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

To distract himself from his fear of flying, Hercule Poirot observes his fellow passengers on the noon flight from Le Bourget to Croydon. On his right sits a pretty young woman, clearly very aware of the handsome man opposite her; ahead of him is a nervous aristocrat and her maid; and across the...

Frederick Jaeger stars in a BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of the legend that has haunted the imagination of millions for over a hundred years! Summoned to the forbidden heart of the Carpathian mountains, in the depths of Transylvania, Jonathan Harker journeys to Castle Dracula. There he becomes the unwitting prisoner of the mysterious nobleman whom local legend insists is nosferatu, the vampire…

Rediscovered and restored by radio enthusiasts, The Radio Circle, it was first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on the 10th May 1955, just two days before Tony Hancock’s 31st birthday. Tony Hancock had taken an unscheduled trip to Italy, leaving Hancock Half Hour’s producer to ask Harry Secombe to step in to star for the first three episodes of the second series. The fourth episode saw Tony return, and begrudgingly make ‘A Visit To Swansea’, to thank Harry Secombe for stepping in.

A BBC radio collection of full-cast dramatisations, bringing together Edith Wharton’s most popular and best-loved works.

Sketch trio The Penny Dreadfuls made a name for themselves with The Brothers Faversham, telling the stories of nine extraordinary siblings in the Victorian era. In these 10 comedy dramas, they step away from the 19th century to revisit famous stories from history and literature. Featuring unforgettable characters, from the face of British treason to the last of the Plantagenets, their fresh, funny reimaginings are full of suspense, rip-roaring entertainment and gags galore.

Born the same year as Radio 4 itself, Just a Minute is one of the BBC's longest-running and most popular panel games. In these five series from 2016-2018, collected together to mark the 55th birthday of the show, Nicholas Parsons presides over more hilarious linguistic shenanigans. Highlights include a festive edition, Just a Minute Does Panto!, which sees the players journeying through Panto-land in search of the missing Golden Whistle. Also featured is Just a Minute: 50 Years in 28 Minutes, which was specially compiled to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary.

From politics to economics, from tech to the study of how we live, things are changing fast. Old certainties are crumbling, and we need new solutions to shake up the status quo and shape the future. In The Spark, Helen Lewis meets 11 radical thinkers who are bidding to change our world, and puts their ideas under the spotlight to find out what they have to offer compared to the failures of the past.

From Tony Blair and David Frost to Aziraphale and Hamlet, Michael Sheen has taken on a host of iconic roles, inhabiting each one with complete conviction. But – whether he’s transforming himself into real figures or bringing fictional ones to life – how does he go about immersing himself in his characters? The answer lies in an obscure Russian theatre technique that has evolved to become a central plank of modern-day acting training.

This thirteenth collection of the antidote to panel games finds Jack Dee giving regular panellists Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden silly things to do - along with special guests Jeremy Hardy, Sandi Toksvig, Rob Brydon and David Mitchell. Highlights include ‘Uxbridge English...

Catherine McCormack, Joseph Fiennes, and Harriet Walter star in this BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's last and most remarkable novel. Passion and perception run through this fascinating study of loneliness, love, and ultimate triumph over adversity.

Highlights from Richard Burton's finest BBC radio performances from the 1940s to the 1980s. Richard Burton was one of the most famous British actors of the twentieth century, renowned for his magical, mellifluous voice. Before Hollywood tempted him away, he worked frequently for the BBC and many of his most electrifying performances were recorded there.

Radio 4's longest-running panel show, in which contestants are challenged to speak on a on a given topic for 60 seconds without hesitation, deviation or repetition, returns with Sue Perkins at the helm for this complete collection of episodes from 2023. Featuring quickfire improvisation, inspired ad-libbing and spontaneous hilarity - as well as a live studio audience - join Sue Perkins and her guests as they battle for points, glory and the perfect, uninterrupted minute.

Proving that yesterday's news is every bit as entertaining as today's, these 14 archive episodes of the long-running BBC Radio 4 panel show are chaired by Barry Took, Simon Hoggart and Sandi Toksvig. Spanning the years from 1979 to 2011, this latest selection of sharp and funny editions take in...

Wickedly funny and bitingly satirical, Dead Ringers has been lampooning politicans, celebrities and media pundits for over 20 years. In these seven series, first broadcast between 2000 and 2002, the team give us their peerless impressions of the personalities we love to laugh at: from Tony Blair and George W. Bush to Brian Sewell, Posh n' Becks and Kirsty Wark.

From 1938 to 1968, crime novelist and detective Paul Temple and his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve solved case after case in one of BBC Radio's most popular serials. Now the dapper duo return refreshed and reinvigorated to the airwaves, to investigate the activities of a shadowy and ruthless...

Lady Tresselian invites several guests to stay at her seaside house at Gull’s Point. Against her better judgment she has allowed her late husband’s ward, handsome tennis ace Neville Strange, and his wife Kay to come at the same time as Neville’s ex-wife Audrey. Other guests include Mary...

What are cash-strapped 40-somethings like Harry (played by Kris Marshall) supposed to do when they see their cash-rich, equity-released parents spending all their inheritance? It doesn’t help that Harry’s rich brother seems to upstage him at every turn as he tries to make ends meet and support his family. As their father's 65th birthday approaches, and the money starts disappearing, Harry decides to see if he can ‘help’ them to change course.

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.

Stephen Mangan and Claire Skinner star in all four series of the popular BBC Radio 4 comedy drama. 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.

Miles Jupp stars as James Boswell, Dr Johnson's time-travelling biographer, with a host of top actors and comedians as his celebrity interviewees. Before James Boswell penned a biography of his friend, Dr Johnson, they were both nobodies. But his Life of Samuel Johnson made them famous - so now Boswell's out to work his magic on other celebrities. Travelling through the centuries, he gives 12 legendary figures the Boswell treatment, hoping to do for them what he did for Johnson....