Showing results by narrator "David Thorpe" in All Categories

A distinguished senator has gone into hiding after being accused of treachery, leaving his family to fend for themselves. His elder son Quintus has become a gladiator, while young Lucius works as a servant in the gladiator school. When the gladiator troupe is sent to Pompeii to take part in the games, Lucius is befriended by Valens, the sponsor of the games, who offers to help him find his father. Meanwhile, strange rumblings and tremors are felt in the town, and a seer is warning that the ‘end of days’ is approaching.

As the Big Freeze of 1947 grips the land, the railways struggle in their battle against the snow, and refugees from the recent war in Europe, freezing in the displaced persons' camp at Finmere, are forced to resort to desperate measures to stay warm. The snow lies deep as a murder of crows sits and waits upon a telegraph wire along the edge of a lonely railway cutting. A steam engine storms out of Catesby tunnel, and a young woman is thrown from the passing train. A killer is stalking the line....

It’s Christmas in the Chandler household, and as the party gather around the fire, their host Everard recalls a ghostly tale from the previous Christmas in the misty forests of Scotland.

The Sargasso Sea was a popular theme for writers in the early 20th century, and ‘Sargasso’ attempts to solve the mystery of a tramp steamer that mysteriously disappeared on its voyage between Cardiff and Trinidad. The steamer is discovered four years later, riding calmly on the waves with no apparent signs of damage, but what happened to her crew? Perhaps the diary of a journalist which is found on board will shed some light on this fateful vessel.

"Eight Figure Entrepreneur" provides the tools to rapidly strengthen and grow your business while working less. From focussing on personal development and creating a workplace culture that attracts the best to understanding the pillars of growth and maximising capacity while adapting to the market, it's all underpinned by discovering who you are and what you truly stand for.

The Ashes are on the line as England and Australia meet at Old Trafford in July 1961 for the fourth Test. For most of the match, England have their noses ahead – until a dramatic final day, of intensely fluctuating fortunes, as the tourists eventually storm to victory. In short, an Ashes classic, told here by David Kynaston and Harry Ricketts in vivid and immersive detail, recreating the sometimes agonising experience of millions of armchair viewers and listeners.

At two pm on a Monday in 1966, Ned Balfour wakes in Corsica beside a beautiful woman. In the same instant, back in London, fellow art dealer and Dachau survivor Sam Weiss falls 10 storeys to his death. Ned refuses to believe that Sam's death was intentional, and his investigation thrusts him into the deceit and fraudulence of the art world, where he unmasks more than one respectable face. First published in 1967, this thrilling tale of vertigo, suspicion and infidelity is a long-forgotten classic with an intriguing plot twist.

Miss Tither, the village busybody, is not the best-loved resident of Hilary Magna. She has made many enemies: bombarding the villagers with religious tracts, berating drunkards, and informing the spouses of cheating partners. Her murder, however, is still a huge shock to the Reverend Ethelred Claplady and his parish. Inspector Littlejohn's understanding of country ways makes him Scotland Yard's first choice for the job.

After one win in 17 by the start of the summer of 2022, England needed something new. For 145 years, Test cricket was played mainly in one way: batters laid a foundation before daring to attack – and, even then, only if circumstances were favourable. Bowlers tried to bowl maidens, calculating that they would eventually force an error. But the old ways weren’t working. Then came ‘Bazball’, driven by new head coach in Brendon (‘Baz’) McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.

It's 1665. Silas is killing plague victims for fun; the ready supply of victims means that he can satiate his desires easily. In 2015, at the Crossrail dig in London, two bodies are found, just as a spate of murders takes place. As the police rush to put together the links between the two, the modern-day serial-killer fights to stay ahead of them enough to kill again. DI Mark Fairgreaves and his team must work together to put together the pieces before they lose one of their own.

A Greek gangster arrives in Stockholm only to be murdered in a macabre fashion at Skansen zoo, his body consumed by animals. As the Intercrime Unit - a team dedicated to solving international violent crime - investigate what brought him to Sweden, eight Eastern European women vanish from a refugee centre outside the city while an elderly professor, the tattooed numbers on his arm hinting at his terrible past, is executed at the Jewish cemetery.

When young Charles Benson arrives in Toftham, a sleepy Norfolk market town, on a miserable Sunday afternoon in January 1952, he has only the vaguest idea what Fate has in store for him. It is at the hands of the editor of the Toftham and Wettleford Journal, Mr Juby, that Charles is introduced to local reporting and Norfolk ways.

DI Liam McLusky, freshly transferred from Southampton and just recovered from having been injured in the line of duty, has no time to settle in before he is pushed in at the deep end in a new and unfamiliar city. Everyday objects, transformed into explosive devises by a man trying to revenge himself on the world for reasons unknown, are being left across Bristol, maiming or killing those who pick them up.

Jennifer Hughes doesn’t have an extraordinary life, but that doesn’t matter - she loves her family and enjoys her job as a teacher. In her eyes, her unextraordinary life is utterly perfect. But then, in the blink of an eye, Jennifer finds herself cut off from everything she knew and loved, confined to a strange new world and forced to watch from a distance as her family and friends pick up the pieces. Can Jennifer hold her perfect life together, even though she’s not living it herself?

Deep in a Derbyshire cave, the skeleton of an 11-year-old girl has lain undisturbed for 18 years. Its discovery brings to light the half-forgotten and horrifying rituals performed by a group of children in their chilling 'Egyptian game'. But the game is by no means over. Technology adds a new dimension to the sinister manipulation practiced by the group's former leader, and a primitive fear returns to haunt his former acolytes.

When a broken effigy of Christ washes up on a beach in Flanders, it is displayed in the local church. Strange miracles start drawing people to the town to worship, but then these unexplainable events start to turn sinister.

"Carnivorine" follows the tale of Ellis Graham, who has been asked to find his friend’s lost son, Julius. Ellis heads to Europe in his search, only to find Julius on the brink of a remarkable discovery about carnivorous plants.

Twin Lakes is a complex of holiday homes in a scenic part of England. “Rest Assured”, says the sign at its entrance. And the people fortunate enough to occupy the luxury homes are indeed able to relax in a beautiful setting. Then a series of mysterious threatening notes are delivered to one of the lakeside homes. DS Bert Hook conducts an informal investigation and the notes cease to appear. All is peaceful once more until a brutal death shatters the peace.

Darkness falls. The undead rise to feast on the succulent blood of the living. For years vampires have fascinated great writers of the occult such as De Maupassant, Count Stenbock, E. Nesbit, and E.F. Benson. This is The Story Circle's collection of some of their spine-chilling tales told by award-winning actors.

The launch of a major new detective series from the publishers of Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbo and Fred Vargas. A man is burnt alive in a suburban garden shed. DI Zigic and DS Ferreira are called in from the Peterborough Hate Crimes Unit to investigate the murder. Their victim is quickly identified as a migrant worker and a man several people might have had good reason to see dead.