Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Historical

Stephen Fry, Daniel Rigby and Tamsin Greig star in all three series of the poignant BBC Radio 4 comedy drama. Warhorses of Letters is the world's finest and best-loved equine, military, epistolary romance, comprising the newly discovered love letters between two horses united by passion but cruelly divided by conflict.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation based on the best-selling novel by CJ Sansom.

Shardlake returns in this atmospheric BBC Radio 4 full-cast adaptation of the fourth novel in C. J. Sansom's bestselling Tudor crime series.Spring, 1543. London's streets are filled with preachers; strange signs and portents are seen everywhere; and young men, maddened by differing interpretations of the Bible, are drawn into dangerous fundamentalism.

BBC Audio presents Persuasion, Jane Austen's last novel. Anne Elliot had never forgotten the personable Captain Wentworth, who reappears in Anne Elliot's life several years after she had been persuaded to break off their engagement. He makes no secret of his angry indignation. Newly wealthy from...

A six-part BBC Radio 4 crime drama set in 19th-century London. It is 1830, a year after Sir Robert Peel’s creation of the Metropolitan Police, known as the 'Peelers'. As the brand-new bobbies patrol the beat in their smart blue uniforms, armed only with truncheons and rattles, they form the first line of defence against crime. But as this thrilling series opens, the fledgling detective force is proving unpopular, sparking deep political unrest and public protests. Rioters take to the streets of London, and the police struggle to contain the violence.

The complete series 1 and 2 of the BBC Radio comedy set in an 18th-century Cornish village. In the first series, Tamsyn Trelawny's band of 18th-century Cornish smugglers try to outwit customs officers, a hairy folk band helps Tamsyn and the Cornish smugglers to escape the law and Tamsyn tries to keep her love-life out of the scandal rags. Also, when a new rival appears in town, Tamsyn tries to quit then, finally, Tamsyn joins customs men to stop Courageous Kate from marrying her dad.

A two-part radio dramatisation of Vasily Grossman's dark, honest account of the Battle of Stalingrad; a prequel to Life and Fate - plus Stalingrad: Destiny of a Novel. With this astonishing prequel published in its first ever English translation by Richard and Elizabeth Chandler, we are transported back to the very beginning of Vasily Grossman’s panoramic tale, as the ‘harsh whirlwind’ of war approaches the city of Stalingrad.

London, 1853, and the sedate religious publishing house of Spavin and Spavin is about to experience a radical shake-up. Vivacious actress Cordelia is on the hunt for a husband and has her eye on Gerald, one of the firm's partners, while her son, Primus, has ambitions to take over the firm. And when he does, it'll be out with the Bibles and in with the best sellers - starting with Charlotte Brontë's latest blockbuster.

Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard was made to look a fool in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Now he gets his own back, introducing 16 tales of detectives whose abilities rival that of the great Sherlock Holmes.

1961. Radio producer Hugo is proud of his new science-fiction show. Admittedly, the dialogue is somewhat creaky, the two lead actors despise each other and the sound effects were knocked up in the engineer's kitchen - but it has rocket-ships, hover-cars, robots and Martians. It's the world of the future, where anything can happen: and often does....

A thrilling radio re-imagining telling the story of Charles Dickens' last days and providing a brand-new conclusion to his famous unfinished novel. April, 1870. Bone-weary, sick and struggling with a hidden guilt, Charles Dickens is grappling with what will be his final book - The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Two months later, he is dead and the novel remains unfinished: only six of the 12 planned instalments had been completed.

1546, and the great heretic hunt is underway across England. The radical Protestant preacher Anne Askew has been arrested and condemned to death and Shardlake is ordered to attend the burning. It's a grisly, cruel spectacle that leaves him feeling disturbed. Rumours are circulating that Anne had connections to his protector, Queen Catherine Parr - and if she falls, he could be next.... His unease deepens when a messenger arrives from Whitehall Palace: the queen is in trouble and asking for his help.

Autumn, 1646. The English Civil War is raging and there’s trouble ahead for Sir John and Lady Anne Firebasket. There’s a Roundhead platoon camping out in the barn, a perplexed priest hiding behind the panelling and, unbeknown to the Firebaskets, their scullery maid Mercy is actually a disguised aristocrat (and Royalist spy) named Melissa Fortescue-Bottomley.

Three 'witness' insights into history. In 'That Door' by Elizabeth Kuti (read by Eleanor Bron), it is Wittenberg, 1517 and Brother Martin meets the indomitable Frau Sprenger. In 'Nothing but Blue Skies' by Dominic Power (read by Elizabeth Mastrantonio), Katherine Rudd, now 97, recalls events on...

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...

Written by Matthew Solon. This BBC Radio 4 'Saturday Play' tells the story of the tense negotiation that followed the 2010 general election, which led to the country's first post-war coalition. Based on interviews with those who were at the meetings, political journalists and on published...

A BBC Radio 4 fictionalised account of the interrogation of P.G. Wodehouse (Tim McInnerny) by MI5 during World War II. 'How to be an Internee with No Previous Experience ' was originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 15 December 2010. In 1944, P.G. Wodehouse, the creator of 'Jeeves and...

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation written by Amanda Whittington, originally broadcast as the Afternoon Play on 23 February 2009. The tumultuous tale of the trial of Lady Jane Grey, proclaimed Queen of England in 1553 at the age of 16, nine days later locked in the Tower and, within a year...

This full-cast dramatisation by Martin Jameson for BBC Radio 4 is a fictionalised account of the incident in 1964 when a group of students attempted to kidnap the then-Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, in Scotland. Originally broadcast as the Afternoon Play on 15 July 2009, this...

In this BBC full-cast production of Henry IV Part 2, civil war is ravaging England. Rebels are rallying together, unified against Henry. Will Henry and his son, Hal, emerge victorious - or alive? Father and son Julian Glover and Jamie Glover star as King Henry and his son Hal in the powerful...