Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Entertainment & Performing Arts

In this fascinating collection of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive, Martina Navratilova talks about her life and career as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches.

In this fascinating collection of archive interviews with the famed lead singer of the Rolling Stones, we hear—in his owns words—about being the voice of his generation. Mick Jagger talks about touring with one of the biggest bands in the world and why he needs to perform. He discusses his favourite Stones songs and is extraordinarily open about some of his personal experiences, which have included drugs and alcohol, prison and being anti-establishment.

In interviews ranging from 1960 to 1972, Noël Coward talks about being a legend, whether he is a cynical writer, his early days in acting and about his early reputation for upsetting fellow actors on stage. He also discusses acting with Laurence Olivier, his affection for the navy, his film-making, his knighthood and writing 'Private Lives' for his friend Gertrude Lawrence.

Patrick Troughton battles to save mankind in this classic six-part "lost" television adventure, with linking narration by Frazer Hines. The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria to the south coast of present-day Earth. Something nasty is lurking in the gas pipelines of the North Sea, and before long the nearby refinery is under attack. Landing on a foam-covered beach, the travellers are at first mistaken for saboteurs.

Elisabeth Sladen presents this fascinating collection of interviews, behind-the-scenes set reports, and humorous sketches from BBC radio and television, all centred around the series featuring David Tennant as the good Doctor.

Award-winning comedian Josie Long has performed nine hit stand-up shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, subsequently touring them around the UK and internationally. This BBC Radio series was adapted from her hit 2009 stage show, and finds her attempting to unravel the mysteries of the universe through ad hoc research. Using the knowledge she's gleaned, she gives us the lowdown on her selected subject - with the help of her special guests, who join in with questions, illustrations and interruptions.

In a selection of interviews ranging from 1958 to 1987, Bette Davis talks about visiting England, her career as a star, the film studio's attempts to change her name and image and the Hollywood film system.

A leading light of British stage and screen from the 1950s onwards, Ian Carmichael made a career out of playing the amiable, bumbling nincompoop in films such as Private's Progress and I'm All Right Jack, and TV shows including Bachelor Father and The World of Wooster. This dithering persona was expanded and amplified in his first radio comedy, Play It Cool. Written in 1964 by Beyond Our Ken's Eric Merriman, it sees him joined by Carry On's Joan Sims and radio veteran Hugh Paddick (Beyond Our Ken, Round the Horne) for a series that mixes music and comedy to provide a slice of 1960s cool.

When Lily, a young girl from a troubled background becomes pregnant, she insists she is still a virgin. A host of professionals swing into action. Lily becomes increasingly isolated: her belief is diagnosed as delusion, there are suspicions of abuse, and the unborn baby is shown to be severely disabled. But despite all of this, her conviction that God has chosen her for a miracle finds proof in the most unexpected ways.

Ken Dodd and a supporting cast give us Ken's unique look behind the scenes of the show at his fictional theatre, the Palace of Laughter. Enjoy more hilarity from the Squire of Notty Ash in these four classic radio shows, recorded in 1986 and 1987 at the Wigan Little Theatre, the Southport Little Theatre, Crewe's Lyceum Theatre, and the Garrick Theatre, Stockport, respectively.

A lonely bachelor avoids personal contact as much as humanly possible, despite the best efforts of his well-meaning but nosey next door neighbours. Gwilym Lloyd whiles away his time, pottering in the garden, learning the harmonica, and writing letters to women serving long-term prison sentences in various jails around the world. Women that he knows he'll never have to meet. Or so he thinks....

The second four-part mini-series of short comedic monologues on BBC Radio 4. Written and performed by stand-up comedian Andrew Lawrence, it takes a light-hearted look at various aspects of conventional living and the pressure we feel to conform to social norms and ideals.

A BBC Radio 4 drama of mesmerising delicacy from Julia Blackburn, winner of the Pen Ackerley prize for memoir 2009, and daughter of poet Thomas Blackburn. Originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 29 March 2011. Thomas Blackburn was an alcoholic before he became a poet, but in spite of his drunken rages, his erratic behaviour and his crazy obsession with death, Julia always knew that he loved her.

A quirky BBC Radio 4 comedy by Ben Lewis about a teenager who becomes an internet phenomenon. Originally broadcast as the ‘Afternoon Play’ on 17 September 2010.This is the story of a legend in the making. A nervous young man lives at the dead end of a dead-end town. On his eighteenth birthday he comes into his inheritance. With a little help from an old teacher, he finds it equips him to broadcast over the internet.

Dame Kelly Holmes won two gold medals at the 2004 Olympic Games in the 800 and 1500 metres. In this collection we hear - in her own words - about her determination and goals, as well as her difficult childhood. She talks about starting athletics when she was 13, driving lorries in the army and becoming an army fitness instructor. She discusses her intensive training - and injury - finally achieving her Olympic dream in Athens, and her homecoming parade back in the UK.

Sean Lock replaces Bill Bailey in this second series with Professor John Lloyd in a search for the universe’s most mind-boggling oddness’s. The Museum of Curiosity is BBC Radio 4’s monumental comedy edifice, and the only one with gargoyles in the foyer. It allows nothing inside unless it makes you scratch your head, stroke your chin or, at the very least, go ‘Hmm’. Secondly, it is almost completely empty. Fortunately, helping to fill its vacant plinths is a gathering of the world’s most original minds.

Against his better judgement, Andrew Patterson accepts a job as a lecturer in English literature at a remote Northern redbrick university. His departmental colleagues are an eccentric bunch: doddery Head of English Professor Misty, who looks like he went to school with Little Dorrit; Amy Spade, who's suffering from an identity crisis and given to sending anonymous letters, and man-eating Melissa Murgatroyd, the honeypot of the Senior Common Room. Fortunately, Patterson has old friend and fellow lecturer Victor to show him the ropes - but even so, his first day does not go well.

Hosted by veteran humorist Barry Took, presenter of Points of View and former chair of The News Quiz, this entertaining guessing game sees a panel of intellectually acute guests attempting to determine a mystery object in 20 tries. Their only clue is the category it falls into: animal, vegetable, mineral, abstract, or a combination of all four. For most rounds, the studio audience know the answer and cheer on the contestants with promising guesses—but sometimes, both they and the listeners are kept in the dark, giving them an opportunity to play along too.

Dame Emma Thompson, DBE, is one of Britain's most acclaimed actresses and scriptwriters. In this collection we hear—in her own words—about her early career as a comic and scriptwriter. She discusses some of her most famous works, including Fortunes of War, Sense and Sensibility, Remains of the Day and Nanny McPhee, and explains how she has managed to remain grounded during her rise to fame as an actress.