Showing results by author "Mr Punch" in All Categories

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.

Dorothy Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth in 1771, being one year younger than her brother William. After their mother died in 1778, they were separated and did not return to the Lake District until 1794, when they spent two happy months walking around the hills near Keswick, eventually settling down at Grasmere in 1799. The journals that Dorothy kept are remarkable for the detailed observations she makes of the surrounding countryside and people, often providing glimpses of poverty and suffering, as well as displaying her complete love affair with nature.

One moment Liselotte, the Duchess of Orleans is observing the Prince of Orange consummating his marriage in thick woollen drawers and the next, Harold Nicolson is at the Savoy Grill dining with the Prince of Wales and Mrs Simpson who is, 'bejewelled, eyebrow-plucked, virtuous and wise'. There's a young medical student watching his friend bowing to the crowd as he is hanged on the roof of Horsemonger Lane Gaol.

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.

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.

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.

In Blonde for Danger, our handsome desperado, Norman Conquest, aka 1066, has to pit his wits against the evil crook Bosworth Field. But who is the beautiful blonde he finds lying in the middle of the road and who is she hiding from? And where exactly does J.J. Pace, the famous racing car designer fit into this?

As the First world War rapidly approaches, we arrive in a sleepy south coast town where Max Carrados, the celebrated blind detective, is soon investigating the sudden death of the local museum curator. All is not as it seems, as our blind hero finds himself on the cliff top in a duel to the death with the ruthless German spymaster who is the one who knows The Secret of Headlam Height.

Hollywood Playhouse - The Heartthrobs Collection is a unique compilation of three 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.

Mr Punch Presents: Rebecca, based upon the best-selling novel by Daphne du Maurier. Laurence Olivier plays Maxim de Winter, and Vivien Leigh is the shy and naïve ladies companion that he meets while holidaying in Monte Carlo. They fall in love, get married and return to Maxim's beloved Manderley in Cornwall, where the second Mrs de Winter now meets the mysterious Mrs Danvers and finds that Rebecca is not forgotten. The film was to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

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.

Mr Punch Presents: Shane, the classic Western, nominated for six Academy Awards, is set in the late 1860s and tells the story of the mysterious retired gunslinger played by Alan Ladd, who arrives at the ranch of a family of homesteaders, only to find himself involved in a violent range war. In this special radio production both Alan Ladd and Van Heflin reprise their original film roles from the Oscar-winning movie.

At Waterloo, women are stripping the corpses of their valuable shoes and stockings yet the Highlanders are left in mass graves with their coarse tartan socks still on. Roy Strong attending a private dinner with the Prime Minister notes that Margaret Thatcher in floaty chiffon is 'the apotheosis of the boss's wife, with the appeal of cosmeticised putty.' Even at the coronation of George IV, Queen Caroline, who is denied entry to the Abbey, is observed looking like 'a blowsy landlady'.

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!

Hollywood Playhouse - The Humphrey Bogart Collection is a unique compilation of four 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 Philadelphia Story, known as Hollywood's most sophisticated and sparkling romantic comedy, tells the story of Philadelphia heiress Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) who is preparing for her second marriage, when Dexter Haven (Cary Grant), her first husband, re-enters her life on the day before her wedding, determined to spoil things. Holiday Inn is the story of Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby) who is head over heels in love with Linda Mason (Dinah Shore), in this radio version of the Irving Berlin musical, featuring the smash hit songs 'White Christmas' and 'Easter Parade'.

Norman Conquest is off to the theatre, when our fast-talking, hard-hitting adventurer finds himself accused of assaulting a pretty young lady on the underground. It’s only when our hero '1066' discovers that the young lady is the victim of a mysterious blackmailer known as 'The Voice' that he marches into yet another hell-for-leather action packed adventure in search of the baddies.

Max Carrados, the celebrated blind detective is lured to Stratford-upon-Avon following an explosion by a band of determined suffragettes. Faced with the ingenious mind of Mr Rigby Lacksome, Max and his trusty servant Parkinson must solve the riddle of the missing body of William Shakespeare.

Voices from the Past with David Suchet as Lord Nelson writing to his beloved Emma on the eve of Trafalgar, hoping in God that he will live to finish his letter after the Battle, while Harriet Walter as Virginia Woolf hangs about the House of Commons mourning the passing of Edward VIII and the coming of King Albert I. Winston Churchill is captured and imprisoned by the Boers and Jane Austen sells 'Pride & Prejudice' for £110.

Then climb aboard and join Oscar Wilde in America amused at the sight of local gun slingers looting the house where outlaw Jesse James had been killed a few days earlier. Meet John Betjeman as he implores the BBC to engage the impoverished Dylan Thomas while Jane Austen demands the return of her unpublished novel. Austen Chamberlain rages at Hitler for sending a wreath emblazoned with the Swastika to be placed at the foot of the Cenotaph.