Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Genre Fiction

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.

Why is the Doctor suddenly summoned to the shores of Loch Ness? Terror and panic spread as the third oil rig is smashed into the sea by a mysterious force...the monster? The controlling power must be the Zygons - alien creatures who have hidden on Earth for thousands of years, and who now feel strong enough to take over the planet. The Doctor, Sarah, Harry and UNIT have different ideas - but can they outwit the supreme cunning of the ruthless Zygons?

Set against the backdrop of America's Great Depression and Dust Bowl, a family of farmers from Oklahoma head west in search of work, only to discover thousands like them are also on the move. Following a violent altercation with some locals, they head back on the road with their dream of a promised land in tatters. And life is set to get much worse for the Joads....

In the early hours of 5 June 1944, Captain Rob Collins, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who is languishing in hospital, receives a call that will take him on a journey through England that will change his life. Mike Walker's play is an epic journey across England poised on the edge of a historical moment. It is set on June 5th, the day before the invasion. It is a portrait of England waiting for the invasion that will change the course of history, but an invasion only a very few know that is about happen. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliet Stevenson and Claudia Harrison.

Look Back in Anger focuses on the relationship between an educated but disaffected working-class young man, Jimmy Porter, and his equally intelligent but dispassionate wife, Alison, who comes from an upper-middle class military family. Having pushed back against her family so they could be together, Jimmy is now disillusioned by the class divide between them and constantly belittles her. Keeping the peace is their friendly Welsh lodger, Cliff. However, the arrival of Alison's friend Helena pushes the couple to breaking point. Can Alison and Jimmy ever reconcile?

Young and idealistic, he is full of enthusiasm when he first arrives in the small mining village of Drineffy, where he is to work as assistant to the elderly Dr Page. But he soon encounters corruption, apathy, and appalling medical practices and becomes determined to storm the citadel of the medical establishment and make a difference.

All 10 episodes of the BBC Radio 4 comedy about an eccentric 'olderpreneur' and her adventures in business. At the age of 51, Bindi Banerjee unexpectedly finds herself out of a job. But she has her redundancy pay-off and a can-do attitude, and as series 1 opens, Bindi decides to start up her own business. Bindi’s Beauty Box soon gets off to a promising start, but Bindi must get her reluctant children on board if she is going to succeed. When she runs into some bumps in the road, Bindi wonders if she’s taken on more than she can manage. 

Born in 1832 in Pennsylvania, Louisa May Alcott was best known for Little Women, her phenomenal bestseller loosely based on her childhood experiences with her own sisters. Adapted numerous times for stage and screen, it is dramatised here alongside her follow-up novel Good Wives and the thrilling sensation story A Marble Woman.

All 16 episodes of the BBC radio comedy about the dysfunctional Burbage siblings: Brothers Nigel and Michael share everything - home, work and acute neuroses. Several years ago, they gave up respectable careers to set up a website design company in Nigel's living room. That was their first mistake....

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's the summer of 1963 in suburban California and Benjamin Braddock has the world at his feet. He's just graduated from university with a teaching scholarship, his dad has bought him a fancy new Italian sportscar, and all the Braddocks' friends and neighbours have been invited to a houseparty to celebrate. There's just one problem. Benjamin refuses to leave his room. He's worried about his future. His parents are perplexed.

With its wickedly funny mimicry and on-point parodies, Dead Ringers became an instant classic when it hit the airwaves in January 2000. In these four series, first broadcast between 2020 and 2023, the team give us their inimitable impersonations of the famous and infamous: from Donald Trump and Joe Biden to Liz Truss, Professor Chris Whitty and Holly Willoughby.

Three BBC Radio performances of works by the great G. K. Chesterton. Best known as the creator of clerical detective Father Brown, G. K. Chesterton was a prolific and talented writer in virtually every area of literature: from novels, poetry and short stories to plays, biographies and essays. A noted thinker, controversialist, raconteur and wit, he has influenced authors from Neil Gaiman to Jorge Luis Borges. This collection comprises his two most famous novels as well as half a dozen tales from his short story collection

This epic love story follows the engaged couple Renzo and Lucia as they navigate a perilous journey to be together amidst Spanish occupation, war, famine, and plague. Their struggle against the tyrannical Don Rodrigo, who seeks Lucia for himself, is interwoven with themes of faith, justice, power, and truth. Celebrated for its historical significance and cultural impact, the novel has inspired countless artists and remains a staple in Italian education and literature, praised by luminaries such as Giuseppe Verdi, Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, and Pope Francis.

When unemployed teacher Patrick and his wife, high-flying professional Helen, move back to the town where Patrick grew up, they thought life would be simpler. But Patrick's hazy and fond memories of his schooldays are brought back into sharp relief once he's surrounded by the people and places he'd long stopped thinking about, and he realises things were not always as he'd seen them. As Patrick begins to rebuild bonds and make new discoveries with his old school friends, Helen is making friends of her own.

Anthony Trollope was one of Victorian England’s most popular and prolific authors. He worked for the Post Office while establishing himself as a writer, and is credited with introducing the pillar box to Britain. Best known for his ‘Barsetshire’ and ‘Palliser’ novels, he wrote over 50 works in total, including short stories, travel books, biographies and a posthumously published autobiography. Collected here are a selection of superb adaptations of his much-loved novels, as well as a fascinating documentary and an original radio play by Patricia Cumper.

Flatmates Judith, Giles and David once had it all: youth, optimism, ambition and degrees from one of the country's best universities. In their 20s, they were full of potential, but 10 years later, they're simply might-have-beens. Stuck in Streatham and strapped for cash, they're forced to mooch off their more successful mates just to get by.

The complete first and second series of the Orwellian sitcom starring Robert Lindsay and David Threlfall. In this parody of George Orwell’s dystopian classic, everyman Edward Wilson finds his life taking a sinister turn when he becomes embroiled in mysterious government machinations.

Master builder Halvard Solness is a self-made man. With no professional qualifications, he has built himself up through ruthless ambition and achieved a position of power and domination in his home town. But his success has come at a cost. His marriage is empty, destroyed by a personal tragedy that has left him wracked with guilt and pain, and he is increasingly frightened of failure and being displaced by the next generation. Then a mysterious young woman, Hilde Wangel, appears from the mountains, claiming to have met Solness 10 years earlier, when she was only 13. 

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.