Episodes
| Series | Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 01 | The Fair Maid Of Perth | 20130414 | 20170904 (BBC7) 20170905 (BBC7) 20210816 (BBC7) 20210817 (BBC7) 20130420 (R4) | A beautiful glover's daughter is romantically pursued by a warmongering blacksmith, a poetising prince, a hot-headed clansman and a bumbling bonnet-maker in lawless 14th century Scotland. Feeble King Robert III is failing to stop his beloved country being torn apart by warring clans and pillaging nobles - chaos reigns supreme. When our heroine, Catharine Glover, suffers heartbreak and tragedy at the hands of the vengeful Earl of March, a terrible dilemma presents itself. Should she follow the dictates of her heart by marrying the man she loves - or should she obey her father's wish and shun a world of 'hard iron and barbaric cruelties' by betrothing herself to Christ? Starring David Tennant. A tale by Sir Walter Scott dramatised by Scott Cherry. Walter Scott - David Tennant Catherine Glover - Morven Christie Her father - Hugh Ross Henry Smith - Bryan Larkin King Robert - Clive Russell The Earl of March - Kenneth Cranham Oliver Proudfoot - Forbes Masson Conachar - Callum O'Neil Louise the Minstrel - Olivia Morgan A citizen - Richard Hansell All other parts are played by members of the cast. Ruth Wall sings and plays Gaelic Harp. Music composed and performed by Ross Hughes and Esben Tjalve. A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2013. A beautiful glover's daughter struggles to survive in lawless 14th-century Scotland. |
| 01 | 02 | Rob Roy | 20130421 | 20170905 (BBC7) 20170906 (BBC7) 20210817 (BBC7) 20210818 (BBC7) 20130427 (R4) | Our Rob Roy has dispensed with the Jacobite setting and updates the story to the 20th century. It is 1924 and 20-year-old Frank falls foul of his father. He has spent a year in Paris, supposedly learning the business, but actually hanging out with Imagist poets. When he refuses to join the business his father sends him north to stay with his Uncle - a radical and mixed up in the cause of Irish Nationalism. Scott's book doesn't really depend on the historical trappings on which the author's reputation now rests. A son being banished by his father because he wants to be a long-haired poet is a perennial situation, as is the love-triangle between Frank, Die Vernon and her wicked cousin Rashleigh. With this production the listener is asked to regard Scott as a novelist like any other, concerned with the workings of the human heart and how they play out in a society more like ours. Starring David Tennant. A tale by Sir Walter Scott dramatised by Robin Brooks. Walter Scott - David Tennant Frank - Paul Ready Die Vernon - Denise Gough Rob Roy - Mark Bonnar Quentin - Christian Rodska Frank's Father - Christian Rodska Rashleigh - Joe McFadden Owen - Michael Eaves Uncle Hilary - Stuart McGugan Vernon - Stuart McGugan The Post Master - Stuart McGugan O'Brien - Paul Reid Dougal - Callum O'Neill Henry - Callum O'Neill Cummings - Callum O'Neill All other parts played by members of the cast. Music composed and performed by Ross Hughes and Esben Tjalve. A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2013. A young poet is banished to the north, where he falls for his beautiful, mysterious cousin |
| 01 | 03 LAST | Waverley | 20130428 | 20170906 (BBC7) 20170907 (BBC7) 20210818 (BBC7) 20210819 (BBC7) 20130504 (R4) | A gripping tale of love, war and divided loyalties with Scotland in open rebellion against the Union with England. It's 1745 and 21-year-old Edward Waverley, a newly commissioned red-coat officer, is posted to Scotland on the eve of Bonnie Prince Charlie's violent bid for power. His father is a rising minister in the ruling Hanoverian state, but the beloved Uncle who brought him up is an old Jacobite, loyal to the exiled Stewart dynasty. Waverley falls in love with two very different Scottish girls - the cautious, loyalist, lowlander Rose Bradwardine, and the fiery highland rebel Flora. He goes AWOL for Flora just as her brother Fergus is rallying their clan to fight for Charlie. When Waverley is accused by his Commanding Officer of a treasonable flirtation with the enemy, he joins the uprising in a fit of pique and helps defeat an English army at the battle of Prestonpans. When he finds out that he has caused the arrest of Uncle, he returns to London to try to clear his name. Starring David Tennant. A tale by Sir Walter Scott dramatised by Mike Hunt. Walter Scott - David Tennant Waverley - Rupert Evans Gardiner - Christian Rodska Flora - Alison McKenzie Rose - Olivia Morgan Fergus - Forbes Masson Evan Dhu - Mark Bonnar Charles Edward Stuart - Joe McFadden Gilfillin - Robert Hudson All other parts played by members of the cast. Music composed and performed by Ross Hughes and Esben Tjalve. A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2013. What makes a man betray his country to fight for another cause? Ambition, politics, love? |
