Play over 1000 programmes from the BBC’s archive of literary adaptations, performances and critiques. Click here for an A-Z list of featured authors.
A Christmas Carol (2019)
Misanthropic businessman Ebenezer Scrooge refuses to let his workers celebrate Christmas.
Great Expectations (2023)
Steven Knight's chilling take on the Dickens classic, starring Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham.
Frankenstein (2012)
Heart-breaking modern myth of obsession, pride and the need for love. Two part dramatisation starring Jamie Parker as Frankenstein.
Jane Eyre (2006)
Four-part dramatisation of Charlotte Bronte's classic novel, featuring Ruth Wilson as Jane Eyre and Toby Stephens as Mr Rochester.
Pride and Prejudice (2005)
Five sisters from an English family of landed gentry as they deal with issues of marriage, morality and misconceptions. Keira Knightley stars alon...
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes | The Sign of Four
Dramatised for television by Michael and Mollie Hardwick, and starring Peter Cushing and Nigel Stock as the inves...
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Adapted from the story by Robert Louis Stevenson, and starring Lisa Harrow and Ian Bannen.
Silas Marner (1964)
First of six of this adaptation of the novel by George Eliot. After plans have been made for a wedding, a crime is discovered.
The War of the Worlds (2019)
Three-part adaptation of HG Wells's classic tale of a Martian invasion of Earth.
Bringing Books to Life | Refugee Boy
Actor Alexander Vlahos reads extracts from 'Refugee Boy' by Benjamin Zephaniah, explaining why he loves the book, how it captured his im...
An Inspector Calls (2015)
The mysterious 'Inspector Goole' interrupts a wealthy family's family party to tell them a young woman died of suicide that night.
The History Boys (2006)
A class of likely lads, caught in a clash of educational styles as they prepare to apply to Oxford or Cambridge, find their loyalties as well as thei...
Drama | A Taste of Honey (1971)
First in a three part production for television of Shelagh Delaney's first play.
Hobson's Choice
The play has been translated into a musical without words by choreographer David Bintley and composer Paul Reade. Set in 1880s Salford, this comedy of Victor...
Journey's End
Adapted for television in 1988, starring Jeremy Northam as Stanhope, Edward Petherbridge as Osborne, and Timothy Spall as Trotter.
Drama on 3 | A View from the Bridge
Martin Jarvis directs Miller's award-winning 1955 drama, with a US cast including Alfred Molina, Jane Kaczmarek, Melissa Benoist and Hect...
Afternoon Play | Be My Baby
Amanda Whittington's drama-documentary combines the fictional stories of young women who gave up their illegitimate babies for adoption in the 19...
Globe Theatre | All My Sons
Chris Keller's decision to marry his dead brother's sweetheart opens old family wounds, with tragic consequences. Directed by Martin Jenkins.
Sunday Play | Juno and the Paycock (1997)
Sean O'Casey 's best-loved play, set in Dublin in 1922, takes a curiously contemporary look at the endlessly sacrificing wife trapp...
Storytellers - Philadelphia, Here I Come!
The night before he emigrates to America, Gareth O'Donnell begins to have second thoughts about leaving his home in the rural villa...
Saturday Night Theatre | Our Town (1995)
Thornton Wilder's American theatre classic tells of everyday life in turn-of-the-century Grover's Corners in New Hampshire.
Drama on 3 | Leave Taking
Enid lives in Deptford with her two teenage daughters. When she takes them to the local ‘obeah' woman for some traditional Caribbean soul healing, ...
Things Fall Apart (2020)
Chinua Achebe's classic novel depicting 1890s pre-colonial Igbo life, dramatised by Biyi Bandele.
Lord of the Flies (1963)
Compelling film adaptation of William Golding's disturbing tale of a group of stranded schoolchildren who revert to primitive savagery following a p...
Animal Farm (1955)
An animated version of George Orwell's classic allegorical novel about the totalitarian aftermath of a barnyard revolution.
The Monday Play | Of Mice and Men (1992)
In the golden valleys of California, two itinerant workers struggle to sustain their dream. The story of a friendship put to a terri...
Anita and Me (2002)
In 1972, 12-year-old British Asian girl Meena is on the verge of her teenage years, when Anita, her blonde and glamorous 14-year-old neighbour, becomes h...
The Woman in Black (2012)
A young solicitor travels to a remote village where he discovers that the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals. Starring Dan...
Booker 1993 | 1: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Abridged version of Roddy Doyle's Booker Prize-winning novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, read by Aidan Gillen.
Maya Angelou's Autobiographies | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The author's iconic debut charting her childhood with her brother in Arkansas. Narrated by Adjoa Andoh starr...
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (1989)
Three-part drama written by Jeanette Winterson, adapted from her autobiographical novel. The part of Jess's fanatical mother was taken ...
Book at Bedtime | 1: How Many Miles to Babylon? (2013)
Against the backdrop of the First World War, Jennifer Johnson tells the remarkable story of a friendship.
