Showing results by narrator "Samantha Bond" in All Categories

What silently waits in the shadows at night? What's under your bed, keeping just out of sight? Do you ever hear strange, creaking noises at night? Ever wonder what makes those noises? Lucy Dungston always did. Until, one morning, Lucy discovers that all the grown-ups have disappeared - as if into thin air. Chaos descends as the children in Lucy's town run riot. It's mayhem. It's madness. To most kids, it's amazing!

Recorded in front of a live audience, these wry, funny tales introduce us to the varied creatures who make their homes on the shoreline, in garden ponds and in our attics. In 18 comic monologues, they reveal the truth about what life is really like in their respective habitats - and it's much more eventful than you might think.

When Jilly Cooper was asked to write a book on marriage, she had been married to Leo Cooper for a mere seven years. Now they are celebrating their Golden Wedding, and although the institution of marriage has changed a great deal since this book was first written, much of Jilly's advice – frank, fearless, often hilarious, but always wise – still holds good. From the wedding and the honeymoon to life afterwards, including how to deal with the in-laws and how to tell if you spouse is having an affair....

What would you do if you woke up to find all the grown-ups had disappeared? If you're like Lucy Dungston, you'll do anything to get to the bottom of it. With no grown-ups, chaos descends on Lucy's town. Kids are running wild, building roads of trampolines and eating cereal for every meal - but Lucy wants her mum back, and nothing is going to stop her. Not even the monsters who live in the upside-down world beneath her bed....

Seeking refuge and anonymity in the cobbled streets of Montmartre, Yanne and her daughters, Rosette and Annie, live peacefully, if not happily, above their little chocolate shop. Nothing unusual marks them out; no red sachets hang by the door. The wind has stopped, at least for a while. Then into their lives blows Zozie de l'Alba, the lady with the lollipop shoes, and everything begins to change.

Sue Johnston, John Hannah and Eddie Marsan are among the stars of this spellbinding, hilarious and uplifting comedy drama. Set entirely at a series of weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, these 13 episodes also feature Rebecca Front, Paul Kaye, Julia Deakin and Samantha Bond.

Sonea knew that she'd face a tough time training within the Magicians' Guild but she little realised the level of animosity she would face from her fellow novices. The sons and daughters of the most powerful families in the realm, her classmates seem determined to see her fail - at whatever cost. But in accepting the protection of the guild's high lord, Sonea may have embraced an even bleaker fate. For High Lord Akkarin harbours a secret that is far darker than his magician's robes.

Sonea has learned much at the magicians' guild and the other novices now treat her with a grudging respect. But she cannot forget what she witnessed in the High Lord's underground room - or his warning that the realm's ancient enemy is growing in power once more. As Sonea learns more, she begins to doubt her guildmaster's word. Could the truth really be as terrifying as Akkarin claims, or is he trying to trick her into assisting in some unspeakably dark scheme?

Under the watchful eye of Detective Chief Superintendent James Langton, Anna is given her first case. But is it a full-blown murder investigation or purely a missing person's case? An ominous pool of blood and no victim lead Anna on a desperate hunt for a man who has disappeared without trace.As Anna becomes obsessed with seemingly irrelevant details, Langton fears that she is losing control of the case. They still have no body and Anna is under increasing pressure to make an arrest....

As a little girl Katherine of Aragon was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Henry VII of England, and was raised in the palace of the Alhambra, knowing that she would be queen of England. In 1501, the teenage Spanish princess arrives in her new kingdom, but the future is turned upside down with the death of her handsome young husband - only six months after the wedding. Transformed from beloved bride to superfluous widow, Katherine endures hardship and loneliness as the Tudor court slowly squeezes her out of royal circles.

David Edgar is among the UK’s leading contemporary dramatists, well known for his powerful plays chronicling Britain's changing political landscape over the past 50 years. More than 60 of his original plays, adaptations and translations have been performed around the world, and in 2023 he was honoured with a Writers’ Guild Outstanding Contribution award for his service to British playwriting. This radio anthology contains some of his most notable work.

From the moment Judi Dench appeared as a teenager in the York Mystery Plays, it was clear that acting would be her career. Trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama it was her performance in her twenties as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's memorable Old Vic production that turned her into a star. In the theatre since she has played every classic role from Titania (three times, most recently in 2010) to Cleopatra.

Disgraced in the US, maverick ad man Eliott Thurber is forced to transfer to the newly opened London offices of Parabola Media. The clash of cultures has hilarious consequences as he tries to cope with promoting a range of peculiar products, challenging clients and not to mention his disgruntled new colleagues. His first assignment is a gourmet cat food for an intensely conservative company but Eliott has his eyes on a bigger prize, American investment in the NHS. After all, "where there's pain, there's gain..."

Richard (played by Peter Davison) and Sarah (Samantha Bond) juggle their way through life's minor disruptions, such as well-meaning TV crews turning up unannounced, summons to the headmaster's office to discuss teen Kate and the arrival of Sarah's sister with a horse-box full of expressionist art and three moulting cats. On top of it all, Sarah considers a third child. Perhaps a holiday will do?

One of Britain's most distinguished biographers turns her focus on one of the most vilified woman of the last century. Historian Anne Sebba has written the first full biography of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, by a woman which attempts to understand this fascinating and enigmatic American divorcee who nearly became Queen of England. 'That woman', as she was referred to by the Queen Mother, became a hate figure for allegedly ensnaring a British king.

Two weeks before D-Day, the French Resistance attack a chateau containing a telephone exchange vital to German communications. But the building is heavily guarded, and the attack fails disastrously. Flick Clairet, a young British secret agent, proposes a daring new plan: she will parachute into France with an all-woman team known as the "Jackdaws", and they will penetrate the chateau in disguise.

It is late at night on a notorious council estate in east London. A van - garishly painted with a grinning clown's face on the side - is being driven erratically. When the police pull over the driver to question him, they discover, inside the van, the body of a young woman. A murder suspect . . . an arrest . . . a confession . . . A case done and dusted? But their suspect claims his victim is not his first, but his third.

A collection of 52 nature poems - one for every week of the year. Filled with familiar favourites and new discoveries, written by a wide variety of poets. Beautifully read by award-winning actor Samantha Bond, star of Downton Abbey and the James Bond film series, this collection is perfect for children (and grown-ups!) to share at the beginning or the end of the day, or just to dip into.

A hard-working trainee doctor, Megan Jewell, finds herself accidentally pregnant. She wants a baby one day, but God, not now! Can Megan really bring a baby into the world when she can hardly look after herself?

At Bagley Hall, a notoriously wild, but increasingly academic, independent, crammed with the children of the famous, trouble is afoot. The ambitious and fatally attractive headmaster, Hengist Brett-Taylor, hatches a plan to share the facilities of his school with Larkminster Comprehensive, known locally, as 'Larks'.