A. J. Liebling, born in Manhattan in 1904, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935 and contributed innumerable articles to the magazine throughout his lifetime, on subjects ranging from food to boxing and France to horse racing. As a war correspondent during the Second World War, he reported from France, England and Algeria, and participated in the Normandy landings. In later life he married the writer Jean Stafford, his third wife. He died in 1963.

A. J. Liebling

A. J. Rosen is an author of YA fantasy and is known as @agatharoza on Wattpad.

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

A. O. Scott has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000. His writing has appeared in many other publications, including the New York Review of Books, Slate, the New Yorker and the Nation. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2010, Scott is currently Distinguished Professor of Film Criticism at Wesleyan University. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
@aoscott

A. O. Scott

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A. S. Byatt

A. T. Williams won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2013 for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa. He lives in Warwickshire.

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by the Guardian newspaper, and ‘the real thing’ by the Washington Post, A.C. 'Ava' Glass is the CWA Dagger-shortlisted author of Alias Emma (The Chase), The Traitor and The Trap. The Traitor was a 2023 Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. Alias Emma was a Barnes and Noble book of the month. A former crime reporter and communications consultant, for five years Ava worked closely with spies. Her time in that world fascinated her, and the people she met back then inspire every book she writes.

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

Arthur Edward Waite was the designer and co-creator of the now famous Rider Waite Tarot deck. 
 
An American-born British poet and scholarly mystic, his strong interest in all esoteric matters - divination, magic, Kabbalism, alchemy and Freemasony - led to him penning a number of books. These include the Key to the Tarot, The Book of Ceremonial Magic and A New Encyclopedia of Freemasony.

A.E. Waite

A.E. Warren is the author of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series, which consists of Subject Twenty-One, The Hidden Base, The Fourth Species and The Final Rising. 
 
After spending eight years working as a lawyer, she began to write in the evenings and early mornings as a form of escapism from life in a very small cubicle with lots of files. She self-published her first novels in her spare time, which were picked up by Del Rey UK which is the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. 
 
 She is an avid reader, occasional gamer and fair-weather runner. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and hopefully, one day, a wise border terrier named Austen.

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A K Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins and Doctor Who figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit award and is in development for a major 8-part TV series by Company Pictures. Her second, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, came out in February 2016. She's written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish and her short stories have featured in anthologies including Great British Horror and Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

A.K.Benedict

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

A.L. Kennedy

A.M. Ellis is a speculative fiction author and lover of everything steeped in myth and mystery. Her stories often lean into diverse voices, not only in her identity as a Black woman, but in exploring neurodivergence and mental health. A proud introvert and nostalgic gamer, she lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband and three children. Angelica is also the author of Hunt A Killer, a PERFECT SCORE novel, under the pen name A.M. Ellis, which she wrote as an IP for Scholastic in the US.

A.M. Ellis

A.N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work. He lives in North London.

A.N. Wilson

A.W. Priest

A.B.C. Merriman-Labor was a barrister, writer and munitions worker born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1877. His published works include A Series of Lectures on the Negro Race and The Story of the African Slave in a Nutshell. He also edited two editions of the Handbook of Sierra Leone. He arrived in the UK in 1904 to study law. In 1907, he organised a centenary commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in Westminster Abbey. He later embarked on an 'entertainment-lecture' tour called Life and Scenes in Britain, travelling across thousands of miles of West, South West and Central Africa, which he expanded on to create Britons Through Negro Spectacles.

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

Aaliya Jaleel is a freelance illustrator, designer, and visual development artist, currently majoring in Animation at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the illustrator of Under My Hijab and Muslim Girls Rise. You can visit her online at www.aaliyamj.com.

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

After more than fifteen years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, Dr Aaron Balick has taken the amazing insights from psychology and psychotherapy out of the consultation room and made them accessible to the wider world. 
 
He has been an ‘agony uncle’ for many years for both CBBC and BBC Radio 1, as well as on television, including BBC Worldwide, BBC 3 and BBC Learning.

