Showing results by narrator "Ben Miller" in All Categories

Jackson has always wanted to meet Father Christmas. He knows all about the reindeer, he knows about the elves and the secret North Pole workshop, he knows about the magic that allows Father Christmas to deliver presents around the world in just one night, but there's one thing he doesn't know...how did Father Christmas become Father Christmas? One Christmas Eve, Jackson’s wish comes true, and not only does he get to meet Father Christmas but he also hears his incredible story.

In 1992, the deadliest year in Chicago’s history, seven-year-old Dantrell Davis was shot and killed in front of his elementary school inside the public housing complex Cabrini-Green. What happened to Dantrell led to a truce among Chicago’s gangs, but it also ignited a national panic about poverty and violence in America’s cities. Dantrell’s name would soon be used to demolish all of Chicago’s high-rise public housing, displacing tens of thousands of low-income families.

All Tog wants to do is work in Santa's workshop, and one wonderful day, the letter from Santa arrives: Tog has been selected as an apprentice elf! Making toys is a lot more technical and a lot less fun than Tog had imagined, and even though his new friend Holly tries to help him, he's quickly relegated to cleaning out the reindeer stables. But someone has been stealing the presents from the workshop, and a case of mistaken identity finds Tog accused of being the culprit!

It's business as usual in the run up to Christmas at Santa's Workshop - and toy elves Holly and Tog are busy making gifts for children all around the world. But Father Christmas isn't feeling well, and Holly is worried that things won't be finished on time. Inventing a robot to help out with festive duties seems like a fantastic idea, until Father Christmas is KIDNAPPED and a race against time to save him and the big day begins.

Marcus has just started Merlin's, a very unusual school. He doesn't like it and is doing everything he can to get into big trouble and be sent home. When a midnight prank accidentally wakes a sleeping giant called Crom, things take a turn for the magical. But there are other giants on the move, bigger and angrier than Crom. Realising that Merlin's and the whole country are in danger, it's a race against time for the two new friends to find the magic of their own bravery.

George has always wondered what it's like to be a dog. One night, a magical mix-up with an enchanted fountain means he swaps places with Midnight, a huge and loveable hound! Becoming a dog is an amazing adventure, until George uncovers a plan that could threaten Midnight's home. Can the two friends save the day before the clock strikes twelve and leaves them stuck in each other's bodies forever?

Discover the fascinating and cutting-edge science behind the greatest question of all: is there life beyond Earth? For millennia, we have looked up at the stars and wondered whether we are alone in the universe. In the last few years, scientists have made huge strides towards answering that question. In The Aliens Are Coming!, comedian and best-selling science writer Ben Miller takes us on a fantastic voyage of discovery, from the beginnings of life on Earth to the very latest search for alien intelligence.

Harrison tries his best to be good. He doesn’t steal from shops, he shares with his sister and he never cheats at board games...but Harrison also has a BIG flaw. He can't control his temper! So when he’s given a black hole instead of a balloon at a party, he seizes the chance to get rid of everything that makes him cross. But it’s not just things he hates that are disappearing into the black hole.

Father Christmas needs a holiday. He isn't feeling well and someone seems determined to ruin the festivities. It's up to Christmas Elves, Tog and Holly, to find a way to deliver the presents on time and bring the Christmas magic back for everyone.

Lana and Harrison are staying with their grandparents, when they discover their favourite tree to play in is under threat. That night, a magical golden thread leads them up through the hollow of the tree into a storybook land, where wind and rain rage and a fearsome beast terrifies all who live there. When Harrison is kidnapped by the evil Spider Queen, Lana must do whatever it takes to find him, save the villagers and restore the balance of the storybook world, before the night is out.

Black holes. DNA. The Large Hadron Collider. Ever had that sneaking feeling that you are missing out on some truly spectacular science? You do? Well fear not, for help is at hand. Ben Miller was working on his Physics PhD at Cambridge when he accidentally became a comedian. But first love runs deep, and he has returned to his roots, to share with you all his favourite bits of science. This is the stuff that you really need to know, not only because it matters, but because it will quite simply amaze and delight you.

.The big, bad wolf hasn’t had a great winter. He's cold, lonely and hungry . . . But things are about to change - he’s going to take the Fairytale Woods by STORM. But while he knows he’s BIG and BAD, no one else seems to be scared of him, they just keep meddling with his plans – the troll under the bridge, the three annoying pigs, and that pesky Little Red Riding Hood! This is going to take all his brain power and his most cunning smile, to catch Grandma and reclaim his place at the top of the food chain!

Lana loves stories. Especially the ones she and her brother, Harrison, share in their make-believe games. But when Harrison decides he’s too grown-up to play with Lana she finds herself feeling lonely. Until something magical happens. Hidden in the strange new supermarket in town, Lana discovers a portal to a fairytale world! But these aren’t the happy-ever-after fairytales that Lana knows, they are darker and more dangerous and the characters need Lana’s help to defeat an evil witch.

It’s January 1st and Brian Bilston is convinced that this year, his New Year’s resolution will change his life. Every day for a year, he will write a poem. It’s quite simple. Brian’s life certainly needs improving. His ex-wife has taken up with a new man, he seems to constantly disappoint his long-suffering son and at work he is drowning in a sea of spreadsheets and management jargon. So poetry will be his salvation.

Charlie has just started a NEW SCHOOL. Feeling a little shy, she prefers to escape into a world of books. But when she finds herself on the other side of the library in a completely different world, she must embark on a QUEST to save the people of the forest from the EVIL Sheriff who looks a lot like her mean teacher. Learning to use a bow and arrow and stand up against the bullies is harder than it looks, but there might just be some friends to help her on the way . . .

Set in the Cornish cultural mecca of St Ives, Artists centres around a close-knit community of artists whose talent is matched only by their dysfunctionality. When they're not bitching about each other's work, they're bickering with one another—but as genius goes hand-in-hand with an artistic temperament, they never take their squabbles too seriously.

In Swansden, it seems like the men and women of the Post Office must make their own fun. From following mystic runes on a fantasy journey and competing in a little light professional competitive cycling, to fighting the Tuareg in a fort in Africa after joining the French Foreign Legion and engaging the Jupiter aliens in an amateur musical, via climbing Mount Everest and attempting to record a Christmas Number One - Brian, Derek and Sue will just have to make sure all the boring stuff like sorting and handing out the post is actually done at some point.

Welcome to the strange world of Armstrong & Miller which includes some comedy sketches with tough-guy cops in 'Parsons and Lampkin (and Lampkin's Mate Steve)', and there's an insider's view of National Trousers Day. More highlights include some really macho rock climbers, and the corrupt world of mountaineering. There's a track from rock legends Strijka, and you can also hear how Logarythm - the world's most successful school band - got together.

In Griselda Bone's gloomy orphanage, daydreaming is banned, skipping is forbidden and Christmas is well and truly cancelled. But for Phoebe and her sausage dog Herb, is it possible that, just when things seem at their bleakest, magic awaits in the swirling, snow-filled air?

It's midsummer in British Columbia, and it's hot. Murderously hot, as RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg finds when his day at the beach with his ex is cut short by the discovery of a fresh corpse. And back in Sechelt, a nuisance call from an eccentric redneck swiftly leads Alberg into a psychological Gordian knot and a second crime a decade old.