Showing results by narrator "Frances Jeater" in All Categories

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.

Ted Willis began his creative life in amateur theatre and journalism before moving into writing for films, TV and radio, and was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most prolific writer for television. His best-known creation was the hit police procedural Dixon of Dock Green which he based on the stories told to him by a policeman friend. This radio anthology includes five of his best-loved crime tales from the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

Sick of the spying business, professional assassin Art Gordo decides to quit the Secret Service - but his old life won't leave him alone. It's Christmas, three months after his retirement, and Gordo is visited by an old colleague with a proposition. A senior MI7 agent has been selling secrets to the opposition and needs to be eliminated - and the job can't be traced back to the Department. What's more, the task must be completed within the next five days. Clarke's offering big money - but despite the temptation, Art turns him down. Only someone won't take 'no' for an answer.

Here are the stories of nine great adventures and the lives of the men who took part in them. They pushed back the frontiers of man's knowledge of the world by their vision, courage, and sheer doggedness. They were very different people, from bold adventurers facing the unknown with enjoyment to careful, more scientific individuals. Their journeys are placed within their historical context, but also contain the words of the men themselves.

A collection of some of William Trevor's most acclaimed works, as heard on BBC Radio William Trevor was an Irish literary legend. In a 40-year career, he published a multiplicity of novels, plays, and short stories, and received numerous awards and honours. He was often compared to Chekhov for his extraordinary insight into the human condition, and in these eleven tales, he delves into the inner lives of ordinary people, with all their passions, secrets, fears and disappointments.

This is a story from the Great Explorers collection.

Ex-copper-turned-private-investigator Billy Rucker scours the seamy underbelly of London, hunting for runaways - and murderers. Tough, worldly wise and street-savvy, he can go where the police can't: and once he's on the trail, he won't stop until he finds the truth. David Morrissey stars as Billy Rucker in these two gritty urban noir thrillers.

A collection of dramas set in South and Central America by acclaimed dramatist Mike Walker. An award-winning dramatist, author and feature writer, Mike Walker has written numerous original dramas for BBC Radio 4, including his epic chronicles Tsar, Caesar!, The Stuarts and Castle of the Hawk. Collected here are five of his gripping dramas from the 1980s and '90s, set around the Amazon rainforest and Nicaragua.

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.

This is a story from the Great Explorers collection.

This is a story from the Great Explorers collection.

This is a story from the Great Explorers collection.

This is a story from the Great Explorers collection.

This is a story from the Great Explorers collection.

This is a story from the Great Explorers collection.

No great composer’s story is more predominantly happy than Haydn’s, though even his has its share of clouds. A classic rags-to-riches tale, it sees him move from humble beginnings through decades as a liveried servant to his emergence as the most popular and successful composer of his time. One of the healthiest and least neurotic artists in musical history, he did more than any other single figure to pioneer the symphony, the piano sonata and the string quartet - and he was the first truly great practitioner of each.

Four more delightful tales from one of the most entertaining storytellers of all time. Though writing in the thirteenth century, Chaucer’s wit and observation comes down undiminished through the ages, especially in this accessible modern verse translation. The stories vary considerably from the uproarious Wife of Bath’s Tale, promoting the power of women to the sober account of patient Griselda in the Clerk’s Tale.

Pleasures of the Garden begins in ancient China and ends on the Isle of Man; it admires both stately landscaped parks and a soap box full of red geraniums on a fire-escape. It shows that gardening is for everybody, whatever their resources.

Graham Carpenter has big dreams of being a serious journalist, but he doesn’t quite have the skills to match. Starting a new job as local cub reporter for the Butterthwaite newspaper is Graham’s big chance. With pad and pencil in hand, he’s willing and ready - what could possibly go wrong? Follow Graham’s (mis)adventures as he tries to land the ultimate scoop. In the first week of the job he gets a lucky break and an unexpected story lead when there’s whispers of royalty coming to town, but can he get the front page?

It’s the 1990s and the body positivity movement has a yet to be born. Graham Pitscottie dreams of one day becoming a presenter on Blue Peter. However, he is stuck replenishing the pick 'n' mix at Woolworths. By his own admission he is, ‘a bit of a fatso’, and because there are no fat Blue Peter presenters, he joins - at the insistence of his mother Soo - a slimming class run by Wendy Bottomley.