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

Aaron Dignan is the founder of The Ready--a global organizational transformation and coaching practice--that helps companies large and small adopt new forms of self-organization and dynamic teaming. Clients include Johnson &amp; Johnson, Microsoft, Lloyds Bank, Citibank, Boeing, Mailchimp, Airbnb, Dropbox, and charity: water. 
 
He is also the founder of Murmur--a SaaS startup that helps teams scale culture through the magic of working agreements. The Murmur platform will allow every team on the planet to define and share their ways of working. 
 
Dignan is the author of Brave New Work (2019) and Game Frame (2011), co-host of the Brave New Work podcast, and a friend to misfit toys.

Aaron Dignan

Aaron Edwards is a senior lecturer in defence and international affairs at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, specialising in terrorism and counter-insurgency. He is the author and editor of several books, including Defending the Realm: The Politics of Britain’s Small Wars Since 1945, and has lectured all over the world on aspects of national and international security. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Aaron Edwards

Aaron Robertson is a writer, an editor, and a translator of Italian literature. His translation of Igiaba Scego’s Beyond Babylon was short-listed for the 2020 PEN Translation Prize and the National Translation Award, and in 2021 he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant. His work has appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy, n+1, The Point, and Literary Hub, among other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Aaron Robertson

Aaron Shapiro

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Eleven uncanny stories inspired by the master of uncanny terror, H.P. Lovecraft 
 
One hundred years ago, H.P. Lovecraft created the Necronomicon, a grimoire of lost souls, magical rites and forbidden lore. Now, locked away, the hoarder of horror is after new voices, new blood, to add to his collection. 
 
Listen as he shares the tales that come to him, whispered through the keyhole and written in the dust. From ghost stories to encounters with demons, haunted houses and a fateful Celtic goddess, they will draw you into his claustrophobic and disturbing world, stir your imagination and awaken your deepest fears and nightmares... 
 
Introduced by Stephen Hogan as H.P. Lovecraft, these chilling, intimate dramas feature full casts including Elizabeth Berrington, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Stella Gonet, Derek Riddell, Jamie Glover, Adjoa Andoh, Sara Poyzer and Eddie Marsan. 
 
Track listing: 
1 - Out of the Depths by Melissa Murray 
2 - The Loop by Chris Harrald 
3 - Bleeder by Ed Hime 
4 - The Fly by Lynn Ferguson 
5 - Connected by Melissa Murray 
6 - Split the Atom by Lynn Ferguson 
 7 - The House on Pale Avenue by Richard Vincent 
8 - Original Features by Christopher William Hill 
9 - The Burial of Tom Nobody by Richard Vincent 
10 - Louisa's by Amanda Whittington 
11 - Night Terrors by Lizzie Nunnery

Weird Tales

A BBC Radio collection of chilling plays inspired by H.P. Lovecraft

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe's most celebrated stories, as heard on BBC Radio - plus bonus documentaries and two thrilling original dramas 
 
The master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe has inspired generations of horror writers with his chilling Gothic tales, and is also credited with inventing the detective fiction genre in The Murders in the Rue Morgue. 
 
This radio collection features five of his classic tales - The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Oblong Box, The Fall of the House of Usher and The Masque of the Red Death, read by David Horovitch, Brian Gear, James Aubrey, Sean Barrett and Don Gilet. Also included is his renowned poem The Raven, read by Patrick Romer. 
 
Here, too, are adaptations of Poe's suspenseful story of piracy and slavery, The Gold Bug, starring Clarke Peters and Rhashan Stone, and his pioneering mystery story The Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring James Fleet and Andrew Scott. 
 
Radio 3's The Essay: Loving the Raven sees Poe enthusiasts Andrew Taylor, Joanne Harris, Louise Welsh, Mark Lawson and Kim Newman discussing the author's enduring legacy and cult status, while in Adventures in Poetry: The Raven, Peggy Reynolds explores Poe's most iconic work. 
 
