From bestselling author John Boyne, a gripping and profound exploration of guilt, blame, trauma, and the human capacity for redemption. This program features multicast narration.In The Elements, acclaimed Irish novelist John Boyne has created an epic saga that weaves together four interconnected narratives, each representing a different perspective on crime: the enabler, the accomplice, the perpetrator, and the victim.The narrative follows a mother...

A collection of full-cast dramatisations and readings from the bestselling author‘There’s nobody like Binchy for warming the cockles’ TimesMaeve Binchy was one of Britain’s best-loved storytellers and this compilation of her finest fiction, as heard on BBC Radio, demonstrates all the warmth, wit and compassion that made her so popular.Firefly Summer is a moving, humorous novel about a sleepy Irish town facing monumental change, dramatised in six parts with a full ca...

This pastoral is one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies, due to its delightful heroine, the wise, witty, and virtuous Rosalind, who complicates her love life by disguising herself as a young man.ACT IScene 1. Orlando, the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, has been kept “rustically at home” by his older brother, Oliver; he has been denied his inheritance and any formal education. When Orlando demands his birthright, the brothers come to blows. ...

Shakespeare’s most sophisticated comedy is a riotous tale of hopelessly unrequited passions and mistaken identity.Duke Orsino is in love with the noblewoman Olivia. She, however, has fallen for his servant Cesario, who is actually Viola, a woman disguised as a man, who loves Orsino: confusion is rife. Meanwhile, Olivia’s arrogant steward Malvolio is cruelly tricked by her uncle Sir Toby Belch, his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and the maidservant Maria into believin...

The language of Poetry is an art that most of us attempt at some point in our lives. Although its commonplace exposure has been somewhat marginalised in today’s often fast-paced lives we all recognise good verse that can empathise with our thoughts or open us up to experience new things in new ways, to better understand and to enjoy the many strands of our lives.But finding a starting point can be overwhelming, even off-putting, so in this series we offer up our Top 10 classic poet...

This compiliation brings together some of the best poetry that Ireland can lay claim to. Full or energy, emotion; at times raw at others sensuous and evocative. From Thomas Moore to Louis MacNeice through Katherine Tynan, John Millington Synge and Oscar Wilde and many others to the immortal WB Yeats.

A perfectly crafted, brief, tense tale of two strangers on a winter’s night in a quiet, secluded hotel and the stories they tell each other, from the acclaimed author of Ghost Wall and Summerwater.Tell me the worst thing you’ve ever done.One winter’s night, in a hotel on Ireland’s west coast, a man and a woman meet for the first time. As a snowstorm gathers outside, the hotel windows twinkle with fairy lights and they share a meal...

A BBC Radio collection of dramatisations and readings of Maeve Binchy’s sparkling storiesIrish writer Maeve Binchy was one the best-loved and most successful authors of her time. Her bestselling books sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and were translated into 37 languages. This comprehensive anthology of her finest fiction, as heard on BBC Radio, demonstrates all the warmth, wit and compassion that made her so popular.It opens with Firefly ...

A collection of BBC dramatisations and readings of William Boyd's award-winning novels and short storiesOne of Britain's foremost contemporary writers, William Boyd is renowned worldwide for his bestselling novels, which have been translated into over 30 languages. He has won numerous awards, including the Somerset Maugham Award (for A Good Man in Africa), the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (for An Ice-Cream War) and the Costa Book Award (for Restl...

Maeve Binchy is one of Britain’s most popular and bestselling authors, and this collection of four stories from the BBC Radio 4 archive shows her at her most insightful and imaginative. In The Garden Party, Helen envies her neighbour Debbie Kennedy’s garden – and her life – but discovers that things are not always as they seem; while The Special Sale sees lonely Yvonne arranging a special lunch for her friend Frank and his children on the day after Christmas. The Sens...

A sparkling seasonal anthology of BBC dramas and readingsChristmas is the perfect time to curl up with a good story, and this cracking collection brings you 30 wonderfully diverse tales inspired by this most special of seasons. From Santa Claus, gift-giving and family gatherings, to an unexpected encounter in a snowstorm and an alternative take on the Nativity, they're sure to get you in the festive mood.Here are modern readings of classics such as Charles ...

Four modern masterpieces that dared to push boundaries and disrupt the status quoDeviant. Depraved. Dangerous. Denounced for their transgressive themes and inflammatory ideas, these 20th-century classics have all been considered so seditious that they had to be suppressed. Find out what made these iconic works so threatening to governments worldwide in these superlative dramatisations, featuring stellar casts and specially composed music.Ulysses...