Bringing you the best of original and adapted English language drama, autobiography, and poetry - classical and modern - from talented independent writers and producers.
Doctor Charles Smith is a scientist and dreamer. He has a revolutionary idea for how the human race can develop itself and the planet. With the fruits of his work about to be revealed, Smith receives a visit from his commercial sponsor, who gets more than he bargained for in an explosive, life-threatening (and perhaps life-changing) encounter, as the horror of his vision is finally revealed.Send us a text
Alphonse and Emina have become lovers. His desire to please her makes him drop his guard and appear in public places. As a double act they go to local villages, beginning to make money and plans for the future: until the past catches up with them... Send us a text
By chance, young dancer Emina meets equally youthful, trumpet-playing soldier Alphonse in a barn in the mountains of war-torn Southern Spain. They are both innocent and experienced in entirely different ways. Initially wary, they tell each other stories that weave fact and fiction. She lies and he believes her. He tells the truth and she mistrusts him. But when he plays and she dances, they understand each other perfectly. Original Music - David Sutton AndersonTrumpet - Anthony AaronsSaxophone - Melanie HenrySend us a Text Message.
After the dramatic series of arrivals and events at the Knap on marriage engagement night in Part 1, the triangle of relationships between Sally Hall, her ex sister-in-law Helena, and Farmer Charles Darton becomes tangled still further by marriage, death, and more courtship interloping.The path to an eventual denouement highlights the problematic position of women in 19th Century Victorian society, reflecting protofeminist themes that are present in many of Hardy's major works.Send us a Text Message.
On a dark night, Farmer Charles Darton and his friend Japheth Johns are riding on their way to The Knap to meet Sally Hall, Charles' bride-to-be. Losing their way is the prelude to a series of unexpected arrivals and events that potentially changes lives forever.
Having ended Part 1 with his business plan "in the air", Jimmy 'Skiver' McIver at last gets the backing and support of his old school friend and businessman Roger Soul and Denise, Roger's glamorous PA. They launch the dry cleaning business with a fanfare. Sadly, the venture has attracted renewed attention from loan shark Mo Greensmith, who has hatched a dastardly plan of deceit and revenge-by-extortion on Roger Soul - with Jimmy as "piggy in the middle"! As events quickly turn disastrous, and caught between a big rock and a very hard place, 'Skiver' lives up to his name and flees. But will it be enough to save his skin?Part 2 of 2
Jimmy ‘Skiver' McIver is back! Last heard from in “Ashes to Ashford”* sunning himself on a Caribbean beach, “Crudely, Badly, Cheaply” takes us back 15 years to less lucky times for our feckless Cockney wheeler-dealer. In Part 1 of the prequel, Jimmy bumps into old school mate and businessman, the decidedly-successful Roger Soul and pitches a money-making idea for a dry cleaning business to him. But with no stake of his own to put in, Jimmy embarks on a risky road that attracts the possibly dangerous attention of Maureen ‘Mo' Greensmith, the “formidable” local loan shark. With only the support of Fred and Lemmy at the Dog and Duck pub, what could possibly go wrong for ‘Skiver' this time? *(Parts 1 and 2 of “Ashes to Ashford” are available on this podcast)
On a dark, stormy Victorian night atop a Wessex hill, Shepherd and Mrs Fennel are holding a christening party at their cottage for a second-born child. Proceedings are interrupted by the consecutive arrival of three strangers to shelter from the elements. One of these men is not who he seems – but which one is it?
There 's nothing like a good biblical story...and this is NOTHING like a good biblical story!Mary Poppins jokes aside, this is a short story relating how Pharoah Contraraoh fared whilst trying to Make Egypt Great Again (MEGA). It contains one or two ripe parallels for our 21st century world - delivered with humour.
To celebrate the centennial of the 20th century's most seminal poem this is our 2017 recording, re-issued for a limited time only.Its aural landscape highlights and enhances the themes, imagery, and allusiveness contained in the fractured consciousness of Eliot and Ezra Pound's work, without gimmickry or radical “re-interpretation”. Included are minor additions to the published version from Eliot's original pre-Pound poem, to add clarity and complexity.At its heart (as it is at the centre of the work) is the male/female character and multiple voices of Tiresias, the words - and sounds.Available to listen to and/or download from July 15 to November 15, 2022. The poem's broadcast is by kind permission of Faber & Faber Ltd.
