"Now is the winter of our discontent...." Ian Holm delivers King Richard IIIs soliloquy, bringing Shakespeare's wonderful lines, full of pyschological insight, vividly to life.

A BBC Radio 4 'Afternoon Play' starring Bill Nighy as widower Christopher, originally broadcast on 20 April 2011. When his wife died three years ago, Christopher fled London for a simpler existence in Cornwall, where he has settled on bat protection as his mission. Colette and her noisy daughters rent the holiday cottage next door and disturb the p...

Shakespeare's romantic adventure full of tyrants, incest, murder, knights, teenagers, pirates, brothels, sublime poetry, young love, a great hero and the goddess Diana.

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 ob...

"The quality of mercy is not strained...." In this recording from the BBC Sound Archives, Hannah Gordon is Shakespeare's wise Portia.

"Is this a dagger which I see before me....." With Denis Quilley as Macbeth, this recording from the BBC Sound Archives brings Shakespeare's memorable words to life..

"If it were done when 'tis done..." From the BBC Sound Archives, one of Shakespeare's most famous and memorable speeches, with Paul Scofield and Peggy Ashcroft as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, bringing these ominous words vividly to life

Two BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations, starring Brian Cox as McLevy, Siobhan Redmond as Jean Brash and Michael Perceval-Maxwell as Mulholland. Inspired by the real-life memoirs of a Victorian Inspector in Scotland, James McLevy prowls the dark streets of 1860s Edinburgh bringing criminals to justice, with the assistance of Constable Mulholland....

The complete second series of the BBC Radio 4 full-cast drama about two single parents who met on an internet chat site and developed a friendship. First broadcast in the "Woman's Hour Drama" slots from 23 August - 27 August 2010, this follows on from the first series which was originally transmitted in 2009 under the name of "singleparentpals.com"...

Market is an umbrella series of six plays, originally broadcast in BBC Radio 4's 'Afternoon Play' slot, about people who work in and around its stalls. Each story is a self-contained quirky tale. Loco Parentis is a bitter-sweet comedy about Jim, who can't sleep because his daughter's left for uni, his business is going belly-up, and his father is g...

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast drama about two single parents who meet on an internet chat site and strike up a friendship. Originally broadcast in the "Woman's Hour Drama" slots from 2 November 2009 - 6 November 2009 under the series name of "singleparentpals.com". The complete series 1 contains the following episodes: You Are Not Alone - When a nervous...

In this BBC full-cast production of Antony and Cleopatra, the soldier and noble prince Mark Antony's enthralment with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra is proving controversial. Will the tumultuous relationship ultimately end in tragedy?Antony and Cleopatra is an intense love story, exploring the constant conflict between duty and emotion with char...

Two stories of love, lust, happiness and heartache from Britain's longest-running radio serial. Pub landlord Sid Perks is led astray when his keep-fit regime at the local gym leads to a steamy affair with Jolene Rogers, a country-and-western singer. For Emma Carter, choosing a husband is not so straightforward. She finds herself torn between loyal,...

This full-cast drama is based on the classic post-war 'science fantasy' novel which made John Wyndham famous, and whose appeal endures to this day. Giles Cooper's six-part adaptation stars Gary Watson, Barbara Shelley and Peter Sallis, with appearances from Doctor Who names Peter Pratt, Christopher Bidmead and David Brierley. Divided by blindness a...

Carleton Hobbs stars as Sherlock Holmes in 12 classic full-cast BBC Radio dramas in these twelve classic stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Carleton Hobbs established the 'sound' of Sherlock Holmes, with Norman Shelley as his superb Watson. Now these unique recordings are available together for the first time ever, with specially commissioned introduct...

A BBC Radio 4 drama in which professional illusionist, Will Morgan, fronts a TV show in which he exposes spiritualist mediums as frauds. 'Haunted' was originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 19 January 2011. Hayley Taylor is the spiritualist medium who refuses to back down under illusionist Will's scrutiny - a challenge Will can't walk away...

A BBC Radio full-cast drama which tells a story of love and deception set during the Cold War. Written by Ronald Frame for BBC Radio Scotland and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of the 'Drama on 3' collection in September 2008. Throughout the period of the Cold War in the late 1960s and early 1970s, 'romeo spies' were operating, targeting bright a...

An extraordinary tale of desire, betrayal and death from Britain's longest running and best loved radio serial. Wealthy, philandering gentleman farmer Brian Aldridge embarked on a casual fling with freelance translator Siobhan Hathaway, but what ensued was the most explosive affair in the history of Ambridge.

In the rigid theocracy of Salem, Massachusetts, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town. The ruthlessness of the prosecutors and the eagerness of neighbor to testify against neighbor, THE CRUCIBLE mirrors the anti- Communist hysteria in the 1950's.

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Arnold Bennett's tale of love, tyranny and rebellion, 'Anna of the Five Towns'. Originally broadcast as the 'Classic Serial' in two parts on 6 and 13 March 2011. Brought up in the repressive tradition of Methodism by her miserly father, Anna Tellwright dreams of independence and freedom. On coming of age she learns th...

Linda Marshall's BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of L. Frank Baum's children's classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Originally broadcast as part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season. When a tornado strikes her farmhouse in Kansas, young Dorothy and her dog Toto are lifted to the magical world of Oz, the strange land of the Munchkins. There she emba...