Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Genre Fiction

In these globally unprecedented times, Ed is also experiencing new and unusual circumstances. For the first time in 20 years, he's financially independent thanks to the timely arrival of his state pension, and living in a stylish, newly affordable 'capsule urban living unit' (a former office space converted into a flat). He has the luxury of three (organic) meals a day, all the premier catfood Edgar can eat, and even a new car - as well as free time to devote himself to his own long-cherished projects.

18 biographical dramas based on the lives and loves of celebrated writers. 

Gerald C Potter is the proud author of Death in the Arboretum, described by the Bournemouth Echo as 'well-written'. He works hard on his books, and worries about every comma, adjective and unfortunate typo, but somehow, he never seems to get very much done. However, his wife and fellow novelist, Diana (aka Magnolia Badminton), is positively prolific - much to his chagrin. These four series recount his daily activities and struggles for inspiration.

Ex-army officer Bradley Shoreham is a war game expert. As a soldier, he created a host of mock conflict exercises simulating various disasters - and now, as a civilian, he does it for a living. His scenarios may be fictional, but they're authentic: and that's exactly what the governments and corporations who employ him pay big money for. But as the participants are about to find out, his games can have real, deadly consequences.... 

Not long after their mother's death, sisters Maureen and Lesley are packing up their family home. It's a painful duty, with Maureen trying to control the worst of Lesley's projectile lamenting. Then a strange man knocks at the door and introduces himself as David Johnson, a friend of Maureen's neighbour. He'd like to view the house if they are thinking of selling - which Maureen definitely is.

Helen and Ben are an upwardly mobile couple climbing the social ladder in suburbia. They have just moved into a semi-detached house but discover that their taste for restoring their home to its original character is not shared by the neighbours....

Ex-con Bob has done his time. After five years at Her Majesty's pleasure, he's been released on licence with an ankle tag registered to his estranged son's address. Uptight Gruff isn't too happy about it - he's just become a father himself and the last thing he needs is his delinquent dad back in his life. But Bob turns on the charm, persuading sympathetic daughter-in-law Alice that his heart's in the right place and manages to inveigle his way into moving in. 

It's January 1969, the winter after the summer of love, and Jill and David's fledgling relationship is about to be put to test by the outbreak of Hong Kong flu. As they huddle under blankets together, full of flu, neither of them is aware of how this moment will impact them in both the near and distant future.

Pretty Edith Ottley is married to pompous Bruce and has a son, Archie. She seems content with her life in Knightsbridge until she meets the charming and handsome Aylmer Ross. The physical attraction between the two is electric, and they could make the perfect couple. However, there is more to husband Bruce than meets the eye, and when Edith discovers this fact, will that help to change her mind?  

Aspiring actor Robert is always on the look out for work, and isn’t too fussy about what he takes. Chauffeur, prison performer, children’s TV, part-time teacher - he’ll take it all, and one day he’ll be famous. Maybe the next job will be his big breaK. From the writer behind The Vicar of Dibley, this lively comedy stars John Gordon Sinclair, Caroline Quentin, Gary Waldhorn and Gina McKee.

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.

Focussing on three of the best-known Republican presidents of the 20th century, Jonathan Myerson’s riveting drama series looks at how their triumphs and disasters drove the party's electoral fortunes. Closely based on accounts by those who were there, this political trilogy reimagines the pivotal moments that changed history, and the part played by these famous and controversial leaders.

It is the near-future, and drug resistance has taken hold. Antibiotics are no longer available, and in the war between humanity and bacteria, one little girl is in the front line.... 10-year-old Sarah is not allowed to play outside. But one day, she and her brother break the rules and go into the nearby woods, where she scratches her knee. The wound gets infected, and soon becomes life-threatening. Now Sarah’s in a coma, in an isolated room in hospital. Her family and medical team are hoping this will stop the infection - but they’re running out of time.

Thermonuclear war erupts in Kerry Shale's award-winning 1993 dramatisation of the classic apocalyptic black comedy. Dr Strangelove came to prominence in the 1964 film, directed by Stanley Kubrick. Based on the novel Red Alert by Peter George, it famously starred Peter Sellers in multiple roles. As well as scripting the dramatisation, Kerry Shale also takes multiple roles: Dr Strangelove, Lieutenant 'Sweets' Kivel, Lieutenant Barney Goldberg, Lieutenant Lothar Zogg, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, General Jack D. Ripper and President Merkin Muffley.

In this radical reinterpretation of six brilliant Arnold Bennett novels, it’s the 19th-century Midlands and over 10-and-a-half sweeping hours individuals rise and fall, they age, flourish, and try to keep up as the world around them changes into something unrecognisable, transformed by new technology. Fortunes are made and lost, hearts broken, empires built and deals made. These tales of aspiration and passion, damage and danger are told with Bennett's forensic, (journalist’s) eye for human psychology and a surprising degree of witty comedy.

Bill works as an economist in a right-wing institute giving succour to bankers and businessmen. Bella teaches yoga, waters the plants in Canary Wharf and holds Proust seminars for retirees. 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've never discussed is how much they love each other.

Can a young country girl lead an army? Joan, guided by her guardian angels St Catherine and St Margaret, decides to wage war against the English. Starring Dawn French as Joan of Arc. The cast also includes Anne Reid, Maggie Steed, Kevin Eldon and Jim Broadbent.

The Fletcher family doesn't have time for politics; they are just trying to love and look after each other. But as the UK dissolves into conflict, they find themselves in danger. Not just from dodgy neighbours with brand new machine guns, but from inside their own family. What would happen if the UK broke apart? One family faces Britain's next civil war.

Fleeing from the rising tide on a distant planet, the Doctor and his friends are attacked by a swarm of what appear to be tiny insects. Wracked by hallucinations, Jamie is transported back to his home in the Highlands whilst Victoria sees her late father. The travellers meet the survivors of Elysian Fields, a travelling hospital that offers patients a choice between the Blade of Longing and the Angel of Forgetting. When next the spaceship lands, the TARDIS crew are offered the chance of a lifetime.

George Orwell - the pen name of Eric Blair - was a writer and political commentator who is very hard to pin down. He is a complex mass of confusions - an antiestablishment, pro-English, ex-Etonian, ex-policeman and socialist who was ardently antiauthoritarian. He was as antifascist as he was anticommunist, a former Spanish Civil War soldier who was antiwar but pro the Second World War.