A dramatic car chase ends in death and sparks an investigation by Detective Inspector Rebus that plunges deep into the very heart of local government uncovering political corruption and insider dealing.
Charles Paris takes his one-man show to the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, filling a vacant spot at a student venue which is a hotbed of behind-the-scenes drama, until a stage dagger turns murderously into a real one.
A meditation on love, loss and time. Echoing Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, it gives a moving and eloquent account of one day in the lives of three very different women.
On the night of 5 March 1873, two women, both Norwegian emigrants, were murdered on the Isles of Shoals. In the present day, a newspaper photographer discovers a cache of papers that appear to give an eyewitness account of the murders.
Three generations of Shetland women reflect on their lives, on love and loss. Edith is coming to terms with the death of her son, Sylvia prays for a miracle, and Marie is finding the courage to live alone.
A brilliant scholar discovers that she has cancer and, through several courses of exhausting chemotherapy treatments, is forced to learn about wit, compassion and – finally – death.
A biting comedy about writing, the media and the dream of catching the zeitgeist.
Unsuccessful novelist, Hugh Crombie, inadvertently offers an idea to aspiring writer, Dekky Duff. A year passes and Dekky is hailed as the new sensation Scottish writer. He is the real thing, a genuine working class hero, a hospital porter turned novelist. Hugh is enraged and sets out to convince the world that he is the true Zeitgeist Man.
A magical adventure story set both in the present day and in Elizabethan England. Chosen to play Puck in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe, young American Nat Field travels to London. Visiting the theatre for the first time, he falls seriously ill. When he awakes, he finds that he has gone back 400 years in time.
Prue Sam is born "hare shotten" and it is this hare lip that is her "precious bane". She is torn between loyalty to her recklessly ambitious brother, Gideon, and a deep unexpressed love for the weaver Kester Woodseaves.
A refugee boy is chased into the River Clyde. When a local lad leaps in to save him, both are trapped under a wharf building. In the time that it takes for the tide to change, and for a rescue to be mounted, truths are revealed about the boys, their families and the city in which they live.
An adventure story set in 1950 in the Brazilian rainforest.
Scots-born Kristina Morrison is thrown together with opinionated American Ray Epstein when their light aircraft crashes in the jungle. Kristina finds herself torn between two men: Ray and her explorer father Felix.
What is Paradise? The hot Dumfries countryside in late summer is transformed into a Garden of Eden of sorts as diverse groups of locals enjoy the sunshine and reflect on their lives.
A beautiful and evocative play about freedom, the impact of the choices we make, and about picking brambles on a hot afternoon in Scotland.
Precious Ramotswe, owner and founder of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, sets out to discover the truth about Nandira Patel's boyfriend and to solve the case of the mysterious bone.
Mma Ramotswe, owner and founder of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, has good news. However, she must also face a scheming maid, find out the truth behind a doctor's erratic behaviour and take on a new case about a missing American.
Mr JLB Matekoni has a surprise for Mma Ramotswe, owner and founder of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Meanwhile, the case of the missing American man has still to be solved.
Three women live together in an ordinary suburb in the West of Scotland. After a chance encounter with a street evangelist, the youngest decides not to face the 21st century and the threat of imminent apocalypse, and sets out to persuade the others to join her. But how will they do it and what happens if one of them changes her mind?
Precious Ramotswe, owner and founder of The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, is worried about her fiancé, Mr J L B Matekoni. Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi takes on a case for the Chief Justice of Beauty.
Precious Ramotswe, owner and founder of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, discovers that the agency has competition, and Mma Makutsi embarks on an entrepreneurial enterprise.
Precious Ramotswe, owner and founder of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, makes an unhappy discovery and Mma Makutsi finds an admirer at the Kalahari Typing School for Men.
Young veteran Larry Darrell returns to Chicago after the First World War, and finds it difficult to fit back into society. To the dismay of his fiancé, Isabel he heads for Paris where he embarks on a spiritual quest to find the answers to his many questions.
Mr Polopetsi, part-time mechanic and would-be assistant detective, takes on a case of his own. Mma Makutsi finds out whether blue shoes are the key to happiness.
In 1986, Ray and Eileen's five-year-old son Patrick vanishes in Florida. Twenty two years later, a good-looking American named Clay arrives in their small village, claiming to be their missing son.
Precious Ramotswe, owner and founder of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, is preoccupied – by the absence of postboxes in Botswana, by an anonymous letter and by an adopted child's poignant search for her true family. Meanwhile, Mr JLB Matekoni pursues an expensive cure for their foster daughter Motholeli.
Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi have to face the dangers of crocodiles, hippos and a tiny canoe as their case takes them to the Okovango Delta to trace a safari guide. There is also the problem of Phuti's aunt to solve, as well as the necessity of confronting their old adversary, Violet Sepotho.
