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The book lover’s guide to… Paris

A BBC Radio 4 serialisation of Zola's epic saga

Blood, Sex and Money

Glenda Jackson stars in this award-winning BBC Radio series, inspired by literature's greatest ever whistleblower, Émile Zola, and his epic saga of the Rougon-Macquart family

Glenda Jackson stars in this award-winning BBC Radio series, inspired by literature's greatest ever whistleblower, Émile Zola, and his epic saga of the Rougon-Macquart family 
 
 ‘Unmissable’ Daily Telegraph 
 
 First published between 1870 and 1893, Émile Zola’s 20-book cycle chronicling four generations of the Rougon-Macquarts was a shocking exposé of the decadence, degradation and moral decay of 19th-century France. It included some of his greatest novels, among them his masterpiece, Germinal. 
 
 These innovative, ambitious dramas, first broadcast on Radio 4 over 24 hours in 2015-16, is a radical reimagining of Zola’s classic series, introducing us to 104-year-old matriarch, Dide, imprisoned in an asylum in southern France. Trapped, but omniscient, she broods over her ‘family of wolves’. As a young woman, she gave birth to two dynasties that exemplified French society. One legitimate – rich, powerful, obsessive and corrupt. The other illegitimate – poor, vulnerable, weak and depraved. 
 
 In these three seasons, themed around blood, sex and money, we come to know the members of her extended family intimately – the good, the bad and the misguided. As we follow their highs and lows, we are taken deep into the heart of France’s ‘Second Empire’ and drawn into the tragic, farcical reign of Napoleon III as it marches forward towards a modern, industrialised society. 
 
 This groundbreaking series won Best Drama at the BBC Radio and Music Awards 2016 and Best Adaptation at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2017, and boasts a star cast including Robert Lindsay, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Holliday Grainger, Samuel West, Anna Maxwell Martin, Paul McGann, Georgina Campbell, Jack Lowden and Alison Steadman. 
 
 Also included is a 30-minute bonus programme, The Life and Work of Émile Zola, in which Glenda Jackson travels to Paris to discover how Zola’s experience and the physical and cultural landscape in which he lived influenced his great novels. 
 
Written by Émile Zola 
Dramatised by Dan Rebellato, Oliver Emanuel, Martin Jameson and Lavinia Murray 
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris, Polly Thomas, Kirsty Williams, Nadia Molinari and Gary Brown 
Executive Producer: Melanie Harris 
Series Producer: Susan Roberts 
Sound designer: Eloise Whitmore 
 
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4

Emile Zola

Charlotte Riley

David Bradley

Claire Goose

Michael Maloney

Imogen Stubbs

Struan Rodger

Trevor Peacock

Full cast

Nine Full-Cast Dramatisations

BBC radio adaptations of novels and short stories by Émile Zola, plus a fascinating short documentary and an original drama 
 
Novelist, journalist and literature&rsquo;s greatest whistleblower, Émile Zola was one of the 19th century&rsquo;s pre-eminent authors. He is renowned for his philosophy of naturalism, which informed his 20-volume Rougon-Macquart cycle, an epic family saga set during France&rsquo;s Second Empire, and for his controversial intervention in the Dreyfus affair through his infamous protest letter, J&rsquo;Accuse. 
 
Here are some of his superlative works, adapted for radio with stellar casts and beginning with his breakthrough novel, Thérèse Raquin. A cautionary tale of lust, murder and madness, it stars Charlotte Riley, Andrew Buchan and Toby Hadoke. It is followed by five of the most famous novels in the Rougon-Macquart series &ndash; L&rsquo;Assommoir, The Ladies&rsquo; Delight, Germinal, His Masterpiece and La Bête Humaine. With settings ranging from Paris to the far north of France, they portray 1860s French society at its most brutal, corrupt and duplicitous. Featuring a host of unforgettable characters, from slum laundress Gervaise to idealistic miner Etienne, impoverished painter Claude and tortured train driver Jacques, these poignant, powerful and provocative dramas star David Bradley, Claire Goose, Georgia King, Joe Absalom, Rob Edwards, Michael Maloney and Imogen Stubbs. 
 
Based on short stories by Zola, Kelvin Segger&rsquo;s Dead Men Tell No Tales and Trooping with Crows introduce us to a dead man observing his funeral preparations, another killed by advertising, a dreamer who delays for too long and a devious entrepreneur with an extraordinary marketing idea. Michael Maloney, Norman Bird, Struan Rodger, Terry Molloy and Trevor Peacock star in these dark, inventive plays. 
 
To conclude, two captivating bonus programmes explore Zola&rsquo;s involvement in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus. Zola and the Dreyfus Affair charts the course of the scandal that rocked a nation; while Hattie Naylor&rsquo;s original drama J&rsquo;Accuse looks at events through the eyes of the right-wing, nationalistic Louis Grigori, who comes to believe that the persecution of the guiltless Dreyfus was the correct and only action. 
 
Contents 
Thérèse Raquin 
L&rsquo;Assommoir 
The Ladies&rsquo; Delight 
Germinal 
His Masterpiece 
La Bête Humaine 
Dead Men Tell No Tales 
Trooping with Crows 
Zola and the Dreyfus Affair 
J&rsquo;Accuse 
 
First published 1867 (Thérèse Raquin), 1876 (L&rsquo;Assommoir), 1882-83 (Au Bonheur du Dames), 1884-85 (Germinal), 1885-86 (L&rsquo;Œuvre), 1890 (La Bête Humaine) 
 
Copyright &copy; Kelvin Segger 1999 (Dead Men Tell No Tales), 2000 (Trooping with Crows) 
J&rsquo;Accuse copyright &copy; Hattie Naylor 2009 
 
&copy; 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Émile Zola: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

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The book lover’s guide to… Paris

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