NOTE: From mid-September the listings seemed to be a little lacking with most cast/reader and director credits being absent from the text.

Barry Hodge

THE AFTERNOON PLAY

2:15pm Weekdays; 45mins; Repeats may not be marked for the first five weeks of the year, or maybe (unusually) there weren't any.

(01-01-2001) No programme.

(02-01-2001) Little Words (Amy Rosenthal)
In January 1923, Katherine Mansfield died in a sanatorium in the French Alps, after a life-long struggle for health. At the same time, Dorothy Parker made her first serious suicide attempt in a New York hotel bathroom. One night, years later, the lives of these two troubled writers come together. With Julia Ford, Will Keen, Madeleine Potter and Kathryn Pogson. Directed by Jonquil Panting.

(03-01-2001) Peacemakers - The Baroness (Melissa Murray)
The first of three plays charting the history of the peace movement is a dramatisation of the meeting between Baroness Bertha von Suttner and her old friend Alfred Nobel in a Vienna hotel. She tries to persuade him to invest some of his riches in the Peace League, but he has other concerns. With Jeffery Dench. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.

(04-01-2001) McLevy - 3: The Second Shadow (David Ashton)
A four-part series of stories featuring Ashton's Victorian detective based on real-life Edinburgh policeman Inspector James McLevy. Counterfeiters are at work in the city, and McLevy is under pressure to secure rapid convictions. With Brian Cox, Siobhan Redmond, Michael Perceval-Maxwell and John McGlynn. Directed by Patrick Rayner.

(05-01-2001) Fresh Figs At 5am (Louise Oliver)
Forty-one-year-old Madeline suspects that she is pregnant by an old flame whom she's been seeing for six months. She books herself into a hotel for one night, to think: can she face being a single mother again? Then Gran unexpectedly turns up. With Barbara Marten and Elizabeth Kelly. Directed by Susan Roberts.

(08-01-2001) Whims & Oddities (Natalia Power)
Thomas Hood (1799-1845) wrote many poems and ditties, and is best known for his political treatise on behalf of working men and women, `The Song of the Shirt'. His life was happy, but he died young. With Anton Lesser, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Clare Corbett and Charlie Simpson. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(09-01-2001) Miss Kilmansegg & Her Precious Leg (Thomas Hood, dram Martyn Wade)
Dramatisation of Hood's satirical poem about the corrupting effects of money which comically investigates why a famous society lady - the owner of a renowned golden prosthetic leg - is found battered to death, a victim of her own obsessive greed. With James Grout, Rachel Atkins and Stephen Critchlow. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(10-01-2001) Peacemakers, Summer '76 - 2 (Annie Caulfield)
The second of three plays charting the history of the peace movement looks at how thousands of women took to Belfast's streets in the summer of 1976, following an incident in which the car of an IRA gunman - who had been shot by British soldiers - killed three children. With Diane O'Kelly, Dillie Keane, Anny Tobin and David Thorpe. Directed by Claire Grove.

(11-01-2001) McLevy - 4: The Burning Question (David Ashton)
An unsolved murder brings vigilantes onto the streets, causing difficulties for Jean Brash's house of ill-repute. With Brian Cox, Siobhan Redmond, Michael Perceval-Maxwell and Forbes Masson. Directed by Patrick Rayner.

(12-01-2001) Angel Story (Hattie Naylor)
When Lur finds a pair of wings and attaches them to her back, her whole world suddenly changes: where before people around her were constantly moaning, they are suddenly joyful. But constant happiness has its own price. With Joanne Froggatt, Jasmine Hyde, Amelda Brown and Richenda Carey. Directed by Mary Peate.

(15-01-2001) On The Train To Chemnitz (Peter Tinniswood)
Aubrey and Dorinda live their lives in their own claustrophobic world, dominated by guilt. Their verbal games are vivid, unbelievable and true. With Paul Scofield and Fiona Shaw. Directed by Enyd Williams.

(16-01-2001) Natural Selection Of Margaret (Patricia Hannah)
A comedy of menace based on the extraordinary true story of a group of settlers on the Galapagos Island of Floreana 70 years ago. With Deborah Findlay, Crawford Logan, John Shedden and Monica Gibb. Directed by Louise Dalziel.

(17-01-2001) Peacemakers - The Priest (David Johnston)
Based on the Lima embassy siege in 1996, in which a Peruvian revolutionary group took hostage the guests at a party at the Japanese embassy. Father Juan Julio Wicht, priest and economist, chose to stay with the rest of the hostages when given the opportunity to leave. With Stanley Townsend, Martin Marquez, Yolanda Vasquez and Togo Igawa. Directed by Mary Peate.

(18-01-2001) Peter's Cafe (Manny Draycott Lai)
Viv, Fiona, Christie and Sophie have been friends for a long time, meeting at Peter's Cafe. Peter introduced them, he listens to their woes over coffee and wine, and smoothes over rifts between them. But he has a life about which they know nothing. With Selina Cadell, Stephanie Turners, David Calder, Dinah Stabb and Geraldine Fitzgerald. Directed by Jonquil Panting.

(19-01-2001) The Price Of Reputation (Don McCamphill)
Thriller about the case of the enigmatic Carmel Breen of County Tyrone, who, while working as a housekeeper in London, is arrested as a criminal accessory and portrayed in the press as an `evil mistress of violence'. With Tina Kellegher, Ralph Brown, Stella McCusker and Peter Hanley. Directed by Lawrence Jackson.

(22-01-2001) Victorian Marriage Beds - 1: A Proper Woman (Geoffrey Beevers, with commentary by Dr Lesley Hall)
As part of a series about Victorian sexuality, this drama documentary about 60-year-old novelist George Eliot's honeymoon with John Cross explores the codes of sexual conduct between an older woman and a younger man more than 100 years ago. With Anna Massey, William Gaminara, Bella Hamblin and Luca Pusceddu.

(23-01-2001) Fallen (Philip Palmer)
Raymond Thomas quickly rose to become the youngest bank manager in South Wales. But then he had an affair, stole money, lost his job and went to jail. Can his family and the town accept him back, after he has so betrayed their trust? With Owen Teale, Francine Morgan, Robert Pugh and Steven Meo. Directed by Toby Swift.

(24-01-2001) The Polish Soldier (Gregory Evans)
A disturbing memory of a man in uniform sets James on a search for the truth about what happened during his childhood. With Jeremy Northam, Teresa Gallagher, Jillie Meers and Tom George. Directed by Ned Chaillet.