Talking humanity creeps into the chance encounter at the Women's Institute between uptight Lydia and the educated but impoverished itinerant Colin. Then external reality arrives: the WI guest speaker cannot make it. Shakespeare's words provide the platform for a replacement speaker and hope to emerge, before tragedy strikes.Episode 2 of 2
Taking shelter from the rain in a village hall somewhere in England, an educated, homeless man is confronted by Lydia, a "formidable" member of the local Women's Institute. Under threat of expulsion, he engages with the lady as she tries to organise the evening's meeting events. Mutual personal revelations follow. But will he be allowed to stay?Episode 1 of 2
In this final part of the series, called "His Wonderful End", our waitering hero Mr Christopher returns - and he is a worried man. He has successfully sold the stories discovered in Somebody's luggage to a publisher. Now he waits in fear lest the author should show up and claim them as his rightful own. A new guest does arrive; the fateful Room 24B is mentioned; the tension mounts. Is he Somebody? Will Mr Christopher's livelihood and reputation survive if it is him? Dickens keeps him and us hanging on almost to the very enjoyable end.Episode 7 of 7
In the second and final part of "The Tale of the Obliging Mr Blorage" (discovered in His Hatbox), Dick Blorage is still not on board with the revelatory properties of Lady Verita's magical Chair of Truth. There is a harsh lesson to be learned from her, before Dick grows a pair, deals with those who exploit his niceness, and finds his true partner for life. Episode 6 of 7
"The Tale of the Obliging Mr Blorage" is the amusing contribution of female Victorian writer Julia Cecilia Stretton to Dickens' "Somebody's Luggage" short story compendium.In two parts, Part 1 (discovered in His Portmanteau) introduces the listener to Mr Richard Blorage - probably the nicest man ever to succeed in business: a quality which, sadly, does not translate into a happy love life. Desperate - and a bit tipsy - he invokes the spirit world for help, and gets more than he bargained for...Episode 5 of 7
"The Story of the Fine Artist" (discovered in His Brown Paper Parcel) Thomas is not just an artist, but a Fine Artist in Victorian London. He is a riddler. He is highly strung. He has a friend who is quickly lost. He acquires a girlfriend who decides to leave him. Both object to his attitude to the work of other artists. Why? What is the truth about Thomas, the Fine Artist?Episode 4 of 7
This is the third of our short-story adaptations from Charles Dickens' "The Pickwick Papers" and his first Yuletide supernatural tale. It tells of Gabriel Grub, a morose, lonely and drunken gravedigger who hates people, particularly during the festive season. One Christmas Eve, while at work in the graveyard, he encounters a startlingly scary Goblin Queen (and her many subjects), who terrorises and whisks him away to her underworld lair where Grub is shown the true human values of the season.Dickens was to return triumphantly to this theme seven years later with "A Christmas Carol".Remastered version.
Having seen off the first ghost, Scrooge's education in the current lives of others during the festive season proceeds to the houses of the Cratchit family and his nephew, courtesy of a jolly Ghost of Christmas Present. With a grim parting from him, the final, mysterious spectre appears to show Scrooge a series of visions for life after death, in which his focus on money and gain "leave not a wrack behind".Now fully chastened, the miser's spirit breaks - into something much more human.Episode 2 of 2.Remastered version.
