Episodes
Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
Alexander Mackendrick's Mary Queen Of Scots | 20181208 | The world premiere of Alexander Mackendrick's unproduced screenplay on the most turbulent year of Queen Mary's life. Starring Glenda Jackson, Ellie Bamber, Mark Bonnar, Emun Elliot, Edward Holcroft, Struan Rodger and Bill Paterson. It's 1566 in Edinburgh. Two clans - the Hepburns and the Douglases - are at war. Two religions are in conflict - Protestant against Catholic. Two countries, England and Scotland, are about to collide. At the heart of it all is 23-year-old Mary Queen of Scots. She is seven months pregnant. We begin with a betrayal. Mary's half-brother Murray and her English husband Henry Darnley conspire with William Maitland - Secretary of State and arch manipulator - to kidnap Mary's young Italian private secretary Rizzio, who is rumoured to be the father of her unborn child. Darnely is adamant that he wants no violence in the kidnapping, but Rizzio is murdered. In the aftermath, Murray, who Maitland has made sure remained absent from the event, attempts to convince Mary that he had no involvement in the conspiracy and tries to manipulate her into pardoning the murderer. However Mary, vulnerable now but with a steely intelligence, outwits them and manages to escape with her four ladies in waiting to the protection of James Bothwell, leader of the Hepburn clan. Caught in an internecine web of plot and counter plot, treachery and betrayal, Mary must use every skill at her disposal to maintain her rightful position as Queen. Will her secret affair with Bothwell be the making of her or lead to her destruction? Mary Stuart..............................................Ellie Bamber Narrator....................................................Glenda Jackson | ||
Dennis Potter's The White Hotel | 20180908 | 20230729 (R4) | The world premiere of Dennis Potter's unproduced screenplay of DM Thomas's award-winning novel, starring Anne-Marie Duff and Bill Paterson. The drama is introduced by a short documentary. Circus performer Lisa visits Dr Probst, a celebrated Berlin psychoanalyst, to discover the cause of the mysterious pains she is experiencing in her left breast and pelvis. As Probst attempts to unravel the true cause of her pains, he is sure that the answer to Lisa's condition lies in her past and her realisation, after her mother and uncle are killed in a hotel fire, that the two of them were having an affair. When Lisa allows Probst to read her secret journal, he is stunned by her erotic fantasies and sexually charged description of an imaginary relationship with a lover at a white hotel, a grand baroque spa. Their passionate lovemaking seems to provoke strange disasters - premonitions of the catastrophe that will soon overwhelm Lisa and Kolya. Lisa initially plays along with Probst's investigations of her past, but eventually reveals that she also experiences unsettling premonitions. `I see what is going to happen. And what is going to happen cannot be endured.` Is her trauma really the result of childhood memories, or could it be a dark premonition of the future? The drama is preceded by a short documentary, The Long Road to the White Hotel, telling the story of the many failed attempts to bring DM Thomas's novel to the screen and the making of the Radio 4 drama of Dennis Potter's screenplay. Lisa.........................................Anne-Marie Duff Probst....................................Bill Paterson Narrator................................Simon McBurney The Lover.............................David Gyasi Victor.....................................Nigel Lindsay Aunt Magda........................Morwenna Banks Vera / Old Woman / Wife........................................Jasmine Jones Various..................................Wayne Forester Officer / Captain / Matre d? / Old Man.............Nick Underwood Kolya.......................................Felix Jamieson Little Lisa................................Tillie Murray Written by DM Thomas Original Screenplay by Dennis Potter under licence from Briarpatch Limited L.P Directed by Jon Amiel The Long Road to the White Hotel feature by Overtone Productions. Producers: Laurence Bowen and Peter Ettedgui A Dancing Ledge production for BBC Radio 4 Dennis Potter's unmade screenplay of DM Thomas's novel, introduced by a short documentary. | |