Also included are two original dramas featuring Poe himself. Obsessed by a woman's unsolved murder, Edgar Allan Poe is presented with a disturbing revelation on the night before his death in Peter Mackie's The Real Mystery of Marie Roget, starring Ed Bishop. And in Christopher Cook's The Strange Case of Edgar Allan Poe, starring Kerry Shale and John Moffatt, Poe's famous detective C. Auguste Dupin investigates the bizarre death of his creator. 
 
Content warning: The Gold Bug is set in a time when slavery was still prevalent in America, and contains racist language from that era. 
 
Track listing: 
The Pit and the Pendulum 
The Tell-Tale Heart 
The Oblong Box 
The Fall of the House of Usher 
The Masque of the Red Death 
The Raven 
The Gold Bug 
The Murders in the Rue Morgue 
The Essay: Loving the Raven 
Adventures in Poetry: The Raven 
The Real Mystery of Marie Roget 
The Strange Case of Edgar Allan Poe 
 
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Edgar Allan Poe BBC Radio Collection

The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart & other works

Bram Stoker

Michael Fassbender stars in this multi-voice reading of Bram Stoker’s legendary tale 
 
First published in 1897, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is widely regarded as the best gothic horror novel of all time. The popularity of the world’s most notorious vampire, Count Dracula, has ensured that it has never been out of print, and it remains a timeless classic. 
 
In this epistolary novel, journal entries, letters, newspaper clippings and a ship's log interweave to form an incredible, thrilling story, as the various protagonists intimately recount the epic legend of the Transylvanian count. 
 
The tale begins with Jonathan Harker’s journal as the young, newly qualified solicitor travels to the remote Carpathian Mountains to meet a wealthy client. But as he explores Castle Dracula, he discovers more than he dares contemplate, and learns the terrible truth about his host. 
 
Meanwhile in England, his fiancée Mina Murray fears for his safety. An empty foreign schooner arrives in Whitby, and Mina's apprehension grows as a mysterious illness affects her dear friend Lucy. When Lucy’s health deteriorates rapidly, Dr Seward calls in the help of Professor Van Helsing, who sets a plan in motion to capture Dracula. 
 
With time running out, Jonathan, Van Helsing, Dr Seward and Mina must embark on a perilous journey to Transylvania and come face to face with the Vampire King… 
 
This 10-part series features Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender as Jonathan Harker, James D’Arcy as Dr Seward, Gillian Kearney as Mina Murray and James Greene as Van Helsing.

Dracula

A BBC Radio 4 reading starring Michael Fassbender

Mark Gatiss stars as sinister raconteur The Man in Black, in these twenty terrifying full-cast radio dramas 
 
The Man in Black is waiting to make your acquaintance. Maybe you’ll meet him on a bus, in the supermarket, or at an airport luggage carousel. Perhaps he’ll peer into your baby’s pram, or approach you in the corridor of a care home. Wherever you encounter him, he's eager to pass on his stories. Stories of darkness and death, myth and madness. Stories to unsettle and horrify. 
 
Two lads on a council estate stumble onto a world where time has stopped. Something evil stalks stranded soldiers in Afghanistan. A retired accountant gets out of his depth on the Net. An ex-alcoholic is on the run from more than just his AA buddy. These tales, and many more, will haunt you long after the Man in Black has departed... 
 
Included are: 
The Tower by Mike Walker 
Project Purple by Richard Vincent 
The White Hare by Lucy Gough 
Hide and Seek by Mike Cary 
Bomber’s Moon by Lucy Kirkwood 
 Phish Phood by Kim Newman 
Death Us Do Part by Mike Bartlett 
Flesh by Tom Morton-Smith 
Angels in Disguise by Nicola Jones 
The Old Road by Penelope Skinner 
Connect by Lucy Moore 
The Printed Name by Nicholas Pierpan 
Lights Out by Christopher Golden and Amber Benson 
Uncle William’s House by Alison Falconer 
Perfect Home by Nick Warburton 
Containment by David Lemon 
The Punt by Christina Balit 
The Beaten Track by Dawn King 
Reunion by Janice Okoh 
The New Boy by Matthew Wilkie 
 
Among the casts are Tom Goodman-Hill, Mark Bonnar, Emerald O’Hanrahan, Vineeta Rishi Toby Jones, Adjoa Andoh, Jonathan Forbes, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Alex Lanipekun.

