Showing results by author "Paul Birch" in All Categories

An entertaining drama based on Nye Bevan’s race to create the new NHS by 5 July 1948. Getting Better is a roller coaster period drama based on real political events alongside the fictional story of front-line tears, trauma and triumph at The Park Hospital in Manchester. As Bevan faces up to the establishment in Parliament, Dr Eva Callaway faces the same challenges – facing poverty, sexism and homophobia in a system stuck in the past.

Dr Jason Love is a middle-aged medical practitioner content with his life in rural Somerset, where he has relocated after the Second World War. However, the promise of a rare sports car tempts him into a seemingly insignificant rendezvous for MI6 that will change his quiet country life forever. Reluctant hero of a series of international best sellers by James Leasor, Dr Love’s first outing sees him thrust into a thrilling world of secrets, spies and intrigue.

Two enemies find themselves trapped together in an abandoned church on the far edge of Sherwood. Robin of Loxley and the Sheriff of Nottingham are both wounded, and without weapons, in the care of a hedge-priest. The ancient law of sanctuary means that no blood can be shed but emotions are running feverishly high.

Wickham is not a happy village and, when Meg is threatened by Gisburne’s soldiers, Will Scarlet loses his temper and Wickham fears reprisals. The once loyal villagers, without Edward of Wickham to guide them, begin to turn on the outlaws who regularly save their lives. Fortunately, another Hooded Man has entered the first - with his own good lady and band of men. Is he the saviour or the charlatan of Sherwood?

Two enemies find themselves trapped together in an abandoned church on the far edge of Sherwood. Robin of Loxley and the Sheriff of Nottingham are both wounded, and without weapons, in the care of a hedge-priest. The ancient law of sanctuary means that no blood can be shed but emotions are running feverishly high. As the snow continues to fall, and with no apparent means of escape, new dangers begin to emerge. It becomes increasingly difficult to tell friend from foe.

Richard O’Brien (Rocky Horror Picture Show) and Sophie Aldred (Doctor Who) star in The Barren Author, an audio series inspired by the stories of Baron Munchausen originally written by Rudolf Erich Raspe. Rather than being a literal adaptation, this collection instead takes the satirical, provocative and absurd spirit of the original tales and reimagines them for the 21st century.

In this second series, the Brigadier returns for more extraordinary adventures with Smith, his kind but sceptical publisher. Fresh from having shot himself out of a cannon, the Brigadier suddenly discovers he has the rather annoying ability to travel through time...but this rather unusual power comes at a high cost. Whether it will be enough to save himself, save the planet and save his only friend though is another matter altogether. The fateful clock is ticking, and time is surely running out....

Smith makes her final call and hears two final adventures involving the East Finchley Satanic League and an incredible portrait heist from the National Gallery. These sensational stories are interrupted by an unexpected visitor. Smith tries to persuade the Brigadier she is simply a publisher after his tall stories and has innocently sent a courier. Munchausen is instead convinced it his mortal enemy come for the formula once more.

Smith’s gentle interrogations continue, and the young brigadier reveals his contribution to the fall of communism through a series of Elton John impersonations. His astonishing achievements don’t stop there. When his accidental discoveries aboard a Swedish science research ship lead to the invention of a secret formula, the world is at his feet. The world kicks back, however, and after a desperate climb up Notre Dame, he finds himself pursued by the police, an old friend and two well-known figures of darkness.

In this final showdown, the Brigadier’s behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and Smith is forced to make a dramatic choice. Is she prepared to believe the unbelievable stories of her friend or side with an old enemy to get Munchausen the help that he needs?

In this episode, the Brigadier reveals his past as a protector of the undead; Italian nuns, Charles Darwin and vampire-slaying biker gangs all find themselves at the considerable mercies of the heroic Munchausen. Smith, meanwhile, is beginning to lose faith.

In this episode, Smith and the Brigadier return to the Munchausen’s ancestral seat. This haunted castle has more than a few surprises within its walls, including an interstellar kidnapping, a wrestle with a nuclear weapon and the introduction of the Brigadier’s brother, who just happens to be afraid of daylight....

In this episode, a slow escape in a hot-air balloon makes the Brigadier nostalgic for his time in America; stories of rodeo clowns and super-human cyborgs spill from his past. But all this time travel is beginning to erase Munchausen's memory, and Smith fears for her friend’s sanity. Perhaps the only cure is through the help of the truly terrifying tech-guru Logan Snuff....

In this episode, cosmic secrets are revealed as Smith and the Brigadier take shelter at Stonehenge. Druids, Morris Dancers and inter-dimensional Gods all compete to take hold of Munchausen’s destiny. A dramatic encounter with a mysterious black pyramid will test the Brigadier’s courage to the full, whilst the dastardly St. John remains in pursuit - and this time he’s brought an army....

In this episode, Smith finds herself the target of the murderous St. John Lawrence-Mulcaster, and the Brigadier is determined to foil the villain’s plan. As they head to safety (and Durham Services to grab a sausage roll), the Brigadier reveals his ability to change the course of history with the use of astral planes, Queen Victoria and a certain legendary Scottish monster....

Things look bleak for the Brigadier as he is sent to the bottom of Davy Jones’ Locker by the merciless hands of Knight Supremacist, St. John Lawrence-Malcaster. He makes bold his escape with the help of some surprising sailors, an old flame and a couple of antique cannon balls. His revenge is swift and he takes on the might of the Fourth Reich with a combination of pluck, will and a new found love of artillery.

The Brigadier is deliberately vague on the circumstances of his recent death and the particular bargain he struck with a certain deity and instead focuses on his time in Canada which, as it turns out, is very much like heaven or hell depending on how you look at it. He brings down the notorious biker gang, Hell’s Loggers, with the help of some wolves but soon finds himself on much more dangerous ground at the hands of the last remaining branch of the Knights Templar who are intent on using Munchausen’s marvelous formula to revive the Master Race.

The brigadier escapes from peril in an ancient Russian forest with the help of an obliging bison. Eurasian mobsters, intent on human sacrifice using the world’s oldest tree, are in pursuit. As his enemies ride after him full-throttle, and with guns blazing, he relays a dizzying array of stories focused on astounding encounters with the animal kingdom. These unlikely anecdotes result in the firm conclusion that the brigadier’s luck is finally about to run out.

The charismatic and reclusive Brigadier Munchausen is visited, online, by the mysterious Smith. Has he written his pages? Munchausen obliges and reveals some extraordinary incidents from his early life: a boy on the run, a fight with a seven-foot sailor and a romantic affair involving a whale. These extraordinary events all serve to propel our hero into the realisation that he is destined to save the world. But who is Smith, and why has he been sent? Why does the brigadier fear email? And, most of all, what really happened to him in Raqqa?