Showing results by narrator "Simon Russell-Beale" in All Categories

The legendary demise of Phil Archer's first wife is recalled in these archive editions of the much-loved BBC radio serial, plus a unique behind-the-scenes drama about Grace's death. The Archers is the longest-running radio drama in the world, and in 1955 the death of Grace Archer became one of the most notorious - and controversial - events in the history of the show.

George Smiley is one of the most brilliantly realised characters in British fiction. Bespectacled, tubby, eternally middle-aged and deceptively ordinary, he has a mind like a steel trap and is said to possess ‘the cunning of Satan and the conscience of a virgin’. When word reaches 'The...

Atticus the Storyteller is determined to take part in the great Storytelling Festival near Troy. He leaves his family in Crete and sets off on a year-long journey round Greece with his donkey, Melissa; and wherever he goes he tells his favourite myths to anyone who'll listen. The 100 myths...

Louise North doesn't care what the neighbors think. She lets her lover leave his car just outside her house in broad daylight, telling everyone he is a central heating salesman. Still, it's a shock when she's found shot dead, covered by the equally dead body of the "salesman." It was his third visit to the gloomy house on Orchard Drive. Each time, he parked in the same place. Each time, he carried a briefcase. And each time, Louise North greeted him at the door.

Mary Jago had donated her own bone marrow to save the life of someone she didn’t know. And this generous act led directly to the bitter break-up of her affair with Alistair. For him, it was as though her beauty had been plundered. But the man whose life she had saved would change Mary’s life in a way she could never have imagined.

George Smiley is one of the most brilliantly realised characters in British fiction. Bespectacled, tubby, eternally middle-aged and deceptively ordinary, he has a mind like a steel trap and is said to possess ‘the cunning of Satan and the conscience of a virgin’. The Berlin Wall is down...

Benedict Cumberbatch, Greta Scacchi and Simon Russell Beale star in Michael Frayn's award-winning play about the controversial 1941 meeting between physicists Bohr and Heisenberg. Copenhagen, Autumn 1941. The two presiding geniuses of quantum physics, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg meet for...

Crumble cakes! When Betsy joins Myrtle the mermaid in her underwater world, she discovers there may be monsters...shipwrecks, lost treasure and secret cities. A seapig's prize seahorse, Pudding Pie, has been stolen by a cantankerous giant octopus and Betsy and Mr Tiger must go to the rescue in their new submarine. But what happens when a tiger's whiskers and tail are simply too long to squeeze into forgotten dark caverns where even the moon cannot shine, and Betsy has to take the final steps of the adventure on her own?

Simon Russell Beale is one of Britain's most recognisable and well-loved actors. He has played many roles on stage, film, television and radio - ranging from Winston Churchill to Stalin, George Smiley to King Arthur. But ever since his appearance at school as a glamorous Desdemona, complete with false eyelashes that rendered him half-blind, he has been captivated by Shakespeare.

‘This captivating series of adventures is ideal for those who love whimsical humour’ Guardian, Best Children’s Books of the Year Written by Carnegie and Costa Award-winning author Sally Gardner and beautifully illustrated throughout by Greenaway-shortlisted artist Chris Mould, Pernickety...

Telling his followers he is leaving the city on affairs of state, the Duke of Vienna appoints the puritanical Angelo to govern in his absence. Will Angelo prove as virtuous as he seems once power is in his hands? Roaming the city disguised as a friar, the duke looks on as Angelo's lust for the virtuous Isabella sweeps him into the corruption he has so sternly condemned in others. The duke's manipulation at last produces a happy ending for this dark comedy, with its brilliant exploration of the themes of justice and mercy.

A thirty-five strong cast including Leo McKern as Kutuzov, Simon Russell Beale as Pierre Bezuhov, Emily Mortimer as Natasha Rostov and Gerard Murphy as Andrei Bolkonsky, brings all the passion and turbulence of Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece to the airwaves in this unique BBC Radio 4 dramatisation...

This is the remarkable and tragic story of Oscar Wilde, legendary wit and conversationalist, author of perhaps the most perfect comedy in the English language, yet seemingly doomed by his own flawed temperament to suffer at the hands of a censorious and hypocritical society...

At the Wings & Co. Fairy Detective Agency, Emily Vole and her friends are beginning to worry. It's five months since their official opening and they still haven't had one case. Then local landowner Sir Walter Cross dies suddenly and mysteriously. The detectives suspect fairy meddling. And when Mr Rollo the tailor mysteriously loses everything and Pan Smith's wedding plans are ruined the night before her big day, they're convinced there must be magic at play.

Many of Shakespeare's greatest and best-loved speeches are brought together in this superb collection, performed by outstanding artists who bring to vivid life words which are an integral part of our language, our culture and our everyday lives.

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.

Palamon and Arcite, cousins and bosom friends, are taken prisoner by Duke Theseus of Athens. While in captivity, they spy the beautiful Emilia. Both fall instantly in love with her, and their attachment to each other turns to hate. This dark-edged tragicomedy is now widely regarded as having been written by Shakespeare in collaboration with John Fletcher. Composed sometime in 1613-14, The Two Noble Kinsmen is the final play in Shakespeare's dramatic career.

Jean-Baptiste Pocquelin, better known by his pen-name Molière, was France's greatest satirical dramatist. Such was his influence on the French language that it is often referred to as 'the language of Molière', and he has been dubbed 'the French Shakespeare'. A leading 17th Century comic actor and director, his genius encompassed all aspects of stage comedy, and his plays continue to appeal to audiences today. Included here are six of his masterpieces, as heard on BBC Radio.

With more than 80 of the most popular and loved poems in the English language, this collection is one of the most comprehensive anthologies of its kind. It covers a remarkable range, from the striking visions of Blake and Shelley and the insights of Keats to lighter but equally memorable verse by Tennyson.

One of seven of these 'unmade movies' available on audio, Victory is a dark, morally complex drama set in the Dutch East Indies in 1900. It tells the story of Baron Heyst, a mysterious Swedish recluse living alone on a deserted island whose life is changed forever when he visits a neighbouring island and falls in love with young English violinist Lena. Pursued by predatory older men, Lena is drawn to Heyst and escapes with him to his island retreat....