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Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time & Other Mysteries

A BBC Radio Crime Collection

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Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time & Other Mysteries

By: Josephine Tey
Narrated by: Julia Foster, Joan Sims, Paul Young, Edward Petherbridge, Tilly Gaunt, Giles Fagan, Peter Gilmore, full cast
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About this listen

Dramatisations and readings of five of Josephine Tey's classic mystery novels.

Scottish novelist and playwright Josephine Tey was one of the greatest Golden-Age crime writers and the author of eight mysteries, including six featuring Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant. The most famous of these, The Daughter of Time, was acclaimed the greatest crime novel of all time by the Crime Writers' Association. A full-cast dramatisation of this iconic story is included here, along with adaptations of four of her other much-loved mystery novels.

A Shilling for Candles: an independent-minded chief constable's daughter meets a suspected killer in this re-imagining of Josephine Tey's 1936 comedy thriller featuring Inspector Grant, starring Giles Fagan and Tilly Gaunt.

Miss Pym Disposes: invited by her friend Henrietta to lecture at a physical education college, expert psychologist Miss Lucy Pym little suspects that among the healthy young women is someone with a mind sick enough to commit murder.... Julia Foster stars as Miss Pym, with Joan Sims as Henrietta.

The Franchise Affair: a 15-year-old schoolgirl accuses Marion Sharpe and her mother of kidnapping and beating her. Can solicitor Robert Blair prove the women's innocence? An abridged reading by Edward Petherbridge.

The Daughter of Time: in hospital with a broken leg, Inspector Grant is bored. To pass the time, he decides to try and solve one of history's most famous puzzles: did Richard II really kill the Princes in the Tower? Peter Gilmore stars as Alan Grant.

The Singing Sands: travelling to the Highlands by train, Inspector Grant ends up investigating the mysterious death of the man in compartment B7. An abridged reading by Paul Young of Tey's final novel, published posthumously in 1952.

Also included is a Woman's Hour discussion of the life of Josephine Tey, with Andrew Taylor and fellow author Nicola Upson, whose best-selling crime novels feature Tey as the detective heroine.

A Shilling for Candles

Tisdall - Giles Fagan, Erica - Tilly Gaunt, Pottinger - Steve Hodson, Bergoine - Stephen Thorne, Grant - Ben Crowe, Albert Clay - Harry Myers, Hopgood - Geoffrey Whitehead, Martha - Frances Jeater. Dramatised by John Fletcher. Directed by Tabitha Potts. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 5th December 1998.

Miss Pym Disposes

Lucy Pym - Julia Foster, Henrietta Hodge - Joan Sims, Teresa Desterro - Julia Swift, Miss Lux - Polly James, Miss Wragg - Zelah Clarke, Madame Lefevre - Margaret Robertson, Fröken Gustavson - Diana Olsson, Miss Meek - Eva Stuart, Miss Nash - Deborah Makepeace, Miss Innes - Moir Leslie, Miss Rouse - Susan Sheridan, Miss O'Donnell - Felicity Hayes-McCoy, Miss Dakers - Denica Fairman, Miss Gage - Caroline Gruber, Mr Nash - Michael Deacon, Mrs Nash - Eva Stuart, Rick - Paul Sirr. Dramatised by Elizabeth Proud. Directed by Glyn Dearman. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30th December 1987.

The Franchise Affair

Read by Edward Petherbridge. Abridged by Pat McLoughlin. Editor: Sally Feldman. Music: Bush's Music for Orchestra. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 7th - 23rd May 1991.

The Daughter of Time

Alan Grant - Peter Gilmore, Nurse Ingham - Frances Jeater, Nurse Darroll - Jill Lidstone, Marta Hallard - Rosalind Shanks, Brent Carradine - Simon Hewitt, Richard - Steve Hodson, Tyrrel - Nigel Lambert, Brackenbury - Lewis Stringer, Lady Paston - Miranda Forbes, Edward - Graham Faulkner, Matron - Katherine Parr, Williams - Stuart Organ, Morton - Peter Tuddenham, Buckingham - Alex Jennings, Stillington - James Thomason, Sir John - Alaric Cotter. Dramatised by Neville Teller. Directed by Graham Gauld. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30th August 1982.

The Singing Sands: Read by Paul Young. Produced by Eilidh McCreadie. First broadcast BBC Radio 7, 17th - 20th March 2008.

Woman's Hour discussion: Presented by Jane Garvey. With Nicola Upson and Andrew Taylor. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29th February 2008.

©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Anthologies & Short Stories Entertainment & Performing Arts Fiction Historical Modern Detectives Mystery Highlander Funny Scotland
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What listeners say about Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time & Other Mysteries

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting stories

I bought this as I remembered enjoying Miss Pym Disposes and Daughter of Time, when they were first broadcast. The whole collection is well worth listening to and performance is good.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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An astounding author

I had heard Daughter of Time quite a few years ago on the radio, and recall how the narrative is beautifully crafted. Similarly, the Franchise Affair is sensational and I was drawn into the very modern critique she presents of how the population is groomed and manipulated by the media - it might as well have been Facebook or other social media. I found it difficult to really engage with the first story, where the police were, stereotypically, absolute plods and having picked on an 'easy' culprit, it felt entirely proper that the sargeant should be locked up in the cell. I am sure that Tey would not allow such lazy lampooning without going on to demonstrate a much more sophisticated narrative. I will therefore go back and try the first story again. If there are more Tey books available to record, please do!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

NOT an unabridged Audiobook as advertised

This a mix of readings and dramatisations of the stories. I wanted the the unabridged stories read as Josephine Tey wrote them as advertised in the Audible description. Sadly not. I should have been more careful. The dramatisations are fine but unexceptional, despite the stories being changed to marginally to suit the necessary abridgement. There are some painful anachronisms, for example the use of a 10p piece (introduced to UK currency in 1971) in a story published in 1951 and a few others.
The headline story 'The daughter of time', hailed as the number 1 crime novel of all time is a dramatisation, so if you want the novel , don't get this.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful introduction to Tey's work

The reading of The Singing Sands elevated this collection to a sparkling delight. I hadn't read any of Tey's work and thought I'd prefer an overview before picking a book to try. The extra information about the author was most welcome. The BBC radio plays of high quality, but I preferred the erudite, kind and playful writing of the author.

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5 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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It is abridged

The performaces are good but the stories are abridged wich makes them sometimes difficult to comprehend. Go for the unabridged books instead. That goes especially for "Daughter of time" and "The Franchis affair", Two of the best detective stories ever written.

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

mixed bag

the first couple of dramatizations I found very weak and they gave no clue to the clever writing in the original stories. However once past those the other readings and dramatizations were extremely good.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

great stories well acted and narrated.

Franchise affair was brilliant but all stories good . I liked daughter of time less than the other stories.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Well acted but dated storylines

This is beautifully acted but the storylines are just too dated and lack plotting or suspense.

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1 person found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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A bit boring - not worth it

The narration/ acting was ok, but some of the stories were just a real bore. The daughter of time, although announced as an outstanding hit, was absolutely uninteresting. I have read and listened to many historical biographies and mysteries, but this one did neither paint a vivid image of the past events, nor describe intriguing characters. I was tempted over and over to turn it off.
“The Franchise Affair “ was the only story in the lot, that had something. Would I have spent a credit on this? Probably not :-(

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Josephine Tey

I found the stories were so dull and boring. The headline dramatisation of the Daughters of Time was a real struggle to listen to the end . A complete waste of time. I just can’t understand why the critics like her work.

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