Showing results by author "Mr Punch" in All Categories

Mr Punch Presents: It’s a Wonderful Life, the irresistibly heart-warming story of George Bailey, who is prevented from committing suicide by the elderly angel Clarence, who takes him on a journey back through his life to show him how the town of Bedford Falls would have been had he never lived. Originally directed by the celebrated Frank Capra, it is performed here for radio with James Stewart, Victor Moore and Donna Reed recreating their original roles.

An intimate three-volume collection of moving letters from the private writings of three of the most popular writers of the 19th century, presented in a dramatised setting.

A fascinating four-volume collection from the private journals of four distinguished historical figures, presented in a dramatised setting.

In 1911, Captain Robert Falcon Scott went back to the huge frozen wasteland of the Antarctic with the intention of reaching the South Pole, by a long and terribly arduous trek across the ice. On finally reaching the pole, Scott and his comrades were devastated to find that they had been beaten by the Norwegian explorer Amundsen. With temperatures of minus 30, they began their slow journey back to their base.

Hollywood Playhouse - The Oscar's Collection is a unique compilation of 12 Oscar winning films specially adapted for the radio and performed by many of the original film stars in front of a live studio audience. Originally broadcast on the radio, they were to become as popular with the public as the movies themselves.

The brief and tragic life of Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) is told through the beautiful and passionate letters written by Charlotte to her best friend Ellen Nussey. Born and brought up in the bleak Haworth parsonage with only her sisters and brother for company, she soon obtains employment as a Governess. Having travelled abroad to study languages in Brussels, she returns to the Yorkshire moors to join her family where she writes her most successful novel, Jane Eyre.

A fascinating glimpse into some of the most notorious crimes and trials of the last 100 years. Using the original trial transcripts, eyewitness accounts and contemporary newspaper reports, we witness the actual events that made each trial a cause célèbre of its day.

Set during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, we meet Max Carrados, the celebrated blind detective who can read a newspaper headline with the touch of his fingers and shoot a villain by aiming at the sound of his beating heart...and Norman Conquest, the fast talking, hard hitting adventurer with a nose for trouble and a hell-rake disregard for danger, who keeps up good cheer while he biffs the baddies...and not forgetting Ben, the chivalrous and perky non-descript little man, whose thumbs itch just before ‘something ‘orrible ‘appens’.

Born at Steventon in 1775, the daughter of a Hampshire clergyman, Jane Austen was the youngest of seven children. She lived a quiet life, moving to Bath, Southampton, Chawton and eventually to Winchester where she died unmarried in 1817 at the age of 42. It is to her elder sister Cassandra that most of her surviving letters are written, and through them, we discover the intimate world of the English gentry.

Set during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, where every story promises a 'Thousand Thrills!', Ben, the chivalrous and perky non-descript little man, whose thumbs itch just before ‘something ‘orrible ‘appens’ played by Tony Robinson is joined by Leslie Phillips as the devilish Lovelace in J Jefferson Farjeon’s 1930’s thriller. A hat lost in the English Channel, a dagger buried in a toff’s back and an incriminating letter from an MP entice Ben into the world of arms dealers and smugglers as he battles to save Europe from another World War!

Mr Punch Presents: Sunset Boulevard, nominated for 11 Academy Awards, Billy Wilder’s brilliant 1950 film is about the flamboyant silent-movie star Norma Desmond played by Gloria Swanson and her pitiful attempt to stage a comeback to the silver screen through her friendship with a young, opportunistic screenwriter, played by William Holden. Re-created for the radio with the original stars in this special radio production.

George Gordon Byron was born in 1788, the son of the profligate 'Mad Jack' Byron, and succeeded to the title in 1798 moving to the family seat of Newstead Abbey. He attended Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he proved to be a poor scholar, preferring boxing, the low life and poetry, publishing his first volume of poems in 1806. In 1809, at 21, he embarked on a grand tour of Europe and on his return to England he married the humourless Annabella Milbanke, who gave birth to his daughter Augusta in 1815.

Mr Punch Presents: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, following the fortunes of three ill-matched gold diggers, who are searching for treasure in Mexico. As they hunt for their elusive prize, the three prospectors become progressively more corrupt and greedy and fall foul of each other’s all-consuming greed, in this exciting adventure story. With Humphrey Bogart recapturing his role as the wicked Fred C. Dobbs and Walter Huston as the grizzled old-timer Howard, the role for which he received the Oscar as best supporting actor.

A seven-volume collection containing some of the most fascinating journals and letters to have been written in the last two hundred and fifty years, all performed in a dramatised setting.

Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), the cynical owner of Rick’s Café Americain helps his former lover Ilse Lund (Ingrid Bergman) and her underground leader husband escape from the Nazis in this powerful love story, featuring the classic song "As Time Goes By". The Maltese Falcon, stars Humphrey Bogart as the private detective Sam Spade. In this compelling thriller, Sam Spade is entrusted with the safe-keeping of the much-coveted black falcon statuette as he becomes involved in a classic tale of greed and illusion.

Viscount Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), known as ‘The Hero’ during his own lifetime was both an inspiring commander and an innovative tactician, becoming a rear admiral after defeating the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape St Vincent. He was also responsible for the great victories of the Nile (1798) and Copenhagen (1801). Revered by his officers and men, he was renowned for both his arrogance and his scandalous love affair with the beautiful Emma Hamilton.

In March 1950, Timothy Evans, aged 25, was hanged for the murder of his wife and child. Sixteen years, later the queen was to grant him a full pardon. So why did Timothy Evans confess to murder? Why was John Reginald Christie, his neighbour, not arrested until April Fool’s Day three years later? And what was the gruesome discovery behind the kitchen wall? The shocking truth of the sordid and tragic events that took place behind the doors of number 10 Rillington Place was to horrify the nation.

Mr Punch Presents: It Happened One Night, the winner of five Oscar’s including Best Picture is Frank Capra’s classic romantic comedy, telling the story of a runaway heiress (Claudette Colbert) who falls in love with a cynical reporter (Clark Gable) on a cross-country bus trip across America.

Succeeding William IV in 1837, Victoria reigned for nearly 64 years and was always a keen chronicler of life around her, through both her paintings and the detailed diary she kept from the age of 13. Queen Victoria’s Highland Journals cover the period from 1848 to 1882 and provide a fascinating insight into those long 'never-to-be-forgotten days' she spent with her family in her much beloved Scottish Highlands.

Meet Max Carrados, the celebrated blind detective who can read a newspaper headline with the touch of his fingers and shoot a villain by aiming at the sound of his beating heart. In The Eyes of Max Carrados, our hero discovers a story of murder, suicide and a desperate daughter’s quest to clear her father’s name.