Showing results by narrator "Roger Allam" in All Categories

With Roger approaching a big birthday, the couple reflect on growing older and all that it entails, from the increasing need to keep active to the ultimate question—to downsize, or not to downsize? However, their progress is hindered by still feeling the same as ever...even if their friends have replaced technicolour for tweed and have never heard of Stormzy! Along the way, there's also jealousy, talk of affairs, Roger's sleep-talking and the discovery of his 'baby whisperer' abilities—but underlying it all is this couple's long-lasting love for each other.

One of the most important and influential Russian writers of the 19th century, Fyodor Dostoevsky is admired worldwide for his great realist novels, exploring questions of morality, philosophy and the nature of existence. This compilation contains the BBC radio productions of his four most famous novels - as well as three lesser-known works and two bonus documentaries - collected together for the first time.

Padua holds many suitors for the hand of fair Bianca, but Bianca may not be married until her spinster sister, Kate, is wed. Could any man be rash enough to take on Kate? The witty adventurer Petruchio undertakes the task. While he sets about transforming Kate from foul-tempered termagant to loving wife, young Lucentio and his clever servant, Tranio, plot to win Bianca.

People have been telling fairy tales to their children for hundreds of years. And for almost as long, people have been rewriting those fairy tales - to help their children imagine a world where they are the heroes. Karrie and Jon were reading their child these stories when they hit upon a dilemma, something previous versions of these stories were missing, and so they decided to make one vital change. They haven't rewritten the stories in this book. They haven't reimagined endings or reinvented characters. What they have done is switch all the genders.

Joss Ackland, Roger Allam, and Leslie Phillips star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel. When poverty drives Jean Valjean to steal a loaf of bread from a baker’s window, it is an action that will haunt him for the rest of his life. A citizen of postrevolutionary France, he is sentenced to nineteen years’ hard labour.

Described by H P Lovecraft as 'the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere', Algernon Blackwood (CBE) was the acclaimed and prolific author of numerous ghost stories and horror tales. Throughout his lifetime, he wrote 14 novels, several children's books, a number of plays, and over 200 short stories. This anthology opens with a selection of stories featuring his most influential character, occult detective Dr John Silence.

Dylan Thomas was the 20th Century's first rock star author, famed for his dazzling imaginative poetry and chaotic personal life. Best known for Under Milk Wood, he also wrote numerous poems, short stories and screenplays, and made regular BBC broadcasts. A legend in his own lifetime, he remained hugely popular after his death at the age of 39, influencing cultural icons from Bob Dylan to The Beatles....

Telling his followers he is leaving the city on affairs of state, the Duke of Vienna appoints the puritanical Angelo to govern in his absence. Will Angelo prove as virtuous as he seems once power is in his hands? Roaming the city disguised as a friar, the duke looks on as Angelo's lust for the virtuous Isabella sweeps him into the corruption he has so sternly condemned in others. The duke's manipulation at last produces a happy ending for this dark comedy, with its brilliant exploration of the themes of justice and mercy.

Effie Truelove has learned to travel through magical books to the Otherworld. Maximillian Underwood, Effie's classmate, is more interested in the dark and forbidden Underworld. When Effie and Maximilian both mysteriously vanish, their friends Raven, Lexy and Wolf don't know where to turn for help. Raven is a witch, and her horse, Echo, has revealed that Effie is in deep danger and time is running out.

Paterson Joseph, John Hurt, Lesley Manville and Harriet Walter are among the cast of BBC Radio 4's epic full-cast dramatisation. Adapted for radio by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Leo Tolstoy's epic story follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. First broadcast on New Year's Day 2015, the drama also features Alun Armstrong, Natasha Little, David Calder, Phoebe Fox, Sam Reid and Joanna David. Duration: 10 hours approx.

Effie Truelove has made a promise to keep her grandfather's magical books safe from danger. Whatever it takes. But it's not always easy when you're a pupil at the Tusitala School for the Gifted, Troubled and Strange. Together with her new school friends, Maximilian, Wolf, Lexy and Raven, Effie must travel to the mysterious Otherworld and brave the terrifying Diberi, a secret organisation with plans that could destroy the entire universe.

Bombs are exploding in London, but life seems to have planted more subtle booby-traps for Miles Flint, a spy. The job appeals to Miles. He doesn't want action; he wants, just for once, not to botch a case. Having lost one suspect, Miles becomes too involved with another, a young Irishwoman. His marriage and home seem ready to crumble. But Miles is given one last chance for redemption: a trip to Belfast, which becomes a flight of terror and murder. Can the voyeur survive in a world of violent action?

Typhoon is the story of a steamship and her crew beset by a tempest and of the captain whose dogged courage is tested to the limit. Captain MacWhirr was an ordinary man. However, when his steamer Nan-Shan blunders into a hurricane, he and his crew must pull together to survive. The steadfast courage of an undemonstrative captain and the imaginative readiness of his young first mate becomes a partnership vital to human survival as they are challenged from without by the elements, and from within by human doubts and fears.

Andrew Rissik's powerful, uncompromising reimaginings of classic tales from Roman and Greek history were hailed as masterpieces when they first aired on BBC radio. Told in contemporary speech, they revitalised the ancient myths, making them fresh, relevant and accessible to a modern-day audience. This collection brings them together on audio for the first time, with stellar casts including Michael Sheen, Paul Scofield, Lindsay Duncan, David Harewood, Eleanor Bron, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Diana Rigg, Roger Allam, Toby Stephens, Anton Lesser and Robert Hardy.

Written by a host of top radio writers and starring some of Britain's finest actors, these sparkling, beautifully crafted comedy dramas are centred around people with unconscious yearnings. From the serial seducer to the lonely mother's boy, each is looking for love - but will they find it?

Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam return with the sixth series of Jan Etherington’s heart-warming comedy about a long-married couple in love with life and each other.

This is the story of a man who loved two women, and one of them killed him. Some people have dreams that are so outrageous that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. Francis Drake, Robert Scott, Percy Fawcett, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong are among such individuals. But what if one man had such a dream, and when he'd achieved it, there was no proof that he had fulfilled his ambition?

Danny Cartwright and Spencer Craig were born on different sides of the track. Their lives will never be the same again. One of them is arrested for murder, while the other ends up as the prosecution's chief witness in an Old Bailey trial.

An explosive BBC Radio 4 comedy drama about two morally-polar characters, both in love with the same woman, who has just - tragically - died. Originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 22 March 2011. The Magnificent Andrea is the first original radio play by Nigel Planer ('The Young Ones', 'Hairspray'), in which two wonderful characters, Barry (Roger Allam) and Nigel (Nigel Planer), collide and wrestle over the memory of their shared inspirational warrior woman - and of course, her home.