(25-01-2001) The Angel Of New Street (Liz John, Helen Kelly & Carolyn Scott-Jeffs)
These three writers, new to radio, have created an impressionistic take on a a day in a life of Birmingham New Street Station, by following the progress of three radically different groups of people. With Kaleem Janjua, Joyce Gibbs, Alison Belbin and Sara Weymouth. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.

(26-01-2001) Something Memorable (Adam Thorpe)
This play imagines the conversation between Thomas Hardy and his first wife, Emma Gifford, in the 45 minutes before midnight on 31st December 1900. As the new century approaches, the tensions within their marriage become apparent. With Patrick Malahide and Gemma Jones. Directed by Rob Ketteridge.

(29-01-2001) Victorian Marriage Beds - 2: Singleheart (Nicholas McInery, with commentary by Prof John Tosh)
As part of a series about Victorian sexuality, this drama documentary about the engagement and marriage of the future Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward Benson, explores the codes of conduct between an older man and a younger woman more than 100 years ago. With Samuel West, Amy Shindler and Lexi Rose.

(30-01-2001) Mablethorpe (Lucy Catherine)
Alison, with her life ahead of her, wants to discover the past, while Mrs Gawkrodger, too old even to plant her window box, thinks only of the future. They are drawn together by an old photograph, labelled `Mablethorpe 1952'. With Lia Williams and Anna Wing. Directed by Tracey Neale.

(31-01-2001) The Trials & Tribulations Of Armitage Shanks (Mike Harris)
Armitage Shanks is in advertising and thinks he can convince anyone to buy anything. So when he is summoned for jury service, he undertakes to convince his fellow jurors that an obviously guilty GBH defendant is innocent. With David Morrissey, Philip Jackson, Penny Downie and Christopher Wright. Directed by Clive Brill.

(01-02-2001) Book Lovers (Martyn Wade)
When Gillian decides to set up a book club, the response is disappointing. Undeterred, the small group embark on a course of reading, with the exciting contents of such novels as `Madame Bovary' brightening up their drab lives. But then life starts to imitate art... With Geraldine James, Maggie Steed, Roger Lloyd Pack and Stephen Critchlow. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(02-02-2001) Chandra (George W Fraser)
The life of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who was just 19 when he published a theory which he believed would turn the field of astronomy upside down. The establishment was unimpressed, but 50 years later this work won him a Nobel Prize. With Saeed Jaffrey, Surendra Kochar, Alexander Morton. Directed by Keith Halden.

(05-02-2001) Victorian Marriage Beds - 3: A Madman's Defence (Nicholas McInery, with commentary by Asa Bergenheim and Margaretha Fahlgren)
Part of a series about Victorian sexuality, this drama documentary about the marriage of Swedish playwright August Strindberg and his second wife, Frida Uhl, explores the issue of women's rights and attitudes to sexuality in Europe more than a century ago. With Anton Lesser, Annabelle Dowler and Teresa Gallagher.

(06-02-2001) A Time That Was (Hilary Fannin)
The story of two Irish mothers and their daughters. Having met as children at the end of the 60s in stifling, pious Dublin suburbia, Anne and Sim never let go of their friendship, despite the radical differences between their families - and particularly between their mothers. With Mairead McKinley, Marcella Riordan, Anne-Marie Duff and Helen Ryan. Directed by Edward Hall.

(07-02-2001) Leo Adrift (Stephen Mollett)
A family drama about a voyage of discovery. It is 1969 and 12-year-old Leo is on a cruise with his family, annoying them all by recording everything on his new tape recorder. Eventually, even Leo has to admit that some things are best erased. With Garrett Moore, Julia Ford, Robert Bathurst and Parminda K Nagra. Directed by Pam Fraser-Solomon.

(08-02-2001) Ripples (Debbie Kent)
Fay adores a good bath: it's where she does her best thinking. Joe, however, prefers a brisk shower. Can something so slight threaten their relationship? With Claire Skinner and Stewart Wright. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.

(09-02-2001) Ghost On The Moor (Peter Wolf)
A romantic drama set on the Yorkshire moors. Graham has become something of a recluse following a dramatic break-up with his childhood sweetheart, the reasons for which still haunt him. But an unexpected new relationship has a cathartic effect upon him. With Robert Glenister, Jennie Stoller, John Turner and Jasmine Hyde. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(12-02-2001) Dying Inside (Robert Silverberg, adap Robin Brooks)
David Selig has a strange gift - he can read minds. But is it a gift or a curse? With Jonathan Tafler, Saira Todd, Flora Montgomery and Andrew Alston. Directed by Clive Brill.

(13-02-2001) Hitler's Buddha (Unk)
In Nanking, in 1937, as the Japanese pursue their brutal invasion, hundreds of Chinese lives are saved by the bravery of John Rabe, a hero and a Nazi. With John Rowe, Paul Courtenay Hyu, Rachel Atkins and Richard Rees. Directed by Alison Hindell.

(14-02-2001; Rpt) Petrella - 1: Good Fences Make Good Neighbours (Michael Gilberr, dram Michael Butt)
Four stories starring Philip Jackson as the lugubrious Detective Petrella, an Oxbridge-educated South London sleuth. Petrella pits his wits against the ingenious and elusive killer of an apparently innocent woman. With Nicky Henson, Mamta Kash and Christian Rodska. Directed by John Taylor.

(15-02-2001) Buried By Glass (Mike Walker)
When Jay, Mark and Sara meet for lunch at Jay's house in the country, they all have something to hide. But somewhere beneath their words lurks the truth. With Alun Armstrong, Robert Portal and Indira Varma. Directed by Jeremy Mortimer.

(16-02-2001) Bread From The Air, Gold From The Sea (G W Fraser)
Surreal drama about enigmatic German chemist Fritz Harber, who, in the same year, was tried as a war criminal for inventing poison gas and nominated for a Nobel Prize for creating nitrogen fertilisers. With Andrew Sachs.

(19-02-2001) Gabriel's Ashes (Chris O'Connell)
Griff has the gift of persuasion, while Gerry has nothing but a passion for musicals and a talent for guessing. Soon Griff has Gerry hooked, dreaming of the big time, stuck in Lewisham. Only when it is too late does Gerry see the danger. With Rob Dixon, Marc Warren, Jennie Stoller and Helen Ayres. Directed by Anne Edyvean.

(20-02-2001) Lockerbie On Trial (dram Peter Goodchild)
A reconstruction of the extraordinary story of one of the longest, costliest and most complicated trials in legal history. With Ian McDiarmuid, Denis Lawson and Hugh Fraser. (NB: A ninety-minute play.)

(21-02-2001; Rpt) Petrella - 2: The Myth Of Return (Michael Gilbert, dram Michael Butt)
Murder in the marshes, and the foggy nature of truth... With Nicky Henson, Jamie Glover and Mamta Kash. Director John Taylor.

