Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Actor, writer and director Mahesh Dattani is the first playwright in English to be awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award by India’s National Academy of Letters. Included here are all three of his plays featuring Uma Rao – PhD student, daughter-in-law of Bangalore's deputy commissioner of police, and wife of the superintendent. Priyanga Burford (neé Elan), stars as the intrepid sleuth, with full casts including Shiv Grewal, Saeed Jaffrey, Ajay Chhabra, Amerjit Deu and Nitin Chandra Ganatra.

The second linked drama dealing with the fall out of the case of Debbie Hurst who was vilified as the most repulsive woman in Britain for allowing her ten year old daughter to dance semi-naked on the internet for paedophiles. It is six months since the case exploded on to the red tops and Joanne was the social worker who took the flak. She feels as though she was hung out to dry and wants to know why.

Written by Matthew Solon. This play tells the story of the tense negotiation that followed the 2010 general election, which led to the country's first post-war coalition. Based on interviews with those who were at the meetings, political journalists and on published material - and using actors to play all the key characters - this is a compelling account of those five momentous days in May.

Ever since it was first drilled more than 150 years ago, oil has been both a blessing and a curse. It has enabled economic growth, provided an efficient energy source, fuelled our entire infrastructure - and caused wars, pollution and global warming. These seven dramas, set between 1951 and 2045, and taking us from postwar Iran to futuristic Lancashire, examine the role oil has played in shaping our world: recounting incredible stories of wealth, power, politics and corruption.

It’s the late 1960s and Nico Gachet is a young French student on the run in England. After making some terrible mistakes he must take drastic measures if he is to save his life and the lives of those he loves. Hoping to make amends for a terrible crime, Nico plans a dangerous liaison in the heart of the city.

This BBC Radio full-cast drama tells a story of love and deception set during the Cold War. Throughout the period of the Cold War in the late 1960s and early 1970s, 'romeo spies' were operating, targeting bright and susceptible young women. Alice Reeves, a young secretary from London, unwittingly becomes romantically involved with Otto Hanhart - an East German spy. The encounter leads to unexpected consequences for all parties, changing their lives forever.

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.

A brand new BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of a classic Raymond Chandler mystery featuring private eye, Philip Marlowe. Marlowe is now married, living in the resort town of Poodle Springs. Once again, he sets himself up as an investigator and soon finds himself in the middle of blackmail and murder....

It is 1751, and 17-year-old David Balfour is all alone in the world. Recently orphaned, he receives a letter instructing him to seek out his sole remaining relative at the House of Shaws. But on meeting his uncle Ebenezer, David soon realises that he is a shifty, miserly man with designs on his inheritance. After an attempt on David's life fails, Ebenezer tricks him into boarding the brig Covenant, where he is knocked unconscious, kidnapped and taken to sea....

A few days into a murder inquiry following the brutal death of an Edinburgh art dealer, Rebus blows up at his superior, DCS Gill Templer, and is ordered to attend the Scottish Police College for "retraining". In other words, it's his Last Chance Saloon.

Forced off course by the Mandragora Helix, the TARDIS lands in the province of San Martino in fifteenth-century Italy. Here, the court astrologer, Hieronymous, has been taken over by the Mandragora energy-form - Hieronymous and the other members of his star-worshipping black magic cult will be used as a bridgehead, enabling the Mandragora Helix to conquer the Earth and rule it through their chosen servants.

Jamie was 19. He was an ambitious personal trainer who wanted to be a social media influencer. But now his hopes and dreams will never be realised. Jamie was found killed at the family home, discovered by his dad - who’s now been charged with his own son’s murder. In this gripping crime drama, revealed through recordings of sessions led by forensic psychiatrist Dr Alex Bridges (Lolita Chakrabarti), we hear from those closest to Jamie and find out more about the family’s secrets.

A middle-aged man in search of adventure, Bobby Roberts answers an advert in The Times and is dispatched to Milan, to collect a harmless package from a scientist. However, he very soon gets caught up in a terrifying murder.

Cath Staincliffe is best known as the creator of the hit TV series Blue Murder, as well as for her ‘Scott and Bailey’ books and ‘Sal Kilkenny’ crime novels. This full cast drama collection features the five gripping dramas in her ‘Legacy’ series, together with a standalone mystery and a three-part thriller, all specially written for BBC Radio.

Saughton Prison, Edinburgh. 1962. Thomas Scott is a prison warder, assigned to watch over a man condemned to hang for the murder of his wife. As the two men talk over a number of days, Scott begins to doubt whether his prisoner is guilty of the crime. With the execution date looming, can he find proof of his suspicions? And at what cost? An exciting original short story from Ian Rankin, written for the landmark Radio 4 Book at Bedtime.

Young, beautiful and courageous, Milady de Winter is a cunning spy, talented thief, and ruthless killer. She glides with ease through the streets and gilded halls of 17th-century France and England, turning heads or, with a click of her fingers, disappearing anonymously into a crowd. Driven by intellect and fierce desire, she is willing to go to any lengths to achieve her ambitions - and outwit the powerful men who try to crush her.

It's San Francisco, 1928, and Sam Spade is a wisecracking, womanising Private Investigator. Missing husbands and unfaithful wives are his usual stock-in-trade, but when the beautifully distressed Miss Wonderley calls he gets involved in a dangerous caper most people would run a mile from. Miss Wonderley asks Sam's partner, Miles Archer, to shadow Floyd Thursby, whom she maintains has kidnapped her sister. But then Archer is shot dead, and Miss Wonderley's story turns out to be a lie.

Daniel Ballantyne: monster and angel, thief and conman, genius - and murderer? Newly released from Wormwood Scrubs, and dying of cancer, notorious art forger Daniel Ballantyne agrees to help art critic Jessica Brown write his biography. But as Jessica digs deeper into his life, she realises that nearly everything he's told her is a lie, and behind his charming persona is a man capable of almost anything. Trapped in a cat-and-mouse game with a master manipulator, Jessica finds herself putting her reputation - and her life - on the line.

A man witnesses a murderous attack on a young woman in a mirror - yet when he turns round there is nothing there. Can he prevent a premonition coming true? Basic human loyalty and jealousy are at the fore in this chilling tale.

Twenty years after a murder, the convicted man walks free. His supporters claim a victory for justice, but for the murdered man’s friends, life implodes. Old lies resurface, and new questions haunt them. What really happened back then, in the student house they all shared? The house where Ben died? Anna was one of the victim’s housemates, back when they were students. Now she is a vicar, but back then she did media studies. When the case opens up again she finds all her old student films in the loft - films about her housemates - and she watches them with new eyes.