Charles Dickens' classic Yuletide tale is presented in a two-part adaptation that gives you more of the story, focusing particularly on the corrosive effects of early Victorian capitalism.In Part 1, we see Scrooge in all his business and money-focused selfishness - until Jacob Marley and the Ghost of Christmas Past show up, confronting him with long-forgotten events that end with violent consequences.Episode 1 of 2.Remastered version
"The Story of the Iceberg Shipwreck" (discovered in His Dressing Case) is an exciting and ironic tale of disaster and derring-do on the high seas. Its narrator Monkhouse tells of the sinking of the good ship Golden Dream around Cape Horn after colliding with a massive iceberg. Cast onto the iceberg, Monkhouse discovers a group of other passengers as they battle to survive, led by quirky Able Seaman Tom White. How they interact and finally reach land makes for an entertaining exploration of Victorian class issues.The tale was written by Arthur Locker (1828-1893), an English novelist and journalist. His other fictional works include Sweet Seventeen (1866), Stephen Scudamore the Younger (1871) and notable translations of the works of Victor Hugo. Episode 3 of 7
Discovered by head waiter Mr Christopher in His Boots, “The Story of Mr The Englishman Abroad” tells of Langley, a buttoned-up, hypercritical Englishman living alone in a French town. Estranged from his daughter in England, he takes a journey of self-discovery and reconciliation as he learns what it means to be French.Episode 2 of 7
Mister Christopher is a Victorian waiter who has many OPINIONS - on what is (and is not) a waiter, good and bad waitering, customers and their foibles, coffee houses, and much more. In this first part of the Somebody's Luggage series, he acquires a set of luggage left behind by an unknown guest ("Somebody") six years previously: in this is secreted a set of stories written by him.Somebody's Luggage is the creation of Charles Dickens in collaboration with several other writers of the period. These short stories were all published as part of the 1862 Christmas edition of Dickens' weekly publication "All The Year Round". Ours is a collection of selected tales from Somebody's writings that are all different and distinctive: an entertaining portmanteau of styles and subject matter. To round off this portmanteau, Mister Christopher (and the eponymous Somebody) will finally meet.Episode 1 of 7
A bonus story from the life and times of Geoffrey Banks - British teacher, writer, broadcaster, and soap opera actor. Geoffrey goes up to Cambridge University in 1940 - just as World War 2 starts. Working as a navigator in a Swordfish spotter airplane over the Atlantic, "Monty" Banks and his two fellow crew members crash land over Ireland in 1944 and encounter some interesting local hosts.
In the French town of Sens, the mystery of Emma Lirriper's dying benefactor is revealed as, on his deathbed, he opens his eyes. The dastardly Mr Edson is given Christian care by our heroine, and the chance to meet before he dies the unknowing son, Master Jemmy, whom he abandoned with his mother many years before. Emma, Major Jackman, and Master Jemmy remain in Sens after his death and warm to the friendliness and joie de vivre of their French holiday hosts. But there is a problem: has Jemmy guessed who his father was?Episode 3 of 3
Mrs Emma Lirriper again encounters her arch lodging house rival Miss Wozenham - but in very different circumstances and with a surprisingly new outcome. After an intriguing visit from the French Consul, Emma learns of an unknown dying man in the town of Sens who has left her a legacy in his will. She, Major Jackman and Master Jemmy set off for France, arriving in Sens via Paris. There she and the Major finally meet, on his death-bed, her strange bequeather: will she find out who he is before it is too late?Episode 2 of 3
Our favourite Victorian London landlady returns for another series of events and escapades, centred around a legacy that has been left to Emma Lirriper by an unknown person. But before the mystery of this legacy begins, we hear about and witness the strange behaviour of her reprobate brother-in-law Joshua Lirriper, the conflict between Major Jackman and Mr Buffle the tax collector, and excited happenings surrounding a house fire rescue in Norfolk Street, the Strand.Episode 1 of 3
For this last episode, the meaning of The Longer Road is finally revealed, beginning with a "Fab Four" truth-telling game. In this is the fraught love and child-complex relationship between Rebecca and Dan, and the real importance of a group of disparate outsiders to the closeted, claustrophobic society of 1970s Northern Ireland. Jimmy makes a decision about his future, before fraught psyches bring the melting pot of relationships to an explosive climax. But instead of fall-out, different forms of resolution in their lives are achieved by Rebecca, Dan, Jimmy and Elle - their longer roads.Episode 4 of 4
Dan describes his epiphany of near drowning in the Ballycastle rock pool as Jimmy and American Elle play a sad guessing game around the details of the fraught and tragic relationship with her fiancé. Rebecca gives Jimmy a potential way out of Belfast and the deafening sound of an army helicopter forces Dan (as Donal) to relive his watery trauma: the secret and potential danger of his double identity is revealed to all.Episode 3 of 4
