Showing results by narrator "Toby Jones" in All Categories

1991. Britain and the US are waging war in Iraq, the Soviet Union is breaking up - and Brian Oldman is banged up in Parkhurst, his 30-year sentence restarted. Set on proving his innocence, he studies law from his cell in a bid to win justice at last. But will he ever be released from prison? Joseph Olinska, meanwhile, seems unstoppable. Now ennobled and on the board of Lehman Brothers, he plans to extend his business interests into Russia - with a little help from Boris Yeltsin and his cronies.

This is the collected BBC radio productions of the internationally renowned playwright Tom Stoppard. One of the giants of British theatre, Sir Tom Stoppard has been writing for the stage and screen for over 50 years. Full of wit, verbal brilliance and big ideas, his plays appeal to critics and audiences alike and are among the most studied works of the last century.

A BBC Radio collection bringing together much-loved works by Alexandre Dumas and Alexandre Dumas fils, starring Timothy Spall, Anton Lesser, Iain Glen, Ruth Wilson and Dan Stevens. Alexandre Dumas père and fils are among the most popular and widely read authors in French literature, whose works have been adapted numerous times for stage, screen and radio. This BBC radio collection brings together three of their most famous tales of chivalry, heroism and romance.

The One State is the perfect society, ruled over by the enlightened Benefactor. It is a city made almost entirely of glass, where surveillance is universal and life runs according to algorithmic rules to ensure perfect happiness. And D-503, the Builder, is the ideal citizen, at least until he meets I-330, who opens his eyes to new ideas of love, sex and freedom.

This is one story with three storytellers, each with their own perspective on their shared history. Each tale brings new revelations through a spellbinding narrative that enters the realm of a deep, shamanic ritual, guiding the listener through the hearts and minds of faith healer Frank, his wife Grace and his manager Teddy. Faith Healer is recognised as a masterpiece of modern theatre.

Christopher Marlowe was most celebrated writer of his generation, surpassing even William Shakespeare during his lifetime. A playwright, poet, hellraiser, rebel and spy, he lived fast and died young, stabbed to death in a Deptford lodging house aged only 29. This definitive collection comprises all six of his groundbreaking plays.

Ursula K. Le Guin was one of the most revered and influential writers of the 20th century. Her Earthsea books have sold millions of copies and been translated into numerous languages, while her trailblazing novel The Left Hand of Darkness was a landmark in feminist science fiction and ranks among the greatest SF novels of all time. This BBC collection brings together the magical radio retellings of both these seminal classics.

A brand new two-part special from the fantastical drama series set in a world almost, but not quite, like our own. Paul Hilton stars as William Palmer, the immortal, reluctant and unthanked hero protecting mankind from an enemy they resist believing in: the Grey Folk.

Like his actor namesake, Ronald Coleman is a suave, well-spoken English gentleman. But although he's a movie buff, Coleman is no film star - he's a copper, and a Detective Inspector to boot. Together with his down-to-earth Scottish partner, DS Fred Astor, he sets about solving cases on two very different patches - rural Kirkcaldy and inner-city Southampton.

1951. With the Festival of Britain in full swing, the country is looking forward to a brighter, more prosperous future. But young Brian Oldman cannot forget the past. Traumatised by a murder he witnessed when he was just six, he holds a terrible secret, but there is a more devastating secret he has yet to discover. Falling under the spell of his mother, Cath, he is drawn into London's criminal underworld, where territory battles are raging between the old guard and the new.

Ukrainian-born humorist, dramatist and novelist Nikolai Gogol is widely believed to have led the realist revolution in Russian literature. His surreal, absurdist satires liberated comedy from its sentimental traditions and influenced writers both within Russia and worldwide, among them Fyodor Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka and Flannery O’Connor.

In this moving collection, Shaun Usher gathers together some of the most powerful letters about love ever written. Whether inspired by love’s first blush or the recriminations at its ending, the regrets of unrequited feelings and the joys of passions known, Letters of Note: Love is essential listening for anyone with a heart.

Celia Imrie and Toby Jones star in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Gerald Durrell's much-loved comic gem. My Family and Other Animals is the classic tale of naturalist Gerald Durrell's magical 1930s childhood on pre-war Corfu. His descriptions of his eccentric family and his encounters with the local creatures are full of humour and charm, and the book has delighted fans of all ages for 60 years.

Elusive online journalist Scott King examines the chilling case of a young vlogger found frozen to death in the legendary local ‘vampire tower’, in another explosive episode of Six Stories. In the wake of the 'Beast from the East' cold snap that ravaged the UK in 2018, a grisly discovery was made in a ruin on the Northumbrian coast. Twenty-four-year-old vlogger Elizabeth Barton had been barricaded inside what locals refer to as 'The Vampire Tower', where she was later found frozen to death.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's notorious portrait of a weak king in thrall to his passions, who pays the ultimate price for choosing his heart over his political responsibilities. Originally broadcast 13 September 2009 in the Drama on 3 slot.Edward, preoccupied by the banishment of his lover, Gaveston, barely acknowledges the nascent crises that threaten his realm.

18 biographical dramas based on the lives and loves of celebrated writers.

In Letters of Note: Sex, Shaun Usher collects together some of the most noteworthy missives ever written on the subject, from euphemism-laden, flirtatious exchanges and desire-driven expressions of passion to sincere and thoughtful meditations on the meaning of sex. Includes letters by John Cheever, Sigmund Freud, Dorothy Day, James Joyce, Margaret Mead, Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Mae West and many others.

If you’d told me four months ago that I’d be lying on damp grass, clutching a bullet wound to the stomach, while next to me the love of my life lies dead from a bullet wound to the head, I’m not sure I would have believed you. If you’d told me I’d be surrounded by three other dead bodies, I definitely wouldn’t have believed you. And if you’d said it was all because of an argument over a metre of land, I would have thought you’d lost your mind. I might have even laughed.

In Letters of Note: Mothers, Shaun Usher gathers together exceptional missives by and to mothers, celebrating the joy and grief, humour and frustration, wisdom and sacrifice the role brings to both parent and child. A star-studded cast of readers brings the letters to life, with contributions from Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Crystal Clarke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Neil Gaiman, Toby Jones, Ferdinand Kingsley, Jude Law, Helen McCrory, Natascha McElhone, Miriam Margolyes, Clarke Peters, Juliet Stevenson and Meera Syal.

In Letters of Note: Music, Shaun Usher brings together a riveting collection of letters by and about some of the musicians and music that enrich our lives. Wonderfully wide-ranging and illuminating, it will delight music lovers of all stripes. A star-studded cast of readers brings the letters to life, with contributions from Sanjeev Bhaskar, Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Nick Cave, Crystal Clarke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Stephen Fry, Danny Huston, Toby Jones, Jude Law, Stephen Mangan, Miriam Margolyes, Clarke Peters, Juliet Stevenson and Mark Strong.