(22-02-2001) Spy Nozy & The Poets (Paul B Davies)
Suspicious behaviour from new residents in a small Somerset village leads to the arrival of a Home Office spy and a memorable encounter immortalised in literary history. With Bill Nighy, Martin Clunes, Graeme Garden and John Woodvine. Directed by Sara Davies.

(23-02-2001) Sky High (Helen Brandom)
Cissie and Fred were looking forward to their diamond wedding anniversary - until notice came that their tower block was due for demolition and that they are to go into a home. At first it seems they will go quietly, but then Cissie has a better idea. With Elizabeth Spriggs, Bernard Hepton, Lizzie McInnerny and Alice Arnold. Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan.

(26-02-2001) Shaft (Emma Clarke)
A dark comedy in which two strangers are stuck overnight in a lift together. With David Crellin and Emma Clarke. Directed by Melanie Harris.

(27-02-2001) First Love
- Stephen Dillane reads extracts from Samuel Beckett's previously unbroadcast short story, which offers insights into Beckett's life. With commentary by actress Billie Whitelaw, biographer James Knowlson and publisher John Calder.

(28-02-2001; Rpt) Petrella - 3: Vengeance Foreseen (Michael Gilbert, dram Michael Butt)
Petrella pursues a violent killer. With Nicky Henson, Mamta Kash and Michael Cochrane. Director John Taylor.

(01-03-2001) Somewhere In A Desert
(Dominique Sigaud, trans Frank Wynne, adap Penny Leicester) In this meditation on the meaning of life and death, love and hate, an American woman sets out to discover the fate of her husband, who was missing in action at the end of the Gulf War. With Janice Acquah, John Sharian, Abigail Ramsay and Jerome Pradon. Directed by Julia Butt.

(02-03-2001) 97 Per Cent Penetration In Finland (Clare Seal & Dominic Black)
On a journey through the history of telecommunications, two young people, scarred by their relationship with the telephone, realise that they need direct communication to understand themselves and each other. With Monica Gibb, Norah Elwell-Sutton, Stuart McQuarrie and James MacPherson. Directed by Louise Dalziel.

(05-03-2001) Blue Air, Love & Flowers (Charlotte Jones)
Sophie takes David to a Chagall exhibition, in a last-ditch attempt to kick-start their relationship, and finds the paintings full of Russian romance. With Nicholas Farrell, Julia Ford, Mia Soteriou and Jon Strickland. Directed by Claire Grove.

(06-03-2001) Brimstone (Michael Symmons Roberts)
The demolition of the missile silos at Greenham Common causes a confrontation between a site worker and a former peace protestor. With John Lloyd Fillingham, Katherine Dow Blyton, John Draycott and Claude Close. Directed by Michael Fox.

(07-03-2001; Rpt) Petrella - 4: Outpacing The Fiend (Michael Gilbert, dram Michael Butt)
Petrella's Achilles' heel is exploited by some merciless killers. With Nicky Henson, Jamie Glover and Mamta Kash. Directed by John Taylor.

(08-03-2001) Once In A While (Stephen James)
What does it take to make a child happy? Jenny gives up her son for fostering, and spends years worrying about the effect upon the boy. With Victoria Carling, Simon Cadle, Tom Walker and Christopher Brennan. Directed by Michael Fox.

(09-03-2001) The Island Of The Day Before Yesterday (Jane Stevenson, dram Mike Walker)
When Simone Strachey employs a secretary to organise his dead father's papers, a mischievous idea enters his head - with extraordinary consequences. With Hugh Fraser, Jean Marsh, Joanna David and Natasha Little. Directed by Chris Wallis.

(12-03-2001) Examination Day (Carolyn Sally Jones)
Eleven-year-old Simon is a candidate for entrance to one of the few remaining grammar schools. His parents have moved house to be in its catchment area, even though everyone is aware that Simon is a border-line case. Everything seems to ride on his interview. With Lucy Fitchett, Hugh Viney, Russell Floyd and Bill Nighy. Directed by Keith Slade.

(13-03-2001) Redemption (Joanna Murray-Smith)
In a flat high above Central Park, Edie and Sam meet for the first time in four years, brought together by unexpected and painful circumstances. With Lia Williams and Ciaran Hinds. Directed by Janet Whitaker.

(14-03-2001; Rpt) The Duvet Lady (Peter Tinniswood)
Edna is a small woman, and not as young as she was. But she is beautiful. And she is wrapped from head to foot in a flowery duvet from which she will not be budged - until she prepares for an evening engagement. With Billie Whitelaw. Directed by Enyd Williams.

(15-03-2001) The Black Monk (Anton Chekhov, adap Rupert Kingfisher)
Chekhov's short story about a troubled young professor of philosophy who escapes to a house deep in the Russian countryside, only to be tormented by visions of a black monk. With Paul Rhys, Michael Pennington, Gordon Reid and Jasmine Hyde.

(16-03-2001) Baldi - 1: Three in One (Simon Brett)
A trip to the races for Baldi and Mrs Reid proves to have an unexpected link with a contract killing on the mean streets of Dublin's northside. With David Threlfall, Tina Kellegher, Owen Roe and T P McKenna. Directed by Lawrence Jackson.

(19-03-2001) Maine Voices (Ian McMillan)
It's six o'clock in the morning at the Round the Bend Cafe in Georgetown, Maine, and local fishermen, clam diggers and hunters arrive to drink coffee, buy cigarettes and play cribbage. As the day dawns, a travel writer sits and listens, knowing that he should move on, yet staying. With Ian McMillan, Bonnie Hurran and music from Snake Davies.

(20-03-2001) Barrel Boy (Angela Turvey)
Shirley has waited 40 years to return to Jamaica. Her son looks forward to her arrival, but he has changed and so has her home. With Claire Benedict, Janice Acquah, Eddie Nester and Martina Laird. Directed by Claire Grove.

(21-03-2001; Rpt) Michael & Me (David Eldridge)
The brutally honest tale of two brothers and the different paths their lives take. With Andrew Tiernan, Freddy White, Frank Harper and Susan Brown. Directed by Sally Avens.

(22-03-2001) In A Strange Country (Carolyn James)
Drama based on the letters of Freud and Jung and the diaries of Sabina Spielrein. A Russian girl is taken to Zurich to be treated for hysteria. However, the disturbingly intense relationship that develops between her and gifted psychoanalyst Carl Jung threatens the credibility of his profession. With Robert Glenister, Henry Goodman and Alison Pettitt. Directed by Pam Fraser Solomon.

