Doctor Who Audio Annual

The Doctor Who Annual Compendium One

A bumper collection of vintage stories from the pages of Doctor Who Annual, featuring the first six Doctors and their companions. 
 
From the 1960s to the 1980s, the Doctor Who Annual was a fixture in every fan’s Christmas stocking. Larger than life and twice as colourful, the stories offered an exuberant – and often charmingly naïve – take on the BBC TV series. 
 
This volume features thirty readings by some of the best-loved stars of Doctor Who including Peter Purves (Steven), Anneke Wills (Polly), Geoffrey Beevers (the Master), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Louise Jameson (Leela), Frazer Hines (Jamie), John Leeson (K-9), Terry Molloy (Davros) and Dan Starkey (Strax) plus the multi-talented Jon Culshaw. 
 
They include short stories for each of the first six Doctors, with fabulous titles including The Sons of Grekk, The King of Golden Death, Peril in Mechanistria, Dark Intruders, Scorched Earth, The Real Hereward, Planet of Fear, The Radio Waves, Terror on Tiro, The House That Jack Built, The Sinister Sponge, Justice of the Glacians, The Planet of Dust, A Midsummer’s Nightmare and The Creation of Camelot, and many, many more, plus the full-length Doctor Who and the Invasion of Space, read by Peter Purves, and bonus features including The Phoenix in the TARDIS, The Equations of Doctor Who and Who Is Doctor Who? 
 
(This collection contains the previously published volumes The Doctor Who Audio Annual, The Second Doctor Who Audio Annual, The Sinister Sponge & Other Stories, The Planet of Dust & Other Stories, and Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space.) 
 
(P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd © 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Doctor Who at the BBC

Doctor Who at the BBC: Who Are We?

Six decades of BBC TV's most successful sci-fi series are celebrated in this collection of radio programmes. 
 
In Who Are We (The Classic Years and The Modern Years) Jo Whiley takes a trip through the Whoniverse to find out how the changing attitudes of Britain have been reflected through the TARDIS's travels. It’s a tale that features Dalekmania, Dad’s Army, Mary Whitehouse, Ridley Scott, Cybermen and the JFK assassination. 
 
Jo also learns how Doctor Who thrived during the wilderness years of the show's cancellation, with fandom playing a vital role in its return. Along the way Jo is joined by fans, stars and writers of Doctor Who including Russell T Davies, Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall. There are also archive interviews with David Tennant, Jodie Whittaker, Peter Capaldi, Matt Smith, Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, Kylie Minogue, Patrick Troughton and many more. 
 
Meanwhile in Surviving Doctor Who Toby Hadoke presents a wry insight into the ups and downs of being one of the universe's most misunderstood species: the Doctor Who fan. 
 
Who Are We produced by Paul Sheehan for BBC Radio 2. Surviving Doctor Who produced by Luke Doran for BBC Radio 4 Extra. 
 
? 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd © 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Six decades of BBC TV's most successful sci-fi series are celebrated in this collection of radio programmes. 
 
In Who Are We (The Classic Years and The Modern Years) Jo Whiley takes a trip through the Whoniverse to find out how the changing attitudes of Britain have been reflected through the TARDIS's travels. It’s a tale that features Dalekmania, Dad’s Army, Mary Whitehouse, Ridley Scott, Cybermen and the JFK assassination. 
 
Jo also learns how Doctor Who thrived during the wilderness years of the show's cancellation, with fandom playing a vital role in its return. Along the way Jo is joined by fans, stars and writers of Doctor Who including Russell T Davies, Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall. There are also archive interviews with David Tennant, Jodie Whittaker, Peter Capaldi, Matt Smith, Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, Kylie Minogue, Patrick Troughton and many more. 
 
Meanwhile in Surviving Doctor Who Toby Hadoke presents a wry insight into the ups and downs of being one of the universe's most misunderstood species: the Doctor Who fan. 
 
? 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd © 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. 
Who Are We produced by Paul Sheehan for BBC Radio 2. Surviving Doctor Who produced by Luke Doran for BBC Radio 4 Extra.