| 02 | 01 | The Bride | 20140629 | 20180326 (BBC7) 20180327 (BBC7) 20210819 (BBC7) 20210820 (BBC7) 20140705 (R4) | The Ashtons and Ravenswoods have been enemies for centuries - but will a proposed union between the warring families finally bring peace? Set in the Lammermuir Hills of south-east Scotland at the start of the 18th Century - this is the tragic tale of a love affair between young Lucy Ashton and her family's enemy Edgar Ravenswood. Starring David Tennant. A tale by Sir Walter Scott dramatised by Mike Harris. Walter Scott - David Tennant Edgar Ravenswood - Roshan Rohatgi Sir Walter Ashton - Hugh Ross Lady Ashton - Maureen Beattie Lucy Ashton - Joanne Cummins Frank Hayston - Drew Cain Craigengelt - Robert Hudson Caleb - Robert Hudson The Marquis of Hamilton - Bryan Larkin Old Ravenswood - Bryan Larkin Ailsie Gourley - Beth Tuckey Music Composed and performed by Ross Hughes and Esben Tjalve Violin and viola: Oliver Langford A Brill production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in June 2014. Can a marriage between two warring families finally bring peace? |
| 02 | 02 | Ivanhoe | 20140706 | 20180327 (BBC7) 20180328 (BBC7) 20210820 (BBC7) 20210821 (BBC7) 20140712 (R4) | Set in 1194 after the failure of the third Crusade, King Richard I is said to be in captivity in Austria after having been taken on his way back to England. In his absence, his brother John is plotting to take over the throne. Wilfred of Ivanhoe, son of Cedric and one of the few remaining Saxon Lords, joined Richard in the Crusade but has been disinherited by his father for showing allegiance to a Norman. Ivanhoe is rumoured to have come to the rescue of his King in his hour of need but has since disappeared. Is he alive? Rowenna - the woman he loves - anxiously waits for news. Starring David Tennant. A tale by Sir Walter Scott dramatised by Scott Cherry. Walter Scott - David Tennant Ivanhoe - Mark Bonnar Isaac - Henry Goodman Gurth - Henry Goodman Cedric - Christian Rodska Rowena - Laura Molyneux Guilbert - David Troughton Rebecca - Sasha Behar Elgitha - Sasha Behar Fitzurse - Will Adamsdale Wamba - Will Adamsdale De Bracy - Nicholas Murchie Prince John - Nigel Cooke Prior Aymer - Edward Max A Brill production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in July 2014. Ivanhoe rescued King Richard I during the Crusades but has since disappeared. |
| 02 | 03 LAST | Redgauntlet | 20140713 | 20180328 (BBC7) 20180329 (BBC7) 20210823 (BBC7) 20210824 (BBC7) 20140719 (R4) | Sir Walter Scott's novel freely adapted by Robin Brooks - now set in the year 2035, in a fictional future Scotland. Starring David Tennant. Alan Fairford is destined to become a lawyer but is distracted from his studies by the sudden disappearance of his best friend Danny Latimer. Danny's absence seems to be connected with the sudden appearance of Stuart Galloway - aka Redgauntlet - who has business with Alan's father, Alexander. But who is Redgauntlet? And what is his mission? Alan Fairford sets out to find out the answers and hopefully to rescue his friend. Walter Scott - David Tennant Alan Fairford - Jacob Fortune-Lloyd Alexander - Clive Russell Peter Peebles - Christian Rodska Lily Galloway - Olivia Morgan Stewart Galloway - Forbes Masson Roller Hopkins - Robert Hudson Findlay - Robert Hudson Workman - Robert Hudson Nanty Ewart - Simon Greenall Cozen - Simon Greenall Regina Crosbie - Allison McKenzie OS Voice - Allison McKenzie Danny Latimer - Paul Ready James - Paul Ready Nixon - Paul Ready A Brill production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in July 2014. Alan wants answers after his best friend disappears. |
| 03 | 01 | Heart Of Midlothian | 20150802 | 20181022 (BBC7) 20181023 (BBC7) 20210824 (BBC7) 20210825 (BBC7) 20150808 (R4) | She wouldn't lie in court to save her sister's life - so she had to find another way.' Mike Harris' fast paced adaptation of Walter Scott's most gripping, most contemporary novel. Starring David Tennant. A tale by Sir Walter Scott dramatised by Mike Harris. The action begins with a trial for child murder, and the tension never drops with disguises, thwarted love, hazardous journeys, kidnappings, riots, rescues - and a shy, retiring, heroine who will stop at nothing to undo the terrible damage her virtue has done. Walter Scott - David Tennant Jenny Dean - Joanne Cummins Reuben Butler. - Brian Ferguson George Staunton - Mark Bonnar Meg Murdockson - Caroline Guthrie Madge Wildfire - Lynsey-Anne Moffat Dumbiedykes - .Christian Rodska The Magistrate - Hugh Ross Duke of Argylle - Forbes Masson Effy Dean - Alice Simone Other parts played by the cast. A Brill production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2015. |
