Anti-Heroes: A BBC Radio Drama Collection
Five Full-Cast Dramatisations Including Macbeth, Emma & The Great Gatsby
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About this listen
BBC radio dramatisations of classic novels centred around engaging anti-heroes who dominate high society
Ambitious. Ruthless. Unprincipled. With their blurred morals and relatable imperfections, it’s no wonder we find anti-heroes so appealing and fascinating. Featuring a mixture of male and female anti-heroes across England, Scotland, France and New York, these fantastic adaptations of five of the best-known and best-loved classics of literature follow some of these flawed, nuanced characters as they steal the spotlight and make their presence known.
Macbeth – Scottish general Macbeth’s life is changed when he encounters three witches who predict that he will become the king of Scotland. Encouraged by his forceful wife, he proceeds to fulfil the prophecy, but descends into madness and tyranny... This thrilling production of William Shakespeare's dark tragedy about ambition for power stars Neil Dudgeon and Emma Fielding.
The Count of Monte Cristo – Marseilles, 1815. Nineteen-year-old seaman Edmond Dantès is engaged to the beautiful Mercédès and about to be promoted to Captain. But when three acquaintances betray him, he is condemned to 14 years of solitary confinement in the Chateau D'If. Escaping the notorious prison, Dantès plots his enemies’ destruction… Iain Glen stars in Alexandre Dumas’s swashbuckling tale of revenge.
Emma – Handsome, clever and rich, Emma Woodhouse is so blessed by life that she declares she will never marry. However, she is determined to find the right match for her new friend Harriet Smith. Eve Best stars in this adaptation of Jane Austen's sparkling comedy of young love and romantic meddling.
Vanity Fair – Thackeray's deliciously ironic tale of passion and ambition, set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, follows the fortunes of penniless, social-climbing Becky Sharp and her wealthy, sweet-natured best friend, Amelia Sedley. Starring Stephen Fry as the Narrator, with Emma Fielding as Becky, Katy Cavanagh as Amelia and Toby Jones as Jos.
The Great Gatsby – Arriving in Long Island, Nick Carraway is reacquainted with his distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and falls in with her wealthy crowd. His neighbour, self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby, is the man who has everything – but one thing will always be out of his reach... A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, this dramatisation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel stars Bryan Dick and Andrew Scott.
Credits
Macbeth
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Marc Beeby
Composer: Timothy X Atack
Sound design by Colin Guthrie
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 17 May 2015
The Count of Monte Cristo
Written by Alexandre Dumas
Adapted by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Sasha Yevtushenko
Music by David Tobin and Jeff Meegan
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 November–16 December 2012
Emma
Written by Jane Austen
Dramatised by April de Angelis
Directed by Jonquil Panting
Music: Martin Souter and Sarah Stowe
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 November–3 December 2000
Vanity Fair
Written by William Makepeace Thackeray
Dramatised by Stephen Wyatt
Produced by Claire Grove
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 13 September–8 October 2004
The Great Gatsby
Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Dramatised by Robert Forrest
Directed by Gaynor MacFarlane
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6–13 May 2012
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- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: David Tennant, Miriam Margolyes, Tom Basden, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
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By day Franz Kafka worked as a lawyer for an insurance company, but he spent his nights writing visionary stories and novels exploring bureaucracy, power and alienation – iconic fiction that gave the world the adjective ‘Kafkaesque’. This BBC anthology showcases his most famous works, dealing with ordinary men caught up in impossible situations.
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Best Kafka Collection
- By Nati Yakobovich on 10-31-24
By: Franz Kafka
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The Glass Bead Game
- A Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisation
- By: Hermann Hesse
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi, Tom Ferguson, full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
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Originally published in 1943, The Glass Bead Game was Herman Hesse’s last novel. It was hailed as his magnum opus, and was instrumental in securing him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. Set in a utopian future society, it explores themes of knowledge, individualism, creativity and spirituality, and has inspired contemporary thinkers from authors to game designers. Narrated by Derek Jacobi, this two-part radio drama tells the story of Joseph Knecht (Tom Ferguson), plucked from obscurity as a young orphan, admitted to the finest elite school and groomed for greatness.