The Amazing World of Doctor Who

Geoffrey Beevers, Louise Jameson and Dan Starkey perform these stories and features from the celebrated book of the same name. 
 
First published in 1976, The Amazing World of Doctor Who thrilled fans with short stories and strips featuring the Fourth Doctor, Sarah and Harry in brand new adventures. It also supplied the low-down on the Doctor's past history and some of the foes he'd encountered to date. 
 
This nostalgic audio edition includes 'The Sinister Sponge', 'The Vampires of Crellium', 'On The Slippery Trail' and 'The Mission', plus 'A New Life' and 'Avast There' from the 1976 Doctor Who Annual. 'The Psychic Jungle' and 'Neuronic Nightmare' are multi-voice tales with thrilling sound design, and there are also charming mini-features on the Daleks, the Cybermen, the TARDIS and more. 
 
Dan Starkey (Strax), Louise Jameson (Leela) and Geoffrey Beevers (the Master) lend their vocal talents to these weird and wacky stories from the pages of the famous vintage book. 
 
Readings produced by Neil Gardner 
Sound design by David Darlington 
Executive Producer for BBC Audio: Michael Stevens 
 
©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Award-Winning BBC Radio 4 Comedy

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue 17

Four more extended episodes from the multi-award-winning BBC Radio 4 series, specially compiled by producer Jon Naismith.

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1972. The original and much-loved chairman was Hymphrey Lyttelton, who continued in the role until his death in 2008.The original regular members of the panel were Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and (until his death in 1996) Willie Rushton. Following Humph's death, the programme returned in 2009 with a rosta of chairmen, current of whom is the now regular Jack Dee.

Four more extended episodes from the award-winning BBC Radio 4 series, specially compiled by producer Jon Naismith 
 
'ISIHAC is still unmissable. It remains the most thrillingly anarchic panel show in any media you care to name' Simon Mayo, Mail on Sunday 
 
‘The funniest comedy quiz show of them all’ Sue Arnold, The Observer 
 
Welcome to the seventeenth collection of episodes from the famous antidote to panel games. Jack Dee challenges regular panelists Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden with a series of silly games against which to pit their wits, along with special guests Harry Hill, Sandi Toksvig, Omid Djalili and Miles Jupp. 
 
Highlights include Word for Word, Alien Duets, Swanee Kazoo, Meat Eater’s Songbook, In My Pants, Mornington Crescent, Not My Fault, Pig Farmer’s Songbook, Specialist Greetings Cards, Unsuccessful Charities, Dentists’ Film Club and the ever-popular One Song to the Tune of Another. 
 
Enjoy this fine feast of wit and wordplay, accompanied by Colin Sell on the piano and with the lovely Samantha keeping score. 
 
Credits 
In the Chair……………..Jack Dee 
Round the Table………..Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden 
With Harry Hill, Sandi Toksvig, Omid Djalili and Miles Jupp 
At the Piano………………Colin Sell 
 
Programme consultant: Iain Pattinson 
Produced by Jon Naismith 
Compiled by Jon Naismith, Megan Landon and Graeme Garden

Multi-Doctor stories

The Doctor Who Audio Annual

Six thrilling stories of adventure in Time and Space from the original Doctor Who Annuals

For two decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, every fan of the Doctor hoped to find The Doctor Who Annual in their Christmas stocking. Larger than life and twice as colourful, the stories within were exuberant — and often charmingly naive — in their take on ‘the children’s own programme which adults adore’. 
 
Here, for the first time on audio, Peter Purves (Steven), Anneke Wills (Polly), Geoffrey Beevers (the Master), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) and Nicola Bryant (Peri) read a selection of these colourful and energetic tales. 
 
In The Sons of Grekk, the First Doctor is held prisoner in a brutal, otherworldly society. The King of Golden Death finds that the Second Doctor, Polly and Ben have materialised inside an Ancient Egyptian pyramid. The Third Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier confront a familiar adversary in Dark Intruders, whilst in Conundrum the Fourth Doctor, Adric and K9 experience warped physics in the corridors of the TARDIS. FacingThe Penalty, a delirious Fifth Doctor finds old friends and adversaries ganging up on him, and the Sixth Doctor and Peri plunge into a dangerous period of British history in The Real Hereward. 
 