(23-03-2001) Baldi - 2: Twilight Of A God (Mark Holloway)
Paolo and Tina investigate a murder at a celebrity wedding between a country girl and a world-famous opera conductor, in a remote castle off the Irish coast. With David Threlfall, Tina Kellegher, Owen Roe and T P McKenna. Directed by Lawrence Jackson.

(26-03-2001; Rpt) Straw Without Bricks (E M Delafield, adap Gwyneth Powell)
The story of E M Delafield's mission to write a humorous book in 30s Russia. The highlight of the trip, seen through the eyes of a middle-class Englishwoman, was the time she spent on a small commune, living and working with the comrades. With Gwyneth Powell, Anna Quayle, Kerry Shale and Katherine Canter. Director Richard Wortley.

(27-03-2001) Don't Forget The Diver (Rod Tinson)
Evan is a diver who works in the dark waters of the North Sea. His daughter Belle is brain-damaged, but has the miraculous ability to communicate with her father under the water. With Richard Derrington, Clare Holman and Natalie Morgan. Directed by Rosemary Watts.

(28-03-2001; Rpt) Maleficium (Liz Lochhead)
Witches, curses and spells are the ingredients of this new radio play, whose title is an old word for an act of witchcraft. The play draws on real accounts of witch trials and confessions to create voices for three fictional characters: farm hand, a housewife and an elderly `cunningwoman'. With Clare Corbett, Siobhan Redmond, Freda Dowie and Jon Glover.

(29-03-2001) Snaking Flame (Ajum Malik)
Fahmeeda and her mother-in-law only have two things in common: arrogance and naked ambition. The collision of personalities can only end in victory or tragedy. With Mina Anwar, Rohan Siva, Josephine Welcome and Parminder K Nagra. Directed by Pam Fraser Solomon.

(30-03-2001) Baldi - 3: Schecter's Knot (Martin Meenan)
The death of a talented young maths professor leaves Paolo and Tina to ask whether it was the result of a bad case of professional jealousy. With David Threlfall, Tina Kellegher, Owen Roe and T P McKenna. Directed by Lawrence Jackson.

(02-04-2001; Rpt) Talkers (Neil Brand)
In the late 20s, Jack Warner and his brothers sounded the death knell for silent movies. However, one band leader with nothing to lose had very different ideas about the future of `talkies'. With Nathan Osgood, Bradley Lavelle, Kristin Marks and Kim Romer. Director Eoin O'Callaghan.

(03-04-2001; Rpt) The Dressmaker (Bonnie Greer)
London, October 1949. After a year spent developing her portfolio and trying to win interest from the London fashion houses, designer Jean Edwards from Jamaica is close to realising that she must contemplate a very different future. With Angela Wynter, Josette Bushell-Mingo and David Yip. Director Alby James.

(04-04-2001; Rpt) The Door In The Wall (Kelvin Segger)
The play brings together three utopian stories by H G Wells: a mountaineer gets lost in a valley in the Andes and is surrounded by a race of sightless people; a man is transported to fairy land; and a third spends his life searching for a lost world behind a door in London. With Paul Webster, Christian Rodska, Gillian Goodman and Ben Crowe. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.

(05-04-2001) The Fairy Godmother (Susie Maguire)
When her best friend's marriage looks threatened by infidelity, relationship guidance counsellor Ann Sallis decides on a direct approach to solving the problem. With Phyllis Logan, Simon Tait, James Bryce and Martha Leishman. Directed by David Jackson Young.

(06-04-2001) Baldi - 4: Not For Life (Simon Brett)
When told that there is a question mark over the facts surrounding a girl's suicide, Paolo follows the trail into the contrasting worlds of romantic poetry and internet scams. With David Threlfall, Tina Kellegher, Owen Roe and T P McKenna. Directed by Lawrence Jackson.

(09-04-2001) Until Morning (Bathsheba Doran)
A mother visits her son and his flatmate on the anniversary of his father's death. Her appearance sets off a look at religious conviction, the environment, smoking, squirrels and smoking squirrels... With Rachel Atkins, David Mitchell, Darren Boyd and Michael Brett Drennan. Directed by Toby Smith.

(10-04-2001) Dead Money (Christopher William Hill)
A comedy thriller about the collision between old money and new. H Beswick and Co is an ancient City bank with a select clientele and a staff so loyal they're known as the Family. But the launch of their new web-banking service brings some surprises. With David De Keyser, Ian Masters, Andrew Hawkins and Stephen Critchlow. Directed by Jonquil Panting.

(11-04-2001; Rpt) The Curragh Wrens (Rebecca Bartlett)
In the 19th century, the Curragh Wrens were the women who lived around the British Army camp, in appalling conditions. This is the story of one of them. With Dawn Bradfield, Liam Brennan, Aoiffe Kavanagh and Siobhan Miley. Director Pam Brighton.

(12-04-2001) The Just William Lady (Tony Coult)
Based on Alison Neil's stage play. It is December 1968, and Richmal Crompton, author of the `William' stories, is driving in fog a few weeks before her death. She nearly hits a child, who, although flesh and blood, appears to be William, her fictional creation. With Elizabeth Spriggs, Oliver Cookson, Joyce Gibbs and Kaye Wragg. Directed by Turan Ali.

(13-04-2001) Baldi - 5: Scratching The Surface (Martin Meenan)
Paolo and Tina go pot-holing in County Clare and investigate a case of betrayal among a close-knit band of cavers. With David Threlfall, Tina Kellegher, Maggie Shevlin and Eva Birthistle. Directed by Lawrence Jackson.

(16-04-2001) Genevieve (William Rose, adap Adrian Bean)
From William Rose's original screenplay of the classic 1953 film about two couples who lightheartedly decide to race each other home after the annual London to Brighton car run. With Michael Maloney, Amanda Root, Robert Bathurst and Samantha Bond. Directed by Tracey Neale. (NB: 90min play for Easter Monday.)

(17-04-2001) Zander's Boat (Grace Barnes)
Three generations of Shetland women reflect on their lives, on love and loss. Edith is coming to terms with the death of her son, Sylvia prays for a miracle, and Marie is finding the courage to live alone. With Vicki Masson, Rose McBain and Wendy Seager. Directed by Gaynor MacFarlane.

(18-04-2001) Bye Bye Miss America High (Vanessa Rosenthal)
Marie Forbes has a wedding to organise, and the last thing she needs is Simone, a ghost from the past, distracting her from the preparations. But Simone won't go away. With Sarah Parks, Naomi Radcliffe, Rob Pickavance and Juliet Ellis. Directed by Melanie Harris.

