Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Literature & Fiction

George Bernard Shaw - or Bernard Shaw, as he preferred to be known - was one of Ireland's foremost dramatists and thinkers. His plays range from contemporary satires to historical allegories, and are infused with ideas, insight, wit and wisdom. Included here are some of his best works, adapted for radio and brought together in reverse chronological order in one statement collection.

In these 26 episodes, a shaky treehouse gets hubby Henry in trouble with the law, the couple's plans for a week free of the children go awry and Jen's money-making plans run into red tape - and worse.... It's all change for the Corners as son Robin wins a scholarship to boarding school, there's a new baby on the way and Henry has a job offer - but can they bear to leave London and move to the countryside?

Maria and Richard Reynolds are happily married, but broke. With debts piling up and their house falling down, there’s only one thing for it: they have to start taking in lodgers. Their new housemates are two equally cash-strapped students - Ruby, who’s conscientious and dedicated, and Paul, who finds academic pursuits more of a challenge.

It's 2116, and Bernard Marx and Helmholtz Watson are token rebels in an irretrievably corrupted society where promiscuity is the norm, eugenics a respectable science, and morality turned upside down. There is no poverty, crime or sickness - but no creativity, art or culture either. Human beings are merely docile citizens: divided into castes, brainwashed and controlled by the state and dependent on the drug soma for superficial gratification.

Based in the little town of Bridgeford, High-Lites salon boasts the most misanthropic hairdresser in Britain: sharp-tongued, mean-minded Bev. With the help of her soft-hearted (though slightly dim) assistant, Shirley, she tends to the tresses of a motley crew of local characters. As she cuts their hair, she finds out everything that's going on in their lives - and wastes no time in spreading some gossip of her own.

The complete BBC Radio 4 legal drama, starring Claire Rushbrook and Clare Corbett: Behind Closed Doors is a courtroom drama with a difference - it centres around civil law, not criminal. In these nine plays, London barrister Rebecca Nyman takes on cases ranging from workplace harassment to the sensitive, secret trial of a terrorist and a morally complex 'right to die' hearing.

Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam return as the married couple who met in the Summer of Love and are still passionate about music, life - and each other. Once again, we listen in on their warm, witty 'conversations', which dance around topics big and small: from health scares and jealousy to disagreements about TV viewing and sourdough bread. There's laughter, bickering, banter - and some loving one-upmanship from both parties, as Roger gives Joanna a masterclass in dishwasher stacking, while Joanna instructs him on how to wave goodbye to departing guests.

An all-star cast attend a mysterious private club in this hilarious parody of classic horror tales. Membership of the exclusive Mausoleum Club isn't for the faint of heart. The Honorable Clarence Green wants in, but to join he must first hear the spine-chilling stories of the existing members, before enthralling them with one of his own. But are their stories fact or fiction? And will Green still want to join after hearing the horrors they have to tell?

Enter a surreal universe where David Dickinson goes looking for weapons of mass destruction in 'Weapons Hunt', the Queen sells off the royal jewels on the QVC shopping channel and Delia Smith turns homicidal and starts cooking up the competition. Elsewhere, Anne Robinson votes off The Weakest Disciple, and Simon Schama and David Starkey battle it out - literally - in order to become television's leading historian.

Algernon Moncrieff, a bachelor-about-town, has invented an invalid friend called Bunbury in order to get out of tiresome family engagements. At the same time, his friend, Jack Worthing, has invented a wicked brother called Ernest to disguise his own misdemeanours. When Algernon poses as Ernest to win the heart of Cecily Cardew, confusion reigns, and it takes the discovery of an old black handbag to reveal the truth.

TV’s first ecclesiastical comedy, All Gas and Gaiters was enjoyed by more than 10 million viewers on BBC One between 1966 and 1971. Written by husband-and-wife-team Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps, it was so popular that a selection of scripts were revised and re-recorded for radio with the same star cast as the television series. Robertson Hare starred as the archdeacon of the fictional St Ogg’s Cathedral.

Nominated for a British Comedy Award for Best Radio Comedy, The Harpoon is a nostalgic, spiffing spoof of adventure story papers for boys from yesteryear - but on the wireless. In the style of publications such as the Boys' Own Paper - but with its tongue firmly in its cheek - it features a veritable feast of thrilling serials, 'How-Tos', readers' letters and patent cures - all introduced by 'your old chum, the Editor'.

Ramesh Mahju and his trusty sidekick Dave Legg are back with more banter, bargains, shop-based shenanigans and over-the-counter philosophy. In these 24 episodes, Ramesh gets in trouble with the local headmistress over his new line of sweets, has a wobble about his Meat Loaf date with new girlfriend Malcolm, ponders retiring (but who would take over his convenience store empire?) and makes a mint when the new House of Wax opens in Lenzie and the town is besieged by tourists.

Jenny Seagrove and Nigel Havers star in this BBC Radio 2 production of Noël Coward’s classic tale of forbidden love. Laura Jesson is a happily married woman until a chance encounter in a train station café draws her to Dr Alec Harvey. Literally bumping into each other brings temptation, danger and guilt into their lives, and a doomed love affair ensues...

More than a century ago, M. R. James was the provost of King's College, Cambridge. He would gather together a select group of students in his rooms every Christmas Eve, and give a candlelit performance of one of his superbly unsettling ghost stories. Christopher Lee recreates the spine-chilling atmosphere of those evenings, as he dons James' mantle to read these four fearful tales.

All eight series of the comedy drama series set in a Donegal town in the 1950s and '60s. Ireland in the '50s, and the days of mass tourism and indoor plumbing have not yet come to rural Co. Donegal. But in the small, sleepy town of Ballylenon, change is coming, and trouble is brewing. A power struggle is under way for control of the town, with two rival forces aligned against each other.

Bill Nighy stars as Charles Paris in a BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Simon Brett's novel. Charles Paris is understudying in a West End production, whose star Michael Banks seems unable to master the script. Has Charles time to solve a murder, win Frances' heart and make it on stage by the time the curtain goes up?

Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick are the notorious resting thespians in this hilarious collection of sketches from Round the Horne. Through four series of Round the Horne, Julian and Sandy graced each episode with an encounter with 'that nice Mr Horne'. Each week they'd be up to new tricks, from filmmaking (Bona Prods) to a travel agency ('something exciting in a cheap package') and a 'bijou restaurantette' (La Casserole de Bona Gourmet).

British detective writer H. R. F. Keating was best known as the creator of Inspector Ghote of the Mumbai CID. He won two Crime Writers’ Association Gold Daggers, and in 1996 was awarded the Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement. Included here are dramatisations of two of his most popular murder mysteries, set in 1930s India and Victorian London, plus a short clip from Radio 4’s Bookshelf featuring the award-winning author.

Acclaimed as 'the most thoroughly European of British crime writers' (Guardian), Nicolas Freeling was well known for his novels featuring Dutch sleuth Van der Valk and French policeman Henri Castang. Included in this collection are six stories showcasing both detectives, as well as a bonus programme exploring Van der Valk and his creator.