Also included are two vintage essays on the character of our favourite Time Lord: Who is Doctor Who? from 1966 and The Phoenix in the TARDIS from 1968. 
 
Take a nostalgic journey through time with these vintage Doctor Who tales.

All eight episodes of the 71st radio series

Just a Minute: Series 71

Nicholas Parsons chairs eight episodes of the long-running panel game, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in Spring 2015.

Nicholas Parsons chairs eight episodes of the long-running panel game, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in Spring 2015. 
 
“Welcome to Just a Minute!” As the Minute Waltz fades away, once again a multitude of players pit their wits against each other as they attempt to talk for sixty seconds on a given subject without hesitation, repetition or deviation from the subject. 
 
So join redoubtable chairman Nicholas Parsons as the panellists - including Paul Merton alongside long-time players and newcomers to the game - use their intellect, imagination, wit and verbal dexterity to beat the clock and win the points in these eight sparklingly funny shows.

The Complete Radio Series One

Dad’s Army

Twenty episodes from the first BBC Radio series plus an hour-long Christmas special, starring Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and Clive Dunn.

Jimmy Perry (Author) Jimmy Perry was born in Barnes, London in 1924. Aged 16 during the Second World War, he joined the Home Guard and then served with the Royal Artillery as a sergeant, also setting up a concert party as entertainment for the troops. After the war he trained as an actor. His writing partnership with David Croft began in 1968, and between them they created such hit shows as Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi and You Rang, M'Lord? 
 
David Croft (Author) 
David Croft was born in Poole, Dorset. He became a Major in the Second World War, serving in India. North Africa and Singapore. After the war he worked as an actor and then turned to writing. His involvement in television led to producing and directing. His numerous producer credits include Steptoe and Son and 'Til Death Us Do Part. As well as his partnership with Jimmy Perry, he developed Are You Being Served? and 'Allo 'Allo as a co-writer and producer with Jeremy Lloyd. He was awarded the OBE in 1978. He died in 2011. David Croft (Author) David Croft was born in Poole, Dorset. He became a Major in the Second World War, serving in India. North Africa and Singapore. After the war he worked as an actor and then turned to writing. His involvement in television led to producing and directing. His numerous producer credits include Steptoe and Son and 'Til Death Us Do Part. As well as his partnership with Jimmy Perry, he developed Are You Being Served? and 'Allo 'Allo as a co-writer and producer with Jeremy Lloyd. He was awarded the OBE in 1978. He died in 2011.

Twenty episodes from the first BBC Radio series plus an hour-long Christmas special, starring Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and Clive Dunn. 
 
In 1973 the BBC adapted its hit TV series for radio, featuring the original TV cast and characters. Three series were broadcast between 1974 and 1976, with episodes adapted from their TV counterparts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles. 
 
Now you can enjoy once again these unique recordings, with a supporting cast including John Laurie, James Beck, Arnold Ridley and Ian Lavender. Among the twenty-one episodes are The Man and the Hour, The Battle of Godfrey’s Cottage, Sgt Wilson’s Little Secret, Something Nasty in the Vault, The Menace from the Deep and No Spring for Frazer.

BBC Proms 2014: The Official Guide

The official guide to the 2014 season of the BBC Proms, with complete listings, brand-new articles and booking information.

Whether you’re a first-time visitor or an experienced Prommer, plan your summer through the 2014 BBC Proms season with the official Proms Guide. Contains: 
 
 · brand-new articles on featured composers, insights on performers, new music and Proms Plus events 
 
 · introduction to the season from Roger Wright, Director of the BBC Proms and Controller of BBC Radio 3 
 
 · full listings for every concert and event – repertoire, performers, time, location, ticket and broadcast information 
 
 · details on how to book tickets 
 
 · free season calendar to see all the concerts at a glance. 
 
With beautiful photographs and images throughout, this official Proms Guide is the most comprehensive way to plan your summer’s Proms visiting, watching and listening. 
 
