The Chronicle: BOOK ONE (January to March)This is history at its best and most entertaining! One moment Liselotte, the Duchess of Orleans (1678) is observing the Prince of Orange consummating his marriage in thick woollen drawers… and the next, Harold Nicolson (1936) is at the Savoy Grill dining with the Prince of Wales and Mrs Simpson who is, "bejewelled, eyebrow-plucked, virtuous and wise". There's the young medical student watching his ...

Pinocchio is a wooden puppet who comes to life and has the most astonishing adventures. A naughty, mischievous creature, he is full of good intentions but is greedy, and lets nothing stand in his way. His maker, poor Gepetto, loves him like a son, but Pinocchio just can’t stay out of trouble. Featuring music by Prokofiev, Saint-saëns, Britten.

Both a cracking tale of horror and a deeply audacious account of the human psyche, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has continued to thrill and fascinate since it was first published in 1886. Dr Jekyll wants to rid his soul of evil, and in doing so creates the monstrous alter ego Mr Hyde. As time goes on he slides increasingly into this other side of his personality until it finally takes over, with disastrous consequences. As the determined Mr Utterson races to uncover the secret...

When the naïve David Balfour sets out on his quest for a long-lost relative, a terrifying chain of events is set in motion. He is plunged into a world of infamy and violence from which there seems no escape, until, that is, he meets the enigmatic and valiant Highlander, Alan Breck.

The Chronicle - BOOK TWO (April to June)Are you ready for an unforgettable adventure into the past? Then climb aboard and join Oscar Wilde in America amused at the sight of local gun slingers looting the house where outlaw Jesse James had been killed a few days earlier. Meet John Betjeman as he implores the BBC to engage the impoverished Dylan Thomas while Jane Austen demands the return of her unpublished novel. Austen Chamberlain rages at Hitler f...

Behold The Chronicle: an epic journey through history.Join us for an exhilarating and immersive adventure through 500 years of history, told entirely in the words of those who were there. With their artless prose and their polished & witty gossip, these are the men and women who have shaped our past. Brought to life by an award-winning all-star cast of 30 celebrated actors, including Charles Dance, Harriet Walter, David Suchet, Maureen Lipman, Timothy West, Jenny A...

Voices from the Past with David Suchet as Lord Nelson writing to his beloved Emma on the eve of Trafalgar, hoping in God that he will live to finish his letter after the Battle, while Harriet Walter as Virginia Woolf hangs about the House of Commons mourning the passing of Edward VIII and the coming of King Albert I. Winston Churchill is captured and imprisoned by the Boers and Jane Austen sells 'Pride & Prejudice' for £110. Howard Carter discovers the tomb of Tutankhamen,...

The Chronicle – Book Three (July to September)This is history... but not as you know it! At Waterloo, women are stripping the corpses of their valuable shoes and stockings yet the Highlanders are left in mass graves with their coarse tartan socks still on. Roy Strong attending a private dinner with the Prime Minister notes that Margaret Thatcher in floaty chiffon is "the apotheosis of the boss's wife, with the appeal of cosmeticised putty."

An epic full-cast play about Robin Hood, plus an episode of In Our Time setting him in his historical context and four dramatic interpretations of his storyRobin Hood has captured the English imagination for centuries. His tale has been told in ballads, novels, plays, TV shows and films – and with each retelling, it has evolved and transformed. We know Robin today as a forest-dwelling outlaw who led a gang of merry men, loved the beautiful Maid Marian and ...

Alexei Sayle stars in this comical story of Britain's first Communist football teamA secret descendant of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, Ricky Lenin is a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist, fervently committed to overthrowing the decadent world of British football. As a midfield maestro, he's perfectly placed to infiltrate England's top club, Felchester Rovers, where he proceeds to introduce his radical ideas. But there's more to his fellow players than meets the eye, and ...

In this compelling study Max Hastings addresses the big human and military questions. Why did the Allies not win the war in 1944, when they were vastly stronger than the Germans? Why did the Russians produce the best generals? What was it like to fight the British, American, German and Soviet armies?Armageddon embraces the fates of more than a hundred million people, from the tragic teenage fanatics who died in the ruins of Hitler's Reich to the British 'Tommies' who simpl...

The very first Logan McRae novel in the No.1 bestselling crime series from Stuart MacBride.DS Logan McRae and the police in Aberdeen hunt a child killer who stalks the frozen streets.Winter in Aberdeen: murder, mayhem and terrible weather…It’s DS Logan McRae’s first day back on the job after a year off on the sick, and it couldn’t get much worse. Three-year-old David Reid’s body is discovered in a ditch: strangled, ...