Charles is out of work again, and to make matters worse his mother has come to stay and he's no way of escaping her. So when he's offered some voiceover work by old friend, Hugo, he's delighted to get out of the house. But Hugo's marriage is in trouble: his much younger wife, Ellie, spends all her time at her Amateur Dramatic Group, and Hugo is dri...

Bill Nighy returns as the loveably louche actor-cum-amateur detective Charles ParisCharles Paris is in Oxford, appearing in a re-imagining of Hamlet by a high-concept drama company. No fan of immersive theatre, he's unimpressed with the director's vision and less than thrilled to be rehearsing alongside puppeteers and mime artists.But he soon finds...

Full-cast dramatisations of seven of Ruth Rendell's tense psychological thrillers. This collection includes: Tracks 1-2 - The Bridesmaid: A beautiful stone statue and her living double lead Philip into a nightmare of obsession and murder. Tracks 3-4 - Going Wrong: Besotted with his childhood sweetheart, Leonora, psychopathic Guy Curran will do a...

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof first heated up Broadway in 1955 with its gothic American story of brothers vying for their dying father's inheritance amid a whirlwind of sexuality, untethered in the person of Maggie the Cat. The play also daringly showcased the burden of sexuality repressed in the agony of her husband, Brick Pollitt. In spite of the public...

Three BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas starring John Shrapnel as Morse and Robert Glenister as Lewis, plus a bonus reading by Colin Dexter of one of his short stories. In Last Seen Wearing, Inspector Morse is reluctant to take over an old missing person case from a dead colleague. But two years, three months and two days after teenager Valerie Ta...

Full-cast BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of the first five Falco novels by Lindsey Davis, starring Anton Lesser as Marcus Didius Falco. The Silver Pigs:One fine day, A.D. 70, Sosia Camillina quite literally runs into Marcus Didius Falco on the steps of the Forum. It seems Sosia is on the run from a couple of street toughs, and after a quick and dirty...

A full-cast BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel, known to be a favourite among her own works.When Doctor Calgary visits the Argyle family, he believes he brings good news. He is there to clear the name of Jacko, who was convicted of the murder of his own mother, Rachel. But the doctor's news is not greeted with the enthusiasm he expec...

Inspired by an old photograph album to investigate the life of a lost relative, a man finds himself on a journey that traverses the 20th century, leading him from an American asylum to the shores of the Dead Sea. Adapted by Edward Kemp from W G Sebald's acclaimed novel about the experiences of Jewish emigrants. Starring John Wood, Henry Goodman, El...

The lights of a yacht on the French Riviera are reflected in the water and in the eyes of four hilariously mismatched lovers. PRIVATE LIVES shimmers with wit, romance, desire and bittersweet truth.

Charming satire of the sentimental comedies of the day has entertained audiences since 1773. A young lady poses as a serving girl to win the heart of a young gentleman too shy to court ladies of his own class. Many delightful deceits, hilarious turns of plot must be played out before the play concludes happily.

Barbara Jefford, Robert Stephens and Alec McCowen lead a distinguished company in this haunting performance of Webster's powerful tragedy of murder, revenge and thwarted love.  

In this BBC full-cast production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena run to the woods and stumble into a life separate from time itself.Fairy magic wreaks havoc and midsummer madness takes over as lovers tread the delicate line between fantasy and reality.Sylvestra le Touzel stars as Titania in this deligh...

In this BBC full-cast production, Julius Caesar is triumphant after his victory over the sons of Pompey. But as bad omens and weather plague Rome, even his most loyal friends are starting to see the signs...Political intrigue and fierce battle rage in this tense and dynamic production in which a country is torn apart under the legacy of Julius Caes...

Richard Eyre directs Ken Stott as Macbeth and Phyllis Logan as Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's dramatic tale of greed and destiny. BBC radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of makin...

In this BBC full-cast production of Much Ado About Nothing, some handsome soldiers return from battle. Yet one soldier finds himself locked in a merry war of his own...In Shakespeare's comedy of wit, love and miscommunication, Beatrice and Benedick and Hero and Claudio are pushed into and pulled out of love, their friends playing cupid with li...

In this BBC full-cast production, Othello is drawn further and further into jealous rage by the manipulative Iago.In this story of evil cunning perverting a once noble mind, radio captures Iago's sly hints and boasts to the audience with shocking clarity. The listener is led along an emotional path that grips with fascinating horror until the play'...

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Dick Francis' pacey thriller starring Nigel Havers. At the annual party celebrating the success of the racing season, everything is running well to form - until a runaway horsebox ploughs into the marquee, causing terrible death and destruction. A witness to the tragedy, wine merchant Tony Beach presumes it is just on...

In this BBC full-cast production of Romeo And Juliet, the two star-crossed lovers fight for each other until their dying breath. Can their two feuding families reconcile?With the intimacy of radio, the full beauty and meaning of some of the most lyrical lines ever written can be truly heard: tenderness and passion, betrayal and bigotry are bri...

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of the novel by Ian Rankin. A wealthy banker's daughter goes missing from Edinburgh University. Has she run away, or has something more sinister occurred? Rebus finds a six-inch coffin in her home village, a clue which leads to his discovery that she was involved in an internet game. DC Siobhan Clarke is drafte...

Alan Bennett's new, award-winning play as heard on BBC Radio 3 features the National Theatre cast. Richard Griffiths, Clive Merrison and Frances de la Tour star. At a boys' grammar school in Sheffield, eight boys are being coached for the Oxbridge entrance exams. It is the mid-eighties, and the main concern of the unruly bunch of bright sixth-forme...

Tolkien's famous saga, the prelude to 'The Lord of the Rings', has all the ingredients of fantasy and adventure: dwarves, elves, goblins and trolls, a fearsome dragon, a great wizard, a perilous quest and a dramatic climax. At the centre is the unsuspecting hero Bilbo Baggins, a home-loving, unambitious Hobbit who is suddenly thrust into the bigges...