(19-04-2001; Rpt) Sherlock Holmes - The Final Problem (Arthur Conan Doyle, dram Bert Coules)
A rebroadcast of Michael Williams' favourite Sherlock Holmes short story, in tribute to the actor. The culmination of a life's work is at hand, and Holmes prepares to meet his fate - and his greatest adversary. With Clive Merrison, Michael Williams, Michael Pennington and Frederick Treves. Directed by Enyd Williams.

(20-04-2001) Baldi - 6: Early Retirement (Mark Holloway)
The murder of a high-ranking officer in the Dublin police force causes Tina to reassess her relationship with a beloved father figure. With David Threlfall, Tina Kellegher, Owen Roe and T P McKenna. Directed by Lawrence Jackson.

(23-04-2001) A Kiss From A Sailor (John Peacock)
When E M Forster finally broke free of his mother's home at the age of 46, he fell in love with Harry Daley, an openly promiscuous police officer. But then Harry's associates and lovers, mostly petty criminals and gangsters, began to make their presence felt on the London literary scene. With Ronald Pickup, Daniel Brocklebank and Nicholas Boulton. Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan.

(24-04-2001) The Machine Stops (E M Forster, dram Gregory Normington)
In this vision of the future, Forster describes a world where the machine has become an all-powerful god. With Gemma Jones, John McAndrew and Jillie Meers. Directed by Jane Morgan.

(25-04-2001; Rpt) The Golden Triangle - 1: The Awakening Conscience (Robin Brooks)
The first of three plays about the lives of the Pre-Raphaelite artists. William Holman Hunt meets Annie Miller, a young beauty who works behind the local bar. He resolves to turn her into the perfect model and woman. With Jonathan Firth, Julie Cox, Alan Cox and Damian Lewis. Directed by Clive Brill.

(26-04-2001; Rpt) Voices From Chernobyl (Svetlana Alexievich, adap Lucy Baldwyn)
Marking the 15th anniversary of the reactor disaster, a powerful love story, based on a true account, of how a woman's fireman husband was taken in secret to Moscow after being injured fighting the fires which spread from the reactor. Their story is interwoven with contemporary interviews with Ukrainian witnesses. With Lorraine Ashbourne.

(27-04-2001) Census... 915 Years & Still Counting (Char March)
A light-hearted tale celebrating over 900 years of data collection in Britain. Garthwin and Lord Norman de Filbert are transported from the time of the Domesday Book to 2001, to meet Lakeesha and Halyna, who are seeking information from the citizens of Leeds. With Donald Sinden, Rupert Holliday Evans, Rob Pickavance and Grazyna Monvid. Directed by Sue Roberts.

(30-04-2001) Cops & Robbers (Katie Hims)
A dry-cleaner's assistant falls for a customer who chats her up and then, on leaving, is knocked down. How can she ever forget him? With Amanda Root, Philip Jackson and Nicholas Boulton. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.

(01-05-2001) A Small Good Thing (Raymond Carver, dram Mark Wheatley)
One of Carver's stunningly simple short stories. Ann and Howard are preparing for their son's eighth birthday. But tragedy arrives when the boy is knocked down in the street, and suddenly they are in the hands of strangers, their lives revolving around a hospital bed. With Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Quarshie, Colin Stinton and Ray Shell. Directed by Annie Castledine.

(02-05-2001; Rpt) The Golden Triangle - 2: Love Among The Ruins (Robin Brooks)
The second of three plays about the lives of the Pre-Raphaelite artists. As Edward Burne-Jones looks back over a long and successful career, he is tormented by the memory of Maria Zambaco, the wild and fascinating woman who became his model and his first and only love. With Kenneth Cranham and Maggie Steed. Directed by Clive Brill. (NB: The title may not me correct due to odd listings, both eps 2 and 3 were marked as "the last of three plays...")

(03-05-2001) Fresh From The Coast (Caroline Gawn)
A thriller set in the 1940s. Two old school friends are working on the rebuilding of Waterloo Bridge. One is heavily pregnant, but will not reveal the father's name to anyone. But then a police inspector begins trailing the women, asking questions about the father. Directed by Polly Thomas.

(04-05-2001; Rpt) Bodies & Souls (Martyn Wade)
Harry's long and tedious marriage to selfish Joyce reaches an all-time low when she begins to experience reincarnation. Her claims that the simplest domestic item contains the soul of a long-lost loved one has Harry reaching for desperate measures. With David Horovitch, Marcia Warren and Gerard McDermott. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(07-05-2001) Moondial (Helen Cresswell)
The classic children's novel, dramatised by the author. When Minty Cane goes to stay at her aunt's cottage, she soon discovers the time-travelling power of the moondial in the garden of the big house across the road. With Julia Hicks, Joe O'Brien, Laura Popplewell and Trevor Peacock. Directed by David Hunter. (NB: A 90min play.)

(08-05-2001) Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Diary Of A Kidnapping (adap Rachel Joyce)
Anne is a shy young woman suddenly thrown into the spotlight by her marriage to famous aviator Charles Lindbergh. Her happiness is complete, until their 18-month-old son is taken from his crib, while both parents are in the house. With Sally Cookson, Bonnie Hurran, John Sharian and June Barrie. Directed by Kate McAll.

(09-05-2001) The Golden Triangle - 3: Love Among The Ruins (Robin Brooks)
The last of three plays about the lives of the Pre-Raphaelite artists, by Robin Brooks. As Edward Burne-Jones looks back over a long and successful career, he is tormented by the memory of Maria Zambaco, the wild and fascinating woman who became his model and his first and only love. With Kenneth Cranham and Maggie Steed. Directed by Clive Brill. (NB: The title may not me correct due to odd listings, both episodes 2 and 3 were marked as "the last of three plays...")

(10-05-2001) Mary Mary (Martin Sorrell)
Mary Bennet, the third of the sisters in Jane Austen's `Pride and Prejudice', tells a very different version of events in her journal. With Lucy Briers, Robert Whelan, Kim Hicks and Saskia Portway. Directed by Sara Davies.

(11-05-2001; Rpt) Encore (Nan Woodhouse)
`Let's work together, you said. Strictly professional, you promised. A shot in the arm for our careers... Why did I listen?' With Julia McKenzie and Timothy West. Directed by Tracey Neale.

(14-05-2001; Rpt) The Guv'nor - Henry Irving & The Bells (wri/starring Corin Redgrave)
How the evening of November 25th, 1871, proved to be a turning point in the history of British theatre. With T P McKenna, Neil Salvage, Denys Hawthorne and Peter Stockbridge. Directed by Keith Slade.

