Audiobooks Narrated by Michael Kitchen

Brother Cadfael: A BBC Radio Collection of three full-cast dramatisations

Three BBC radio dramatisations of Ellis Peters' much-loved medieval murder mysteries featuring monk-cum-sleuth Brother Cadfael A onetime Crusader turned Benedictine monk, Brother Cadfael is a most unusual detective. Living a quiet life as a monastery herbalist, he spends his days ministering to his brothers using the medical skills he acquired in the Holy Lands - but his worldly knowledge and wide experience of human nature are frequently called upon when there is a murder to solve... Monk's Hood Brother Cadfael is asked to supply a healing potion for a sick monk - but monk's hood oil can kill as well as cure... The Virgin in the Ice In the winter of 1139, Cadfael sets out through snowbound Shropshire to find a missing boy and his sister. Dead Man's Ransom 1141. Beyond the walls of the abbey, civil war rages. When news arrives that Sheriff Gilbert Prestcote has been taken prisoner, a hostage exchange is arranged - but love and murder intervene... Starring Philip Madoc as Cadfael, with supporting casts including Michael Hordern, Michael Kitchen and Susannah York, these thrilling tales of murder, mystery and intrigue bring the turbulent world of 12th Century Shrewsbury superbly to life. Monk's Hood Brother Cadfael - Philip Madoc Narrator - Michael Hordern Brother Mark - Ian Targett Fr Heribert - Timothy Bateson Prior Robert - Geoffrey Whitehead Meurig - Kenneth Price Richildis Bonel - Pat Heywood Brother Rhys/Judge - Norman Jones Aelfric - Mark Straker Brother Edmund - Timothy Carlton Brother Petrus - Fraser Kerr Brother Jerome - Andrew Wincott Sergeant - Ian Hogg Aldith - Jane Whittenshaw Sibil Bellecote - Petra Markham Edwy Bellecote - Stephen Garlick Edwin Gurney - Richard Pearce Hugh Beringar - Alan Barker Ifor ap Morgan - Michael Turner Brother Barnabas - Terence Edmond Groom - Nigel Carrington Dramatised by Bert Coules Produced by Lissa Evans First broadcast in 1991. The Virgin in the Ice Brother Cadfael - Philip Madoc Narrator - Michael Hordern Hugh Beringar - Douglas Hodge Olivier - Raad Rawi Ermina - Moira Buffini Ives - Dean Magri Abbot Radulfus - John Church Leonard - Leonard Fenton Elyas - Crispin Letts Boterel - Andrew Wincott Button - Eric Allan Porter - Steve Hodson Le Gaucher - Peter Laird Axeman/Sergeant - Peter Gunn Outlaw - Jonathan Adams Sergeant - Jonathan Tafler With David Holt, Ann Windsor, Julian Rhind-Tutt, John Fleming and Kate Binchy Dramatised by Bert Coules Produced by Phil Clarke Music by Peter Salem First broadcast in 1992. Dead Man's Ransom Brother Cadfael - Philip Madoc Sister Magdalen - Susannah York Hugh Beringar - Jonathan Tafler Elis - Jason Hughes Radulfus - Trevor Peacock Herbard/Edmund/Ithel - Shaun Prendergast Aline - Lorien Haynes Lad/Villager - David Holt Narrator - Michael Kitchen Melicent - Katy Odey Prince Owain - Sion Probert Cristina - Siobhan Flynn Eliud - Mark Lewis Jones Maurice/Rhys/Griffri - Douglas Blackwell Anion - Matthew Morgan Dramatised by Bert Coules Produced by Neil Cargill Music by Peter Salem First broadcast in 1995.

Ellis Peters (Author), Douglas Hodge, Michael Hordern, Michael Kitchen, Philip Madoc, Susannah York (Narrator)

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Shylock Is My Name

Man Booker Prize-winner Howard Jacobson brings his singular brilliance to this modern re-imagining of one of Shakespeares most unforgettable characters: Shylock Winter, a cemetery, Shylock. In this provocative and profound interpretation of "The Merchant of Venice," Shylock is juxtaposed against his present-day counterpart in the character of art dealer and conflicted father Simon Strulovitch. With characteristic irony, Jacobson presents Shylock as a man of incisive wit and passion, concerned still with questions of identity, parenthood, anti-Semitism and revenge. While Strulovich struggles to reconcile himself to his daughter Beatrice's "betrayal" of her family and heritage - as she is carried away by the excitement of Manchester high society, and into the arms of a footballer notorious for giving a Nazi salute on the field - Shylock alternates grief for his beloved wife with rage against his own daughter's rejection of her Jewish upbringing. Culminating in a shocking twist on Shylocks demand for the infamous pound of flesh, Jacobsons insightful retelling examines contemporary, acutely relevant questions of Jewish identity while maintaining a poignant sympathy for its characters and a genuine spiritual kinship with its antecedent - a drama which Jacobson himself considers to be "the most troubling of Shakespeares plays for anyone, but, for an English novelist who happens to be Jewish, also the most challenging."

Howard Jacobson (Author), Michael Kitchen (Narrator)

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Shylock is My Name: The Merchant of Venice Retold (Hogarth Shakespeare)

'Who is this guy, Dad? What is he doing here?' With an absent wife and a daughter going off the rails, wealthy art collector and philanthropist Simon Strulovitch is in need of someone to talk to. So when he meets Shylock at a cemetery in Cheshire's Golden Triangle, he invites him back to his house. It's the beginning of a remarkable friendship. Elsewhere in the Golden Triangle, the rich, manipulative Plurabelle (aka Anna Livia Plurabelle Cleopatra A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever Christine) is the face of her own TV series, existing in a bubble of plastic surgery and lavish parties. She shares prejudices and a barbed sense of humour with her loyal friend D'Anton, whose attempts to play Cupid involve Strulovitch's daughter - and put a pound of flesh on the line. Howard Jacobson's version of The Merchant of Venice bends time to its own advantage as it asks what it means to be a father, a Jew and a merciful human being in the modern world.

Howard Jacobson (Author), Michael Kitchen (Narrator)

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The Great Train Robbery

In teeming Victorian London, where lavish wealth and appalling poverty live side by side, Edward Pierce charms the most prominent of the well-to-do as he cunningly orchestrates the crime of the century. Who would suspect that a gentleman of breeding could mastermind the daring theft of a fortune in gold? Who could predict the consequences of making the extraordinary robbery aboard the pride of England''s industrial era, the mighty steam locomotive? Based on fact, as lively as legend, and studded with all the suspense and style of a modern fiction master, here is a classic caper novel set a decade before the age of dynamite-yet nonetheless explosive.... Michael Crichton wrote and directed the screen adaptation of The Great Train Robbery, starring Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland.

Michael Crichton (Author), Michael Kitchen (Narrator)

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Archangel

When historian Fluke Kelso learns of the existence of a secret notebook belonging to Josef Stalin he is determined to track it down, whatever the consequences. From the violent political intrigue and decadence of modern Moscow he heads north - to the vast forests surrounding the White Sea port of Archangel, and a terrifying encounter with Russia's unburied past.

Robert Harris (Author), Michael Kitchen (Narrator)

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