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

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.

Series five & six of the BBC radio sitcom starring Harry H Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell, adapted from the much-loved TV series. Steptoe and Son ran for eight series on BBC TV and even spawned two feature films. Such was the series' popularity in the mid-1960s that the cast specially recorded several episodes for BBC radio. Here, collected together for the first time, are all episodes from the fifth and sixth radio series, scripted by Hancock's Half Hour creators Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

Little Blighty is an idyllic part of the world, with a church, a market, a small school and a pub, The Cock and Bull. Village life is pretty uneventful, though the humdrum happenings include social turmoil, economic upheaval and vicious political squabbles - all presided over by the redoubtable head of the Parish Council and secretary of the Rotarians, Mrs Roberts.

The fourth series of the legendary BBC Radio comedy series starring Tony Hancock Created by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson in 1954, 'Hancock’s Half Hour' was the radio vehicle that made Tony Hancock a household name. Each week listeners would be admitted to the sometimes fantastical, sometimes...

From Parents’ Evening to the PTA, and from supply teachers to staff room squabbles, every day brings fresh challenges for headmaster Mr Beeston. Among the problems facing him are a flu epidemic, a shortage of computers, a phantom prune thief and a mysterious graffiti artist - and there’s trouble in store when in comes to sex education, school trips and Sports Day. Meanwhile, idealistic newcomers Mr Brown and Mr Sims learn some lessons about teaching, and their battle-scarred colleagues vie for promotion - or look forward to retirement.

In this BBC full-cast production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena run to the woods and stumble into a life separate from time itself. Fairy magic wreaks havoc and midsummer madness takes over as lovers tread the delicate line between fantasy and reality...

Meet Budleigh Salterton's most famous son, Giles Wemmbley Hogg: bumbling backpacker, fearless investigator of cultural diversity, connoisseur of Eastern philosophies and upper middle-class student ponce. In these five series, armed with his trusty portable DAT and his Charterhouse rugby shirt, Giles bravely ventures forth to far-off foreign lands and records his adventures. His meanderings take him from the Sudan to Las Vegas - but wherever he goes, he always manages to make a thumping great prat of himself.

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.

Twenty-four episodes of the popular topical comedy show, chaired by Andy Zaltzman With its brilliant blend of the silly, the serious and the satirical, The News Quiz has been a must-listen for comedy fans since 1977. Recorded in front of a virtual audience, these three series see Andy Zaltzman...

Patricia Gallimore and Miriam Margolyes star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of the classic comic novel. Strong of will and slender of ankle, 20-year-old orphan Flora Poste is blessed with every virtue save that of being able to earn her own living. Casting around for suitable...

Five more series of the award-winning BBC radio sitcom set in a Scots-Asian corner shop near Glasgow 'As mad as ever - and very funny' Daily Mail Ramesh Mahju and his trusty sidekick Dave Legg are back with more banter, bargains, shop-based shenanigans and over-the-counter philosophy. In these...

These 29 episodes encompass classic cosmic conundrums - including whether there is intelligent alien life out there, if infinity exists and how wormholes could allow us to time-travel - as well as probing more down-to-earth human quirks like our differing pain thresholds, our attraction to 'bad' foods like chips and chocolate and our varied regional accents. Plus, the duo embarks on a cheery evolutionary thought experiment as they wonder what would happen if humanity became extinct....

'Knowing me Alan Partridge, knowing you... a-ha!' A lot of people say that, when it comes to drama and comedy, the pictures are so much better on the radio. As Alan Partridge says, 'all those people are wrong'. There's a new chat in town as the hit programme comes live from BBC Television...

Joe Orton was among the towering geniuses of 1960s theatre. His life was tragically cut short in 1967, but he left behind him a handful of shocking and scabrous black comedies that will live on in the public imagination for years to come. Featured here are two of his lesser-known works, The Erpingham Camp and The Ruffian on the Stair, collected together as a double bill.

The Museum of Curiosity is BBC Radio 4's monumental comedy edifice, and the only one with gargoyles in the foyer. It allows nothing inside unless it makes you scratch your head, stroke your chin or, at the very least, go 'Hmm'. Secondly, it is almost completely empty. Fortunately, helping to fill its vacant plinths is a gathering of the world's most original minds.

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.

Tony Hancock stars with Sid James and Kenneth Williams in the legendary BBC Radio comedy series. Created by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson in 1954, Hancock’s Half Hour was the radio vehicle that made Tony Hancock a household name. Each week listeners would be admitted to the sometimes fantastical...

One of the main movers and shakers at TS Sports Stars agency, Trevor Heslop is honest, decent and sensitive. Unfortunately, he works in a world of cutthroats and corruption, with nightmare clients and a rapacious partner with the morals of a barracuda. Add to that his dysfunctional family - estranged wife Meryl and teenage son Toby - and it’s a miracle he manages to stay afloat in the shark tank that is his life.

All three series of the critically-acclaimed BBC Radio 4 sitcom about a group of young idealists who set up a new political party – plus special Christmas episode Disillusioned with the capitalist system, five ambitious students set out to make waves and change the face of democracy. Holding...

First there was the insomnia. Then there were the support groups that helped him sleep. Then Marla Singer turned up, muscled in on ascending bowel cancer and ruined everything. Then he met Tyler Durden. Then came Fight Club. Fight Club is the psychological story of a man's descent into an...