Showing results by narrator "John Smith" in All Categories

Alfred Lord Tennyson is one of Britain’s greatest and most popular poets. Even during his lifetime, he was considered a national institution: Queen Victoria appointed him Poet Laureate in 1850, a position he held for 42 years, and in 1884 he became the first writer to be granted a baronetcy. In a long and fruitful career, he penned numerous classic works, and this BBC Radio collection showcases some of the very best. We begin with two of his masterpieces, dramatised by award-winning poet Michael Symmons Roberts.

Jack and Karen are an ordinary, happily married couple. They've been together for years and are convinced every problem can be worked through. Until Karen finds an odd text on Jack's phone, and her confrontation leads to a shock revelation: Jack is gay, and he wants a male lover. Seeking stability for themselves and security for their teenage children, they settle on a 'closed loop' arrangement, whereby they stay together and Jack has a boyfriend. So begins a new type of marriage, where small deceptions and unspoken fantasies are replaced with radical honesty.

Death stalks Corvis by night, and only an unlikely group of heroes known as the Black River Irregulars can put an end to the terror. The labyrinth of tunnels beneath Corvis is home to some of the city’s worst criminals, but now even these hardened thugs have reason to watch their step in the dark, shadowy undercity.

Bethany Anne is going stir crazy after more than a decade of having to be 'The Empress.' Now, her advisors have to deal with an Empress who is determined to be on the front line. The Ixtali's come to the Etheric Empire, hat in hand. Nathan decides that the best way to handle soft intelligence, is to create a new company. What they name the new company should give a clue what it is about. The Skaine are able to finally get Ranger Tabitha's group right were their missiles can attack. The problem is, who is sucking whom into a trap?

In 2023 John Finnemore and the Souvenir Programme team returned to Radio 4 with a new format – annual, one-off, 45-minute Specials. Some are in the style of Series 1-8, with sketches, jokes and songs, while others are more discursive and experimental, like Series 9. Collected together here, they all feature his trusty ensemble cast of Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan.

Deep below a desolate Utah mountain lies the largest platinum deposit ever discovered. A billion-dollar find, it waits for any company that can drill a world-record three-mile-deep mine shaft. EarthCore is the company with the technology, the resources, and the guts to go after the mother lode. Young executive Connell Kirkland is the company’s driving force, pushing himself and those around him to uncover the massive treasure. But far beneath the surface, where the rocks are so hot they burn bare skin, something has been waiting for centuries. Waiting...and guarding.

I have an excruciating crush on this man who comes into the coffee shop. Every day. He's older, gorgeous, perfectly dressed. He has a Russian accent and silver eyes. On my last shift, I stop him as he's walking out. Just to say I don't know. I love you, marry me, and let me have your babies? Thanks for the generous tips, have a nice life?

Maggie Smith and Jonathan Pryce star in William Wycherley’s raunchy Restoration comedy. Considered too obscene to be staged in its original form for nearly 200 years, William Wycherley’s bawdy comedy tells the tale of Mr Horner, a notorious rake who spreads the false rumour that he is impotent in order to gain free access to other men’s wives. When he meets the young, innocent Margery Pinchwife, the ‘country wife’ of the title, the scene is set for scandal.

Years ago, in the town of Saxon Falls, young Kelsey Willard disappeared and was presumed dead. The tragedy left her family with a fractured life - a mother out to numb the pain, a father losing a battle with his own private demons, and a sister desperate for closure. But now another teenage girl has gone missing. It's ripping open old wounds for the Willards, dragging them back into a painful past, and leaving them unprepared for where it will take them next.

Powerful necromancers are on the move, and the dungeon has become a battleground. Without his faithful Wisp, Cal's mind slips—he begins creating traps and monsters that go against his already loose morals. A direct threat from an unexpected force causes Cal's mind to stabilize, but he doesn’t know for how long. Using every resource at his disposal, he works to keep his mind clear while he funds a search for his lost companion. When others fail him again and again, Cal takes matters into his own hands.

I locked myself in the bathroom when my date pulled out a knife. Then a tall dark rescuer crashed through the door and kidnapped me. I know it's risky, posting my darkest fantasies anonymously online. Especially when they start going viral. But how was I to know the first guy I've ever dated would turn out to be an obsessed stalker-fan? Although I write about wanting a man to force himself upon me, this reality isn't nearly as appealing. It's locked bathroom, panic texting, terrified-for-my-life.

A collection of short stories gathered from the far reaches of the Space Team Universe.

A vengeful ghost trapped in a goblin's ear...a flaming spider who must help stop a goddess from conquering a science-fiction convention...a goblin nursery worker who finds herself trapped in the middle of a war. This collection features six humorous short stories that explore the fantasy realm from the perspective of the lowest of the low, the unlikeliest of unheroes: the goblins.

Long ago, the legendary trapper known as Preacher took shelter with the Absaroka, and fell in love with a girl called Bird in the Tree. Twenty years later, he rescues a woman and her son from an ambush by the hated Blackfoot. The woman is Birdie, and the valiant young warrior is Hawk That Soars — Preacher’s son. Now the greatest fighter on the frontier is about to go to war, to protect a family he never knew he had.

US Army Captain Dale Morton is a magician soldier‚ a "craftsman." After a black-ops mission gone wrong, Dale is cursed by a Persian sorcerer and haunted by his good and evil ancestors. Major Michael Endicott, a Puritan craftsman, finds gruesome evidence that the evil Mortons, formerly led by the twins Roderick and Madeline, have returned, and that Dale might be one of them. In Tom Doyle's thrilling debut, American Craftsmen, SEAL Team Six meets ancient magic—with the fate of the United States hanging in the balance....

With Apaches on the prod, ex-cavalry sergeant Sean Keegan, bounty hunter Jed Breen, and ex-Texas Ranger Matt McCulloch take shelter in a West Texas way station — along with a hot-as-a-pistol female bound for the gallows, a spiteful newspaper editor, and a coward with $50,000 who promises them five grand if they’ll deliver his blood-soaked stash to his wife.

In the realm of Imphallion, there once was a nightmare - a living nightmare known only as the Terror of the East. Nigh invulnerable in his magical black armor and aided by unholy minions, he laid waste to all in his path on his all-consuming quest to bring order to the land. His order. Then, at what should have been his moment of triumph, his will failed. And his army fell. Taking a young noblewoman as hostage, he escaped, vanishing into darkest memory.

Joe Sunday has been a Los Angeles low-life for years, but his life gets a whole lot lower when he is killed by the rival of his crime boss-only to return as a zombie. His only hope is to find and steal a talisman that he learns can grant immortality. But, unfortunately for Joe, every other undead thug and crime boss in Los Angeles is looking for the same thing.

I watched her. I was patient. Now she's mine to claim. Helping the most dangerous mafia boss in London was a risk, but I didn't expect to see his handsome face everywhere afterwards. I fall asleep to dreams of my escape tomorrow, cupcakes, and the ice blue eyes of my stalker who leaves me presents. I awake to gunshots. A hand over my mouth. In a blur of noise and smoke, he steals me away. The kingpin treats me like a captive princess and I'm conflicted. He's older than me, experienced. It's wrong to desire him and not the freedom I've been planning. So I creep out of the luxurious bedroom.

For six months we repeated this pattern, the attraction shimmering between us, hot and wrong. He kidnapped me. On a lonely night back at home, I wake to the stab of a needle. The last thing I remember is Mr Crosse shooting my attacker and scooping me up. When I come to, I'm trapped with him in his bedroom, and... Oh, ground swallow me I think I confessed my love while out-of-it. Now my ex's dad wont let me leave.