Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Arts & Entertainment

Hugo Speer stars as John Stone in the final two series of this gritty, fast-paced crime drama. Manchester detective DCI Stone and his team are faced with more morally challenging cases in these hard-hitting stories. When a dead body is discovered at an inner city hotel DCI Stone is forced to navigate the murky and transient world of catering.

Adapted from Thomas Keneally’s novel The Playmaker, Our Country’s Good tells the true story of the convicts and marines sent to Australia as part of the first penal colony. An eloquent argument for the redemptive power of theatre, Wertenbaker’s classic drama celebrates the beauty of language – in the slang of the criminal classes and the poetry of the play – and at the same time examines how it is used as an instrument of power.

In these series, Rhod Gilbert and Chris Addison introduce a line-up of the best and brightest stand-ups, inviting fresh faces and old hands onstage to display their comic talents. Each programme features three different stars - a newcomer who performs the opening act, an established comedian or double act offering up sketches, musical numbers or character pieces and a final headline artist. There’s some top-notch comedy from the compères, too, as they showcase their funniest routines.

Three BBC radio adaptations of famous novels by the prolific 19th-century author Mrs Oliphant - plus an episode of Reading Aloud, with extracts from her autobiography. Sometimes called ‘the feminist Trollope’, Margaret Oliphant wrote more than 100 works of fiction in a wide variety of genres, ranging from novels of small-town life to historical tales and supernatural stories. Included here are three of her best-loved works, brimming with dry wit, perceptive irony and flawed but fascinating heroines.

The Now Show is a much-loved stalwart of radio comedy. Featuring some of the best and brightest contemporary comedians, this award-winning show takes a satirical look at the news through a mix of stand-up, songs and sketches, as well as interview segments in which experts in their field explain the facts behind the headlines. In these three series, hosts Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by special guests.

Join Donald Macleod, presenter of BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week, as he brings Beethoven vividly to life: from his childhood in Bonn to how he won over the aristocratic music circles of Vienna, from the creation of his timeless works to the tragic loss of his hearing - and everything in between. 

Peter is a devoted husband and man of faith who is called to the mission of a lifetime - one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Beatrice. Hired as a preacher by an enigmatic corporation called USIC, he must leave behind everything he loves to travel to the far distant planet of Oasis, where the company has its base.

Wealthy heiress Anna Delvey was one of the international jetset. Her Instagram account was a window on a glamorous world, filled with art launches, champagne brunches, VIP parties and stays in high-end hotels. Due to come into a $67m trust fund on her 26th birthday, she planned to establish the Anna Delvey Foundation, a multi-million dollar visual-arts centre in the heart of New York and wined and dined the city’s wealthy elite to secure investment for her project.

Gudrun, a young woman in 11th-century Iceland, must forge her path through a world of unearthly beauty yet uncompromising harshness. Lucy Catherine's Viking epic of love, revenge and faith inspired by the Icelandic sagas and starring the original Nordic noir heroine, Gudrun.

Arch-Brutalist Sir Lucien founded his architectural practice on a commitment to brutalist concrete in all its forms. But fashion has been a cruel mistress, and four decades later things are not going well for Sir Lucien and his loyal(ish) employees. With no money and no commissions, times are tough – but it’s onwards and upwards (and upwards again) for the staff, as they go all out to win new contracts, deal with nightmare clients and fight to get their ambitious projects past the planners.

Welcome to Washington, DC's favourite political phone-in show, as multi award-winning comedian (and American citizen) Rich Hall and a selection of comedians from both sides of the Atlantic reflect on the latest political events in the United States. Using a combination of stand-up, sketch and interview, Rich Hall’s (US) Breakdown broadcasts live from the fictional IBBC network in Washington to the whole of America, as Rich and his producer Nick Doody take calls from every corner of the country to hear the concerns of voters.

In series 1, Rhys examines his privileged status, chats to his mum and dad, and reluctantly speaks to a girl he had a crush on in school. He also explores the topic of wisdom in his own unique way, by reading a letter he wrote to his future self at 10 years old. In Series 2, Rhys attempts to become more politically engaged by one week trying out one set of opinions, the next week, another. He asks questions such as why we are not doing more to save the planet, whether Facebook is actually spying on us and whether gender-neutral toilets are really worth it.

Award-winning stand-up Boothby Graffoe presents his individual brand of comedy in BBC radio’s The Big Booth and Boothby Graffoe in No Particular Order. The only British comedian named after a Lincolnshire market town, Boothby Graffoe has won a cult following (and a Time Out Comedy Award) for his surreal stand-up routines and cerebral comic songs. This collection contains his two critically acclaimed BBC Radio 4 comedy series, crammed with great gags, marvellous monologues, straw polls, sketches and ditties.

Join critically acclaimed sketch trio Daphne as they pull out all the stops in a dazzling array of peculiar characters, wacky scenarios, curious observations, minor altercations and major peacemaking - served on a bed of catchy little numbers with a live nine-piece band. It's the show that's got everyone saying 'Who's Daphne?'

Through the medium of open letters, the comedian Tom Wrigglesworth investigates the myriad examples of corporate lunacy and maddening jobsworths in modern Britain. His subjects range from traffic wardens to estate agents, with Tom recalling his own funny and ridiculous experiences, as well as recounting the absurd encounters of others.

Tim Vine and the Great British public are the stars of this side-splitting radio chat show, featuring his trademark wonderful wordplay, quickfire gags and silly songs. Internationally acclaimed master of the one-liner, Tim Vine, travels the length and breadth of Britain on a quest to hear the funny, strange and surprising life stories of his live audience – while simultaneously taking the opportunity to showcase his world-famous jokes and preposterous songs.

Timothy West takes on the role of Rumpole in these two thrilling dramas featuring the wily magician of the Old Bailey at his implacable best. Rumpole takes up the cause of young Bertie Timson, whose sole ‘crime’ seems to be playing football in the street. As he endeavours to defend our ancient freedoms, he becomes uneasy about exactly what his wife Hilda is up to in her continuing friendship with a high court judge.

In these 24 episodes, Tom Wrigglesworth phones home for his weekly check-in, giving us a funny, fascinating glimpse into his family background and the influences that have shaped his temperament, opinions and hang-ups. As the conversations unfold, Tom takes time out from the calls to explain the situation and his parents’ reactions, and relate various anecdotes from the past which illustrate his family's views. And sometimes he just needs to sound off about life’s everyday annoyances. 

Each Roman Catholic parish compiles a Book of the Dead from the lists of departed loved ones submitted by parishioners. Printed on the front of the envelopes are three words: November Dead List. In this series, a young priest opens one such envelope and discovers not a list of the dead but a list of people he knows to be alive and members of his congregation. At first he thinks it's someone's idea of a joke. Then the people named start turning up dead.

The first six series of the popular radio drama set in a Manchester legal practice, starring David Schofield. Frank Twist and Sarah Gold lead a maverick team of freelance paralegals operating in the mean(ish) streets of Manchester. Their agency operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, dispatching legal representatives to set free burglars, muggers and even some innocent people who find themselves on the wrong side of a cell door.