Saturday Drama | Translations
In 1833, two army officers arrive in a Donegal village to draw up a new map of the area and change the Irish place names to English ones. Stars...
Performance | A Doll's House
Henrik Ibsen's classic play directed by David Thacker, starring Juliet Stephenson and Trevor Eve.
Performance | Hedda Gabler (1993)
Hedda Gabler and Jorgen Tesman have just returned from a long honeymoon, but Hedda is bored with her life and unhappy with her home.
World War One | Oh What a Lovely War (2014)
The Theatre Royal Stratford East restages its controversial WW1 musical satire, directed by Tony Award-winner Terry Johnson and i...
Saturday Drama | Private Lives
Divorced couple Amanda and Elyot meet again on their second honeymoons. With Bill Nighy and Helena Bonham Carter.
Drama on 3 | She Stoops to Conquer (2023)
Robert Bathurst, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Mathew Baynton and Hugh Skinner star in an adaptation of Oliver Goldsmith's comedy of class ...
Christmas at the Wells | A Woman of No Importance
At a country house party, Mrs Arbuthnot's long-concealed secret comes back to haunt her. Stars Diana Rigg and Martin Jarvis.
An Ideal Husband (1999)
An MP is bribed into pushing a scheme through the Commons by a woman he once had dealings with. Starring Cate Blanchett and Minnie Driver.
Theatre Night | Lady Windermere's Fan (1985)
Drama play written by Oscar Wilde, set in 1892.
Theatre Night | The Importance of Being Earnest (1988)
How did a baby come to be deposited in the left luggage room at Victoria Station in mistake for a three-volume novel? ...
Play of the Month | The School for Scandal
Play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, with Jeremy Brett, Pauline, Collins, Edward Fox, Bernard Lee, Arthur Lowe, Bridget Armstrong, J...
Open University | Waiting for Godot
Two acts from ''Waiting for Godot'' with Max Wall, Leo McKern, Graham Crowden and Basil Clarke.
Sunday Play | A Streetcar Named Desire
In Tennessee Williams's masterpiece set in New Orleans, Blanche Dubois's tender feelings are destroyed by Stanley Kowalski's brutal de...
Drama on 3 | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams: An adaptation of the classic drama in which, greed and secret passions overcome a family as ...
Small Island (2009)
Two part television drama adapted from Andrea Levy's award-winning story of Jamaicans and Londoners during World War II.
The Color Purple (2009)
Born into poverty and segregation; the struggle of uneducated black girl Celie in America's Deep South, starring Nadine Marshall. Two episodes.
Noughts + Crosses (2020) | Series 1
London, Albion; Sephy, the Cross daughter of powerful Home Secretary Kamal Hadley, and Callum, the Nought son of their housekeeper Meggi...
Noughts + Crosses (2022) | Series 2
Tired of life on the run, Callum and Sephy are forced to extreme measures as they try to flee Albion for good. Meanwhile, hate crime aga...
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (2016)
Adapted for radio by Jeanette Winterson from her acclaimed novel, directed by Helen Perry and starring Lesley Sharp. Piano performed by...
Playhouse | 1: How Many Miles to Babylon? (1982)
During World War I, two Irish friends find themselves in the same army unit. They stay close until one of them is court-mart...
Book at Bedtime | 1: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Written by Moshin Hamid, abridged by Lisa Osborne and read by Riz Ahmed.
The Lonely Londoners (2014)
A ten-year-long city dweller from the Caribbean goes to meet another boat train of hopeful new arrivals. Read by Don Warrington.
Saturday Night Theatre | Our Town (1946)
The everyday lives of the Webb and Gibbs family as they see their children fall in love, marry and live out their lives in the ficti...
The Great Gatsby (2013)
The sumptuous life of enigmatic American millionaire Jay Gatsby, viewed through the eyes of neighbour Nick Carraway. Directed by Baz Luhrmann and sta...
15 Minute Drama | Beloved
Toni Morrison's seminal 1987 novel about a haunted house in the era that followed the abolition of slavery in the United States is adapted for radi...
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck 's harrowing novel about a family driven from their Oklahoma farm during the dust bowl days of the thirties, dramatised in three parts by ...
The Color Purple (1985)
Celie, a poor black girl, fights to hold on to her self-esteem when she is separated from her sister and forced into a brutal marriage. Directed by S...
Sense and Sensibility (1971)
The earliest BBC dramatisation of Sense and Sensibility. Mrs Dash wood and her two daughters, Elinor and Marianne, are faced with the prospect o...
Jane Eyre (1983)
A 1983 television serial adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name, produced by BBC and directed by Julian Amyes.
Rebecca (1989)
With and Arriving at Manderley, the young Mrs de Winter finds the beautiful house and its occupants haunted by memories of Rebecca, her new husband's first wife.
A Room with a View (1995)
Radio adaptation of EM Forster's novel about a young woman in the repressed culture of Edwardian-era England, starring Sheila Hancock and Stephen M...