 The BBC Proms is the world’s biggest and longest-running classical music festival and features many of the greatest artists and orchestras from the UK and around the world in over 80 concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall. There are also daily free Proms Plus talks, workshops, performances and family events.

Doctor Who: Yeti Attack!

A thrilling collection containing the television soundtracks of both Doctor Who stories to feature the Yeti - The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear.

The first two episodes of The Abominable Snowmen romp along very nicely indeed. Frazer (Jamie) Hines' linking narration sounds particularly sprightly... Web remains essential listening for the debut appearance of Nicholas Courtney as Colonel (later, of course, promoted to Brigadier) Lethbridge-Stewart

Mervyn Haisman was one of the creators – with co-author Henry Lincoln – of Doctor Who’s memorable Yeti monsters. They were first seen in the serial The Abominable Snowmen in 1967, and were so popular with the audience that they featured in a second story, The Web of Fear, a year later. However, this was to be the last appearance of the Abominable Snowmen until 1983’s The Five Doctors. Haisman and Lincoln’s last script for Doctor Who was The Dominators. Haisman subsequently went on to write for the popular BBC series Jane, starring Glynis Barber, as well as The Onedin Line (on which he was also script editor) and Howard’s Way. He died in 2010. 
 
Henry Lincoln is probably best known as co-author of the controversial book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which later influenced Dan Brown's mega-bestselling The Da Vinci Code. He co-wrote (with Mervyn Haisman) three Doctor Who serials - The Abominable Snowmen, The Web of Fear and The Dominators. An actor as well as author, Lincoln appeared in several TV series in the 1960s including The Avengers, The Saint, Man in a Suitcase and The Champions. He has also presented TV documentaries on The Man in the Iron Mask, Nostradamus and the Cathars. He lives in France, near the village of Rennes-le-Château.

The Abominable Snowmen: Tibet, 1935: English explorer Travers is determined to track down the mythical Abominable Snowmen which are said to roam the Himalayas. When the Doctor and his companions visit the nearby Detsen monastery they discover that the Yeti are all too prominent - in fact, they are out to kill anyone who comes near! With Travers' help the travellers discover that the monastery is in the grip of the evil Great Intelligence, a disembodied force which has taken control of the High Lama - and the robotic Yeti are merely its deadly servants... The Web of Fear: After narrowly avoiding being caught up in a web-like substance on its journey through space, the TARDIS arrives in the tunnels of the London Underground, only to find that the web is there too - as is the Great Intelligence's Yeti... Facing the marauding monsters is Patrick Troughton as the second Doctor, in adventures set in Tibet and London. Linking narration is provided by Frazer Hines, who also plays Jamie in the stories. The Web of Fear marks the first appearance of Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, a colonel in the British Army but soon to be promoted to Brigadier of UNIT, who became one of the programme's best-loved and most recognisable characters.

Doctor Who: Adventures In History

A collection of three TV soundtrack adventures in which the Doctor and friends travel back in Time and get caught up in events in history.

Donald Cotton contributed two scripts to Doctor Who: The Myth Makers and The Gunfighters. After helping to develop the BBC series Adam Adamant Lives!, he decided to concentrate on theatre, and was a successful playwright and actor throughout the Sixties and Seventies. He retired from acting in 1981, but continued his writing career into the Eighties. He novelised his Doctor Who scripts for Target books, as well as Dennis Spooner’s The Romans. Donald Cotton died in January 2000. 
John Lucarotti wrote three scripts for Doctor Who - Marco Polo, The Aztecs and The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve - and penned the novelisations of all his scripts for Target books. He contributed the first 'Brief Encounter' short story for Doctor Who Magazine in 1990, in which the author met the First Doctor in a French bar. The story was reprinted in the 1992 Doctor Who Yearbook. John Lucarotti died in Paris on 20 November 1994. 
Elwyn Jones was a screenwriter and author who is probably best known as co-creator of the long-running police series Z Cars. In 1966, he co-wrote (with Gerry Davis) the script for the Doctor Who serial The Highlanders. Jones wrote several non-fiction books including The Ripper File and The Last Two To Hang, the story of the last two men to be hanged in Britain, which won him the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He died in May 1982. 
Gerry Davis was an experienced television writer when he came to Doctor Who as Script Editor in 1966. Wanting to explore stories rooted more closely in real science, Davis contacted Dr Kit Pedler. The resulting collaboration resulted in several notable Doctor Who scripts, and in particular the creation of the Cybermen. Gerry Davis returned to Doctor Who in 1975 and novelised several of his and Pedler's Doctor Who stories for Target books. Gerry Davis died in 1991.