Hammer Horror's The Unquenchable Thirst Of Dracula | 20171028 | 20221015 (R4) | Dracula travels to 1930s India in this celebrated unproduced Hammer Horror feature film script, part of BBC Radio 4 Unmade Movies series. It's 1932 and Penny (Anna Madeley), a young British woman, travels secretly and alone by train through the heart of India, in search of her sister who has recently disappeared. In her first class carriage she meets Prem (Nikesh Patel) and Lakshmi (Ayesha Dharker), a brother and sister performing duo who have been hired for one night by a Maharajah. Babu (Kulvinder Ghir), who also shares the carriage, is horrified to learn that Penny is unaccompanied and insists that she stays with him and his wife near the caves she is visiting. Prem and Lakshmi are taken by chauffeur to the sinister residence of the Maharajah and his wife the Rani (Meera Syal) and asked to perform that night. The performance is not for the Maharajah though but his new guest, Count Dracula (Lewis MacLeod). While Lakshmi, soon separated from her brother, finds herself in great danger as she begins to dance for Dracula, Penny makes her way into the hidden cavern beneath the Maharajah's Palace where she is shocked to discover Prem, desperately searching for his sister. As they descend a hidden stone staircase inhabited by poisonous snakes, they soon find themselves looking out on a huge underground chamber full of hundreds of the Rani's acolytes, all waiting for her next human sacrifice to satisfy their blood cult. Will it be Lakshmi? And has Penny's sister already met a similar fate? It's a race against time to get answers before all of them fall under the spell of the hypnotic Count. A Dancing Ledge production for BBC Radio 4 Dracula travels to 1930s India in this celebrated unmade Hammer Horror script. | |
01 | Harold Pinter's Victory | 20150228 | 20190727 (BBC7) 20190728 (BBC7) 20170318 (R4) | Harold Pinter's screenplay of Josef Conrad's last major novel, in a special adaptation for radio by Sir Richard Eyre. It's 1900 in the Dutch East Indies. Disenchanted with life and humanity, Heyst, a mysterious Swedish Baron, lives alone on a deserted island. He believes he can avoid suffering by cutting himself off from others, but his life is altered when he visits the neighbouring island for a doctor's check up. Here he meets and falls in love with Lena, a young English violinist, travelling across the Pacific with a small commercial ladies Orchestra. Surrounded by predatory older men, including the hotel manager Schomberg, she is drawn to Heyst and the sense of mystery that surrounds him. Together, in the middle of the night, they escape by boat to his island. Narrator - Simon Russell Beale Heyst - Bjarne Henriksen Lena - Vanessa Kirby Davidson - Matthew Marsh Ricardo - Mark Strong Jones - Robert Portal Schomberg - Patrick O'Kane Mrs Schomberg - Helen Schelesinger Pedro - Martin Marquez Chang - Paul Chan Mrs Zangiacomo - Flaminea Cinque Sound Design: John Leonard and Wilfredo Acosta Director: Richard Eyre Producer: Laurence Bowen A Feelgood Fiction production for BBC Radio 4. Harold Pinter's screenplay of Josef Conrad's last major novel, adapted by Sir Richard Eyre |
02 | Harold Pinter's The Dreaming Child | 20150307 | 20200111 (R4) | The world premiere of Harold Pinter's unproduced film screenplay, based on Karen Blixen's elusive and mysterious short story of loive and loss. It's Bristol in 1868 and Emily, married to wealthy Tom Carter, is haunted by her passionate first love affair with a young soldier who subsequently dies at sea. Seven years later and unable to have children themselves, they decide to adopt a boy from the slum. Jack however is not an ordinary child - and seems to know everything about his new home and family. Narrator - Anne Reid Emily - Lydia Leonard Tom - Bertie Carvel Charlie - Joshua Silver Mrs Jones - Joanna Scanlan Miss Scott - Susan Woolridge Jack - Jack Hollington Peggy - Rose Leslie Bess - Bryony Hannah Mr Rudd - Karl Johnson Mr Carter - Malcolm Sinclair Children - Flynn Allen,Esme Allen-Quarmby,Isabella Blake-Thomas, Joey Price. Adapted by Joanna Hogg and Laurence Bowen Director: Joanna Hogg Producer: Laurence Bowen A Feelgood Fiction production for BBC Radio 4 Pinter's screenplay based on Karen Blixen's intriguing 19thC story of love and loss. |
03 | Arthur Miller's The Hook | 20151017 | 20200104 (R4) | The world broadcast premiere of Arthur Miller's unproduced screenplay tells the story of a 1950s Brooklyn longshoreman who is fired for standing up to his corrupt union boss, but decides to fight back by standing for union president. 