Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Literature & Fiction

It’s the 1980s: business is big, the shoulder pads are bigger and Jimmy Bright is a tycoon on a mission… He’s got big dreams and the only thing standing between him and a millionaire lifestyle is accountant, Russell Farrow, whose attention to financial detail is unsurpassed. The two must rub along if Jimmy’s business, BrightCo, is to succeed but they seem to have very different views on what success looks like.

In these 26 episodes, a shaky treehouse gets hubby Henry in trouble with the law, the couple's plans for a week free of the children go awry and Jen's money-making plans run into red tape - and worse.... It's all change for the Corners as son Robin wins a scholarship to boarding school, there's a new baby on the way and Henry has a job offer - but can they bear to leave London and move to the countryside? 

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 '60s, 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.

The Godfather of alternative comedy, Alexei Sayle, mixes memoir and philosophy from behind the counter of his imaginary sandwich bar, serving up wit, wisdom and illusory baguettes as he muses on a multitude of topics. In these 12 shows, he explores his impulse to pretend and his love of sandwiches, discusses his childhood in a communist household and his physical attraction to Boris Johnson, explains why he will never go on Strictly Come Dancing and draws a striking comparison between capitalism and all-you-can-eat buffets. 

A BBC radio recreation of the Marx Brothers’ lost shows, starring Michael Roberts and Frank Lazarus. First broadcast on America’s NBC network between 1932-33, Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel charted the exploits of shady lawyer Waldorf T Flywheel (played by Groucho Marx) and his dopey assistant, Emmanuel Ravelli (played by Chico Marx). The original recordings were lost, but the scripts were rediscovered and edited by Michael Barson. These were published as Flywheel, Shyster & Flywheel: The Marx Brothers Lost Radio Show and licensed for a dramatic adaptation by the BBC.

Penelope Keith stars in the much-loved sitcom about an aristocrat forced to part with her family home. When her husband's death leaves her financially strapped, Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton has no choice but to sell her beloved Grantleigh Estate. With butler Brabinger in tow, she decamps to the tiny Old Lodge cottage, where she keeps a close - and disapproving - eye on the new squire: the nouveau riche Richard DeVere, a wholesale food magnate of Czech descent. 

All four series of the Eastern bloc embassy sitcom starring Dinsdale Landen. Set in a British embassy somewhere in Russia as the Cold War draws to a close, this entertaining sitcom follows Her Majesty's Ambassador Mr Mackenzie as he navigates the idiosyncrasies of life behind the Iron Curtain. Together with his first secretary, William Frost, and personal assistant Helen Waterson, he manages matters ranging from dissidents to diplomatic dinners, all while maintaining his urbane, unflappable demeanour. 

Irene Bruce spends her days pulling pints in Millport, the only town on the Isle of Cumbrae, a few miles off the west coast of Scotland. Frustrated and going nowhere fast, she yearns to escape to the mainland for a better life - or at least a bit of fun. Just over the water, there are clubs, cinemas and discos, so why is she stuck at home with tea, Scrabble and her boring sister Moira?

Acclaimed sketch duo Two Episodes of Mash (a.k.a. Diane Morgan and Joe Wilkinson) present their surreal sketch show packed full 'low-key, mundane glamour', with support from a cast including David O'Doherty, Radio 2 presenter Ken Bruce and Jimmy Carr. Meet the human cannonball, who has been blasted to Ilford from Belgium by mistake. Discover what happens when Rapunzel gets an intercom. Learn how Joe has blown the programme budget on a life-size ice sculpture of Tim Henman. And prepare for a fly-on-the-wall documentary about working behind-the-scenes on a sketch show.

A master of Russian realism, Anton Chekhov is renowned for his meticulously observed plays and short stories exploring the human condition, in all its joys and sorrows. Included here are six of his best-known dramas, as well as Michael Frayn's adaptation of Wild Honey, drawn from an early, untitled Chekhov play; and one documentary exploring Chekhov's life and work. 

The final two series of A. L. Kennedy's wry comic drama about love in later life. In their youth, John and Maggie had a tempestuous on/off affair that ended badly. Now in their 60s, they've decided to give their romance another chance - and discovered that love doesn't get any easier when you're older but no wiser. Having survived dating and moving in together, the duo face the next big test for their relationship: tying the knot.

In 2023 John Finnemore and the Souvenir Programme team returned to Radio 4 with a new format – annual, one-off, 45-minute Specials. Some are in the style of Series 1-8, with sketches, jokes and songs, while others are more discursive and experimental, like Series 9. Collected together here, they all feature his trusty ensemble cast of Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan.

Anglo-Irish author Oliver Goldsmith was one of the most accomplished writers of the 18th century. A novelist, playwright, poet and essayist, he came to fame with his novel The Vicar of Wakefield and comic play She Stoops to Conquer. Both those classics are included here, with star casts including Julia McKenzie, Amanda Root, Peter Jeffrey and Sunny Ormonde.

Get ready to be dragged kicking and screaming into the world of family life, Stockport-style, as 15-year-old Jason introduces us to the Conroy clan. There's dad Eddie, cabby and wannabe champion organist, mum Maureen, who's easygoing but wasn't born yesterday, older brother Michael, lead singer of The Sweater Girls, and sisters Colette (married to uptight bank clerk Dave) and Karen (newly returned from uni with a Sloane Ranger boyfriend).

Hilaire is a famous Mayfair hairdresser – he is also a secret agent. Returning from Hamburg with a secret tape revealing the hide-out of a top wartime Nazi, he finds an attractive blonde half-strangled in his sleeping compartment on the Nord Express train. He soon wonders if there is more to her than meets the eye...

Starring Sheila Hancock (Series 1) and Marcia Warren (Series 2-4) as Hetty, Lesley Manville as Maggie, Sinead Matthews as Jen and Lucy Hutchinson as Emily, this is a comedy series about four women living under the same roof. All Those Women explores familial relationships, ageing, marriages - it's about life and love and things not turning out quite the way that you'd expected them to. Here we join Hetty, Maggie, Jen and Emily as they struggle to resolve their own problems, and support one another.

Sixteen TV soundtracks from the award-winning TV show collected together for the first time, starring David Jason as ambitious market trader Del Boy Trotter and Nicholas Lyndhurst as his younger brother, Rodney Trotter. For 15 years the brothers of Trotters Independent Traders PLC have entertained us both with Del's extreme optimism and scams and, quite simply, Rodney's reactions upon hearing those scams.

It's the late 1930s, and even on the remote island of St Martin's in the Isles of Scilly, war seems inevitable. But the islanders have their own battles to contend with, stuck on a rock flung 27 miles out into the Atlantic with only their natural grit and gallows humour to see them through. When a Penzance GPO man arrives to check on the post office, the islanders decide he must be the undertaker come to deal with the body of the late Post Office manager. 

Childless couple Robin and Wendy have developed an obsession with Mayfield - the model village they've built in their garage. However, running a model village is slightly more complicated than they expected, especially as they live next-door to Derek, a former superstar salesman who is struggling with the erratic side effects of mental health medication, and Maureen, who is always getting involved in get-rich-quick schemes.

Immensely popular and hugely influential, the groundbreaking series The Goon Show changed the face of British comedy. Now, for the first time, this box set collection presents the episodes in chronological order as they were scheduled to be broadcast. This fourth volume includes: 'The Hastings Flyer - Robbed', 'The Mighty Wurlitzer', 'The Raid of the International Christmas Pudding', 'The Tales of Montmartre', 'The Jet-Propelled Guided NAAFI', 'The House of Teeth', 'The Choking Horror' and more.