Showing results by narrator "Anna Massey" in All Categories

Christopher Lee's highly acclaimed and award-winning BBC Radio 4 history of the British Empire.

This illuminating serial charts the transformation of the young Victoria from spirited teenager to shy young bride to celebrated ruler of Britain and ‘Mother of Europe’. But while her roles changed, her essential nature remained the same: vibrant, passionate, principled and fiercely independent. Through extracts from Victoria’s own diaries and letters, and dramatised episodes featuring the characters closest to her, we are given thrilling insight into the thoughts and feelings of the woman behind the crown - and the secrets of her mind and heart.

Full-cast adaptations of three of Winifred Holtby’s best-known novels, plus short stories and bonus programmes about the author: Winifred Holtby was an acclaimed novelist, journalist, feminist and social reformer. Her work encompasses six novels, two short story collections, a play and the first critical study of Virginia Woolf, but she is best known for her posthumously published masterpiece South Riding, which won the James Tait Black Memorial Award. She died in 1935, aged just 37.

Rachel Joyce captured the hearts of millions with her best-selling debut novel, which told the moving tale of an ordinary man, Harold Fry, who embarks on an epic journey to deliver a message and save a life. But Harold’s story began its life on radio, in the award-winning play which opens this collection: To Be a Pilgrim, starring Anton Lesser, Anna Massey and Niamh Cusack.

Amy Leatheran had never felt the lure of the mysterious East, but when she travels to an ancient site deep in the Iraqi desert to nurse the wife of a celebrated archaeologist, events prove stranger than she could ever have imagined. Her patient's bizarre visions and nervous terror seem unfounded, but as the oppressive tension in the air thickens, events come to a terrible climax in murder.

Sinéad Cusack, Anna Massey, Patricia Routledge, Andrew Sachs and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies star in this 1974 BBC Radio full-cast production of Chekhov’s classic play.Madame Ranyevskaya and her daughter Anya have returned home from Paris to discover that their family estate - which includes their beloved cherry orchard - has to be sold to cover the family’s debts.

Poppy Carew, smarting and in shock because her live-in lover has left her for a richer woman, is called to the bedside of her dying father, a wonderful, loveable eccentric who dies laughing. He asks as his last request that he be buried in style by an undertaker who specialises in fun funerals. He also astonishes Poppy by leaving her a large sum of money.

These fairy tales are nasty. This is the land of goblins and sorceresses, with serious lines in revenge, not the land of unicorns and once upon a Barbie. The tales that the Brothers Grimm collected during their time as linguistics professors, first at the University of Göttingen and then in Berlin, at the request of the King of Prussia, were an attempt to map the folklore of the German-speaking people.

At twenty-seven, Anne Elliot is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval captain with neither fortune nor rank. What happens when they encounter each other again is movingly told in Jane Austen's last completed novel.

Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her.

Laura Thornby is swept by an irresistible desire to interfere when she meets struggling writer Claude Bannister. What she doesn't foresee is that he may write well - and she might fall in love.

Henry Tillotson, a generous, genial man, rescues Margaret from a disastrous marriage in Egypt and brings her home to the West Country as his new wife. On the threshold she gives him a black eye and retires straight to bed where she remains, apart from the occasional malevolent outburst, for the rest of her life.

For the whole of Rose's respectable married life, she had kept faith with two men. To Ned she was a perfect wife, mother of his son, and elegant hostess of Slepe. To Mylo, Rose was an impetuous and unconventional mistress, answering his erratic and impassionate calls throughout 50 years of tactful duplicity. After Ned's funeral Rose looks back on a life of dual constancy, passion, humour, and the ambiguities of love - and chooses her future.

Matilda Poliport, recently widowed, has decided to End It All. But her meticulously planned bid for graceful oblivion is foiled, and when she later foils the suicide attempt of another lost soul - Hugh Warner, on the run from the police - life begins again for both. But life also begins to throw up nasty secrets and some awkward questions: just what was Matilda’s husband Tom doing in Paris?

The new edition of Salley Vicker's sensational debut novel. ‘Miss Garnet's Angel' is a voyage of discovery; a novel about Venice but also the rich story of the explosive possibilities of change in all of us at any time. Julia Garnet is a teacher. Just retired, she is left a legacy which she uses by leaving her orderly life and going to live - in winter - in an apartment in Venice. Its beauty, its secret corners and treasures, and its people overwhelm a lifetime of reserve and caution.

In 2005, Anna Massey was awarded a CBE for services to drama.Daughter of the Canadian actor, Raymond Massey (perhaps best-known for his role as Dr Gillespie in the TV series Dr Killdare), and Adrianne Allen (also a very successful stage actress), drama was in her blood. Her brother, Daniel, was a much-acclaimed actor. And even her godfather was one of the great film directors of all time – John Ford.

Max is set to inherit a small fortune when he turns 25, but standing between him and the money is his sister Katrin. And then there's the grandmother. It's dog-eat-dog on the mean streets of Weston-super-Mare. Starring William Beck as Max, Emerald O'Hanrahan as Katrin and Anna Massey as Maria. Also featured amongst the cast are Rachel Spence, Piers Wehner, Rhys Jennings, Isadora Dooley Hunter and Joshua Swinney. Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. What is the mystery of the velvet-suited doll that appears to move from place to place? Is someone responsible, or can it be possible that it possesses its own sinister qualities?

Fresh new look for this bestselling book & tape featuring the Smarties prizewinner of 1995. It's Christmas, but Irina's family don't have enough money to buy her the present she wants. Then Irina sees the wooden horse in the junk shop window and all she wants is to take it home with her. Irina is sad and lonely and knows that the little horse is lonely too. But what Irina doesn't know is that this dusty little horse with the tattered mane is really an enchanted horse who comes to life and takes Irina on magical journeys.

Caroline is running Household Solutions on her own from the student rooms she is renting - just leaflets through doors, offering a family back-up service. Then she meets Sylvia, who is sure she could be helpful to the business. Caroline is sure she couldn't. But Sylvia persists and gradually, throughout this BBC Radio series, a mutual respect is formed and a strong business, MiraclesRus, is built up.