The Man in Black: The Complete Series 1-4

Twenty creepy full-cast dramas

M. R. James

Spine-tingling stories by M. R. James, plus a chilling original drama and two bonus programmes about his life and work 
 
M. R. James was the master of the uncanny. His classic supernatural stories have haunted readers for over a century, and been adapted countless times for radio, TV and film. 
 
This collection features dramatisations of twelve of his most popular stories – The Mezzotint; Casting the Runes; The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral; A Warning to the Curious; Rats; Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come To You, My Lad; The Tractate Middoth; Lost Hearts; The Rose Garden; Number 13; Martin’s Close and Count Magnus. Among the star-studded casts are Mark Gatiss, Derek Jacobi, James D’Arcy, Anton Lesser, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Donald Wolfit. 
 
Also included are a trio of readings by Benjamin Whitrow: Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook; A School Story and The Haunted Dolls’ House. 
 
Neil Brand’s disturbing drama The Haunting of M. R. James, starring Mark Gatiss and Fenella Woolgar, sees horrific events from James’s own stories echoed in reality. 
 
The life of M. R. James is discussed by Muriel Gray and Christopher Frayling in an episode of biography series Great Lives, presented by Humphrey Carpenter. Finally, in a fascinating documentary – The Ghosts of M.R. James – Michell Raper examines the author’s life and work, with readings from several of his stories. 
 
Running Order: 
The Mezzotint 
Casting the Runes 
The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral 
A Warning to the Curious 
Rats 
Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come To You, My Lad 
The Tractate Middoth 
Lost Hearts 
The Rose Garden 
Number 13 
Canon Alberic's Scrapbook 
A School Story 
The Haunted Doll's House 
Martin's Close 
Count Magnus 
The Haunting of M. R. James 
Great Lives: M. R. James 
The Ghosts of M. R. James

The M. R. James BBC Radio Collection

Dramatisations and readings of his classic ghost stories

An unsettling collection of full-cast dramas from the long-running BBC Radio 4 horror series. 
 
Throughout five series of Fear on 4 from 1988-1997, Edward de Souza was The Man in Black, a sinister raconteur who introduced a weekly half-hour of terror and suspense. Here, he welcomes us to his house of horrors as he presents thirteen terrifying tales that will make your flesh crawl. 
 
The Snowman Killing by J C W Brook 
Green and Pleasant by Bert Coules 
Survival by John Wyndham 
Soul Searching by Martyn Wade 
The Beast with Five Fingers by William Fryer Harvey 
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 
By the River, Fontainebleau by Stephen Gallagher 
The Face by E F Benson 
The Monkey’s Revenge by Guy Jenkin 
Fat Andy by Stephen Dunstone 
The Journey Home by Bert Coules 
Dead Man’s Boots by William Ingram 
The Judge’s House by Bram Stoker 
 
With eerie sound effects that enhance the atmosphere of dread, these bloodcurdling adaptations run the gamut from the mysterious to the macabre. With superb casts including Imelda Staunton, Bernard Cribbins, Anna Massey, Thora Hird and Sean Barrett.

Fear on 4

13 chilling BBC Radio 4 dramas

H.G. Wells

David McAlister reads six supernatural stories from the author of The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds 
 
Best known for his science fiction, H.G. Wells was also a master of the ghost story, producing numerous tales of the gothic, the eldritch and the uncanny. These six stories, ranging from the humorous to the horrifying, epitomise the very best of Wells’ occult fiction. 
 
The Moth 
Two entomologists are embroiled in a scientific feud. When one dies, the other believes he has discovered a rare new species... 
 