These three stories - The Myth Makers, The Massacre and The Highlanders - see the TARDIS landing in Ancient Greece, 16th Century France and 18th Century Scotland. In The Myth Makers, the time travellers arrive on the plains of Asia Minor, not far from the city of Troy - where the Doctor finds himself hailed as the god Zeus. In The Massacre, he is mistaken for the Abbot of Amboise when the TARDIS materialises in Paris in 1572 - a time of dangerous tension between Protestants and Catholics. And in The Highlanders, The Doctor, Ben and Polly arrive in Scotland after the Battle of Culloden, where they are taken prisoner by Scots rebels. William Hartnell stars as the Doctor in The Myth Makers and The Massacre, whilst Patrick Troughton steps into the role for The Highlanders. Linking narration is provided by Peter Purves and Frazer Hines.

This Is Radio 4 A Celebration

This fascinating celebration of BBC Radio 4 features archive clips from some of the channel's best-loved programmes, including The Archers, Desert Island Discs, Today, Woman's Hour, Weekending, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, The Now Show, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Just a Minute, and many more. Amongst the personalities heard from during this radio extravaganza are Dame Edna Everage, Sue Lawley, Neil Kinnock, John Humphrys, Humphrey Lyttelton, Douglas Adams, John Peel, Angus Deayton, Kenny Everett, and Roy Plomley to mention just a few. 
This glorious evocation of an iconic radio station - and constant companion to many - will appeal to anyone with an interest in, and love of, radio broadcasting and the BBC in general. 
©2012 AudioGO Ltd (P)2013 AudioGO Ltd

The Last Day Of JFK

Two BBC Radio programmes exploring President John F. Kennedy's shocking assassination on 22 November 1963. In Something Is Terribly Wrong, first broadcast in 2003, Alan Thompson charts the confusion and disbelief after the assassination. He returns to key sites in Dallas, and talks to eyewitnesses including Nellie Connally (ex-First Lady of Texas), Jim Leavelle (ex-Dallas detective), Jim Ewell (ex Dallas Morning News correspondent), Aubry Rike (ambulance driver/witness), and Ken Dowe, from Dallas radio station KLIF. Using rare, vivid archive material, he relives the events as they unfolded over three days that shocked the world. In Letter from America, first broadcast two days after the President's assassination, renowned broadcaster Alistair Cooke uses his weekly radio missive to reflect upon the legacy of John F. Kennedy, and to observe that the American nation feels it has been robbed of a brother.

BBC Proms 2013: The Official Guide

The official guide to the 2013 season of the BBC Proms, with complete listings, brand-new articles and booking information.

Whether you’re a first-time visitor or an experienced Prommer, plan your summer through the 2013 BBC Proms season with the official Proms Guide. Contains: 
 
- brand-new articles on featured composers, insights on performers, new music and Proms Plus events 
 
- introduction to the season from Roger Wright, Director of the BBC Proms and Controller of BBC Radio 3 
 
- full listings for every concert and event – repertoire, performers, time, location, ticket and broadcast information 
 
- details on how to book tickets 
 
With beautiful photographs and images throughout, this official Proms Guide is the most comprehensive way to plan your summer’s Proms visiting, watching and listening. 
 
 
The BBC Proms is the world’s biggest and longest-running classical music festival and features many of the greatest artists and orchestras from the UK and around the world in over 80 concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall. There are also daily free Proms Plus talks, workshops, performances and family events.

Jigsaw Series 1

The complete first series of the BBC Radio 4 surreal comedy sketch show.

Jigsaw are a comedy sketch team consisting of Dan Antopolski, Tom Craine and Nat Luurtsema. They have appeared several times at the Edinburgh Festival, as well as performing round the country. On TV, they are series regulars on BBC3's Live at the Electric, and have had two acclaimed BBC Radio 4 series.

