Hamlet, which dates from 1600-1601, is the first in Shakespeare’s great series of four tragedies, the others being Othello (1603), King Lear (1605) and Macbeth (1606). In writing this extraordinary play Shakespeare effectively reinvented tragedy after an interval of roughly two thousand years we have to go back to the Greek dramatists of fifth-century Athens to find anything of comparable depth and maturity.

Sinister supernatural forces are at work in this fast-paced tragedy of guilt and retribution, in which the power of human beings to control their own destiny is called into question.The brave warrior Macbeth allows himself to be persuaded by Lady Macbeth, his wife, to slay good King Duncan and seize the throne of Scotland for himself. Macbeth achieves his ambition, but one murder proves not to be enough as he desperately attempts to eliminate all who might threaten his ill-gotten p...

Set during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, where every story promises a 'Thousand Thrills!', with ingenious plots, full of twists and surprises, driven along with exciting action and tongue in cheek humour.In Killer Conquest, the dashing hero with a nose for trouble and rake-hell disregard for danger returns in a breathless crime-smashing adventure. With his trademark ‘1066’ and his resourceful partner Pixie, he keeps up good cheer and marches on while he bif...

Set during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, where every story promises a 'Thousand Thrills!', with ingenious plots, full of twists and surprises, driven along with exciting action and tongue in cheek humour.Norman Conquest is off to the theatre, when our fast talking, hard hitting adventurer finds himself accused of assaulting a pretty young lady on the underground. It’s only when our hero “1066” discovers that the young lady is the victim of a mysterious blac...

Set during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, where every story promises a 'Thousand Thrills!', with ingenious plots, full of twists and surprises, driven along with exciting action and tongue in cheek humour.In Miss Dynamite, our gentleman adventurer, having met a beautiful young lady in the middle of the night soon finds himself on the trail of a gang of jewel thieves. Is the pretty girl as innocent as she seems? Are diamonds really a girl’s best friend? Can ‘...

They are called the Orang Pendek, masters of the steamy Sumatran rain forest.Henrik Kooper watched his father die at the brutal hands of the orange-haired ape men. Having barely survived helping twins Natalie and Austin McQueen discover and destroy the beasts lurking in Loch Ness, it’s now his turn for vengeance. Within the treacherous jungles of Sumatra lies the fabled lost city of Gadang Ur. Its secrets are guarded by a savage band of Orang Pendek who lord over the strange and de...

Eight dramatised documentaries of landmark trials that changed the lawWhat do you do when a judge sentences your child to be beaten?If someone who has been stabbed dies after refusing a blood transfusion, is it a straight case of murder?How did a murder case end up changing the law for battered women who kill?In this gripping series, Helena Kennedy, celebrated human rights lawyer, broadcaster and civil liberties expert and playwright Rib Dav...

The complete Series 1 and 2 of the historical drama set in a bustling Midlands railway station in the Victorian eraIn these two series, set on selected dates in January 1895 and December 1896, we follow the day-to-day shenanigans of Bridgford station master Joe Braddock and his staff, along with a motley crew of passengers and passers-by. Each episode is a self-contained drama, as well as telling the ongoing story of the crises and challenges tackled by the team, a...

A BBC Radio adaptation of Hugh Walpole's historical novel, set in the Lake District during the 18th CenturyDriven by a wild romantic impulse, Francis Herries uproots his family from Doncaster to the lakeland valley of Borrowdale. Accompanied by his housekeeper/mistress, Alice, they settle in his tumbledown ancestral home, Herries, in the shadow of the Cumberland fells.Proud, stubborn and temperamental, Francis cuts himself off from...

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...