| 03 | 02 | The Antiquary | 20150809 | 20181023 (BBC7) 20181024 (BBC7) 20210825 (BBC7) 20210826 (BBC7) 20150815 (R4) | The Antiquary is a man who hoards secrets as well as treasures. Will his knowledge allow Lovel to marry his secret love? Starring Richard Wilson and David Tennant. A tale by Sir Walter Scott dramatised by Robin Brooks. Published in 1816, this novel is about an amateur historian, archaeologist and collector of items of dubious antiquity. Although he is the eponymous character, he is not necessarily the hero, as many of the characters around him undergo far more significant journeys or change. Instead, he provides a central figure for other more exciting characters and events - on which he provides a sardonic commentary. This is Scott's gothic novel, redolent with family secrets, stories of hidden treasure and hopeless love, with a mysterious, handsome, young man, benighted aristocracy and a night-time funeral procession to a ruined abbey. The romance and mystery is counterpoised by some of Scott's more down-to-earth characters, and grittily unromantic events. Scott wrote in an advertisement to the novel that his purpose in writing it, similar to that of his novels Waverley and Guy Mannering, was to document Scottish life and manners of a certain period - in this case the last decade of the 18th century. David Tennant - Sir Walter Scott Oldbuck - Richard Wilson Edie - Alexander Morton Sir Arthur - Stuart McGugan Isabel - Melody Grove Lovel - Dominic Rye Geraldin - Christian Rodska Tafril - Charles Davies Hector - John Wark Caxon - David Haydn Macleucha - Beth Tuckey Music by Ross Hughes and Esben Tjalve. Cello played by George Cooke. A Brill production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2015. Richard Wilson stars as The Antiquary - a man who hordes secrets as well as treasures. Published in 1816, this novel is about an amateur historian, archaeologist and collector of items of dubious antiquity. Although he is the eponymous character, he is not necessarily the hero, as many of the characters around him undergo far more significant journeys or change. Instead, he provides a central figure for other more exciting characters and events – on which he provides a sardonic commentary. |
| 03 | 03 LAST | The Talisman | 20150816 | 20181024 (BBC7) 20181025 (BBC7) 20210826 (BBC7) 20210827 (BBC7) 20150822 (R4) | The Talisman is the finale of Scott's novels set during the crusades but this one features the dying dog days of the Third Crusade. Richard the Lionheart is de facto leader but the military expedition has ground to a halt and the allies are getting itchy feet. They're sick of Richard's over-bearing leadership and, to make it worse, very few of them still believe Jerusalem can be reconquered. To the modern reader this must be a rather recondite setting. Beyond the jousting and the knightliness, how much do we care about the crusades anymore? And that's without opening the can of worms as to whether the West had any more right to be there then than it does now. Jonathan Myerson wondered how to adapt this story and find a modern parallel to this situation. And then it came to him: Occupy London in 2011. Those protestors started with the same, almost ecstatic belief in the possibility of change. They aimed to seize the holiest of places - the London Stock Exchange - but were beaten back and forced to set up camp outside. As the original crusaders came to loathe the heat and insect life in their desert encampment outside Jerusalem, the protestors of Occupy came to much the same conclusion - as winter set in - about sleeping on the cold, wet flagstones of St.Paul's Churchyard. And, in much the same way, the competing groups started to feel it was time to pack up and go home. So, new listeners will follow Scott's original story of conspiracy and counter-conspiracy and, most important of all, star-crossed lovers but will hear new resonances in this old tale. A tale by Sir Walter Scott dramatised and updated by Jonathan Myerson. Kenny - John Wark Hakim - Danny Rahim Theo - Nicholas Woodeson Rick - Alex Waldmann Devvo - Martin Hutson Lee - Ben Lloyd-Hughes Robbo - Bryan Dick Conrad - Alex Lanipekun Bernie - Daisy Haggard Edie - Pippa Bennett-Warner A Brill production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2015. Originally set during the Third Crusade, this updates the action to a more modern crusade. |