Showing results by narrator "Miriam Margolyes" in All Categories

Strong of will and slender of ankle, 20-year-old orphan Flora Poste is blessed with every virtue save that of being able to earn her own living. Casting around for suitable relatives with whom she can make her home, Flora alights on the mysterious Starkadders and, ignoring the horrified shrieks of her friends, heads down to darkest Sussex.

When Alice steps through the looking-glass, she enters a very strange world of chess pieces and nursery rhyme characters such as Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the angry Red Queen. Nothing is what it seems and, in fact, through the looking-glass, everything is distorted.

Barbara Pym is one of the 20th-century's wittiest, and most underrated, novelists. Her perceptive comedies of manners, centred around the domestic lives and loves of unassuming middle-class Englishwomen, won her many devoted readers and saw her hailed as a modern-day Jane Austen. Yet she spent 15 years out of print in the 1960s and '70s, until Philip Larkin championed her work in the Times Literary Supplement. Her seventh novel was subsequently shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and writers from Jilly Cooper to Alexander McCall Smith continue to laud her talent today.

From Little Nell to Miss Havisham, Dickens’ Women tells the story of Charles Dickens’ life through his beloved characters. Cowritten and performed by Miriam Margolyes, best known for her role as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films, this one-women show is a celebration of her infectious passion for Dickens’ work. Taking on 23 different Dickensian characters, many of whom were inspired by real people such as Mary Hogwarth, Dickens' sister-in-law, Margolyes showcases her astonishing versatility as a performer. Dickens’ Women delighted audiences across the world in 2012 as Margolyes took her Olivier nominated show on tour for the bicentenary of Dicken’s birth.

London, 1337. England is at war, and the King is in financial straits, meaning that Jonah's hard-earned business and fortune hang in the balance. A far cry from his humble beginnings as a draper's apprentice, Jonah is now one of the influential merchants in England, and he manages to secure the hand of the daughter of one of the most powerful and dangerous nobles in the country. As Jonah's wealth and prominence grow, so do his enemies and the threats they bring.

From being escorted off the Today programme (for saying what we were all thinking) to declaring her love to Vanessa Redgrave; from Tales of the Unexpected to Graham Norton's sofa, she is our most loved and most outspoken national treasure. Oh Miriam! takes you inside both her head and her heart. Buckle up for the most irrepressible, hilarious and moving listen of 2023.

At the age of 30, Robin is an Earl at last - but not the Earl of Waringham, the ancestral title that he still hopes to win back one day from the evil Mortimer. England has seen other changes too: Edward III is dead and his successor, the boy king Richard II, is at odds with his uncle, the Duke of Lancaster. The introduction of a hated new poll tax brings about one of the most dangerous episodes in English history and Robin finds himself embroiled in the Peasants’ Revolt.

A true rags-to-riches tale, Jonah's journey spans the breadth of human experience, from the intricacies of Edward III's political intrigues to the cutthroat world of international trade, from the triumphs of war to the agonies of personal loss - love, friendship, joy, heartbreak and glory. Set largely in London - the Scarlet City - the centre of medieval England, this is a thrilling portrait of the age and the people who made it so rich, colourful and extraordinary.

A tender love story, a serpentine villainess, a glittering setting in London society, and a showering of Wildean witticism are only a few of the reasons why this play has enjoyed hugely successful revivals in London, in New York, and on the silver screen. This 1895 drama is eerily prescient, as it examines the plight of a promising politician, desperate to hide a secret in his past. With empathy and wit, Oscar Wilde explores the pitfalls of holding public figures to higher standards than the rest of us.

In the realm of the short story, Katherine Mansfield established a highly original style. Undramatic, poetic and lyrical, her writing is exquisitely subtle in its treatment of human behaviour. When these 14 short stories were published in 1920, she had already effected a transformation in this form of fiction, and her influence has been deeply felt by subsequent writers.

Milo, Mia and Birdy are on a countryside holiday, where they are astonished to find an Enchanted Wood. There they encounter some remarkable creatures, including a man with a head like the moon and a fairy with long golden hair, who both live in the tallest tree in the wood. Little Birdy is only too happy to find that fairies are real. Even her older brother and sister are soon won over by the magic of the Faraway Tree and the extraordinary places they discover above it, including the Land of Unicorns and the Land of Dragons.

When Elsie, an orphan on the streets of Victorian London, hears about the mysterious Ice Monster - a woolly mammoth found at the North Pole - she’s determined to discover more.... A chance encounter brings Elsie face to face with the creature and sparks the adventure of a lifetime - from London to the heart of the Arctic! Heroes come in all different shapes and sizes in David Walliams’ biggest and most epic adventure yet!

Charles Dickens' ghostly tale of sour and stingy miser Ebenezer Scrooge has captivated readers, listeners and audiences for over 150 years. This Christmas, Audible Studios brings this story to life in an audio drama featuring an all-star cast.

When Elsie, an orphan on the streets of Victorian London, hears about the mysterious Ice Monster - a woolly mammoth found at the North Pole - she’s determined to discover more.... Luckily, a chance encounter brings Elsie face-to-face with the creature, sparking the adventure of a lifetime - from London to the heart of the Arctic!

Jane Austen's classic romantic comedy is the sparkling tale of the Bennets, a family blessed with five daughters and a mother desperate to marry them off. The tempestuous pairing of the witty, independent Elizabeth and her arrogant but honorable suitor Mr. Darcy sets the standard for all great couples of stage and screen. Although many have tried, few literary romances have matched the wit and gentile satire of Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

The siege of Troy has lasted almost ten years. Inside the walled city, food is becoming scarce and the death toll is rising. From the heights of Mount Olympus, the gods keep watch.

Soon to be a major new London theatre show, The Witness for the Prosecution follows the hapless Leonard Vole as he learns he has been accused of murdering a wealthy widow in order to get his hands on the inheritance. His predicament is made even worse when he discovers his wife to be the chief witness against him. The trial proceeds with a number of unexpected twists. This classic BBC radio drama stars Hywell Bennett as Leonard, and Miriam Margolyes as his chief accuser.

Here's Dicken's Christmas classic of Ebenezer Scrooge and his encounter with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Originally published in 1843, A Christmas Carol has continued to be one of the most popular and enduring Christmas stories of all time.

If you’d told me four months ago that I’d be lying on damp grass, clutching a bullet wound to the stomach, while next to me the love of my life lies dead from a bullet wound to the head, I’m not sure I would have believed you. If you’d told me I’d be surrounded by three other dead bodies, I definitely wouldn’t have believed you. And if you’d said it was all because of an argument over a metre of land, I would have thought you’d lost your mind. I might have even laughed.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl, read by Miriam Margolyes, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig. You can think again if you thought you knew the stories of some of the most popular fairy tales. Here are six of the best known retold, with more than a twist or two, by the master of the comic and the blood-curdling.