Warm, humorous and uplifting, Alexander McCall Smith's hugely popular novels featuring Precious Ramotswe, proprietor of Botswana's only female private detective agency, have become international bestsellers, sold over seven million copies, and been translated into 26 languages.These acclaimed productions, complete with vibrant music, bring the exot...

Two stand-alone BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas adapted by Alexander McCall Smith from his much-loved series 'The Kalahari Typing School for Men' opens with bad news for Mma Ramotswe - her agency has competition in the form of the Satisfaction Guaranteed Detective Agency, run by a man. Mma Makutsi has entrepreneurial ambitions too, and has conceived t...

In this BBC full-cast production, King Lear tests his three daughters' love, to disastrous consequences.Some of the most stirring scenes Shakespeare ever wrote resonate powerfully in this dramatic radio production. Tortured madness, pure evil, and the fatal struggle for power grip the listener until the final, shockingly tragic conclusion.Starring&...

Ed Bishop stars as Philip Marlowe in this powerfully atmospheric dramatisation of Raymond Chandler's novel about the cynical, world-weary, wise-cracking shamus whose honesty in a dishonest world sent him down the mean streets again and again in search of some kind of justice. Blonde, beautiful and wild, Crystal Kingsley had never exactly been the f...

'The Maid' sees Mma Ramotswe visiting the house of the mechanic she has agreed to marry, Mr J. L. B. Matekoni. But there is a shock in store for her... Back at the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, there is the mystery of the erratic doctor to look into, and a 'cold case' involving an American who went missing from a communal farm. 'Tears of the Gira...

'The Return of Note' finds Mma Ramotswe in a compromising situation when her past catches up with her. But things are looking brighter for her assistant, Mma Makutsi, when she takes up ballroom dancing... 'The Ceremony' sees Mma Ramotswe's agency work under control at last, so she has time to take care of her own problems. Can she release her fianc...

No caveats for readers of Davis's second playful, well-plotted mystery featuring imperial agent Marcus Didius Falco and based in first century, C.E., Rome. Nero's successor Vespasian has squelched an early treasonous plot and assigned Falco to take care of loose ends, which include the body of the uncle of the high-born young widow Helena Justina,...

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 rescue, P.I. Falco wants to know why. Falco finds out that Sosia, the niece of a highly placed senator, holds the secret to a stockpile of silver pig...

'There is No Such Thing as Free Food' finds Precious Ramotswe, owner and founder of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, preoccupied both professionally and personally by the subject of food. 'The Best Profession for a Blackmailer' sees Mr Polopetsi, part-time mechanic and would-be assistant detective, taking on a case of his own; while Mma Makutsi f...

Six extraordinary adventures, never revealed before, starring Simon Callow as Sherlock Holmes and Nicky Henson as Dr Watson, written by John Taylor. 'The Wandering Corpse': The professor claimed he knew how to resurrect the dead. Now he's dead and his body's missing from the coffin. 'The Horror in Hanging Wood': The victim's arm has been wrenched h...

In the heyday of the Roman Empire, a small accounting error has left Marcus Didius Falco sharing a cell with a large rat. But the Empire's most hard-done-by investigator is finally bailed out, and promptly accepts a commission to help a family of freed slaves fend off a professional bribe... A third instalment of the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries s...

'A Very Rude Woman' finds Precious Ramotswe facing change at The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, while Mr J.L.B. Matekoni meets the rudest person in all Botswana. 'Talking Shoes' sees a new detective taking on a case for the Agency, while Mma Ramotswe, among others, has a problem with high blood pressure.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Evelyn Waugh's tragi-comic novel of the lives and loves of the English aristocracy. The action moves between 1944 and 1923, to tell the story of Charles Ryder and his infatuation with the decadent Sebastian Flyte.

Laurie Lee's evocative account of childhood in the sleepy Gloucestershire village of Slad retains its atmosphere of innocence in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast production. Recorded on location in Gloucestershire, it stars Niamh Cusack as Laurie's mother and Tim McInnerny as Laurie.

Young Huck Finn can't get along with the Widow Douglas' attempts to `civilise' him, or the smothering discipline which she and her sister serve up at home. So when his drunken, good-for-nothing father turns up and kidnaps him, Huck takes his cue to leave - and escapes to Jackson's Island. There he meets runaway slave Jim, and the two become firm fr...

To avoid tiresome family engagements, Algernon Moncrieff, a bachelor-about-town, has invented Bunbury, an invalid friend whose bedside he is frequently obliged to attend. At the same time, his friend Jack Worthing has invented a wicked brother called Ernest to disguise his own misdemeanours. When Algernon poses as Ernest, confusion reigns, and it t...

What is the connection between a corpse with a missing face and a ruthless secret society which once terrorised a desolate region of the United States? With the aid of a local guidebook, a missing dumb-bell and Dr Watson's umbrella, Holmes unravels a tangled web which stretches over fifteen years and two continents; and in the centre of that web lu...

BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of one of the most famous adventure stories of all time, starring Roy Marsden as Robinson Crusoe. Young Robinson Crusoe has a burning ambition to be a sailor. Paying no attention to his parents' warnings, he runs away to sea to embark on an extraordinary series of adventures: struggles with Barbary pirates, a shi...

In this BBC full-cast production of All's Well That Ends Well, the trials of marriage are hilariously explored. Will Helena complete the Herculean tasks to win Bertram's love?All's Well That Ends Well finds Helena rewarded for her ministries to the sick with the choice of any husband she wishes. Her choice, Bertram, is unwilling to have h...

Father and son Julian and Jamie Glover star as King Henry and his son Hal in this powerful production which also stars Timothy West and Prunella Scales. 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 perf...

In this BBC full-cast production of Henry IV Part 2, civil war is ravaging England. Rebels are rallying together, unified against Henry. Will Henry and his son, Hal, emerge victorious - or alive?Father and son Julian and Jamie Glover star as King Henry and his son Hal in the powerful production which also stars Timothy West and Prunella Scales...