Showing results by narrator "Toby Jones" in All Categories

J. B. Priestley was one of Britain's most significant writers. His output was prodigious: in his lifetime, he penned 26 novels, 39 plays and hundreds of essays. He enjoyed great success on stage, notably with Dangerous Corner, Time and the Conways and An Inspector Calls, which experimented with narrative structure and unorthodox theories of time. Included here are some of his most esteemed works, adapted for radio and brought together in one statement collection.

The One State is the perfect society, ruled over by the enlightened Benefactor. It is a city made almost entirely of glass, where surveillance is universal and life runs according to algorithmic rules to ensure perfect happiness. And D-503, the Builder, is the ideal citizen, at least until he meets I-330, who opens his eyes to new ideas of love, sex and freedom.

A brand new two-part special from the fantastical drama series set in a world almost, but not quite, like our own. Paul Hilton stars as William Palmer, the immortal, reluctant and unthanked hero protecting mankind from an enemy they resist believing in: the Grey Folk.

Ambitious. Ruthless. Unprincipled. With their blurred morals and relatable imperfections, it’s no wonder we find anti-heroes so appealing and fascinating. Featuring a mixture of male and female anti-heroes across England, Scotland, France and New York, these fantastic adaptations of five of the best-known and best-loved classics of literature follow some of these flawed, nuanced characters as they steal the spotlight and make their presence known.

Ukrainian-born humorist, dramatist and novelist Nikolai Gogol is widely believed to have led the realist revolution in Russian literature. His surreal, absurdist satires liberated comedy from its sentimental traditions and influenced writers both within Russia and worldwide, among them Fyodor Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka and Flannery O’Connor.

Toby Jones and Holliday Grainger star in a new BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Dodie Smith's enduringly popular coming-of-age novel. In the 1930s, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain lives in a crumbling ruin of a castle in the Suffolk countryside. Her father, an author wrestling with writer's block, spends his time reading detective stories; her bohemian stepmother, Topaz, is an artist's model; and her beautiful older sister, Rose, is determined to escape the poverty of their existence - ideally by marriage to a rich man.

In this moving collection, Shaun Usher gathers together some of the most powerful letters about love ever written. Whether inspired by love’s first blush or the recriminations at its ending, the regrets of unrequited feelings and the joys of passions known, Letters of Note: Love is essential listening for anyone with a heart.

Celia Imrie and Toby Jones star in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Gerald Durrell's much-loved comic gem. My Family and Other Animals is the classic tale of naturalist Gerald Durrell's magical 1930s childhood on pre-war Corfu. His descriptions of his eccentric family and his encounters with the local creatures are full of humour and charm, and the book has delighted fans of all ages for 60 years. .

In Letters of Note: Music, Shaun Usher brings together a riveting collection of letters by and about some of the musicians and music that enrich our lives. Wonderfully wide-ranging and illuminating, it will delight music lovers of all stripes. A star-studded cast of readers brings the letters to life, with contributions from Sanjeev Bhaskar, Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Nick Cave, Crystal Clarke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Stephen Fry, Danny Huston, Toby Jones, Jude Law, Stephen Mangan, Miriam Margolyes, Clarke Peters, Juliet Stevenson and Mark Strong.

In Letters of Note: Mothers, Shaun Usher gathers together exceptional missives by and to mothers, celebrating the joy and grief, humour and frustration, wisdom and sacrifice the role brings to both parent and child. A star-studded cast of readers brings the letters to life, with contributions from Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Crystal Clarke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Neil Gaiman, Toby Jones, Ferdinand Kingsley, Jude Law, Helen McCrory, Natascha McElhone, Miriam Margolyes, Clarke Peters, Juliet Stevenson and Meera Syal.

The definitive collection of full-cast BBC radio dramatisations of Henry James’ classic novels - plus a bonus documentary about his life and work. One of the greatest and most influential American novelists, Henry James is loved for his compelling storytelling, vividly realised characters and perceptive exploration of the shifting relationships between Europeans and Americans. But he also possessed extraordinary insights into the secrets of the human heart, as shown in the 10 dramas in this collection.

In his first-ever short story collection, which spans forty years of work and features many never-before-published pieces, international bestselling author and legendary creator of From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and other modern classics, Alan Moore, presents nine stories full of wonder and strangeness, each taking us deeper into the fantastical underside of reality.

Like his actor namesake, Ronald Coleman is a suave, well-spoken English gentleman. But although he's a movie buff, Coleman is no film star - he's a copper, and a Detective Inspector to boot. Together with his down-to-earth Scottish partner, DS Fred Astor, he sets about solving cases on two very different patches - rural Kirkcaldy and inner-city Southampton.

In Letters of Note: Fathers, Shaun Usher collects letters celebrating weird and wonderful dads.

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.

1951. With the Festival of Britain in full swing, the country is looking forward to a brighter, more prosperous future. But young Brian Oldman cannot forget the past. Traumatised by a murder he witnessed when he was just six, he holds a terrible secret, but there is a more devastating secret he has yet to discover. Falling under the spell of his mother, Cath, he is drawn into London's criminal underworld, where territory battles are raging between the old guard and the new.

18 biographical dramas based on the lives and loves of celebrated writers.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones by Will Mabbit, read by Toby Jones. When Mabel Jones unknowingly commits 'The Deed' she finds herself swiftly bundled into a sack and carried off to the pirate ship the Feroshus Maggot. Crewed by the strangest bunch of pirates you would ever want to meet...

Elusive online journalist Scott King examines the chilling case of a young vlogger found frozen to death in the legendary local ‘vampire tower’, in another explosive episode of Six Stories. In the wake of the 'Beast from the East' cold snap that ravaged the UK in 2018, a grisly discovery was made in a ruin on the Northumbrian coast. Twenty-four-year-old vlogger Elizabeth Barton had been barricaded inside what locals refer to as 'The Vampire Tower', where she was later found frozen to death.

If you’d told me four months ago that I’d be lying on damp grass, clutching a bullet wound to the stomach, while next to me the love of my life lies dead from a bullet wound to the head, I’m not sure I would have believed you. If you’d told me I’d be surrounded by three other dead bodies, I definitely wouldn’t have believed you. And if you’d said it was all because of an argument over a metre of land, I would have thought you’d lost your mind. I might have even laughed.