Off to Antrim for a music festival final day-out, the “fab four” divert to Ballycastle by the sea amid disagreements about the future of the community centre, openness between group members…and then a fatal collision with a dog. Against a backdrop of serious and deadly events in the province, more of their letters reveal Jimmy's inner conflict about his sexuality, Dan (or is it Donal?) and his plans for the future, and American Elle's personal Belfast tragedy. At the beach, Dan goes swimming – perhaps for the last time?Episode 2 of 4
It is 1972. In Belfast, Northern Ireland, bombs are exploding and the Rainbow's End Community Arts Centre's “fab four” is about to disband. With their last music gig cancelled, Dan, Jimmy, Rebecca, and Elle take off for the countryside to spend a last day together. From a year previous, their letters home set the scene for the ambitions, conflicts, secrets and sadness that will follow. Episode 1 of 4
Two young Irish boys, Shay and Kieran, a gang, boyhood pranks and games to "reach the moon". Shay's uncle Peadar looms into view and he tramps home. The bed-time legend of the Sandman is a precursor to significant events - Shay's tumble into the sea, rescue by two kind neighbours, and revelation about the true nature of adults and relationships.
Rafael wakes early. It is the morning of an important job interview. Even when his rival for the post drops out, he is still interviewed. "They did not ask if I wanted the job" is the precursor to violent and life-changing events for Rafael and his wife Zofia.
In Ireland, grandfather Mr Lannigan - a "true artist" - meets with local priest Father Moylan about a matter-in-hand: ostensibly, his grandson's broken hurling stick. As the conversation develops, the real issue turns out to be something much more cruel and damaging. Resolution achieved, Lannigan's thoughts return again to his art.
Following the tragedy of Mrs Edson's death, Mrs Lirriper and Major Jackman are now her son Little Jemmy's guardians. In this final part of the story, the youngster encounters Miss Wozenham, gets lost in the metropolis, and is educated in a unique fashion by Major Jackman. who finds a new purpose in life once his little namesake has gone away to school.Episode 3 of 3
Major Jackman's many virtues extolled, he and Mrs Lirriper welcome to the lodging house newly-marrieds Mr and Mrs Edson to stay on the second floor of 81 Norfolk Street, the Strand. What follows is a classic Charles Dickens story of abandonment, heartbreak and ultimate tragedy that leaves our two protagonists much changed by the experience.Episode 2 of 3
Emma Lirriper is a minor masterpiece of Charles Dickens characterisation. We are introduced to the world of London lodging houses in the 1860s seen through her eyes, and learn how she entered the business; her views on guests, business rivals like Miss Wozenham ("lower down and over the way"), the girls she employs, Wandering Christians, and stories of amusement and mayhem. This culminates in the arrival of her future friend and confidant Major Jemmy Jackman.Episode 1 of 3
Drunken hymn-singing from Mason and Scott after Lillian's funeral kicks off this final revelatory episode. Scott has gatecrashed the event performing an impromptu eulogy to his mother. What follows is a succession of discoveries. Why is Scott really back from America? Why did he never return before? Events proceed to a, perhaps, surprising conclusion.Episode 3 of 3
After a bristling initial conversation, stepbrothers Scott and Andrew catch up on their previous 40 years apart - and beyond. Childhood relationships and the interesting background around Scott's departure to the USA keep the pot boiling. Andrew learns some home truths about his father and stepmother, the recently-deceased Lillian, with blackmail and betrayal to the fore. Episode 2 of 3
Scott is a wanderer returning. After many decades he is back in England from the USA, having heard of his mother Lillian's death and on the eve of her funeral.He meets Mason, a friend of Lillian. But there is still a closer, less genial family member to encounter.Episode 1 of 3
Having seen off the first ghost, Scrooge's education in the current lives of others during the festive season proceeds to the houses of the Cratchit family and his nephew, courtesy of a jolly Ghost of Christmas Present. With a grim parting from him, the final, mysterious spectre appears to show Scrooge a series of visions for life after death, in which his focus on money and gain "leave not a wrack behind".Now fully chastened, the miser's spirit breaks - into something much more human.Episode 2 of 2
Charles Dickens' classic Yuletide tale is presented in a two-part adaptation that gives you more of the story, focusing particularly on the corrosive effects of early Victorian capitalism.In Part 1, we see Scrooge in all his business and money-focused selfishness - until Jacob Marley and the Ghost of Christmas Past show up, confronting him with long-forgotten events that end with violent consequences.Episode 1 of 2.
