Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Family Life

A.L. Kennedy is a celebrated novelist, playwright, short story writer and columnist. She has won numerous UK and international book awards, including the Costa Prize, and has twice been featured on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. A prolific writer for stage, screen and TV, she has also created several works for radio, among them this trio of dramas specially written for Bill Nighy.

Self-made tech mogul Ravi Majumdar fought his way up from nothing to make a billion-dollar fortune. Now he risks losing everything in his single-minded quest to defeat his enemy, Jai Singh: the man he once considered his best friend. Concerned for their inheritance, his children fight for control of the company. But there are others bidding for the succession: Seraphina, Ravi's 'spiritual advisor', and Amit, their Indian cousin, whose humility belies his ambition.

In series 1 and 2, as his mum and wife, Mary, sit round his bedside and wonder how to wake him up, Ben’s mind is busy elsewhere. In his imagination, he lives with his two-year-old daughter, Blitz (now miraculously grown up), encounters celebrities such as Sue Lawley, Elvis Presley and Tom Paulin, relives memories from his past and gets into a compromising situation with a fellow inmate at a strangely familiar Torquay hotel. Meanwhile, an imaginary sitcom written by him, about coma patients in a hospital, plays in the background.

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?

The award-winning story of Skye and Dexter and their ordinary/extraordinary life. Skye lives in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, with her little brother, Dexter, and Spider the cat. Their mum, Jak, isn't around much - she's on and off the booze, so it's up to Skye to look out for Dexter, play with him, and make sure he's clothed and fed. He likes it best when she plays her guitar, an electric guitar she found under a heap of clothes in her mum's bedroom. The bailiffs didn't take it even when they came back for the telly.

Dubbed 'the father of the English novel' by Sir Walter Scott, Henry Fielding is well known for his ribald humour and ironic, satirical fiction. Collected here are four of his most famous works, including his comic masterpiece Tom Jones, as well as a fascinating documentary exploring the foundling motif in fiction.

In Monte Guano, a ridiculously small and penniless principality in Renaissance Italy, Prince Ludovico II finds his rule constantly undermined by those around him: his shrewd wife, his official mistress and his three disappointing—if not outright humiliating—sons. As well as having to manage the ever-increasing tributes demanded by the Pope, Prince Ludovico must also contend with feeble conscripts in search of war booty, getting on the pilgrim map, fake currency, religious battles and worst of all, English tourists.

Dr Thomas Barrett and his wife Jane have a perfectly nice existence in 1950s Manchester, but dreams of a new life won’t let them rest. Leaving the security of their home and successful doctor’s practice, they set out for adventure, heading to Kalangadog Junction, a small Australian town of population fifty-nine that is so remote it’s not even on the map. Setting up Down Under isn’t quite as simple as the duo thought it would be.

When her 13-year-old twins head off to boarding school, Felicity Willow decides it's time to reconnect with her husband, Paul. The years of childcare have taken their toll on the marriage and Felicity dives headfirst into trying to re-ignite that spark of love. Paul, somewhat bewildered by his wife's endeavours, gamely plays along with her efforts. Hilarity ensues as Felicity devotes all her energies into the new project but as it turns out, recapturing romantic bliss isn't as easy as it sounds, and poor Felicity feels thwarted at every turn.

Wheeler-dealer snooker club owner Geoff Bryant and his wife Jenny have recently moved onto a new estate in Whittleshulme, Cheshire. Described in the brochure as an 'exclusive village development', it's squarely aimed at yuppies, the nouveau-riche and high-fliers. The trouble is, there are no local teenagers to babysit, leaving the residents to juggle careers and kids as best they can. So when local bigwig Julian Percival sets up a babysitting circle, it seems like the ideal solution.

Follow the uproarious antics of the Edwardian Fosdyke family as they work their way out of the mining pits of Lancashire to become rulers of a global tripe empire. An empire that the villainous Roger Ditchely will stop at nothing to try and bring down... A classic tale of struggle, power, personalities, and offal. Based on Bill Tidy's hugely popular Daily Mirror cartoon strip, this full-cast production is a laugh-out-loud parody of John Galsworthy's classic, 'The Forsyte Saga'.

Jack and Karen are an ordinary, happily married couple. They've been together for years and are convinced every problem can be worked through. Until Karen finds an odd text on Jack's phone, and her confrontation leads to a shock revelation: Jack is gay, and he wants a male lover. Seeking stability for themselves and security for their teenage children, they settle on a 'closed loop' arrangement, whereby they stay together and Jack has a boyfriend. So begins a new type of marriage, where small deceptions and unspoken fantasies are replaced with radical honesty.

Award-winning actress and comedian Maureen Lipman has been entertaining audiences for over half a century. Her career has encompassed film, theatre, TV and radio; she has written several bestselling autobiographies; and in 2020 she was made a Dame in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. In this sparkling collection, the irrepressible 'Queen of Coronation Street' takes to the airwaves with her hilarious monologues, diverting duologues and amusing anecdotes - all recorded in front of a live audience. Also included are four comedy dramas showcasing her manifold talents.

1985. Uprooted from her home in Bangladesh, 18-year-old Nazneen is sent to London for an arranged marriage with a much older man. Her new life is strange and bewildering - the busy streets and crowded tower blocks of the East End are a world away from the rural village she grew up in, and she struggles to adapt to living with her self-important husband, Chanu. Back in Bangladesh, Nazneen's sister Hasina has eloped with the man she loves, and been disowned by her family.

Roger is a writer of children's books, and all he wants is a quiet life. But when his wife, Julia, has to stay in hospital, Roger has to deal with his own complications: his difficult mother-in-law, her companion, Otto, and pressures from the publisher about the work he may or may not be about to hand in. It should be easy enough for a grown man to cope at home alone, but no one wants to make it simple for him, whether it's battles to get into Julia's visiting hours or temptations Roger never expected to face at his age.

Michael (Marcus Brigstocke) and Maxine (Kerry Godliman) Wilson and their teenage daughters, Lola and Cat, (plus their bearded dragon Chomsky, and about 150,000 bees) have resolved to live a cleaner, greener, serener life. They are attempting to live ethically...whatever that means.

Thirteen plays about human connection, from some of BBC Radio's best writers exploring love, family, romances and life's ups and downs. This diverse collection of stories centres around family dynamics, relationships both romantic and platonic, and the diverse ways ordinary people navigate the vicissitudes of everyday life. Ranging from modern fairy tales to coming-of-age dramas, they feature a wide variety of styles, and are scripted by an array of writers from award-winning dramatists to first-time authors.

Faith, Hope and Glory charts the lives of three African-Caribbean families, connected forever by the theft of a beautiful pram in Tilbury in 1946. As they live through the eighty years since then, they witness and take part in the emergence of the modern United Kingdom.

Julius Hutch has planned to spend his retirement years 'pottering' and worrying about his bills, but wakes one morning to discover a foreign merchant bank has put four million pounds into his account—and won't take it back. So Julius, a humble man, sets out to spend the money helping other people, and wooing Pauline, the local bank teller. Up against an enormous banking corporation and an unsavoury property developer, Julius soon discovers that rather than being crushed by these financial giants as he would have been in the past, he is rendered rather more delightfully impervious.

When two people have history, how can they ever be history? That's the question facing Molly and Doug, who are separating after 16 years of marriage. He's moving out (albeit a mere three streets away), and she's moving on (just as soon as she can get her wedding ring off)—only somehow, they can't seem to stay away from one another.