1951. The Brooklyn Docks. Dawn. Hundreds of longshoreman queue in line to see if they're going to be given a counter and picked for work in that day's gang. It's dangerous work, but with a hierarchy of corrupt union bosses all taking backhanders above them, they have no option but to accept. The Hook is part of a season of radio adaptions of unproduced screenplays by the major authors of the 20th century - including Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, Orson Welles and Ernest Lehman. Arthur Miller developed the script for The Hook with Elia Kazan and it was on the trip to LA to pitch it to Harry Cohn at Columbia Studios that he met Marilyn Monroe for the first time. Cohn asked Miller to change the script and turn the corrupt union bosses into communists. Miller refused and the screenplay was shelved. He and Kazan then fell out over Kazan's testimony to McCarthy's House of Un-American Activities Committee. Kazan went on to make On The Waterfront and Miller wrote A View From The Bridge, essentially reworkings of The Hook. This radio adaptation is directed by Adrian Noble. During his career Adrian has received over 20 Olivier Award nominations both as artistic director of the RSC and as a freelance theatre director. Narrator - David Suchet Marty - Elliot Cowan Louis - Nigel Lindsay Rocky - Michael Feast Farragut - Tim Pigott-Smith Piggy - Nathan Wiley Enzo - Jonathan Guy Lewis Sleeper - Kerry Shale Therese - Joanne Pearce Old Dominic - Vincent Riotta Mama - Lorelei King Irene - Hollie Burgess Pete - Leo Heller Screenplay written by Arthur Miller Adapted for radio by Laurence Bowen Sound Design by Wilfredo Acosta Produced by Laurence Bowen A Feelgood Fiction production for BBC Radio 4 A longshoreman decides to take on his corrupt union bosses on the Brooklyn waterfront. |
04 | Orson Welles' Heart Of Darkness | 20151024 | 20220108 (R4) | The broadcast premiere of Orson Welles' unproduced screenplay of Joseph Conrad's celebrated novel. Staring James McAvoy. It's the 1890s and Mr Kurtz, one of the senior agents of an Ivory trading company, has disappeared. Marlow, a skipper, is hired to take a steamship up the Congo River to find him. But the further he and the other company men travel up river, the greater the sense of impending danger, and the more disturbing the rumours that begin to circulate about Kurtz. But truth is more terrifying than any of them imagined. Heart of Darkness is part of Unmade Movies, a season of radio adaptions of unproduced screenplays by the major authors of the 20th century - including Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman. Orson Welles wrote this screenplay in 1939, with the intention of directing and starring as both Marlow and Kurtz. After founding the Mercury Theatre in 1937, his celebrated production of Julius Caesar and his radio adaption of The War of The Worlds established him as a major talent. RKO Pictures then signed a deal with him to produce his first feature film. Welles intended this to be Heart of Darkness but the script proved to be too audacious for them - and his second script, Citizen Kane, was greenlit instead. Marlow...........James McAvoy Kurtz..............Jonathan Slinger Elsa................Phoebe Fox Blauer............Jo Stone-Fewings Eddie.............Max Bennett De Tirpitz / Melchers........John Heffernan Strunz............Elliott Levey Stitzer............Gerald Kyd Schulman / Steersman.....Seun Shote Meus.............Jack Holden A Screenplay by Orson Welles from the novel by Joseph Conrad Adapted for Radio by Jamie Lloyd and Laurence Bowen Music by Ben and Max Ringham Sound Design by Wilfredo Acosta Directed by Jamie Lloyd Produced by Laurence Bowen A Feelgood Fiction production for BBC Radio 4 Orson Welles' adaptation of Joseph Conrad's celebrated novel. Starring James McAvoy. |
05 | Hitchcock's The Blind Man | 20151031 | 20190608 (BBC7) 20190609 (BBC7) 20161226 (R4) | Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman's unfinished screenplay, the follow-up to North by Northwest - completed by Mark Gatiss in 2015. Adapted for radio by Laurence Bowen. Set in 1961, a famous blind jazz pianist, Larry Keating, agrees to a radical new medical procedure - an eye transplant. The operation is a success but his new eyes are those of a murdered man, and captured on their retina is the image of his murderer. Larry and his new nurse, Jenny, begin a quest to track him down - before someone else dies. The Blind Man is part of Unmade Movies, a season of radio adaptions of unproduced screenplays by the major authors of the 20th century - including Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman. LARRY KEATING ............ Hugh Laurie SYLVIA WHITEHEAD ............ Rebecca Front VICTOR FARMER ............ Nicholas Woodeson JENNY STILES ............ Kelly Burke MORTIE LEVITT / CAPTAIN BARZONI ............ Andy Nyman LINDA WHITEHEAD ............ Hilary Connell HERMAN GRAUBNER ............ John Guerrasio DR. MCGRAW ............ John Light AUTOGRAPH GIRL ............ Hollie Burgess NARRATOR, ALFRED HITCHCOCK ............ Peter Serafinowicz Music by Blair Mowat Sound Design by Wilfredo Acosta Produced by Laurence Bowen and Peter Ettedgui Co-Producer Laurent Bouzereau.Directed by Mark Gatiss A Feelgood Fiction production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015. Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman's unproduced follow-up script to North by Northwest. |