Charming, cultured and clever, Tom Ripley has a taste for the finer things in life. And he is determined to get them, by any means necessary…

These five plays – The Talented Mr Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water – chart Tom’s journey from impoverished conman to wealthy bon viveur and serial killer. His homicidal adventures begin when he befriends shipping heir Dickie Greenleaf: he wants money, success, and he’s willing to kill for it. But when he attains the luxurious lifestyle he craves, he is always on the edge of being discovered. Will his shadowy past finally catch up with him?

BAFTA-winning actor Ian Hart stars as Ripley in these tense, thrilling dramas. Also included are two bonus documentaries: Looking for Ripley, in which crime writer Mark Billingham unravels the mystery behind our lasting fascination with Tom Ripley, and A Passionate Affair, presented by Marcel Berlins, who asks whether Patricia Highsmith fell in love with her suave, amoral anti-hero.

Text © 1993 by Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich, all rights reserved.
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

When Guy Haines meets Charles Bruno in the dining car of a Texas-bound train, they share their secrets in the way that only strangers can. Charles confides his hatred for his controlling father, Guy confesses that he is divorcing his unfaithful wife. As the drink flows and the conversation turns darker, Charles proposes the perfect solution to both their problems – a murder swap – and Guy laughingly agrees.

Back home, he quickly forgets their drunken pact: but Charles does not. Soon Guy is facing a nightmarish choice – fulfil his part of the bargain, or be framed for a murder he didn’t commit…

Dramatised for radio by award-winning playwright Craig Warner, this disturbing tale of obsession, blackmail, guilt and fear stars Michael Sheen (Good Omens, Staged) as Guy Haines and Anton Lesser (Game of Thrones, Endeavour) as Charles Bruno.

Credits
Written by Craig Warner, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith
Original music by Craig Warner
Directed by Andy Jordan

Cast
Charles Bruno……………………Anton Lesser
Guy Haines……………………Michael Sheen
Anne……………………Saskia Reeves
Gerard……………………Bill Nighy
Elsie Bruno……………………Jane Whittenshaw
Alex……………………Denys Hawthorne
Myers……………………Roger May
Treacher……………………Stephen Critchlow
Cop……………………John Hartley
Frear……………………Andrew Branch
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 25 January 1996

Strangers on a Train © 1993 by Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich, all rights reserved.
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

When Earthman Arthur Dent learns that first his house and then his planet are about to be bulldozed, it’s the beginning of an interplanetary adventure for him and his friend, Ford Prefect. After fleeing Earth they hitch a lift with hoopy frood Zaphod Beeblebrox, who hurtles from one improbability to another – literally. With Trillian and Marvin the Paranoid Android in tow, the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is soon revealed: 42. But what was the question??

Following the success of the BBC radio series, Douglas Adams adapted his scripts for these two full-cast albums, with incidental radiophonic music provided by Paddy Kingsland. First released by Original Records in 1980, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe star Peter Jones as The Book, Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect and Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox.

Produced by Geoffrey Perkins and Tim Souster, the cast also includes Cindy Oswin, Stephen Moore, Richard Vernon, Valentine Dyall, David Tate, Jim Broadbent, Bill Wallis, Roy Hudd, Frank Middlemass, Stephen Greif and others.

Hang onto your towel – it’s going to be the ride of a lifetime.

Rumpole and the Teenage Werewolf
Rumpole heads to the Home Counties to defend Ben, a teenager accused of sending emails deemed to be sexually harassing, and of an actual physical attack on a girl.

Rumpole and the Right to Privacy
Rumpole leaves the Old Bailey to defend a civil case: an editor of a local newspaper who is accused of breaching a successful businessman’s right to privacy.

Truth Makes All Things Plain
If one man can be counted on to fight injustice and insist on a fair trial for everyone, whatever their circumstances, it is Horace Rumpole. So when the beautiful Tiffany Khan learns that her husband has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism, she calls for his help right away.

The Past Catches up with us All
As he struggles to win justice for his client, Rumpole finds that his marriage to She Who Must Be
Obeyed is, rather like his waistcoat, straining at the seams.

Timothy West stars as Rumpole and Prunella Scales as Hilda, with Matt Smith as Ben, Nigel Anthony as Claude Erskine-Brown and Michael Cochrane as ‘Soapy Sam’ Ballard.

Rumpole and the Primrose Path
Rumpole exposes criminal practices at the nursing home where he was sent to recuperate after a heart attack, leaving him in dire need of claret, cheroots and good company.