Soon after Karen Blixen relocates to British East Africa, she finds herself alone in a foreign land with the enormous responsibility of trying to operate a successful coffee plantation. To accomplish this, she must get to know the land and the locals who work for and with her. In the process, she learns more about herself.
A fifty-year-old factory employee finds his own way to make a stand. With orders still on the books, Kenny Gall refuses to leave the factory he has worked in for more than thirty years.
Mma Ramotswe makes a ghostly sighting and there is disturbing news about Charlie, Mr JLB Matekoni's wayward apprentice and the ladies investigate unexplained, violent attacks on cattle. Meanwhile, preparations are underway for Mma Makutsi's wedding to Phuti Radiphuti, but tragedy awaits outside the shoe shop.
The ladies solve the case of the murdered cattle. Mma Makutsi is feeling anxious about her upcoming wedding to Phuti Radiphuti and an old friend comes to the rescue. And Charlie is let off the hook.
Fed up with their loveless marriages, septuagenarians Avril and Nettie suggest a swinging holiday to their respective spouses. Tam and Boaby respond by planning the holiday of a lifetime.
F Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel, a portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, is perhaps the greatest book on the fallibility of the American dream.
Nick Carraway arrives in Long Island and is reacquainted with his distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan. He falls in with her wealthy crowd. His neighbour, the self-made and self-invented millionaire, Gatsby, is the man who has everything – but one thing will always be out of his reach.
One of European theatre's major plays, Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart is a thrilling account of the extraordinary and tempestuous relationship between England's Elizabeth I and her rival cousin, the imprisoned Queen of Scots.
Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi receive a visit from an extremely important person – a hero, as it happens, of the two detectives at the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Mma Potokwani has had bad news at the Orphan Farm. And one of Mr J.L.B. Matekoni's apprentices, Fanwell, gets himself into deep water.
Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi have received a visit from an extremely important person – a hero of the two detectives at the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Mma Potokwani has had bad news at the Orphan Farm and the ladies are determined to help her. And Mr J.L.B. Matekoni sets out to clear the name of his apprentice, Fanwell.
Jamie and Kirsty have been separated for about 10 years. Before that they were married for about 10 years. They meet by chance in a restaurant in Albion Street. What does the future hold? Are they better together or apart?
Having dropped out of high school and married at 16, the young Bonnie Parker is working as a waitress. Her life is about to change – when she meets Clyde Barrow.
Mma Ramotswe is technically on holiday from the Agency but that does not stop her from stepping in to rescue an orphaned boy, or from taking on an important case.
Charon is the Ferryman on the river Acheron. His job is to ferry sinners across the river of woe and decide into which circle of Hell they should go. His son, Thomas, is determined to pursue a different career.
Lise, an enigmatic young woman travelling alone to a European city in search of "the one". We assume that she is seeking a lover but in fact she is searching for the man who will murder her.
The Benjamin Quartet, with their new First Violin Paul, has played to a tiny audience in Brussels, where Fergus has been taken ill with a suspected heart attack.
After playing in a festival in Lucca, the quartet is on its way home when they receive a new booking. Fergus has invited Kelly, a young Australian woman, to travel with them. Could things be beginning to go right for the Benjamin Quartet?
On a voyage to the remote island of St. Kilda in the 18th century, Alexander Carlisle, a scientist, is going to check the condition of a mad woman. Only she's not mad, she's angry. The woman in question is Rachel Erskine, Lady Grange, whose husband has declared her dead, staged an elegant Edinburgh funeral marred solely by the second Lady Grange's attendance, and shipped her off to St. Kilda to rot.
"Burdalane's strength derives from Judith Adams' script (an outstanding first play) and Gaynor McFarlane's direction, which together bring to life a strange matriarchal society. It's enough to give historical drama a good name." Adrian Turpin, The Independent[59]
Three women live together in an ordinary suburban street in the West of Scotland. After a chance encounter with a street evangelist, the three decide to make a suicide pact rather than face the 21st century and the threat of imminent apocalypse. But how will they do it and what happens if one of them changes her mind? They also decide to keep the curtains open in case they miss the spectacle of cosmic disintegration.
When three female journalists arrive at a health spa on an isolated island, they expect a few days of relaxing detoxification. But this is no ordinary holiday destination, as they quickly discover. As lust, regret and betrayal all threaten to crack their fragile equilibrium, the women come face to face with what brought them there and why.
Detective Inspector John Rebus is the protagonist in the Inspector Rebus series of detective novels by the Scottish writer Sir Ian Rankin, ten of which have so far been televised as Rebus. The novels are mostly set in and around Edinburgh. Rebus has been portrayed by John Hannah, Ken Stott and Richard Rankin for television, with Ron Donachie playing the character for the BBC Radio dramatisations.