(15-05-2001) CV5 - A Dance In A Suburban Ballroom (Jonathan Davidson)
In a school hall on a Spring evening in an English suburb, three couples and their dance teacher rehearse the waltz, foxtrot, paso doble and tango. As they learn the magic of the ballroom, their lives - past, present and future - step up to them. With Edward York, David Bradley, John Baddeley and Jane Downs. Directed by Tim Dee.

(16-05-2001) Mr Lowry's Loves (Glyn Hughes)
The award-winning writer examination of L S Lowry's platonic friendships with a succession of young women and their influence on his art. With Tom Courtenay, Rachel Atkins, Annabelle Dowler and Becky Simpson. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.

(17-05-2001) The Blackpool Detective (Peter Whalley)
A young out-of-work actor comes back to his home town with his girlfriend to run his convalescing father's private investigation agency. A straightforward surveillance case turns out to be something far more serious. With Jason Done, Abigail Ramsay, Sarah Parks and Glenn Cunningham. Directed by Pauline Harris.

(18-05-2001; Rpt) I See The Moon (Alex Ferguson)
A thrilling ghost story about a lost childhood, told by a man whom no one believes. With Cliff Howells, Kathryn Hunt, Russell Dixon and Mary Cunningham. Directed by Melanie Harris.

(21-05-2001; Rpt) The Sea Warrior (Leila Aboulela)
Two engineers on a North Sea oil rig are harassed by a stranger who seems to know every detail of their private lives. With Noma Dumezweni, Paul Birchard, James Bryce and Lynn Bains. Directed by Bruce Young.

(22-05-2001; Rpt) Beyond The Canvas - 1: Judith Beheading Holofernes (Lucy Gough)
The first of three drama documentaries looking at the creation of specific paintings. Gough's drama reflects on the problems of being a female artist in 17th-century Florence. With Anna Chancellor, Susan Jeffrey and David Perks. Germaine Greer discusses Artemesia Gentileschi's interpretation of the apocryphal story of Judith's seduction and decapitation of the enemy leader Holofernes.

(23-05-2001; Rpt) Beyond The Canvas - 2: Nocturne In Blue & Gold (Geoffrey Beevers)
A play about the events surrounding the libel case that resulted when Whistler's painting of Old Battersea Bridge prompted Ruskin to accuse the artist of `flinging a pot of paint in the face of the public'. With James Jordan, Ian Brooker, David Timson and David Holt. Richard Dorment examines the painting.

(24-05-2001; Rpt) Beyond The Canvas - 3: Nevermore (Nicholas McInerny)
This drama tells the story of Gauguin's painting, which was a response to the death of his baby just days after its birth. He depicted his teenage wife as a nude Venus in a tropical setting, with a raven gazing over the scene. With Anton Lesser and Inika Leigh Wright. The painting is discussed by Prof John House.

(25-05-2001) The Dreamer Of The Calle De San Salvador
(Roger Osborne, adapted by the author and Dominic Black) In 1587, 19-year-old Lucrecia de Leon is plagued by dreams that appear to predict the future of Spain. Based on a true story, the play tells the tale of Lucrecia and her visions, and the influence they came to have. With Katherine Igoe, Jamie Newall, Michael Percival-Maxwell and Joanna Tope. Directed by Amanda Hargreaves.

(28-05-2001; Rpt) Flambards (K M Peyton, dram Diana Griffiths)
Christina is sent to live with her fierce uncle and his two sons in their once-grand home - a household divided by emotional undercurrents and cruelty. With Ellie Beavan, Richard Pearce, Ben Crowe and Daniel Brocklebank. Directed by Sally Avens. (NB: A 90min play.)

(29-05-2001) Modem Gal (Sara Kestelman)
In her own words and music, Kestelman files some personal attachments. In this one-woman play, the actress looks back at loving relationships in her life, reliving funny, happy and not-so-happy experiences and, in the process, finding new hope for the future. Music orchestrated and arranged by Neil Rutherford. Directed by Rosalind Ayres.

(30-05-2001; Rpt) Close to Home (Maggie Allen)
Journalist Abi returns to Brighton to find her father struggling with domesticity and an old school friend in distress. With Emma Fielding, Frank Windsor, Jimmy Yuill and Tracy Wiles. Directed by Marion Nancarrow.

(31-05-2001) Remembering Mum (Lavinia Greenlaw)
A mixture of drama and interviews with children who have lost a parent, exploring how children cope with the death of a parent. With Susannah Hamilton, Morgan Frost, John Telfer and Ric Jerrom.

(01-06-2001) The Red Story (Hattie Naylor)
Adeliciously dark version of the fairy tale of `The Red Shoes'. They were made at night, cursed by a candle, touched by sulphur and placed in the shop window: glistening red shoes, to tempt a lonely child. With Roddy Maude-Roxpy, Joanna Froggatt, Sarah Badel and Gavin Muir. Directed by Celia de Wolff.

(04-06-2001) Trampoline (Meredith Oakes)
As a little girl bounces on a trampoline in her garden, different people catch sight of her, and we weave in and out of their thoughts, in the manner of `Under Milk Wood'. With Bridget Turner, Dinah Stabb, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew MacFadyen, Shaun Parkes and Andrew Scott. Directed by Mary Peate.

(05-06-2001) Mamihlapinatapai (Eliza Langland)
In a series of scenes and sketches, the play explores moments of `mamihlapinatapai' - a word from Tierra del Fuego that describes the situation where two people look at one another, each hoping that the other will offer to do something which both much desire, but are unwilling to do. With Eliza Langland, Crawford Logan, Johnny Meres and Gayanne Potter. Directed by David Jackson Young.

(06-06-2001; Rpt) Try Tony (Pom Boyd)
A bittersweet comedy set in contemporary Dublin, about an ill-tempered, middle-aged driving instructor who, by undertaking to teach four very different people, makes peace with the world and himself. With Donal O'Kelly, Stella McCusker, Darragh Kelly, Anna Healy and Fiona Condon. Directed by Lawrence Jackson.

(07-06-2001) Dinner At The Gotham Bar and Grill (Diana Amsterdam)
Jerry, a New York cop, and his wife, Judy, decide to celebrate their 20th anniversary at Manhattan's chic Gotham Bar and Grill. But Judy begins to realise that this anniversary is likely to be their last. With Colin Stinton, Kristin Marks, Katherine Igoe and Stuart Milligan. Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan.

(08-06-2001) Now Or Never (Nan Woodhouse)
A gentle comedy to uplift the older generation. With Ann Beach, Kathleen Helme, Thelma Barlow and Katherine Parr. Directed by Enyd Williams.

