A thirty-five strong cast including Leo McKern as Kutuzov, Simon Russell Beale as Pierre Bezuhov, Emily Mortimer as Natasha Rostov and Gerard Murphy as Andrei Bolkonsky, brings all the passion and turbulence of Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece to the airwaves in this unique BBC Radio 4 dramatisation. 'Nine hours of blood-and-thunder period drama on a single disc has to be the best bargain around' - Guardian ‘Excellent special effects and a haunting theme tune make it compulsive listening.’ - Ind...

The acclaimed BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Anthony Trollope's gently satirical tales of provincial lifeOne of the most respected, successful chroniclers of nineteenth-century life, Anthony Trollope is still widely read and much-loved today. The Barchester Chronicles - witty moral comedies with a wonderful range of characters - are among his most popular tales.The first in the series, The Warden, finds Rev. Harding forced to question the mo...

Rumpole again defends a member of the Timson clan on a charge of possession of stolen goods, namely, he is caught with a garage full of expensive wine. Rumpole is concerned that Timson's explanation that he purchased the wine from some unknown individual he met in a pub, will not go down well with Mr. Justice Graves, who has heard these stories many times before.

Dramatisations and readings of selected works by DH Lawrence – plus a radio play by Dan Allum and two bonus documentaries exploring Lawrence’s life and writingsCrowned ‘the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation’ by EM Forster, DH Lawrence has an undisputed place in England's canon of great authors. In this wide-ranging collection, dramatisations and readings of some of his major works are brought together, exploring themes such as romantic love and sexual...

Leo McKern is Horace Rumpole! Here he reads about the life and trials of the eccentric barrister, famous for his inestimable knowledge of blood stains, blood groups and forgery by typewriter. Witty and cynical as ever, Horace Rumpole will once again delight listeners with his irreverent behavior and legal triumphs. Will he and his long time client Percy Timson both be forced to retire, one to sunny climes, the other to jail?

Our Horace Rumpole, the most traditional of traditionalists, defends a hippie-like school teacher on a drugs charge. Quite unexpectedly, he finds himself attracted to her and to her unusual lifestyle.

Rumpole must now defend a young member of the Timson family, an extended clan of petty thieves but who are otherwise decent South London rogues. Adding to Rumpole’s anxiety, his own son now appears to be acquiring some of the less respectable Timson family traits.

Rumpole defends Charles Hearthstoke against charges of keeping bawdy houses, in the form of his chain of massage parlors. The case has become quite a scandal since many customers were prominent members of the community and to Rumpole's astonishment, paid with credit cards. Guthrie Featherstone, who sought a massage for an injury now thinks that may be identified as one of the patrons and Rumpole cunningly arranges for him to preside at Hearthstoke's trial.

“It's just no good. He can't fight it. He tells the police he's guilty. The bloody knife's in the dustbin. He's identified by at least three witnesses at the tube station and he writes some spooky letter in his victim's blood. The case is as dead as mutton.” “Just the sort of case Rumpole would have enjoyed.” And where is Rumpole, that eccentric barrister famous for his knowledge of bloodstains, blood groups and forgery by typewriter? He is supposed, by one and all, to be enjoying his well...

Rumpole unenthusiastically accompanies Hilda and her cousin to a very fashionable restaurant. Rumpole hates the ostentatious ambiance, pretentious food with its scant portions. He requests steak and kidney pudding. Jean Pierre O'Higgins, the owner, is insulted that Rumpole would expect him to prepare such low-class dishes. Suddenly, pandemonium strikes when a live mouse jumps out from the serving dish at another table. Unfortunately, the diners are Erskine-Brown with an attractive colleagu...

After a fight with his wife Hilda, Rumpole is forced to stay with the Erskine-Browns but as always, Rumpole wears out his welcome. At the same time Rumpole must defend Hugo Lutterworth who is charged with the attempted murder of his business partner. His claims of innocence are quite compromised by the fact that he was having an affair with his business partner's wife.

London's Sunday Times said Rumpole was “worthy to join the great gallery of English oddballs ranging from Pickwick to Sherlock Holmes, Jeeves and Bertie Wooster.” Here Horace Rumpole achieves one of his immortal moments when, after pinning his hopes on a four-horse accumulator and then winning the jackpot, he decides to retire from the hallowed halls of justice. But not before first speaking his mind to his long-time nemesis, the “Mad Bull” - Judge Roger Bullingham.