Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Family Life

Based on their critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Festival shows Aeneas Faversham, Aeneas Faversham Returns and Aeneas Faversham Forever, these action-packed romps chronicle the lives of the Brothers Faversham, nine men who straddled the Victorian era 'like a mighty change-Titan'. In the annals of the British Empire, few names blaze more brightly than theirs - and now, at last, their extraordinary stories can be told.

Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam star as a married couple who met in the Summer of Love and have stayed together ever since. Children of the '60s, they are still free spirits, drawn together by their love for music and one another. We follow their conversations from the café to the kitchen table, taking in everyday chores, dealing with problems and tackling their frustrations with each other with warmth, wit and honesty.

It's 1933 and we are back at Crown House where the Minster family are gathering to enjoy the Easter holiday. However, Crown House isn't the idyll it first appears, and a brutal murder disrupts the genial gathering. There's a secret that's been buried for years and the Honourable Mrs Jenny Gaunt is determined to uncover the truth but is she prepared to lose everything she holds dear in the process?

William and Olive Wheeler are an old-fashioned couple, who call each other 'Mother' and 'Father', and are happy in their traditional roles as breadwinner and housewife respectively. But now William has retired after 40 years in the office, and is finding it hard to adjust to a life of leisure - while Olive is trying to get used to having him under her feet all day for the first time in their marriage. Over the course of the series, the couple struggle to settle into a new post-retirement routine that will suit them both.

Gerald C Potter is the proud author of Death in the Arboretum, described by the Bournemouth Echo as 'well-written'. He works hard on his books, and worries about every comma, adjective and unfortunate typo, but somehow, he never seems to get very much done. However, his wife and fellow novelist, Diana (aka Magnolia Badminton), is positively prolific - much to his chagrin. These four series recount his daily activities and struggles for inspiration.

Arundhati Roy's debut novel The God of Small Things took the literary world by storm, winning the Booker Prize in 1997. It went on to sell over six million copies in 40 languages, and was named as one of the BBC's 100 'Novels That Shaped Our World' in 2019. Set in Kerala in both the present and 1969, it tells the compelling tale of fraternal twins Rahel and Estha, whose lives are shattered by the 'Love Laws' that dictate 'who should be loved, and how.

All three series of the BBC Radio 4 comedy drama about the collision between the old and the new in the Jewish community of Hillfield. Abraham Fine lives a settled, comfortable life as Rabbi of Hillfield’s Orthodox synagogue. But his world is turned upside down when a new Reform synagogue opens, led by a female Rabbi, Su Jacobs. Young, single, trendy and full of new ideas, she soon sets about modernisation - much to Rabbi Fine’s consternation.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation starring John Moffatt as the great Belgian detective with Simon Williams and Philip Jackson. Alice Ascher, a poor, elderly shopkeeper, is murdered in Andover. Betty Barnard, a young waitress, is strangled with her own belt at Bexhill-on-Sea. Next comes Carmichael Clarke, collector of Chinese art, clubbed to death in Churston. Only in Doncaster does the pattern vary: the man found stabbed in the Regal Cinema is called George Earsfield.

Well-meaning do-gooder Clare Barker is back, and dealing with more office politics, troublesome clients and domestic dramas. Secretly regarding herself as a cross between Mother Theresa and Wonder Woman, she's got all the right jargon for every problem, but never any practical solutions. However, in today's 'Big Society' there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker (or even Clare). These six series find her struggling once again to control both her professional and private life.

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.

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in 1950, Life with the Lyons was the first UK 'situation comedy'. More than 11 million listeners tuned in to the hilarious fictional misadventures of real-life Hollywood stars Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyons and their two children, Barbara and Richard, as well as Scottish housekeeper Aggie and next-door neighbours Florrie and Mr Wimple. Such was its popularity that the series ran for 11 years, spawning a TV spin-off, a West End play and two feature films.

Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam play a married couple who met in the Summer of Love and have stayed together ever since. Children of the '60s, they are still free spirits, drawn together by their love for music and one another. We follow their conversations from the café to the kitchen table, taking in everyday chores, dealing with problems with long-held friendships and tackling their frustrations with each other. With warmth, wit and honesty, they talk about the indignities of ageing, their desire to still be seen as attractive and their fears and vulnerabilities around growing older.

Landlord Jack and his daughter Nicola used to be close – when she was seven, and all she talked about was ponies. Now she’s 26 and works in the City, and they’ve drifted apart. So when she comes back for a Christmas visit and announces she wants to stay and help manage the pub, he’s less than thrilled. Barmaid Mrs Drummond is unimpressed too – she’s never liked Nicola – but regular customer Andy is delighted she’s back home.

A.L. Kennedy is a celebrated novelist, playwright, short story writer and columnist. She has won numerous UK and international book awards, including the Costa Prize, and has twice been featured on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. A prolific writer for stage, screen and TV, she has also created several works for radio, among them this trio of dramas specially written for Bill Nighy.

Not long after their mother's death, sisters Maureen and Lesley are packing up their family home. It's a painful duty, with Maureen trying to control the worst of Lesley's projectile lamenting. Then a strange man knocks at the door and introduces himself as David Johnson, a friend of Maureen's neighbour. He'd like to view the house if they are thinking of selling - which Maureen definitely is.

David Tennant, Sarah Alexander and Mark Bonnar star in all three series of the bittersweet comedy about shared parenting. Tangled love lives, secret affairs, frozen eggs and roving eyes - it's time to meet the Millers! The Go-Betweenies takes a candid look at a divorced North London family through the prism of two siblings (14-year-old Lucy and 10-year-old Tom) who schlep with varying degrees of enthusiasm between two sets of homes: Mum's comfy Highgate house and Dad's rackety new rental on the Holloway Road.

Helen and Ben are an upwardly mobile couple climbing the social ladder in suburbia. They have just moved into a semi-detached house but discover that their taste for restoring their home to its original character is not shared by the neighbours....

Get ready to be dragged kicking and screaming into the world of family life, Stockport-style, as 15-year-old Jason introduces us to the Conroy clan. There's dad Eddie, cabby and wannabe champion organist, mum Maureen, who's easygoing but wasn't born yesterday, older brother Michael, lead singer of The Sweater Girls, and sisters Colette (married to uptight bank clerk Dave) and Karen (newly returned from uni with a Sloane Ranger boyfriend).

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation starring John Moffatt as the great Belgian detective. Hercule Poirot and his good friend Captain Hastings are enjoying a well-deserved break on the Cornish Riviera, in the idyllic village of St Loo. Wandering along the terrace of the Hotel Majestic on the first morning of their stay, Poirot literally falls at the feet of a pretty, dark-haired girl and, much to Hastings’ delight, insists that she join them for a cocktail.

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.