The twelve stories in Letting Go take us on a journey through landscape, language and turbulent times, from the mid-19th century to the present day, and into the future. Stevenson's array of characters from many walks of life and nationalities – including a traveller, a wood carver, chicken farm workers, a nurse, an architect and a magician – meet and part, some becoming reacquainted. Themes exploring identity, creativity and the environment, echo and connect throughout the different narra...

Singers, politicians, a fish-gutter, queens, a dancer, a marine engineer, a salt seller, sportswomen, scientists and many more – Quines celebrates and explores the richly diverse contribution women have made to Scottish history and society.

Maria is an Englishwoman who has fallen in love with her husband Iain's Highland heritage - but there's a shock in store for them when they take a trip home to his mother's island croft. It is Hogmanay, and Iain has just received news of his mother's death. He and Maria set off from Edinburgh to attend the funeral. They drive north in blizzard conditions. Eventually they reach Iain's mother's house, where brother James, sister-in-law Ishbel, and the church elders are gathered. In the after...

Gerda Stevenson's dramatisation of the 1932 novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, set in north-east Scotland before and during the First World War. Episode 1: Chris Guthrie is torn between her love of the land and her ambition to become a teacher. As Chris' domineering father struggles with the harshness of the land, her mother's fear of childbirth leads her to despair. A full cast dramatisation. Directed by David Ian Neville.Episode 2: After her father's death, Chris is determined to stay and wo...

Paul Temple lives again in five BBC Radio 4 remakes of classic adventures, starring Crawford Logan as Paul and Gerda Stephenson as Steve.Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery (2006): A pair of spectacles spells danger for the suave sleuth and his wife as they embark on a trip to Egypt.Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery (2008): A murdered millionaire and a mysterious watch-chain sets the Temples on the trail of an international counterfeiti...

A stunning adaptation of a First World War masterpiece showing man's inhumanity to manGerman playwright Karl Kraus's early twentieth-century satirical play about the First World War was originally 15 hours long, but his classic satire The Last Days of Mankind, has been deftly distilled into a kaleidoscopic montage of scenes by talented director and writer Giles Havergal. This uncompromising production mixes dialogue drawn from contemporary document...

"A work of fiction that is both a potent portrait of early 19th-century Edinburgh but also a story about female agency or the lack of it. The result is a compelling, painful, haunted piece of work." THE HERALDWATERSTONES SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE MONTH AUGUST 2025Up the close and down the stair, meet the women of Burke and HareEdinburgh, 1828. Two women - one rich, one ...

BBC Radio dramatisations of some of Muriel Spark’s best works, plus bonus episode of The Essay: All Miss Brodie’s GirlsMuriel Spark was one of Scotland’s brightest and most original literary talents. In a career spanning over 60 years, she published over 20 novels, as well as essays, poems and plays. Her work won her numerous awards and honours, and she was made a Dame in 1993 for her services to literature. These nine radio dramas showcas...

Edinburgh, 1828. Two women—one rich, one poor—must navigate life against a frenzied backdrop of medical discovery, mob mayhem, and murder.The home Helen shares in the slums of the Old Town with her lover William Burke could hardly be more different from Susan’s dreams of an affluent existence as the wife of Robert Knox, one of the foremost anatomists of the day. But as people begin disappearing, these two very different women face an impossible choice. Should they ...

From 1938 to 1968 crime novelist and detective Paul Temple and his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve solved case after case in one of BBC Radio’s most popular series. Now the glamorous duo return to the airwaves to break a mysterious drug-running gang. Post-war London is buzzing with speculation about the deaths of ten young drug addicts within the space of just one week. The police are desperate to cut off supplies of heroin and cocaine to the capital, but they are struggling. So Sir Gra...

A classic BBC Radio adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novels of adventure and romanceFirst published in 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson's rollicking historical novel Kidnapped was an instant bestseller. It was followed by an 1893 sequel, Catriona, which Stevenson regarded as his 'high water mark', declaring that he would 'never do a better book'. Included here is the epic 10-part BBC radio dramatisation of both action-packed tales.

From 1938 to 1969 crime novelist and detective Paul Temple and his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve solved case after case in one of BBC radio's most popular serials. They inhabit a sophisticated, well-dressed world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, where the women are chic and the men wear cravats - and where Sir Graham Forbes of Scotland Yard always needs Paul's help with a tricky case. Returning from America by ocean liner, the Temples enjoy the company of their fellow passengers, o...