The Story of the Late Mr Elvesham 
A medical student gets more than he bargained for when he accepts an old man’s bequest. 
 
The Temptation of Harringay 
Struggling with his latest portrait, an artist is shocked to find it taking on a distinctly diabolical air. 
 
The Inexperienced Ghost 
A man encounters a timid spirit haunting his club, and helps him out – with dreadful consequences. 
 
The Stolen Body 
A psychical researcher attempts an out-of-body experience, with terrifying results. 
 
The Door in the Wall 
Lionel Wallace is haunted by the memory of a green door in a white wall, leading to an enchanted garden. Can he ever find it again?

Ghost Stories by H G Wells

Six chilling tales from BBC Radio 4

William Peter Blatty

Robert Glenister and Ian McDiarmid star in a gripping BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of William Peter Blatty’s classic horror novel 
 
‘When a radio play is this good, the devil really is in the details’ Radio Times 
 
Summoned to a case of apparent possession, Father Karras is at first sceptical, then horrified. The victim –a 12-year-old girl named Regan – seems to be controlled by a malign supernatural force that makes her swear, blaspheme, scream in agony and perform appalling acts. Attempting to find a rational explanation for the girl’s behaviour, Karras tries to talk to Regan, only to find himself locking horns with the demon inside her head. Its many voices mock him, tormenting him with his weakness, doubts and buried guilt. With his faith in God and humanity tested to the limit, Karras turns to the ultimate solution: exorcism… 
 
The film version of The Exorcist is widely considered to be one of the most terrifying movies ever made. This new, full-cast radio drama is just as chilling, suspenseful and shocking, while also retaining the depth and psychological complexity of Blatty’s original novel. Adapted by Sony Award-winning dramatist Robert Forrest, it stars Robert Glenister as Karras, Alexandra Mathie as the Demon and Ian McDiarmid as Merrin.

The Exorcist

Washington Irving

The story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (based on Tarrytown, New York), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky, and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. As Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, who is supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during "some nameless battle" of the American Revolutionary War, and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head".

The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley's heart-breaking modern myth of obsession, pride and the need for love, dramatised for BBC Radio, starring Jamie Parker. 
 
Frankenstein was written by a teenager and the story has all the energy and emotional intensity of this time of life. It's a thrilling, horrifying adventure, packed with incident and breath-taking moments. But the incident and surface horror are metaphors for deeper, ever relevant themes: the hubris of science and those who practise it without moral responsibility; society's attitudes to difference; the quest for love. Most importantly, it raises profound questions about children; the love/hate relationship between parents and adolescents; the guilt and pain suffered by both when it all goes wrong. 
 
Dramatised by Lucy Catherine. 
Directed by Marc Beeby. 
Starring Jamie Parker as Frankenstein, with Shaun Dooley, Susie Riddell, Alun Raglan, Robert Blythe, Sam Alexander, Christine Alexander, Patrick Brennan, Bruce Alexander, Emma Hook, Joe Sims and Don Gilet. Music by Colin Guthrie. 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2012. 
 
 
©2012 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2012 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Frankenstein

Agatha Christie

‘There’s Rosemary, that’s for remembrance.’ Published in 1945, Sparkling Cyanide is all about remembrance. It begins with six characters recalling the horrific death of Rosemary Barton, a beautiful but shallow young heiress poisoned by a cyanide-spiked glass of champagne whilst celebrating her birthday at a smart London restaurant. Rosemary haunts all six characters, each of them a suspect, throughout the story – and it’s not until her killer is found and her ghost laid to rest that the group can move on, though they will never forget. With a distinguished cast including Naomi Frederick, Peter Wight and Sean Baker, this wonderfully entertaining production retains the thrill of Agatha Christie’s clever, compulsive story.

