Showing results by narrator "Frances Barber" in All Categories

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, known as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her 1944 novella Gigi, which was the basis for the 1958 film and the 1973 stage production of the same name. Gigi became a celebrated stage musical and film; the stage production made a star of Audrey Hepburn, who was personally chosen by Colette for the role, and a dramatized adaptation is the centrepiece of this collection.

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.

Jenny Eclair is one of Britain’s most-loved stand-up comedians, and the first woman to win the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. She has written several acclaimed books, including the Sunday Times bestseller Older and Wider: A Survivor's Guide to the Menopause, and appeared on numerous TV and radio shows including Grumpy Old Women and Just a Minute. Collected here are some of her finest and funniest radio comedies, centred around women who are at a turning point in their lives.

Fifteen years old…brutalised…dumped in a park…throat slashed…. Schoolgirl prostitute Michelle Lucas died in agony and terror, utterly alone. The sight breaks the heart of Sergeant Bev Morriss of West Midlands Police. She thought she was hardened, but gazing at Michelle’s pale, broken body she is consumed by a cold fury. She knows this case is different - this is the one that will push her to the edge. Plunging herself into the seedy heart of Birmingham’s vice-land she struggles to infiltrate the deadly jungle of hookers, evil pimps and violent johns.

In early 20th Century England Hamilton James Macaulay relates the tale of how he found himself in a Scarborough Bric-a-brac shop. The owner of the shop has 13 long playing records that each contain a hidden track at the end, that tell strange tales of future times. These 13 tales of terror will change Hamilton James Macaulay's life forever and he will leave the shop a murderer. Thirteen is a portmantaeu audio anthology, harking back to the classic horror albums of the 1970s.

This is the story of Shane and Timothy Spall and their Dutch barge, The Princess Matilda. After a summer on the Thames they head out to sea with only a road atlas and a vast amount of ignorance - and it is absolutely terrifying! A decade before, Tim had been diagnosed with acute leukaemia and was given only days to live. Shocked at how life can pass you by, they decided that if and when Tim got better, they would buy a boat. The Spalls' adventures have already been the subject of two BBC4 series.

Best known for her posthumously published novel Suite française, Irène Némirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903. Her family fled the Russian Revolution for Paris, where she found fame as a novelist. But when the Nazis occupied France, she was arrested as a Jew and sent to Auschwitz, where she died aged just 39. This collection includes four of her best works, dramatised for radio with a full cast.

When newly widowed Jessica decides to rent a room to recently divorced Rex, she's a little apprehensive. She's never had a lodger before, and he's not used to being a tenant. Neither are quite sure how their relationship works—and to make things trickier, they're wildly different people. But unbeknownst to either of them, they share a secret—they both keep a diary. Taking turns to read from their respective journals, they relate their thoughts, hopes, dreams and first impressions of each other, which are somewhat less than flattering.

Doctor Elehri Mussurana has spent a lifetime on her work. She's guarded her pet project close to her chest, letting only one person share her secret - her husband and lab partner Ernst Wharner. As their experiment reaches its final, glorious fruition, they watch in awe as sparks fly in a sealed chamber and specks of sapphire light begin to join together into a shining haze. A wormhole in time and space is being created.... But then something unexpected appears inside the swirling vortex: a tall blue box with the words "Police Public Call Box" on the side.

Lucy White ends up in Farewell Square after a messy divorce. The other residents are anything but quiet, and they're as intrigued by Lucy as she is by them. As she's drawn into their midst, she realises that life can be kind as well as cruel.

A BBC Radio 3 production from the 'Drama on 3' series exploring the idea of a fascism of the mind. Nigel is bored. But then he meets the glamorous Liv and Tony and becomes part of their beautiful world; a beauty that hides a disturbing secret… David Eldridge's The Secret Grief stars Paul Chequer as Nigel, Frances Barber as Liv, and David Schofield as Tony. Also featured amongst the cast are Struan Rodger, Alex Tregear, Stuart McLoughlin and Nyasha Hatendi.

Doug Lucie's satirical sequel to Hitched revisits the bride and groom, Emma and Richard, two years after their big day. The honeymoon is well and truly over and wedded bliss hasn't turned out to be, well, blissful. With their relationship at crisis point, Emma returns from America with her young daughter to discover her life isn't the only one that has changed. But just what has happened between Emma and Richard, and why has she returned home without him?

Antony and Cleopatra is an intense love story, exploring the constant conflict between duty and emotion with characters so charismatic they continue to fascinate after 2,000 years. Shakespeare achieved some of his most beautiful poetry in this play, and the richness of the language makes it perfect for audio. Frances Barber stars as Cleopatra and David Harewood as Antony in this towering tale of great love, political intrigue and tragedy.

Sir Lenny Henry has had a long and successful career as a comedian, impressionist, actor and presenter. Having starred in several plays in the West End and on radio, he was inspired to complete an MA in screenwriting and in 2011 penned his first radio drama, Corrinne Come Back and Gone, which opens this collection. He continued his writing career with three more Radio 4 plays and nine episodes of his comic monologue series Lenny Henry’s Rogues Gallery. Collected here for the first time, listen to these poignant and humorous original dramas.

Abandoned at birth, little Mercy Hanley shows a fierce determination few others can match. Her inner fire burns brightly, even in the harsh conditions of turn-of-the-century Birmingham. For behind Mercy's pale and haunting face, there is a mind of steel, as her harsh foster mother, Mrs Gaskin...