Full-cast dramatisations of Un Vie, Bel Ami & more

The Guy de Maupassant BBC Radio Drama Collection

BBC Radio adaptations of selected novels and short stories by the great 19th century French writer - plus bonus programmes 
 
Guy de Maupassant is renowned as one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protégé of Flaubert, he was celebrated for his naturalistic fiction, and wrote over 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books and one volume of verse in his short but highly productive lifetime. He died in an asylum aged just 43. 
 
This collection brings together dramatisations of some of his finest works. Adapted by Sony Award-winning dramatist Frances Byrnes, Bel Ami chronicles the corrupt rise of charming, ruthless journalist Georges Duroy (Jonathan Slinger). It is followed by Maupassant's most famous short story, 'The Dumpling', a satirical tale of a group of coach travellers fleeing occupied Rouen during the Franco-Prussian war. Dramatised for the first time on radio, it stars Miriam Margolyes. 
 
Set in Le Havre, Pierre et Jean centres around the jealousy that springs up between two brothers when a family secret is uncovered. Benedict Sandiford stars as Pierre, with Tim Treloar as Jean. Maupassant's tragicomic debut novel, Une Vie, starring Aimee Ffion Edwards, tells the story of Jeanne, a naive convent-educated aristocrat who dreams of romance, but finds marriage and adulthood treacherous and rotten. The haunting wintry tale 'The Inn' is next, in which young mountain guide Ulrich (Robin Laing) finds himself in sole charge of a remote Alpine hotel. 
 
A hidden past is also at the heart of 'Mademoiselle Pearl', a poignant love story starring Claire Neilson and Frank Middlemass. Alongside it is 'The Hand', the macabre supernatural tale of an English aristocrat, his gruesome trophy and his vengeful nemesis. Denis Quilley stars as Sir John Rowell. 
 
Also featured are two bonus dramas and a documentary about the great author. Confessions of a Hedonist is a phantasmagorical journey through five of Maupassant's most personal stories: 'A Strange Night Out', 'Mouche', 'Laid To Rest', 'Cockcrow' and 'Le Horla'. Adapted and translated by Simon Scardifield, it stars Elliot Cowan and Holli Dempsey. How an Umbrella Changed Everything, written by Shirley Cooklin and based on an idea by Maupassant, tells of a childless couple whose obsessive frugality has fateful repercussions. Nigel Lambert and Sheila Grant star as Charles and Clothilde Oreille. Finally, Meridian: Guy de Maupassant - Master of the Short Story explores Maupassant's life, work and lasting legacy. 
 
First published 1880 ('The Dumpling'), 1883 (Une Vie, 'The Hand'), 1885 (Bel-Ami), 1886 ('The Inn', 'Mademoiselle Pearl'), 1887 (Pierre et Jean, 'Le Horla'), c1890 ('Mouche', 'A Queer Night in Paris', 'Laid to Rest', 'Cockcrow') 
 
Production credits 
Written by Guy de Maupassant 
 
Contents: 
 
Bel Ami 
 
The Dumpling 
 
Pierre and Jean 
 
Une Vie 
 
The Inn 
 
Mademoiselle Pearl 
 
The Hand 
 
Maupassant's Confessions of a Hedonist 
 
How an Umbrella Changed Everything 
 
Meridian: Guy de Maupassant - Master of the Short Story 
 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Une Vie (Complete Series)

Adrian Penketh's adaptation of Maupassant's first novel. Jeanne de Lamare - a sheltered and naive country aristocrat - leaves her convent education filled with thoughts of love and romance. Lamare marries a smallminded local landowner, and begins to discover how rotten and treacherous adult life is all around her. Jeanne believes that conceiving a second child will heal the ache in her heart caused by a loveless marriage in a rotten world. 
 
Stars Aimee Ffion Edwards as Jeanne, Adam Nagaitis as Julien, Robert Blythe as the Baron and Christine Absalom as the Baroness.

Guy de Maupassant

Francis King

Alexander Pushkin

Friedrich Dürrenmatt

H. G. Wells

Julian Symonds

Wilkie Collins

Honoré De Balzac

W. Somerset Maugham

Stacy Aumonier

Dennis Quilley

George Cole

Joss Ackland

Michael Denison

Christopher Cazenove

Maureen O'Brien

George Baker

Full Cast

Ten Classic Full-Cast BBC Radio Crime Dramas

Ten vintage dramas on the theme of murder, written by internationally recognised authors and set across the globe 
 
‘Murder is murder, anywhere in the world. The taking of life, the most terrible crime a human being can commit, is the same in any language, whether it springs from vengeance, greed, hate, love or whatever...’ 
 
Conceived by BBC World Service producer Derek Hoddinott, the 1976 anthology series Murder International comprised half-hour adaptations of famous murder mysteries by world-renowned writers past and present, set in locations ranging from Corsica to St Petersburg, Malaysia, France and Spain. Collected here are ten of those thrilling dramas, each with a different theme, ranging from ‘murder by the supernatural’ to ‘murder by duel’. Bringing them to life are a host of leading actors including Denis Quilley, Maureen O'Brien, George Cole, Christopher Cazenove, Joss Ackland, Michael Denison and George Baker. 
 
In The Hand by Guy Maupassant, an English aristocrat awaits his nemesis – alongside a gruesome trophy from his days in Africa. 
 
Mess, by Francis King, sees an adolescent boy taking extreme measures to escape his chaotic home life. 
 
The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin finds a high-stakes gambler risking his life and his sanity when he discovers the secret of how to win at cards. 
 
Face to face with the state assassin, a dissident writer defends his right to free speech in Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Conversation at Night. 
 
Three men, maddened by greed for gold, turn on each other in The Treasure in the Forest by H.G. Wells. 
 
Serial wife-killer Clayton Allenby meets his match with bride number four in Julian Symons’ The Accident. 
 
The youngest son of the Monkton family seems afflicted with hereditary madness in Wilkie Collins’ Mad Monkton – but is he insane, or cursed? 
 
The Executioner, by Honoré de Balzac, centres on a young Captain in the Napoleonic wars, who is ordered to carry out a terrible crime. 
 
Somerset Maugham’s Footprints in the Jungle concerns a charming married couple with a shocking skeleton in their closet. 
 
In Stacy Aumonier’s The Fall, when a petty crook turns murderer, Inspector Tolozan uses the man’s greatest fear to extract a confession... 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio, 4 21 July - 29 September 1976 
 
With warm thanks to Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle 
 
NB: Some of the language on these vintage recordings reflects the era in which it was first broadcast, and due to the age of the source material, the sound quality may vary 
 
Conversation at Night © 1986 by Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich 
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

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