Award-winning stand-up comedians Dan Antopolski, Tom Craine and Nat Luurtsema combine their talents to piece together six rapid-fire and surreal sketch shows, full of silly, clever, dark sketches. Produced by Colin Anderson.

Volume 2: In The Hot Seat

Doctor Who At The BBC

Volume 3: Now And Then

Volume 4: The Plays

Elisabeth Sladen presents another time-travelling journey through the history of Doctor Who on BBC radio and television.

Born in Liverpool, Elisabeth Sladen trained at drama school before joining the Liverpool Playhouse, first as an assistant stage manager and then as an actor. Weekly touring rep, radio and television followed, with early roles in Coronation Street, Z-Cars, Doomwatch and Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, and she worked for two seasons with Alan Ayckbourn's company in Scarborough. She joined Doctor Who in 1973, playing the independently-minded journalist Sarah Jane Smith, and quickly became one of the series' most popular companions. On leaving the programme in 1977, Elisabeth made a return to theatre before appearing in the sitcom Take My Wife and the BBC classic serials Gulliver in Lilliput and Alice in Wonderland; she also presented the children's series Stepping Stones. She reprised the role of Sarah Jane a number of times, on television in K9 and Company and The Five Doctors, and on BBC Radio in The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space. In 2006 Elisabeth returned as Sarah Jane for the BBC One Doctor Who episode 'School Reunion'. This led to the spin-off programme The Sarah Jane Adventures, of which five series were broadcast from 2007 to 2011. Elisabeth Sladen died in 2011, aged 63.

Our good friend the Doctor may continually jump from the past to the present and back to the future, but he's never really gone away. Since 1963 he has had a massive influence on our popular culture – as this second volume of rare material illustrates. Doctor Who has long been a favourite source of inspiration for comedy shows including The Mary Whitehouse Experience, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and Dead Ringers. It has also provided an endless source of features for programmes such as Nationwide, Pebble Mill at One, Woman's Hour and Talkback. All of these and more are featured here. We hear from no less than seven of the first eight actors to play the Doctor on TV: Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann all talk about what it's like to play the role, and the effect it has had on their lives. The Doctor's companions are also well featured, with Elisabeth Sladen, Louise Jameson, Matthew Waterhouse and John Leeson popping up in interviews recorded during their time on the programme. The issue of violence in Doctor Who is discussed by producer John Nathan-Turner, writer Kit Pedler and some very angry parents; director Paul Joyce takes us behind the scenes on the series; and there's a plethora of news items about the Doctor's many returns since 1989. So hold on to your hats – the latest journey starts here!

Cecil Beaton In His Own Words

Cecil Beaton was a portrait and fashion photographer, as well as a diarist and Oscar-winning designer. Here he discusses his life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive: 
 
At Home: Cecil Beaton, broadcast on BBC Radio, 7th May 1957 (featuring Hywel Davies) 
Face To Face, broadcast on BBC Television, 18th February 1962 (featuring John Freeman) 
Late Night Line-Up, broadcast on BBC Television, 9th May 1968 (featuring Sheridan Morley) 
Desert Island Discs, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 26th January 1980 (featuring Roy Plomley) 
 
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary

Cecil Beaton was a portrait and fashion photographer, as well as a diarist and Oscar-winning designer. Here he discusses his life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive: 
 
At Home: Cecil Beaton, broadcast on BBC Radio, 7th May 1957 (featuring Hywel Davies) 
Face To Face, broadcast on BBC Television, 18th February 1962 (featuring John Freeman) 
Late Night Line-Up, broadcast on BBC Television, 9th May 1968 (featuring Sheridan Morley) 
Desert Island Discs, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 26th January 1980 (featuring Roy Plomley) 
 
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
&copy;2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

British Life

6 Minute English

Learn and improve your English with the BBC. Collected here for the first time are 12 episodes from BBC Learning English's popular 6 Minute English series. Aimed at intermediate-level learners of English, each programme examines a different topic which is discussed and explained to help learners increase their knowledge of the English language. 
Over the course of 70 minutes, our helpful guides will steer you through the language used and provide you with a better understanding of the vocabulary of British life. Topics discussed include the London Tube, Estate Agents, Tea Drinking, Football Rivalries, and Cockney English. Produced by BBC Learning English.