Pride and Prejudice (1995)
Colin Firth stars as Mr Darcy in this iconic BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by writer Andrew Davies. The arrival of the wealthy Mr Bingley ...
Notes from a Small Island
Recalling tea with tinned biscuits, the American author takes a sentimental journey around Britain. Read by Kerry Shale.
The Saturday Play | Top Girls
Marlene celebrates her promotion to managing director of the Top Girls Employment Agency with a dinner. Her guests are five women from history,...
Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978)
An epic adventure in time and space including some helpful advice on how to see the Universe for less than 30 Altairian dollars a day.
Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981)
Cult Science fiction comedy adapted from the radio series by Douglas Adams. An international multimedia phenomenon; the novels are ...
The Rotters' Club
Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais' three-part adaptation of Jonathon Coe's novel follow a group of Birmingham teenagers, and their families, through the 1970s.
Book at Bedtime | Fever Pitch
Author Nick Hornby reads his autobiographical account of an obsessive relationship with Arsenal Football Club.
The Way of the World
Sheila Hancock stars in the comic masterpiece that exposes the grasping charlatanism that lurks within the belle monde of London society.
Play of the Month | The Country Wife
Play by William Wycherley, starring Helen Mirren, Bernard Cribbins, Anthony Andrews, Amanda Barrie, Adrienne Corri, Ciaran ,Madden and J...
Mansfield Park (2002)
Fanny Price and her wealthy cousin Edmund seem a perfect match, but their lives on a country estate are complicated by the arrival of the glamorous Cra...
Emma (1972)
Earliest existing BBC dramatisation of Emma (from 1972).
Stage 2 | 1: The Duchess of Malfi
John Webster's tragedy of corruption, jealousy and intrigue with Aileen Atkins in the title role.
Mayor of Casterbridge
Seven part television adaptation of the famous novel by Thomas Hardy.
The Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Four-part drama series based on the novel by Thomas Hardy, written by David Nicholls.
Book at Bedtime - Things Fall Apart (2008)
Chuk Iwuji reads from Chinua Achebe's classic novel, abridged by Jane Marshall.
The Great Gatsby (2000)
In the volatile era of the twenties, flamboyant millionaire Jay Gatsby pursues the seductive Daisy, the love he lost while serving in the First World...
Dracula (2006)
Dramatisation of Bram Stoker's novel about Transylvanian count Dracula, with Marc Warren as Dracula and David Suchet as Van Helsing.
Frankenstein (1994)
Mary Shelley's gothic tale, dramatised for radio by Nick Stafford in two parts, starring Michael Maloney.
The Woman in Black (1993)
Retired solicitor Arthur Kipps recalls his visit to the isolated house of the reclusive Mrs Drablow. Stars Robert Glenister.
Wide Sargasso Sea
Dramatisation of Jean Rhys's novel set in 19th-century Jamaica. The tragic story of the first Mrs Rochester from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre centres on an...
The Turn of the Screw (2021)
Myfanwy Piper's liBretto of Henry James's famous short story leaves much to our imagination and Britten's score is haunting, terrifying and bri...
Wuthering Heights (1978)
First of five of this adaptation of the novel by Emily Bronte. 1801: A social visit becomes a night of terror for Lockwood and a journey into the pa...
Screen 2 | Northanger Abbey
Jane Austen's classic story of a young girl whose head is full of romantic and melodramatic notions about the world.
The Woman in White (2018)
Five part television series, adapated from Wilke Collnis' novel. The lives of two half-sisters and their drawing master get caught up in a deadly c...
Rebecca (1979)
First of four of this adaptation of the famous story by Daphne Du Maurier. Monte Carlo is a lonely, frightening place to the shy orphan girl (Joanna David) un...
Play of the Month | The Picture of Dorian Gray
Play by Oscar Wilde, dramatised by John Osbourne, with John Gielgud, Peter Firth Jeremy Brett and Mark Dignam, Judi Bowker and...
Hard Times (2003)
Charles Dickens' 1854 classic about struggles in the industrial north, dramatised for radio in four parts by Doug Lucie. Stars Kenneth Cranham and Philip J...
Theatre Night | Arms and the Man
An adaptation of the play by Bernard Shaw, about a young Bulgarian girl who saves the life of a Swiss soldier of fortune. Starring Helena Bo...
The Strand (2009) | Animal Farm
Marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communist power in Europe, the Strand begins a serialisation ...
Screen 2 | Persuasion
Film adaption of Jane Austen's novel about the enduring power of love. England 1814. Having been ''persuaded'' several years earlier to reject the prop...
Vanity Fair (1998)
Six part television drama adapated from William Thackeray's satire of English society during the Napoleonic wars. How is a penniless orphan to make her wa...
The Sunday Play | Oh What a Lovely War (1995)
Set in a fictional playhouse at the end of the pier in Scarborough, this theatrical chronicle of the First World War is told th...
Mansfield Park (1983)
First of six of this dramatisation of the classic novel by Jane Austen. Fanny Price (Sylvestra Le Touzel) is removed from her impoverished Portsmouth h...
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