Showing results by narrator "Joss" in All Categories

Sisters Alison and Maud are joint landladies of the Abbeyfield Guest House, dispensing hospitality to a variety of demanding clients while also looking after their irascible, bedridden father downstairs in the granny flat. Dreamy ornithologist Alison has just moved back from Bloomsbury, while Maud ran a 3,000-acre farm in Africa - but neither sibling is really up to the task of managing a B&B, and chaos generally ensues.

Emperor Hazard is Dead! When the Teddy Bears ambush the ship carrying Emperor Hazard to a peace conference in the Zenkarr system, Britannia once again finds itself at war. The Teddy Bears have a plan, but Gathii Kong, now in command of the Imperial Force, doesn’t take the bait. He follows Hazard’s last order to fight smart and foils the Zenkarr Intelligence Minister’s plan to destroy Britannia’s fleet by not charging deeper into the system. But now Kong has the lion by the tail—he can’t follow the enemy fleet into the gravity well, nor can he let them out to terrorize the nearby systems.

Scottish author George MacDonald Fraser took the loutish bully from Thomas Hughes’ Tom Brown's Schooldays and gave him a new lease of life. Over the course of 12 novels, caddish anti-hero Flashman swashbuckled his way around the British Empire, playing a key role in some of the 19th century’s most significant events.

>The Screwtape Letters, now in its 70th anniversary year, is an iconic classic on spiritual warfare and the power of the devil. This profound and striking narrative takes the form of a series of letters from Screwtape, a devil high in the Infernal Civil Service, to his nephew Wormwood, a junior colleague engaged in his first mission on Earth trying to secure the damnation of a young man who has just become a Christian. Although the young man initially looks to be a willing victim, he changes his ways and is ‘lost’ to the young devil.

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.

In a world inundated with information, we find ourselves navigating a landscape where the lines between truth and deception are often blurred. Every headline, post, and conversation carries the potential to inform or mislead, to unite or divide. The power of propaganda is not just in its ability to distort facts, but in its capacity to shape perspectives, manipulate emotions, and influence actions, often without our awareness. This book, Propaganda: How Deception Divides and Truth Unites, is an exploration of this subtle yet pervasive force.

Frustrated copy man Ken Handley cannot help but conceive of the world in advert form. Over three series witness Ken coping with a drunken boss, straight-laced colleagues and an overactive mind, as we follow his exploits and moral dilemmas in this advertising satire. Martin Jarvis stars as Ken, alongside a cast that includes Miriam Margolyes, Imelda Staunton, Christopher Godwin and Joss Ackland.

I should have known better, I should have seen the signs, but now all I'm left with is heartache and disappointment. They may think they've got the better of me, but I won't go down without a fight. Especially when it comes to the ones I love. Even if I have to protect them from themselves.

Everyone loves a bedtime story. And here are eight of the best from BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime, each with a Christmas theme, written by an array of literature's best-known names. They include Laurie Lee, Charles Dickens, and Hans Christian Andersen - just some of the storytellers included in this collection.

Autumn, 1646. The English Civil War is raging and there’s trouble ahead for Sir John and Lady Anne Firebasket. There’s a Roundhead platoon camping out in the barn, a perplexed priest hiding behind the panelling and, unbeknown to the Firebaskets, their scullery maid Mercy is actually a disguised aristocrat (and Royalist spy) named Melissa Fortescue-Bottomley.

One of the most prolific playwrights of the Jacobean era, Thomas Middleton achieved great success with his cynically satirical comedies and bloodthirsty tragedies. Considered the only true rival to Shakespeare, Middleton is widely believed to have collaborated with the Bard on several plays, including Timon of Athens. This dazzling collection comprises dramatisations of his most famous works, including his two masterpieces, The Changeling and Women Beware Women.

Hazard King, AKA Prince Henry, was a prince with a problem. Oh sure, he’d defeated the Mordorians in the Sol System and had landed his Marines on earth. His landing parties had even found samples of the original virus used to develop Black Dragon, which—hopefully—could be used to develop an antidote, so the main objective of his mission had been fulfilled.

In this BBC full-cast production of Richard II, the male ego and narcissism of monarchs are hung out to dry.... Written entirely in verse, the rhythms of the language in this epic tragedy encompass its themes of dignity and kingship with fitting grandeur and pathos, as the capricious and narcissistic Richard is brought to his own destruction. Starring Samuel West as Richard II.

I thought this was the best way to save them. The four men that keep me grounded, rooted to the core of my history, my legacy, and I'll save them no matter the cost. Truths uncovered lead to more secrets, more lies, more pain, and the tangled web of Echoes Cove has me trapped tighter in its bindings. The monsters of this world have no idea how far I'm willing to go. How hard I'm willing to fight.

Loss has scarred my life. I’ve trained relentlessly, endured unimaginable pain for one goal—to face the beast who watched me, who came for me. But took my family instead. There’s nothing I won’t do for vengeance. Until three sinful and unhinged monsters find me, emerging from the shadows with sharp teeth, and with claws that could pull apart my life as easily as they do the buttons on my dress.

Christian author and speaker Jill Savage found herself reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. It was part of one very dark year that included a four-month separation. Their marriage survived and became stronger than before. They now share their story openly as authors, speakers, and marriage coaches to help others who are walking through their own dark season.

Hazard had promised his mother that he would return and accept the crown. He just needed one last trip to the front to re-organize the Sol Fleet, then he would return home to rule. When he arrived, though, he found himself in the middle of a battle.

Linny is stuck in a boarding school in Maine, knowing she is cursed to die before her 16th birthday. But this is nothing new. She's done this many times, over many centuries, so she dare not hope it will be different. But then, Quinn Ramsay, descendant of the Sidhe king who cursed her, arrives to fight a very different battle.

Jim goes to sea full of dreams of heroism and boyish adventure. But, under pressure, his own conduct falls far below the ideal he has set himself. Condemned even more by himself than by his fellow men, Jim leaves the world and seeks his redemption in the remote forests of Patusan. It is there he finds fame, love, and success. It is there also that he faces the final and biggest test of his courage and faith, and comes through it in tragic triumph.

Alone and unafraid, the former Earth colony of Serenity is safe from the Mordorian Horde…for the moment. Hazard King’s expeditionary force, battered and bruised, stands guard, protecting the system. But to complete his original mission—to get to Earth and obtain the Black Dragon information he needs to save the kingdom—Hazard will need reinforcements. His mother, Empress Elizabeth, is willing to organize that help, but it will take time.