Sparkling Cyanide

Valentine Dyall

Four gripping episodes from the famous 1940s BBC Radio horror series.   Includes: 'The Pit and the Pendulum' by Edgar Allen Poe (18 September 1943); 'The Speaking Clock' by John Dickson Carr (13 April 1944);  'The Clock Strikes Eight' by John Dickson Carr (18 May 1944);  'And the Deep Shuddered' by Monckton Hoffe (20 November 1945).   'Appointment With Fear' ran for a total of ten series between 1943 and 1955, with Valentine Dyall – ‘The Man in Black’ – introducing nine of them. The four episodes here are the sole surviving ones from the BBC archive.   'The Pit and the Pendulum' is a terrifying tale of torture told by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, while 'The Speaking Clock' tells of a man who commits murder and gets away with it. In 'The Clock Strikes Eight', we learn from Dr Gideon Fell the awful truth about the Barton case, while 'And The Deep Shuddered' is a haunting tale of a survivor of a maritime disaster who subsequently goes insane.   Dramatised with a full cast, these four sinister stories will chill your blood and strike terror into your heart.

Appointment With Fear

Frederick Jaeger and Phyllis Logan star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Bram Stoker’s classic horror novel.   Summoned to the forbidding heart of the Carpathian mountains in Transylvania, Jonathan Harker journeys to Castle Dracula. There he becomes the unwitting prisoner of a mysterious nobleman whom local legend suggests is Nosferatu, the vampire, a night-stalking beast whose immortality depends on the slaking of his insatiable thirst for human blood.   Able to transform himself at will into the shape of a wolf or bat, the evil Count sets sail for England on the scent of new and corruptible flesh. Meanwhile, Harker’s fiancée, Mina, is staying in Whitby when a great storm brings a shipwreck to the town. Suddenly Mina’s friend falls terribly ill. Could her fate be connected to what Harker found in Transylvania? As Count Dracula’s terrible secret is unearthed by the vampire hunter Van Helsing, a breathtaking chase across Europe ensues...   With specially composed music and sound effects, this terrifying adaptation ably captures the atmosphere of brooding fear and dark eroticism present in Stoker’s original novel.

M.R. James

Widely acknowledged as the master of the supernatural, M. R. James penned many of his classic ghost stories to be read aloud to friends, by candlelight, in his study on Christmas Eve. These five adaptations, originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4, perfectly capture the mood of nerve-jangling suspense that would surely have been present during those readings.   In ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’, Professor Parkins embarks on a terrifying journey of discovery after he removes a curious artefact from the ruins of a Templar preceptory; while ‘The Tractate Middoth’ sees diligent curator David Garrett caught up in the machinations of the mysterious Dr Rant when he’s sent to retrieve an obscure manuscript from the library stacks.   ‘Lost Hearts’ tells of a young boy haunted by two ghostly children, and in ‘The Rose Garden’, terrifying forces are unleashed when the Goodmans tear down their old summer house. Finally, ‘Number 13’ takes us to the Danish town of Viborg, where Dr Anderson puts himself in terrible danger as he investigates why the hotel he’s staying at does not contain a room 13.   Starring BAFTA and Emmy-award winning actor Derek Jacobi, and with powerfully chilling music and sound effects, these rich, riveting dramatisations make for irresistible listening.

Spine Chillers

Frankenstein, first published in 1818, is widely recognised as being one of the first 'science fiction' novels. Starring Michael Maloney as Frankenstein and John Wood as the Creature, this spine-tingling dramatisation perfectly conveys the book's pervasive sense of unease and dread. 
 
Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious young scientist and seeker after knowledge, considers it the pinnacle of his career when he makes a Creature in his own name. But his triumph soon turns to horror, and he is appalled when the Creature, denied a female counterpart, turns against his creator and commits a terrible crime. In a desperate attempt to destroy his creation, the scientist tracks him from Europe to the desolate North Pole, and in this bleak landscape of ice and fog, prepares to confront his nemesis...

Stephen Gallagher

A collection of suspense-filled thrillers from master of the genre Stephen Gallagher 
 
A listening treat for fans of gripping drama: eight thrillers, plus a bonus story, from ‘the finest British writer of bestselling popular fiction since Le Carré’. Full of suspense and utterly immersive with full-cast production values, this collection is not to be missed. 
 