(11-06-2001; Rpt) The House That Hearst Built (Unknown)
It began as a `little' something on a Californian ranch and ended up as `Hearst Castle', one of the most extravagant homes in the world, fruit of a three-decade-long collaboration between publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst and architect Julia Morgan. This drama documentary draws on their correspondence, charting the growth of the house and its problems. With William Hootkins and Gayle Hunnicut.

(12-06-2001) My Mother & Other Strange Creatures (Claire Bennett)
A single-voice drama. 15-year-old Millie has an opinion on everything from internet chat rooms to Walsall market, film stars to funerals, and voices these views with humour and venom. But her chief concern is coping with her mother, a larger-than-life character with whom she has lived alone since her dad left for Australia. With Alex Kelly. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.

(13-06-2001) Love (Ian Curteis)
Ferdy telephones May and tells her that he has been deeply in love with her for 47 years. With Barbara Leigh Hunt, Bernard Hepton, Helen Ayres and Phillip Joseph. Directed by Tracey Neale.

(14-06-2001) Promises To Keep (Vivienne Allen)
A chilling psychological mystery. While a brutal serial killer stalks the bleak parklands of Norwich, teacher Martin Prior is dealing with his own, more personal nightmares. With Lucy Scott, Christopher James, Lisa Ellis and Rosie Walker. Directed by John Taylor.

(15-06-2001) Don't Get Me Wrong (Annie McCartney)
When four thirty-something women decide to forget the past and look to the future, they invite a clairvoyant to a girls' night to read their palms, with surprising results. With Saskia Wickham, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lizzie McInnerny and Marcella Riordan. Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan.

(18-06-2001) Blast (Kevin Fegan)
A mixture of interviews with steelworkers from the Don Valley in South Yorkshire, intercut with a poetic narrative by Kevin Fegan, about a man floating about a steel mill, daydreaming about his life. With Paul Copley. Directed by Melanie Harris. With music by Ivan Stott.

(19-06-2001; Rpt) Altaban The Magnificent (Sebastian Baczkiewicz)
A young British scientist discovers myth and magic in the looking-glass world of postwar Berlin. With Charles Barnecut and Stuart Milligan. Director Claire Grove.

(20-06-2001) What Mummy and Daddy Do (Elizabeth Bairnes)
Nick and Rose find themselves unwillingly privy to a dysfunctional family's deepest secrets when they are button-holed by a 10-year-old girl at a party. With Alice French, Mark Chatterton and Sarah Nixon. Directed by Michael Fox.

(21-06-2001) Purvis (Nicky Warburton)
A kindly vicar appoints an accident-prone widower as church safety officer. With Peter Sallis, James Fleet and Jasmine Hyde. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.

(22-06-2001) Poor Pen (Laurie Graham)
Set in Italy, the story of Pen Browning, son of poets Robert and Elizabeth Browning, is told by Lily, his faithful servant from his birth to her death. With Jean Alexander, Clive Swift, Bonnie Hurran and Susie Fugle.

(25-06-2001) Petrella - 1: Heroes & Villains (Michael Gilbert)
Four more stories starring Philip Jackson as the lugubrious Detective Petrella, an Oxbridge-educated sleuth in post-war South London. Confronted with robbery and murder, Petrella finds that even respected police officers are not exempt from suspicion. With Anthony Jackson, Jamie Glover and Mamta Kash. Directed by John Taylor.

(26-06-2001; Rpt) Ice Cream Afternoon Graham White)
The story of people trying to come to terms with their pasts and to forge meaningful futures for themselves. A brother and sister return from school to an empty house, and a woman visiting the seaside begins an affair with a local fisherman. With Kim Wall, Frances Barber, Jonathan Keeble and Vinny Castiglione. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.

(27-06-2001) Kew Gardens (Virginia Woolf)
A sensual weave of music and text, dipping in and out of the conversations of people strolling in Kew Gardens on a hot summer's day. Narrated by Juliet Stevenson, with music by Sylvia Hallett and an introduction by Ruth Webb, which is read by Phillip Joseph. Directed by Kate Valentine.

(28-06-2001) State Of The Art (Ali Smith)
A comic play about a man who hires an electronic guide on a visit to an art gallery. Soon he is being given information about a lot more than the paintings... With Michael Perceval-Maxwell, Vivienne Dixon, Monica Gibb and Emma Currie. Directed by David Jackson Young.

(29-06-2001) A Suit Of Lights (David Napthine)
Madrid 1934: Spain is descending into civil war. A matador dies in the bull ring, and his friend Federico Garcia Lorca writes his great elegy `A Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias'. With Adam Godley, Darrell D'Silva, Phillip Joseph and Kenny Blyth. Directed by Jonquil Panting.

(02-07-2001) Petrella - 2: The Missionary Position (Michael Gilbert)
When Detective Constable Milo encounters a former tutor, he is unprepared for where their friendship will lead him. With Anthony Jackson, Jamie Glover and Mamta Kash. Directed by John Taylor.

(03-07-2001; Rpt) The Dreaming Woman (Don Taylor)
When David, a young schoolteacher, is asked to speak to Helen, who has suffered a personal tragedy, a story emerges which changes the relationship between them and becomes part of the development of a great English writer. With Ian Dunn, Kate Copeland and Abigail Thaw. Directed by Don Taylor.

(04-07-2001; Rpt) Dear Gerald
(Gerald Meadows, dram Alyson Hallett)
A drama-documentary based on the letters sent by a 12-year-old English boy to his parents in England while he was evacuated to South Africa for the duration of the Second World War. The letters, lost for 60 years, uninhibitedly describe a boy growing up in wartime South Africa. With Jack Shute, Elaine Claxton, and Gerald Meadows himself. Directed by Pete Atkin.

(05-07-2001) Life Sentence (Jill Hyem)
Five intercut monologues, in which women who have been personally affected by the murder of a young girl talk about their feelings about the imminent release of her killer, who was herself only a young teenager at the time of the crime. With Alison Steadman, Maureen Beattie, Honeysuckle Weeks and Irene Sutcliffe. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(06-07-2001) Aylmer's Field (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
Andrew Sachs reads Tennyson's version of the Romeo and Juliet story, in which the Aylmers at the manor house and their relations, the Averills at the rectory, clash, wrecking the lives of Edith and her cousin Leolin. Concert pianist Victor Sangiorgio accompanies the poem with music by Grieg, Fibich and Janacek.

(09-07-2001) Petrella - 3: Death Watch (Michael Gilbert)
Petrella is charged with protecting Nuremberg trials judge Desmond Vereker from an avenger determined to kill him. With Anthony Jackson, Jamie Glover and Mamta Kash. Directed by John Taylor.

