Audiobooks Narrated by Jill Balcon

Arthur The King: A BBC Radio 4 full-cast drama

The lavish seven-part saga of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table 'Wonderful... pure pleasure' The Listener The Arthurian legends have long held a powerful grip on our collective imagination, inspiring numerous poets, novelists and playwrights to interpret them in countless different ways. In this epic play cycle, based on Malory's classic Le Morte D'Arthur, Graeme Fife gives us his dramatic, in-depth retelling of these perennially popuar myths. Focusing on seven key characters: Merlin, Tristram, Gareth, Lancelot, Galahad, Guenever and Arthur himself, he builds a vivid, multi-layered picture of the fabled king and his heroic knights. We hear the tales of Merlin, the great magician, brought down by the beautiful Nimue; Tristram and his illicit passion for Isolde; and the mysterious 'Beaumains', who sets out to rescue an unknown, besieged lady from Castle Perilous. Here, too, are the stories of Sir Lancelot du Lac, the Queen's champion and jewel of the Round Table; his saintly son, Galahad; Guenever, whose love for him will tear Camelot apart - and Arthur, the King, who chose the sword Excalibur over its scabbard, and sealed his fate. And behind them all lurks the shadow of Morgan le Fay, Arthur's nemesis, and Mordred, the son destined to destroy him... Told in allusive, poetic language, and with majestic, evocative music by Steven Faux, this sumptuous drama is full of enchantment, adventure, chivalry and courtly love. It stars Keith Baxter as Arthur, with Paul Scofield as Merlin, Anna Massey as Morgan le Fay, Nicholas Farrell as Lancelot and Jill Balcon as Guenever. Cast and credits Written by Graeme Fife Music by Stephen Faux Produced and directed by John Powell Main Cast Arthur (man and boy) - Keith Baxter Morgan le Fay - Anna Massey Merlin - Paul Scofield Lancelot du Lac - Nicholas Farrell Gareth - Crawford Logan Tristram - Rupert Frazer Lady Guenever - Jill Balcon Sir Galahad - Benny Young Other Cast Nimue - Tara Dominick, King Vortigern - Michael Graham Cox, Uther Pendragon/ Sir Dinadan - James Greene, Merlin (child) - Jill Lidstone, Sir Kay - Michael Kilgarriff, Archbishop - John Moffatt, Isolde - Sarah Badel, King Mark - John Franklyn-Robbins, Sir Pellinore - Jonathan Scott, Sir Dinadan - James Greene, Lynet - Rosalind Shanks, Sir Gawain - Ioan Meredith, King Pelles - Maurice Denham, His daughter, Lady Elaine - Eva Haddon, Sir Perceval - Ian Saynor, Prince Morded - Tom Hunsinger, Elaine of Astolat - Moir Leslie, The Hermit Naciens - Peter Penry-Jones, Sir Bors - Douglas Blackwell, Abbot - John Bull, Sir Agravain - Angus Pope, Sir Bedivere - Edward de Souza and Brian Miller, Simon Treves, Vincent Brimble, Jo Kendall, Marcia King and Donald Gee. Episode List Merlin First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 11 November 1990 Tristram First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 November 1990 Gareth First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 November 1990 Lancelot First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2 December 1990 Galahad First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 9 December 1990 Guenever First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 16 December 1990 Arthur First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 23 December 1990 ©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Graeme Fife (Author), Anna Massey, Full Cast, Ioan Meredith, Jill Balcon, Keith Baxter, Maurice Denham, Michael Kilgarriff, Nicholas Farrell, Paul Scofield (Narrator)

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Nemesis

Miss Marple, living a quiet life in St Mary Mead, is saddened to hear of the death of Jason Rafiel. Not that they were friends - the old financier was much too irascible and self-centred for friendship - but they had once been allies in solving a series of murders that took place on the tiny Caribbean island of St Honoré. She is therefore greatly surprised by a summons to the dead man's solicitor, where she receives a bizarre challenge in the form of a posthumous letter. According to Mr Rafiel, a crime has been committed, and her task is to investigate and solve it. If she succeeds, she stands to inherit twenty thousand pounds. But what is the crime, and who was involved? Left literally without a clue, can even the ever-observant Miss Marple succeed in solving the most impossible case of her life? June Whitfield stars as Miss Marple, with David Swift and Jill Balcon, in this full-cast dramatisation of one of Agatha Christie's most baffling mysteries.

Agatha Christie (Author), David Swift, Full Cast, Jill Balcon, June Whitfield (Narrator)

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Thomas Hardy: The Time-torn Man

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin, read by Jill Balcon and David Shaw-Parker. Paradox ruled Thomas Hardy's life. His birth was almost his death; he became one of the great Victorian novelists and reinvented himself as one of the twentieth-century's greatest poets; he was an unhappy husband and a desolate widower; he wrote bitter attacks on the English class system yet prized the friendship of aristocrats. In the hands of Whitbread Award-winning biographer Claire Tomalin, author of the bestselling books Charles Dickens: A Life and The Invisible Woman, Thomas Hardy the novelist, poet, neglectful husband and mourning lover all come vividly alive. 'An extraordinary story, beautifully told. Tomalin is the most empathetic of biographers' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday 'Another triumph for a biographer who goes from strength to strength' Melvyn Bragg, Guardian, Books of the Year 'Tomalin provides an object lesson in how to write a life' Economist 'A moving story, and Tomalin tells it vividly, with as great a fund of sympathy and sense, as can be imagined' Daily Telegraph 'Skilful and absorbing, admirable. The most compelling of life stories' Daily Telegraph 'Hardy emerges as a man full of spirit and gaiety' Sunday Times

Claire Tomalin (Author), David Shaw-Parker, Jill Balcon (Narrator)

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