Doctor Who Sound Effects (Vintage Beeb)

A special collection of digitally-remastered sound effects from the 1970s, including the iconic sonic screwdriver and the terrifying Dalek Hatching Tanks.

Everyone knows that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than the outside; and the selection of aural locations from the Doctor’s travels will equally broaden your horizons.   No fewer than seven alien worlds are visited, together with some extra-ordinary, extra-dimensional occurrences encountered on Earth (Sol 3 in the Mutters Spiral). Add to these an audiogram of the Doctor’s own mind processes, TARDIS operations, some weapons for self-defence and your galactic safety is ensured.   Time Lord Note: a source of jelly babies is recommended to complete the illusion of time travel.

Charles Paris: Murder in the Title

A BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Simon Brett’s comic crime novel, starring Bill Nighy as actor turned amateur sleuth Charles Paris.

Charles Paris is his own worst enemy, a louche lush who can resist anything except temptation – especially in the form of women and alcohol. 
 
He’s been out of work so long now he feels he may never get a job and he’s driving Frances, his semi-ex-wife, mad. So when he’s offered a small role in a play, she nearly pushes him out of the door. But it seems that The Message is Murder is such a terrible production that someone wants to kill off the cast. First there is a series of nasty accidents, then someone attempts to stab Charles. Can he find the murderer before they strike again? 
 
Bill Nighy stars as Charles Paris in this entertaining dramatisation by Jeremy Front. 
 
Written by Jeremy Front, based on the novel by Simon Brett. 
 
Duration: 1 hr 50 mins approx.

Gardeners' Question Time 4 Seasons

An exclusive edition of the perennially popular BBC Radio 4 series for gardeners everywhere. Gardening can be both a challenge and a joy. Get it right, and it can provide boundless pleasure; get it wrong, and it is a source of infinite frustration. Help is at hand, however, in this specially recorded 'Gardeners' Question Time' compilation, in which the regular team offers all-year round advice on everything from plants and planting to pests, diseases, design and seasonally topical tips.Chairman Eric Robson and panelists Matthew Biggs, John Cushnie, Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood, Bunny Guinness, Roy Lancaster and Anne Swithinbank address key gardening questions for every season. They include: how to protect your container plants from winter frost; how to ensure your spring bulbs flower; how to grow summer vegetables in a tiny courtyard, and how to find trees or shrubs that provide stunning autumn colour.There's also a plethora of information for any time of year, such as how to attract birds into your garden, obtain the perfect lawn, and clean and maintain your pond. Best of all, the number one question from gardeners - 'how can I get rid of slugs and snails?' - is authoritatively answered.So join the team in the potting shed, and look forward to a whole year of trouble-free gardening!

Maureen O'Brien

David Troughton

Jon Culshaw

Geoffrey Beevers

David Banks

Nicola Bryant

A further collection of tales from the vintage pages of Doctor Who Annual, brought to life by a host of Doctor Who voices. 
 
The First Doctor faces The Devil Birds of Corbo when he lands the TARDIS on a swamp-infested planet, and then the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are caught in a Grip of Ice when they materialise on a glacier. 
 
UNIT and the Brigadier call in the Third Doctor and Liz when a top secret experiment gets out of control in Caught in the Web, and The Eye Spiders of Pergross creep closer to the Fourth Doctor, Sarah and Harry when they venture to a distant planet. 
 
The Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough are troubled by rodents when they experience Winter on Mesique, and the Sixth Doctor and Peri find Edwardian England plagued by an alien in Day of the Dragon. 
 
Maureen O'Brien, David Troughton, Jon Culshaw, Geoffrey Beevers, David Banks and Nicola Bryant read these wildly imaginative stories first published in book form between 1966 and 1985. 
 
Readings produced by Morrison Ellis 
Sound design by David Darlington 
Executive Producer: Michael Stevens 
 
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

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