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Abridgment
- By michael elliott on 05-23-24
By: Hermann Hesse
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Daphne du Maurier: The BBC Radio Collection
- Including Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, Frenchman’s Creek & more
- By: Daphne du Maurier
- Narrated by: Christopher Cazenove, Cathryn Harrison, Adam Godley, and others
- Length: 21 hrs and 27 mins
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Daphne du Maurier was one of the 20th century’s most popular writers. Extraordinarily prolific, she produced a string of bestsellers, many of which were adapted as award-winning films. From romance and adventure yarns to psychological thrillers and supernatural tales, the breadth and imaginative variety of her storytelling continues to thrill us today. This bumper collection features her most famous works and some lesser-known gems, beginning with full-cast adaptations of seven of her much-loved novels.
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du Maurier is such a good author
- By Monhegan Monarch on 12-05-24
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The Pilgrim’s Progress
- A Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisation
- By: John Bunyan, Brian Sibley
- Narrated by: Anton Rodgers, Neil Dudgeon, Peter Bowles, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
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The Pilgrim's Progress is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and is considered by some to be the first novel written in English. First published in 1678, it has been translated into more than 200 languages and had never been out of print. In this production dramatist Brian Sibley delivers a fresh perspective and wonderful re-telling of the adventures of Christian, a pilgrim who embarks on a perilous journey from his hometown, the allegorical City of Destruction, to the Celestial City, or Heaven.
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Light reading
- By Radu Alexandru on 11-13-24
By: John Bunyan, and others
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Honoré de Balzac: Pere Goriot, The Black Sheep & More
- Four BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramatisations
- By: Honoré de Balzac
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry, Douglas Hodge, David Ross, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
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This brilliant collection of France’s foremost nineteenth-century novelist and playwright delivers four of his most fascinating works - stories of love, rivalry, horror and adventure - all brought to life by a stellar cast included Stephen Fry and Alex Kingston. A huge influence on many of the most famous writers from Proust to Kerouac to Dickens, Balzac delivers beautifully observed and complex characters with an unsurpassed attention to the details of society at the time, making him an exemplary of realism in European literature.
By: Honoré de Balzac
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The Ultimate Classics Collection – Volume One: 15 Novels from Dostoyevsky, Dickens, Tolstoy, Melville, Brontë, & More
- The Brothers Karamazov, Great Expectations, Moby Dick, The Call of the Wild, The Castle, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Middlemarch, War and Peace, Wuthering Heights, & More
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry, Adjoa Andoh, David Rintoul, and others
- Length: 204 hrs
- Unabridged
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The Ultimate Classics Collection: Volume One is a continent-hopping, century-spanning collection of 15 essential classic novels by British, American, and Russian authors, read by a cast of incredible narrators including Stephen Fry, Jason Isaacs, Adjoa Andoh, David Rintoul, and many more. Included here are stories by some of the greatest writers of all time, including Fyodor Dostoyevsky; Charles Dickens; Franz Kafka; Herman Melville; Leo Tolstoy, amongst a host of others.
By: Arthur Conan Doyle, and others
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The British Classics Collection - Volume One: 20+ Stories from Charles Dickens, Emily Brontë, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, Mary Shelly, & More
- Great Expectations, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Lady Chatterly’s Lover, Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, To the Lighthouse, Wuthering Heights, & More
- By: Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, D. H. Lawrence, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry, Jason Isaacs, Joanne Froggatt, and others
- Length: 204 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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The British Classics Collection: Volume One is a century-spanning collection of 24 classic works of fiction and poetry by British authors, read by a cast of incredible narrators including Stephen Fry, Joanne Froggatt, Jason Isaacs, Adjoa Andoh, and many more. Included here are stories by some of the greatest writers of all time, including Charles Dickens; Emily Brontë; Jane Austen; Thomas Hardy; George Eliot; D.H. Lawrence; and Mary Shelley, amongst a host of others.
By: Charles Dickens, and others
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The Surreal and Supernatural Stories of Walter de la Mare
- A BBC Radio Collection
- By: Walter de la Mare
- Narrated by: Walter de la Mare, Julian Wadham, Anthony Head, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
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An award-wining poet, short story writer and novelist, Walter de la Mare is probably best known for his works for children and his perennially popular poem ‘The Listeners’. His ghost stories were much admired by H. P. Lovecraft and inspired subsequent authors of supernatural horror such as Robert Aickman and Ramsey Campbell. In 1921, his novel Memoirs of a Midget won the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction, and this haunting, surrealistic tale is the opening tale in our anthology.