Mike Walker is a radio dramatist and feature and documentary writer. His radio work includes both original plays and adaptations of novels, classical and modern. He has won Sony Radio Awards for his play Alpha (2001) and for his script for Different States (1991), and a Silver Community Award for Oxford Road on BBC Radio Berkshire, as well the British Writers' Guild award for best dramatisation for his 1996 adaptation of The Tin Drum by Günter Grass. He was also part of the writing team for BBC Radio 4's The Dark House, which won a BAFTA Interactive Award.
Crawford Logan is a British actor best known for his work in radio. In 2006 he became the latest actor to play the eponymous hero Paul Temple in a revival of the long-running mystery series on BBC radio. In 2009 he narrated the BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, Newton and the Counterfeiter by Thomas Levenson.
Jane Elizabeth Marie Lapotaire is an English actress from Suffolk.
Ruth Katrin Gemmell is an English actress. She starred in the film Fever Pitch in 1997 which was followed by supporting roles in television series EastEnders, Casualty, Home Fires and Penny Dreadful. She has played Carly Beaker, the mother of the title character in the Tracy Beaker franchise since 2004. In 2020, she began playing Violet, Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton in the Netflix series Bridgerton.
Joanna M Tope is an English actress. She has appeared in many TV programmes including Emmerdale Farm as Dr. Clare Scott in 1973, The Omega Factor as Julia Crane in 1979 and The Tomorrow People as Mrs Boswell.
Gerda Stevenson is a Scottish actress, director and writer. She has played many parts in the theatre, including the title role in Edwin Morgan's English translation of Racine's Phèdre, and Lady Macbeth, and has appeared in many television dramas. She was Murron MacClannough's mother in the Mel Gibson film Braveheart, and her voice is familiar to listeners of British radio, as a reader of short stories and adaptations. In particular, she has performed several poems and songs by Robert Burns for the BBC.
Noma Dumezweni is a South African-British actress. In 2006, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for her performance as Ruth Younger in A Raisin in the Sun at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. In 2017, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Hermione Granger in the original West End run of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; she reprised the role for the show's original Broadway run and, in 2018, was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
Steven McNicoll is a Scottish actor, director, playwright and television presenter.
Drama is a BBC Radio 4 radio drama, broadcast every weekday at 2.15pm. Generally each play is 45 minutes in duration and approximately 190 new plays are broadcast each year. More or less three-quarters are self-contained dramas. The remainder are short series of 2 to 6 episodes. As well as original drama series, the Afternoon Play has included a number of adaptations of popular works such as The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.
Toby Swift is a radio drama director and producer for BBC Radio. His numerous credits, from 1999 to 2011, include the crime dramas The Recall Man and Trueman and Riley. He also directs contemporary and periodic radio dramas.
Lu Kemp is a theatre director and dramaturge. She trained on the Laboratory of Movement course at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, Paris, and with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company in New York. In March 2016, she was appointed Artistic Director of Perth Theatre in Scotland.
Kirsty Williams is a radio drama director and producer for BBC Radio Drama at Pacific Quay, Glasgow.
Marilyn Elsie Imrie was a Scottish theatre and radio drama director and producer.
Ronald Eaglesham Porter, known professionally as Ron Donachie, is a Scottish character actor. He has appeared in supporting roles in films The Jungle Book (1994), Titanic and television series Game of Thrones, in which he recurred as Ser Rodrik Cassel. He is however perhaps best known for portraying DI John Rebus in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of Sir Ian Rankin's Rebus detective novels, a role he reprised for the stage play Rebus: Long Shadows.
Claire Benedict is a British actress known for her work in classical productions on the British stage, but best known for portraying the principal character Mma Ramotswe in the continuing radio adaptations of The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. She won a Time Out Award for Best Performance for her portrayal of Sophia Adams in Errol John's Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, directed by Maya Angelou. She lives in Todmorden in the Pennines.
Nyasha Hatendi is a Zimbabwean-British-American actor, director, writer and producer.
Beatrice Colin was a British novelist, radio dramatist, and senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Strathclyde.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a series of radio programmes, based on the series of novels of the same name by Alexander McCall Smith.
Pam Fraser Solomon FRSA is a British producer/director of Guyanese heritage, whose work spans four decades in theatre, radio, film, television and education, winning prizes such as the Commission for Racial Equality "Race in the Media Award" in 1999. She worked for 16 years with BBC Radio, where she was a senior producer. Her career in fringe and repertory theatre includes working for venues such as the Sheffield Crucible and the Theatre Royal Stratford East, and she is currently the Head of Creative Producing at Mountview drama school.
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