ‘The Prelude’, read by Sir Ian McKellen, directed by Susan Roberts and features specially composed music by John Harle.‘The Prelude’ is arguably the most important piece of poetic writing in our language. Accessible, full of emotion and gripping, the poem is recorded in Wordsworth's home in Grasmere, Cumbria and looks back over events in his early life in Grasmere, Cambridge, France, London and the Alps.Wordsworth believed that poetry should be written in the natural language of common speech, and in that way it was revolutionary in its time.Last broadcast on 14 and 15 May 2011, with music performed by John Harle on Saxophone and Neill MacColl on guitar.

Prelude, The Complete Series (BBC Radio 4 Classical Serial)

Peter Cook

Peter Cook was an exceptional talent - verbally witty, surreally inventive and a true original. The father of modern satire and alternative comedy, he was voted the top comedian of all time in the Channel 4 show The Comedian's Comedian. 
 
In this selection of clips from the BBC archive, Michael Palin trawls Peter Cook's back catalogue for his funniest and silliest moments, including several rare gems that have never been previously broadcast. 
 
Covering Peter Cook's 36-year career, it features all the best interviews, monologues and sketches, including extracts from Beyond the Fringe, monologues from the immortal E. L. Wisty and excerpts from Cook and Moore's taboo-breaking 'Derek and Clive' dialogues. There are also hilarious parodies of Malcolm Muggeridge and Loyd Grossman, radio phone-ins from 'Sven' and various interviews discussing his involvement with Private Eye. 
 
Insightful and irresistible, this is a fascinating exploration of the life and career of a seriously funny man. 
 
Peter Cook In His Own Words features classic comedy extracts which reflect the language and attitudes of their time. 
 
©2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Peter Cook In His Own Words

Guy Adams

John Telfer reads this exciting Torchwood adventure - a prequel to Torchwood: Miracle Day. 
 
When Oscar Lupe appears 20,000 feet up in the air, his body is frozen solid and free-falling to earth. It shatters on impact. Soon after, a CIA Special Activities Division squad goes rogue with a cargo marked ‘Torchwood’ that they’ve been escorting from somewhere called Cardiff. 
 
The Agency puts Rex Matheson on the case. As the strange deaths pile up, Rex realises there must be experimental tech out there, but someone is obstructing him at every turn. Rex is the CIA’s golden boy - but has he met his match in the evasive Mr Wynter…? 
 
Based on the hit series created by Russell T. Davies, The Men who Sold the World is a prequel to Torchwood: Miracle Day, starring John Barrowman and Eve Myles as Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper, with Mekhi Phifer as Rex Matheson. 
 
NB: Contain strong language, sexual references and graphic scenes of violence

Torchwood The Men Who Sold The World

Raymond Chandler

Robert B Parker

Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily. In Poodle Springs, Marlowe is fresh from his honeymoon with heiress Linda Loring, and living a life of idle leisure in the upmarket Californian town of the title. But being a kept man soon loses its charm and, bored and restless, Marlowe sets up shop as an investigator once more. Hired by a local criminal to find a gambler on the run from his debts, he is sucked into a world of bigamy, blackmail and murder... The eighth and final Philip Marlowe novel, Poodle Springs was unfinished at the time of Raymond Chandler’s death in 1959. It remained so for another 30 years, until crime writer Robert B. Parker completed the novel to mark the centenary of Chandler’s birth. Starring Toby Stephens, this entertaining dramatisation by Robin Brooks retains all the pace and intrigue of the original book.

Poodle Springs

Charlotte Jones

A BBC Radio 4 comedy musical drama, ‘The Diva in Me’, written by multi award-winning playwright Charlotte Jones, for the actress and extraordinary mimic Phillippa Stanton, with music woven into the narrative. 
 
Phillipa spends Saturday night eating toast and fantasizing about a boy-man from Southern Electric. She can sing anything from Bjork, to Winehouse, Garland to Gaga, even Shirley Bassey, but why has the world turned it’s back on her? On top of her extraordinary talent, Phillipa discovers the ingredient that will finally make her a truly great diva! 
 
