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Categories: Drama: Classic & Period

  1. George Bernard Shaw - Press Cuttings

    Written in 1909, Shaw pokes fun at the suffragettes' votes for women campaign.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  2. Dion Boucicault - London Assurance

    4 Extra Debut. 1840: Sir Harcourt Courtly is aiming to capture young Grace Harkaway.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  3. The Dresser

    Stage hand Norman struggles to support the tyrannical head of a theatre company.

    BBC Two

  4. Alexandre Dumas - The Lady of the Camellias Omnibus

    Armand is too late to see the love of his life Marguerite before she dies.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  5. Utopia by Thomas More

    Explorer Raphael Hythloday tells Thomas More about a mystical island.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  6. John Galsworthy - The Forsytes: Omnibus

    An epic story of sex, money and power in an upper class family across 50 years.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  7. John Galsworthy - The Forsytes Continues: Omnibus

    A newly married Fleur embraces the social whirl of 1920s London. Starring Jessica Raine.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  8.

    A Midsummer Night's Dream

    Classic Shakespeare play adapted for television by Russell T Davies.

    BBC One

  9. The Seagull by Anton Chekhov

    1896 on a Russian country estate. Stars Diana Quick and Helena Bonham Carter.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  10. John Galsworthy - The Forsytes Returns Omnibus

    Soames fears history will repeat itself as Fleur rushes headlong towards Jon.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  11. Babette's Feast by Karen Blixen (Omnibus)

    A few years after the French Revolution, maid Babette cooks her employers a special meal

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  12. King Lear

    A portrait of a man unravelling - pitted against his daughters, nature and the universe.

    BBC Four

  13. Shakespeare: Lord of Misrule

    Jerry Brotton looks back at the power of Shakespearian mischief.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  14. The Lady Vanishes

    A beautiful young socialite faces danger while trying to solve a disappearance.

    BBC One

  15. The Happy Lands

    The journey of a mining community as they are pushed inevitably towards a labour conflict.

    BBC Two Scotland

  16. The Whale

    Dramatic retelling of the fateful last voyage of the Nantucket whaleship Essex.

    BBC One

  17.

    Under Milk Wood

    A production of Dylan Thomas's famous play enacted by a community of Welsh performers.

    BBC One Wales

  18.

    An Inspector Calls

    A mysterious inspector interrupts a wealthy family's party with shocking news.

    BBC One

  19. Alice Through the Looking Glass

    Dramatisation of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, in which Alice enters a surreal world.

    BBC

  20. Cider with Rosie

    Adaptation of Laurie Lee's memoir of growing up in the Slad Valley during and after WWI.

    BBC One

  21. Twelfth Night

    Shakespeare’s classic comedy of gender confusion, filmed in Castle Howard in Yorkshire.

    BBC

  22. Alice in Wonderland

    Adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic novel. Directed by Jonathan Miller.

    BBC One

  23. Tower of London: The Innocent

    Fourteen years since the civil war’s bloodshed, many are plotting to seize the crown.

    BBC

  24. Under Mik Wood

    An adaptation of Dylan Thomas's famous 'play for voices' reimagined for television.

    BBC

  25. Cider With Rosie

    A play based on Laurie Lee's book, recalling his childhood in an English village.

    BBC

  26. The Gathering Storm

    A look at Winston Churchill's life and struggles in the years leading up to World War II.

    BBC

  27.

    To Walk Invisible

    The story of the Bronte sisters, who overcame a life of hardship to become great writers.

    BBC One

  28. EastEnders: CivvyStreet

    In Christmas 1942, Ethel and Lou live through the war in Albert Square.

    BBC

  29. Louisa May Alcott - Little Women (Omnibus)

    Classic family drama novel set in 19th-century New England. Stars Natasha J Barnes

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  30. The Playboy of the Western World

    Pegeen is set to wed a timorous Irish farmer, until a real adventurer walks into her life.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  31. The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Miserables (Omnibus)

    David Bellos explores why Les Miserables is “France’s greatest gift”.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  32. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

    Rachel Joyce adapts Anne Bronte's debut novel about self-discovery and the search for love

    BBC Radio 4

    Show available episodes

  33. Mansfield Park

    A quiet rebellion amid wealth and whispers. A Jane Austen classic.

    BBC

    Show available episodes

  34. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (Omnibus)

    Can life as a governess ever bring happiness and contentment?

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  35. Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore (Omnibus)

    Hattie Morahan reads a tale of a marriage that reflects turbulent times in the 1790s

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  36. John Moore - A Portrait of Elmbury

    An English market town face the challenges between two world wars.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  37. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry (Omnibus)

    Tale of a widow who with her son heads for Essex and news of a mythical creature.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  38. Sophocles' Electra

    A classic tale of power and revenge in the Greek tragedy by Sophocles.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  39. Lewis Carroll - The Hunting of the Snark

    A very strange assortment of characters begin a quest to find an elusive beast.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  40. The Odyssey Project: My Name Is Nobody (Omnibus)

    Collections of new radio poems in response to Homer's The Odyssey.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  41. Love at Arms: Edith Evans and Michael Redgrave

    Surviving Shakespearean extract of a performance of Act 4 Scene 1 of As You Like It.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  42. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

    George Bernard Shaw's classic tale of the Cockney flower girl trained to pass as a duchess

    BBC Radio 4

  43. F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Lost Stories (Omnibus)

    Stories by F Scott Fitzgerald: Thank You For the Light, The Couple and Salute to Lucy

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  44. Ballad and Folksong: Romeo and Juliet

    A take on Shakespeare's tale featuring songs and music by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  45. JB Priestley - The Linden Tree

    Britain, 1947: Professor Robert Linden’s refusal to retire sparks a family crisis.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  46. Queen Lucia by EF Benson

    The first book in the outrageously funny 'Mapp and Lucia' series.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  47. Henry James - Daisy Miller

    Desire and propriety clash in Henry James's classic novella, dramatised by Amanda Dalton.

    BBC Radio 4

  48. Far from the Madding Crowd

    Romantic drama adapted from the classic novel by Thomas Hardy, starring Carey Mulligan.

    BBC Two

  49. Short Works: The World of Somerset Maugham

    Collection of short stories from the literary giant

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  50. Maxim Gorky - The Old Man

    A successful builder's life is shattered by an old man from his past.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

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