Edward is back from Scotland with good news from eldest daughter Greta. For Lia, it is decision time for them regarding her pregnancy.As she leaves, Edward's youngest daughter Megan arrives in a fractious mood. More family strife ensues as the "archaeological dig" on their past relationship begins again. After a few stiff drinks, new revelations on the depths of her bitterness, the teenage affair with a teacher, and some shocking truths about her miscarriage are finally revealed.Will daddy and his girls finally sort it all out?Episode 4 of 4.
The showdown happens. Angry daughter Megan meets with Lia, her dad's new and much younger partner.The discussion ranges far and wide - fatherhood and loss, bringing up children, mothers and teenagers. It all gets personal about motives and attitudes. Then the issue of Lia's new-found pregnancy rears its contentious head and major conflict ensues.Will they be "good" by the end?Episode 3 of 4.
Edward and Lia meet in a wine bar to discuss the bombshell of their relationship announcement for his grown-up daughter Megan.It is time for some honesty about his past marital infidelities and Megan's significant teenage perils and mishaps. Lia suggests that he visits Greta, his other daughter, in Scotland; but strangely, she is not drinking wine and feels a little bit queasy. This is the prelude to a second major and life-changing revelation.Episode 2 of 4.
The up-and-down relationship of a father with his grown-up daughters. In this first of four episodes, recently-bereaved Edward brings home some "interesting" news to Megan about a new romantic attachment...and quite a lot more.Cue conflict and the revisiting of sins from the past. What will Megan and her sister do?
On holiday in Spain with his brother, Geordie Chris encounters a strange, feral dog.They call him "Fella" as he follows them to a restaurant. It is then that the situation turns nasty...and deadly.But will this be the end of "Fella" for Chris?
Memories of people and places in his past life are revisited by a man recovering from serious illness.Ashcombe Hall and a summer holiday spent there with his school friend Roddy are recalled as he approaches the now-derelict country house.In the dilapidated gardens, memories of flowers and an "act of stupidity" trigger powerful emotions about past and future loss.
Mr Hobson is on a train journey back to Liverpool for the funeral of Jim Sweeney, an ex-work colleague. He is accompanied by memories of teaching at Quarry Bank - the teenage John Lennon's alma mater - cheeky "doppelganger" school photography, and paradoxical visions of atheist Jim in heaven.Teachers' nicknames, tragically unfortunate pupils, and "why me?" thoughts also flood Hobson's mind - underpinned by the optimistic words of Lennon's famous song "Imagine".
A woman relives memories of her father: planting potatoes on Good Friday, pipe smoke in his shed, and telling stories of old world magical woods, witches, hares and death.Touching recollections mix with more kindly, paternal hokum of supernatural romance and fatal birth, ending in the final words of worldly advice from a dying man to a loving daughter and her unborn child.
In this final episode, in limbo with Molly, Keith survives his heart attack and begins to see the light of past misdemeanours and the fragility of the life he has left to live. Meanwhile, philosophical disagreements about healthcare continue to occupy the doctor and nurse caring for him.His conscience rises in time for Molly's fate to be played out. But the consequences of past sins cannot be entirely erased.
Seriously ill Keith is still alive in the hospital - sort of. In a kind of limbo, he meets Molly, the unconscious and badly-injured patient in the bed opposite. She has his scrolls: a record of the many downs of his dubious life as a licentious driving test examiner and tax dodger (amongst other things).Can he, will he repent before it is too late?
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