Written by Charlotte Jones. 
Directed by Claire Grove. 
Starring Phillippa Stanton, Stuart McLoughlin as Shadwell, Sally Orrock as Vicki, Daniel Rabin as Gene Kelly, Joanna Monro as Mona and Brian Bowles as Trevor. 
 
Broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 5 May 2011. 
 
 
©2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Diva In Me, The (BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play)

Steve Lyons

In the far future, the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack find a world on which fiction has been outlawed. A world where it’s a crime to tell stories, a crime to lie, a crime to hope, and a crime to dream. But now somebody is challenging the status quo. A pirate TV station urges people to fight back. And the Doctor wants to help until he sees how easily dreams can turn into nightmares. With one of his companions stalked by shadows and the other committed to an asylum, the Doctor is forced to admit that fiction can be dangerous after all. Though perhaps it is not as deadly as the truth. This is a gripping adventure featuring the Ninth Doctor as played by Christopher Eccleston, together with Rose and Captain Jack as played by Billie Piper and John Barrowman in the hit series from BBC Television. It is read by Camille Coduri, who played Rose's mother Jackie Tyler in Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: The Stealers Of Dreams

Glenda Jackson

This fascinating collection of archive interviews with the renowned actress and MP begins with an archive radio interview in 1970 and runs through to a guest appearance on Desert Island Discs in 1997. Along the way Glenda Jackson appears on numerous programmes including Omnibus, Profile, Parkinson, In The Psychiatrist's Chair and Start the Week, during the course of which she discusses her background and early years, women in theatre, and her journey from being a highly successful actress to becoming a Member of Parliament (and Minister of Transport). She also appears on A Chance to Meet Glenda Jackson and In The Hot Seat, where she faces the questions of an invited audience and discusses a wide range of topics. 
 
The included interviews are: radio archive interview (first broadcast 5 August 1970); Omnibus, BBC television (19 September 1971); Profile, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 20 March 1972); A Chance to Meet Glenda Jackson, BBC television (first broadcast 1 October 1972); Parkinson, BBC One (first broadcast 24 November 1973); Parkinson, BBC One (first broadcast 23 October 1976); In The Psychiatrist's Chair, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 31 July 1982); Start the Week, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 9 July 1990); In The Hot Seat, BBC radio (first broadcast 31 August 1990); Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4 (28 December 1997). 
 
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

Glenda Jackson In Her Own Words

Kenneth Williams

This fascinating collection of archive interviews with the much-loved comedy actor and diarist Kenneth Williams begins in 1961, with an appearance on the BBC's Tonight programme, and culminates in 1987 when Kenneth Williams is a guest on Desert Island Discs. Along the way are several interviews on Parkinson, conversation from The John Dunn Show, and a number of radio items in which Williams recalls his childhood in London's East End and his formative years in the Army. Amongst other things he discusses his acting career, personal relationships, the art of keeping a diary, his views on critics, and his first beginnings in radio comedy. 
 
The full list of interviews included are: Tonight, BBC television (first broadcast 4 April 1961); Home This Afternoon, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 15 April 1968); Parkinson, BBC One (first broadcast 17 February 1973); The Time Of My Life, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 23 December 1973); Friday Call, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 1 February 1974); Going Places, BBC television (first broadcast 5 August 1975; Parkinson, BBC One (first broadcast 8 October 1977); The John Dunn Show, BBC Radio 2 (first broadcast 4 February 1983; Outlook, BBC radio (first broadcast 17 September 1985); Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 26 July 1987). 
 
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

Kenneth Williams In His Own Words

Mike Walker

A BBC Radio 4 science fiction adventure by Mike Walker 
 
When five lost souls, recruited by a company to travel to an abandoned planet, all they know is that they are there to retrieve the only known sample of an ore left over from an old mining operation. However, their task becomes considerably more complicated when one of the five has a close encounter with the indigenous plant life which seems to have some very odd, very powerful properties. Soon they are battling not only to stay alive, but to hang on to the very things which make them all human. 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Mike Walker. 
Directed by Marc Beeby. 
With sound design by Pete Ringrose and Colin Guthrie. 
 
