Showing results by narrator "Miriam Margolyes" in All Categories

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.

A sparkling collection of the major works of the ever-adored Oscar Wilde, with incredible casts including Judi Dench, Martin Clunes, Michael Sheen, Miriam Margolyes, Ian McDiarmid, Joely Richardson, Penelope Keith, Martin Jarvis, Diana Rigg, Simon Russell Beale, Sheila Hancock, Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry.

Ted Willis began his creative life in amateur theatre and journalism before moving into writing for films, TV and radio, and was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most prolific writer for television. His best-known creation was the hit police procedural Dixon of Dock Green which he based on the stories told to him by a policeman friend. This radio anthology includes five of his best-loved crime tales from the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

Nothing escapes the snooping opera glasses of Miss Elizabeth Mapp. She whiles away her busy hours observing the small English village of Tilling, and recording the antics in her notebook. But her observations are set to be disrupted by amorous advances of two retired army generals, both vying for her affection. With Miss Mapp distracted, who will keep Miss Susan Poppit in her place or oversee the correct playing of bridge? More importantly will quiet Tilling be subject to a violent duel?

A 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, the Scarlet City trilogy is a thrilling portrait of the age and the people who made it so rich, colourful and extraordinary.

Using her best social-climbing instincts and refusing to be embarrassed, Lucia sets out to conquer London and mingle with the beau monde. Soon a secret group of 'Luciaphiles' springs up; the social climbers who make up its rank never tire of watching her get into and out of all kinds of trouble.

Arch enemies Mapp and Lucia return in the next instalment of E.F. Benson’s classic series of rural snobbery. Lucia is now a permanent resident of Tilling and continues her way up the social ladder with gusto, making attempts through the Town Council, finance, a platonic marriage and even the cricket club.

Autumn, 1646. The English Civil War is raging and there’s trouble ahead for Sir John and Lady Anne Firebasket. There’s a Roundhead platoon camping out in the barn, a perplexed priest hiding behind the panelling and, unbeknown to the Firebaskets, their scullery maid Mercy is actually a disguised aristocrat (and Royalist spy) named Melissa Fortescue-Bottomley.

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.

Mapp and Lucia is the centrepiece of E.F. Benson's series of Lucia novels - bringing together for the first time the eponymous middle-aged doyennes of polite 1930s society Miss Elizabeth Mapp and Emmeline Luca (Lucia to her friends). Lucia, recently widowed, is the newcomer to the village of Tilling and eager to wrest the reins of social supremacy from the incumbant Miss Mapp and install herself as its benevolent dictator.

Joining us at Audible Studios is award winning actress and national treasure, Miriam Margolyes. Though she might be remembered for her occasional profanity on air, or crude outburst, Miriam is also loved for her theatrical skill. We'll be asking Miriam Margolyes about her new book, and second memoir, Oh Miriam! We will find out what her most important life lessons are, what she thinks of being called a national treasure, and things will get a little lewd as we discuss how she loves to see people’s reactions.

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.

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.

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.

A lay community of thoroughly mixed-up people is encamped outside Imber Abbey, home of an enclosed order of nuns. A new bell, legendary symbol of religion and magic, is rediscovered. Dora Greenfield, erring wife, returns to her husband. Michael Mead, leader of the community, is confronted by Nick Fawley, with whom he had disastrous homosexual relations, while the wise old Abbess watches and prays and exercises discreet authority. And everyone, or almost everyone, hopes to be saved whatever that may mean.

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.

Dorothy L. Sayers was best known for her mystery novels featuring aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. But she was also a poet, playwright and committed Christian, and in The Man Born to Be King, she combined art and evangelism to powerful effect, making the story of Christ accessible, relevant and every bit as thrilling as her detective fiction.

England in the 14th Century. Twelve-year-old Robin’s world is turned upside down when his father, the Earl of Waringham, dies in disgrace. His inheritance lost and his family name dishonoured, the penniless Robin must begin a new life as a peasant on his own estate. He soon makes an enemy in Mortimer, the spoiled young son of the new Earl. As the years pass and the boys enter adulthood, Robin flees Waringham to seek his fortune abroad.

Nilly is new to the neighbourhood, but is quick to make friends: Doctor Proctor, an eccentric professor; and Lisa, who is teased by the twin terrors Truls and Trym. Nilly and Lisa help Doctor Proctor develop his latest invention, a powder that makes you fart. The powder makes Nilly and Lisa very popular at school when they sell it for fifty cents a bag. And they get revenge on Truls and Trym by giving them an extra-strength dose of fart powder that shoots them up into a tree! It’s all good farty fun. That is, until someone steals it!

A collection of BBC Radio 3's iconic Shakespeare productions: eight comedies with all-star casts including David Tennant, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne-Marie Duff, Martin Jarvis, Siân Phillips and Miriam Margolyes. The plays included in this collection are: Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, and All's Well That Ends Well.