John Masefield (18781967) was one of the most prolific, popular and successful poets of the twentieth century. Masefield broke upon Edwardian literature with the startling work entitled The Everlasting Mercy, which described the spiritual enlightenment of a drunken poacher. Over the span of his lifetime, he was appointed Poet Laureate and amassed a large number of admirers, which included such high-profile names as John Betjeman, Robert Graves and W.B. Yeats. This collection contains thirt...

Prepare yourself for a gripping journey back into the darkest corners of post-war London and the shocking story of the infamous Rillington Place murders that shook London in the early 1950’s. Based on the original trial transcripts, it is for you to decide if an innocent man was sent to the gallows.On January 11, 1950, Timothy Evans of 10 Rillington Place stood trial at the Old Bailey, accused of the murder of his own baby daughter. The courtroom was heavy with tension as the prose...

Step into the courtroom and relive three of the most notorious trials of the 20th Century, that captivated the nation. Based on the original trial transcripts, eyewitness testimonies and contemporary reports, we invite you to join the Jury at the Old Bailey and reach your own verdict.The Trial of Ruth Ellis: What drove this attractive mother of two young children to fire six fatal shots on Easter Sunday into the body of the man she loved? Why was she so calm and di...

Two outstanding plays from a major figure of British Edwardian theatreHarley Granville Barker was one of the most influential voices in early 20th-century drama – an actor, director and playwright whose work helped shape modern British theatre. His plays are celebrated for their psychological depth, moral complexity and Chekhovian style. He is best known for his masterpiece, The Voysey Inheritance, which is presented here with his forgotten classic, Th...

A wide selection gritty and hard hitting plays from the award-winning English playwright Edward BondEdward Bond was an English playwright, theatre director, poet, dramatic theorist and screenwriter.He was the author of some 50 plays, among them Saved (1965), the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK. Early Morning was banned by Lord Chamberlain. His play Saved became an intern...

Two dramatisations of key novels by the award winning Vita Sackville WestVita Sackville-West was a successful novelist, poet and journalist, as well as a prolific letter writer and diarist. She published more than a dozen collections of poetry and 13 novels during her life. She was twice awarded the Hawthornden Prize for Imaginative Literature: in 1927 for her pastoral epic, The Land, and in 1933 for her Collected Poems. She was the inspiration fo...

A trio of full-cast adaptations of the novels of Howard Spring, including his two best-selling works and featuring a 40-year-old Ian McKellen.Howard Spring was a Welsh author who was an immensely popular and successful writer from the 1940s to the 1960s. From 1934 he produced a series of best-selling novels, the most successful of which were My Son My Son and Fame is the Spur. This collection includes dramatisations of both of these novels, alongs...

Two magical adventure stories from the queen of fantasyImmerse yourself in the magical world of Susan Cooper’s imagination. Drawing upon Celtic and Norse mythology and English folklore, Cooper creates worlds like no other. She is best known for her The Dark Is Rising series, the first of which is included in this magical adventure collection, with two tales adapted for radio and brought to life by a full cast.In Over Sea, Under Stone

A study of Albert Camus' life and works which draws together both dramatisations of his novels and documentaries about his life.One of postwar France’s most influential writers, Albert Camus was fêted for his masterful exploration of the absurdity of the human condition. Included here are adaptations of his three iconic existential novels – The Plague, The Outsider and The Fall – alongside four bonus pieces shining a light on the man and his work.La Peste –...

A collection of seminal dramatised pieces by the great German polymathJohann Wolfgang Goethe was a colossus of German literature and a true Renaissance man. A novelist, dramatist, poet, humanist, scientist and philosopher, he wrote the first international bestseller, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and his epic masterpiece Faust is one of the most famous and celebrated dramas of all time.We open this anthology with a dramatisation of

Penguin Classics presents Charles Dickens' epic Bleak House, adapted for downloadable audiobook and read by Ronald Pickup and Beatnie Edney.As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the men...

A BBC Radio dramatisation of the real-life diaries of a West Country village parson, writing at the turn of the 19th Century'A good diary can provide an unsurpassed entry into society, and the diary of William Holland is a very good diary indeed' The SpectatorOn October 25th, 1799 - his 18th wedding anniversary - cantankerous Somerset parson William Holland begins his diary, chronicling events at the vicarage and in the sm...