Nicola Miles-Wilden as Cally 
Cyril Nri as Intaba 
Clare Perkins as Hudson 
Alex Tregear as JD 
Adeel Akhtar as Hussam 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 19 March 2011 
 
 
©2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Landfall (BBC Radio 4 The Saturday Play)

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

Muhammad Ali

This fascinating collection of archive interviews with Muhammad Ali begins in 1965 with an interview with Harry Carpenter, and culminates with a TV interview with Joanna Lumley in 1989. Along the way Ali makes several famous appearances on Parkinson in the 1970s, and talks to David Frost in The Frost Interview. The 1980s find him answering questions about his impending retirement and rumours that he is suffering from Parkinson's disease. In the course of these appearances he also discusses his fighting career, his frank views on religion and society, his vision of a separate black-only American state, and his lack of formal education. 
 
The interviews included in this collection are I, Cassius, BBC Radio (first broadcast 11 May 1965); Sports View, BBC radio (first broadcast 15 August 1967); The Richest Prize in Sport, BBC television (first broadcast 14 March 1968); Parkinson, BBC One (first broadcast 17 October 1971); The Frost Interview (recorded 1974); Muhammad Ali: Most Boxers Can't Even Talk, BBC television (first broadcast 5 August 1975); archive interview, BBC radio (first broadcast 17 July 1977); Tonight, BBC television (first broadcast 15 January 1979); archive interview, BBC television (first broadcast 19 September 1984) and Wogan, BBC television (first broadcast 1989, hosted by Joanna Lumley). 
 
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2016 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2016 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Muhammad Ali In His Own Words

Deborah Wain

A full-cast BBC Radio 4 Drama about a family torn apart by Alzheimer's disease reconnecting over music 
 
Based on real experiences ‘Notes to Self’ by Deborah Wain is a drama about Alzheimer’s disease, interwoven with recordings of music sessions carried out in care homes and day centres in the UK. 
 
Doreen has been in a care home for two years. Her son Robert visits but finds it hard to have a meaningful relationship with his mother, unlike his partner Karen. A performance at the home, reveals music to have a powerful effect on Doreen - but can it offer an opportunity for Robert to make a new connection with her? 
 
Directed by Nadia Molinari. 
Starring Lina Basset as Doreen, Jeff Hordley as Robert, Cherylee Houston as Karen, Kellie Shirley as Dor, William Ash as Harry and Ruth Alexander-Rubin as the care-assistant. 
Music performed by David Barnard, James Dinsmore and Rebecca Watson, with participants in the Lost Chord music session at The Linney Centre and residents and carers at the Richmond Care Home. 
 
Broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 20 January 2011 
 
 
©2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Notes To Self (BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play)

Terrence Rattigan

This fascinating collection of archive interviews with the acclaimed playwright, whose centenary was celebrated in 2011, begins in 1969 with a radio appearance on Out This Week. It culminates with an interview for Kaleidoscope in 1977, recorded a few months before his death. In between are several major radio features on Rattigan's life and work, in which he discusses the craft of playwriting, the state of commercial theatre, comparisons with Coward and Pinter, his famous 'everywoman' character Aunt Edna, and several of his plays in detail including Flare Path, Cause Celebre, French Without Tears, The Winslow Boy and The Deep Blue Sea. 
 
This collection includes the following interviews: Out of This Week, BBC radio (first broadcast 12 December 1969); Scan, BBC radio (first broadcast 4 January 1973); archive interview, BBC radio (first broadcast 12 February 1974); archive interview, BBC radio (first broadcast 5 September 1975); Kaleidoscope, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 1 December 1977). 
 
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

Terence Rattigan In His Own Words

Detective Harriet Blue Series

Detective Inspector Antonia Hawkins

Detective Inspector Helen Grace

Detective Kamil Rahman

Detective Konrad

Detective Luc Moncrief Series

Dexter Procter

Diary of a Submissive

The adventures of wise-cracking middle school student Greg Heffley who must somehow survive the scariest time of anyone's life: middle school. The hilarious and internationally bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diddly Squat

Dino Dad

Dino Racers

Dinosaur Train

Discworld Graphic Novel Universe

The Discworld is undoubtedly Sir Terry Pratchett's most famous creation. A universe teeming with dwarves, trolls, witches, and social and cultural issues that parallel those in our own world, all wrapped up in Pratchett's inimitable comic delivery. This iconic series will make you laugh, then make you think.

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