THE PRESENT

BBC RADIO 4

Anna has gone through the loss of miscarriage. It’s Anna’s birthday and her young daughter gives Anna a toy star. Trouble is Anna thinks it’s a real star and the best place to keep it alive is in the fridge freezer.

Read by Harriet Walter
Produced by Paul Dodgson

ALL AT SEA

BBC RADIO 3

Commission for Fictuality series.  Dramatic monologue intertwined with real BBC news clips. Marjorie, elderly dental receptionist, carries a torch for Mr Marsh. Unable to sleep at night she sends her thoughts and prayers to Tony Bullimore, the sailor competing in the Vendee Globe round the world race, who has capsized and is freezing in his upside down boat, somewhere deep in the Southern Oceans. Will the Australian Navy search and rescue operation locate him in time? She is convinced the good vibes she sends across the world will help  him.

Read by June Barrie
Produced by Paul Dodgson

KNIT ONE PURL ONE

BBC RADIO 4

Broadcast live from Bath Literature Festival 2009.
Casting off means letting go. A funny and tender account of a marriage, holidays, and knitting.

Read by Pippa Heywood
Produced by Sara Davies

MAUDIE

BBC RADIO 4 & RADIO 4 EXTRA

Maudie, the fictional figurehead for the SS Great Britain, designed by Brunel, relates the epic adventure of this magnificent ship as she crosses the seas, including the mysterious disappearance of Captain Gray overboard one dark night.

Read by Elizabeth Bell
Produced by Sara Davies

HEAD DOWN

BBC RADIO 4

Things get on top of Kat. She relies on her supermarket shopping trips to get her through her day. One time she takes a corkscrew and glass, goes to the wine section and enjoys a bottle of red in the aisles. But trouble brews when she discovers the tins of tomatoes have been relocated to a new aisle. Naturally, she needs them to be where they normally are, so she takes matters into her own hands.

Read by Catherine Harvey
Produced by Sally Marmion

FROM TIME TO TIME

BBC RADIO 4

Jane and John are both so intensely busy and productive that one day their combined efforts inadvertently send them crashing through the time barrier into the other side of time. Things are definitely weird and they have to make some major readjustments to get back home again.

Read by Christian Rodska
Produced by Paul Dodgson

FACE VALUE

BBC RADIO 4

Broadcast live from Bath Literature Festival 2003. Sonya and Charles are no longer in the prime of their lives. Determined to take charge of their future, Sonya takes unilateral action and throws out Charles’ computer.

Read by Stephanie Cole
Produced by Paul Dodgson & Sara Davies

BEES

BBC RADIO 4

The nursery rhyme, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, careers off the rails when the Queen is bothered by buzzing in her ears and her bees are agitated. She needs bread and honey. Meanwhile the King is in his counting house, not only counting his money but also reciting all the words ever known to prevent mind rot. 

Read by Phyllida Nash
Produced by Sara Davies

KINGS GAMBIT

RADIO WILTSHIRE

Radio Wiltshire commission in response to the BBC Radio 4 series The History of the World in a Hundred Objects.

Read by Pippa Gladhill
Produced by Anna Quarendon