Rumpole and the Scales of Justice
When Rumpole defends a senior policeman in court, his love for Shakespeare’s Othello and his old acquaintances in the south London criminal fraternity prove very useful.

Rumpole and the Vanishing Juror
Rumpole’s admiration for the integrity of the Old Bailey jury is legendary – but he is mystified when his most promising juror in a murder trial suddenly disappears?

Rumpole Redeemed
Invited to dinner at his local prison, Rumpole solves the conundrum of whether an ex-con can be reformed – while also seeking redemption himself.

Timothy West stars as Rumpole, with Prunella Scales as Hilda, Michael Cochrane as Sam Ballard, Nigel Anthony as Claude Erskine-Brown and Sophie Thompson as Luci Gribble.

A fantastic collection of twenty songs, nursery rhymes, stories, puzzles and tongue-twisters performed by Sophie Aldred and Richard Mitchley.

Join in with actions, words and games! The songs and rhymes include:

The Animal Fair
The Bear Went Over the Mountain
Who Cares if the Bear?
The Animal Song
How Doth the Little Crocodile
The Pelican’s Beak
The Day the Animals Lost Their Voices
5 Little Monkeys
The Animals Went in Two By Two
Odd One Out
Froggy Went A’ Courting
A Elephant Goes Like This and That
Incy Wincy Spider
What’s the Time Mr Wolf?
1-2-3-4-5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive
B-I-N-G-O
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Animal Alphabet
The Penguin Who Thought He Was a Fish
Shine Little Glowworm

There’s a whole hour of listening for everyone to enjoy – ideal for playtime, bedtime, or the car!

Rumpole and the Golden Thread
In Africa defending an old pupil in a murder trial, Rumpole is arrested. When Phillida arrives to bail him out, a spark between them is rekindled…

Rumpole and the Official Secret
Rumpole defends a civil servant accused of selling secrets and is embroiled in a wine fraud. Meanwhile, Phillida tells Rumpole she plans to leave her husband and asks him to keep it a secret, and Horace considers what that might mean.

Rumpole and the Quality of Life
Ballard’s wedding looms and Rumpole faces a life-changing decision about his own marriage. Hilda expects him to join her in Cornwall, but Phillida hopes he will leave to be with her at last?

For fifteen years, Rumpole has fought, won and occasionally lost myriad cases – and fallen in and out of love with both wife Hilda and ‘the Portia of our Chambers’, Phillida Erskine-Brown. These three episodes leave us guessing until the very end – will Rumpole finally leave ‘She Who Must be Obeyed’ for Phillida?

Julian Rhind-Tutt stars as Rumpole, with Jasmine Hyde as Hilda, Nigel Anthony as Claude Erskine-Brown and Cathy Sara as Phillida.

The books that make up the life and times of Maya Angelou are among the most beautiful and haunting pieces of autobiography ever written. Joyous, direct and searingly honest, they run the gamut from life-affirming to tragic, and back again.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings charts Maya’s childhood in the Deep South in the 1930s; while Gather Together In My Name recounts her descent into prostitution and narcotics. Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas sees her forging a career in showbusiness, and in The Heart of a Woman, she moves to New York and becomes involved in civil rights. All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes explores her time in Ghana during the 1960s, and in A Song Flung up to Heaven, she returns to America to work with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. When tragedy strikes, her friend James Baldwin helps her out of her devastation – and new opportunities beckon for Maya.

Angelou’s memoirs have become modern classics, beloved worldwide, and these stunning dramatisations illuminate her incredible resilience, creativity and power, painting an extraordinary portrait of 20th century black America.

When Charles Paris’ agent rings with the news that he has a part for him in a new musical, Charles is delighted – and somewhat amazed, as he can neither sing nor dance.

But Maurice has an ulterior motive: as one of the show’s backers, he wants Charles to play detective and investigate a series of accidents that have dogged the production. The pianist has been shot in the hand and another cast member fell downstairs – or was he pushed? Anxious about their investment and their star, Chris Watt, the ‘angels’ are keen to ensure that nothing else goes wrong.

Joining the company, Charles discovers that Chris, although amazingly talented, is a prima donna who has made enemies of almost everyone. When the accidents resume, it begins to look as if anyone who disagrees with him is being targeted. But would the star really sabotage his own show? Charles must find out – before things turn murderous?

This thrilling adaptation by Jeremy Front stars Bill Nighy (Love Actually, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) as Charles Paris, with Suzanne Burden as Frances.