In sci-fi thriller Chimera, there are unexplained killings at a secret research establishment. Within hours, government officials are on the scene and the investigation is hushed up. But why? What was the real purpose of the Jenner Clinic…? Starring Brian Glover. 
 
In The Kingston File, Gary Kingston is just a name on a file until he suddenly appears to be involved in a series of frightening murders. Things take a terrifying turn when a social worker tries to sort him out. Starring Shaun Prendergast and Mick Ford. 
 
By the River, Fontainebleau is a tale of horror, set in France at the end of the nineteenth century. A young painter's obsession with a potential model leads him into a world of degradation and self-disgust. Starring Kim Wall and Stephen Rashbrook. 
 
In A Resistance to Pressure, Dr Lewis is a rising star, not only in the medical profession but also on the social scene. Then a telephone call on New Year's Eve changes everything… Starring Gareth Armstrong and John Rowe. 
 
An Alternative to Suicide is a gripping futuristic sci-fi thriller. Maverick Lesterman is a highly developed computerised human 'meat machine'. When he is involved in an unpleasant accident on board a spaceship, he is returned to earth to be 'comforted' by Esther Anderson, a 17-year-old clone. Maverick rediscovers areas of his submerged personality, with frightening consequences… Starring Michael Jayston and Catherine Kessler. 
 
Life Line explores what would happen if modern technology could open the way to communication beyond the grave. And if so, to what end? Please hold… Starring Nicholas Murchie and Julian Rhind-Tutt. 
 
The Humane Solution is a stunning thriller involving a journalist and his photographer, fog-bound at an airport in Holland. When a hijacking story breaks around them it seems unlikely the truth will ever be revealed. Can silence be bought and if so, at what price? Starring Patrick Mower. 
 
In horror tale The Horn, three strangers are trapped in a snowstorm on a remote stretch of motorway. They find themselves listening for the sound of a horn, which they believe will lead them to safety. They are very much mistaken… Starring Edward de Souza. 
 
In bonus story ‘The Visitor’s Book’, a happy couple rent a holiday home but they soon start to feel that something happened there the year before... Read by Terence Edmond. 
 
Stephen Gallagher’s screen writing credits include Doctor Who, Bugs, Chimera, Chillers, Murder Rooms and more. He was the writer-director of Oktober, creator of Eleventh Hour and lead writer on Crusoe. He is a member of the Writers’ Guild of America and former Norther Chair of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. 
 
Praise for Gallagher’s novel, Follower: 
 
"The finest British writer of bestselling popular fiction since Le Carré.” John Williams, The Independent 
 
"If thriller reading were a sin, Stephen Gallagher would be responsible for my ultimate damnation. His work is fast-paced, well-written, infused with a sense of dark wonder, and altogether fresh.” Dean Koontz 
 
“Stephen Gallagher has been breaking the crime/horror barrier for years, with terrific results…” Christopher Fowler, Time Out 
 
©2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Chimera & other thrillers

Eight Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramas

A Private Thriller

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

A Puffin Book

A Ripley Novel

A Slice of the Moon

A Victorian Mystery

A Walk in...

A Women’s Murder Club Thriller

A chef Paul Delamare Mystery

Aberrations

Across the Universe

Actiphons

Adelia Aguilar

Adrian Mole

Adventures in Time

Aftermath

Against War

Age of X

Agent 21

Agent Z

Detective Aidan Waits is a troubled junior detective haunted by his past. Facing an uncertain future, and disconnected from his history, DC Waits and his partner, Detective Inspector Peter 'Sutty' Sutcliffe work on Manchester's streets to uncover the city's worst criminals among the grime of the underworld.

Aidan Waits

Air Ministry Survival Guide

Alan Partridge on the BBC

Aldrin Adams Adventure

Alec Devlin

Alex Craft

Alex Cross

Alex Delaware

Alex vs Axel

Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar

Alfie

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