(10-07-2001) Burning My Boats (Jane Poncia)
Jennifer is a 64-year-old divorcee, happily settled into late middle age. When an American ex-boyfriend shows up and offers her a new life back in the States, she is surprised by how tempting it sounds. With Rosemary Harris, Brian Greene, Jonathan Keeble and Jennie Stoller. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(11-07-2001; Rpt) Looks Like Rain (Jimmie Chinn)
The first of two linked plays by Chinn. Joyce and Stan attend their mother's funeral, then return to the family home. As they sort through belongings, bitter grievances surface. And what about their missing brother? Is he really family and should he be allowed to share any inheritance? With Dora Bryan and Bernard Cribbins. Directed by Martin Jenkins.

(12-07-2001) Looks Like Rain (Jimmie Chinn)
The second of two linked plays. Following their mother's funeral, Joyce and Stan have been at her house uncovering long-held resentment. They are shattered when Charlie, their long-lost brother, suddenly arrives on the doorstep. With Dora Bryan, Bernard Cribbins and Roy Barraclough. Directed by Martin Jenkins.

(13-07-2001) Christabel (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
The allegorical enigmatic poem, written in the late 1790s. Its setting spans Somerset and the Lake District, and its themes are sorcery, enchantment and desire. With Jonathan Cake, Jasmine Hyde, Emily Woof and David Horovitch. With music by Barrington Pheloung. Directed by Sara Benaim.

(16-07-2001) Petrella - 4: Original Sins (Michael Gilbert)
When low-life Soapy is found chained to a post in the Thames, drowned by the tide, the finger points to the uncatchable Captain Crabtree. With Anthony Jackson, Jamie Glover and Mamta Kash. Directed by John Taylor.

(17-07-2001) Lila (Katie Hims)
A comedy about grief, love and loss. When 41-year-old Lila is widowed, her late husband's two brothers start to help her out, and both fall in love with her. With Denise Black, Jeff Hordley, John Branwell and Michelle Davenport. Directed by Melanie Harris.

(18-07-2001) The Last Days Of Desire (Torben Betts)
It's the future. England has become an over-populated, greedy, amoral culture ruled by free-marketeers and awash with terrorists. Here women die for their adultery. So what of the writer in such a world? With Ian Lindsay, Bill Stewart, Carolyn Backhouse and Ian Pepperell. Directed by Karen Rose.

(19-07-2001) A Face In The Crowd
(Marc Jobst, with poems by Ian McMillan) Seamless blend of documentary, drama and improvisation. Morag and Craigie both write to Willie Daly, the last real-life matchmaker of Ireland. Willie, who plays himself, introduces the two characters at the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival of Co Clare. With Lorcan Cranitch, Ruth McCabe and John Olohan. Directed by Marc Jobst.

(20-07-2001) The Poetry Disease
(Alan McDonald, with poems by Char March) A council official finds that his prose is being infected with poetry, his reports are coming out in rhyme, and his boss is beginning to notice. With Steven Pacey, Julia Ford, Ellie Beavan and Jennie Stoller. Directed by Claire Grove.

(23-07-2001) Dacha (Helen Kluger)
Four women are mysteriously summoned to a country house on the outskirts of Moscow, all having once danced or worked at the same prestigious St Petersburg ballet school. With Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Patsy Byrne, Tessa Peake-Jones and Gillian Bevan. Directed by Gemma Jenkins.

(24-07-2001) No Future In Eternity
(Timandra Harkness & Linda Cotterill) When God has to downsize the heavenly host, two angels have no choice but to try their luck on Earth. They discover that having to choose a gender and dealing with free will can get a little confusing. With Phelim McDermott, Emma Kennedy, Henry Naylor and Hugh Dennis.

(25-07-2001) Trio (Diana Webster)
Three views of an eternal triangle: did George cheat on Sheila? Was he seduced by Annabel? Or was she his victim? With Celia Imrie, John Duttine, Clare Holman and Sean Hagerty. Directed by Sue Wilson.

(26-07-2001) Depth Of Field (Matthew Dunster)
Michael is an 18-year-old with an obsession with crisps and rock group Nirvana, and has a mild form of autism, known as Asperger's syndrome. The play explores how he copes with unexpected events: his best friend is pregnant, and he has witnessed a family deceit. With Lee Ingleby, Elizabeth Spriggs, Marsha Thomason and Russell Dixon. Directed by Pauline Harris.

(27-07-2001; Rpt) Devonia - 1: The Beano (Andy Rashleigh)
Three plays about the life and times of a paddle steamer and its crew are depicted across three decades. A works outing in 1911 reunites childhood sweethearts. With John Duttine, Sophie Thompson, David Thorpe and David Allister. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(30-07-2001) Our Man In Athens (Tom Holland)
An adaptation of Thucydides' `History of the Peloponnesian War'. A veteran war reporter finds himself under siege in the studios of Radio Free Athens. As time runs out, he realises it is his last chance to leave a record of the truth for future generations. With John Simpson, Tim Piggott-Smith, Sean Barrett and Dee Sadler. Directed by Kate McAll.

(31-07-2001) Puddington Puma (Gee Williams)
Neighbourhood tensions surface and unlikely alliances are forged when a community has to tackle a very unusual summer visitor. With James Quinn, Meriel Scholfield, Julia Rounthwaite, Mark Chatterton and Gordon Burns. Directed by Polly Thomas.

(01-08-2001; Rpt) Henry's Leg - 1 (Ann Pilling, dram Eric Pringle)
The award-winning children's novel. Eleven-year-old Henry Hooper's real love in life is junk. When he brings home a fashion dummy's leg, he quickly finds himself in the middle of a real-life thriller. With Adam Nagaitis, Robert Pollard, Brigit Forsyth and Alison Darling. Directed by Pauline Harris.

(02-08-2001; Rpt) Henry's Leg - 2 (Ann Pilling, dram Eric Pringle)
Dirty Danny Crompton has stolen the dummy's leg, and Henry is determined to get it back. `H' - the voice of Henry's imagination - wants a quiet life, but Henry wants to solve the mystery and sort out his family. With Adam Nagaitis, Robert Pollard and Brigit Forsyth. Directed by Pauline Harris.

(03-08-2001; Rpt) Devonia - 2: Day Trip (Andy Rashleigh)
Harry's life aboard Devonia is made a misery by a group of upper-class undergraduates on a day trip to celebrate the end of their finals. With John Duttine and Emilia Fox. Director Cherry Cookson.

(06-08-2001) Don't Go Away (Jane Buckler)
When Pearl goes to change the bulb in the bathroom, she is surprised to hear a voice telling her she has been chosen for a special journey. With Helen Griffin, Laurence Allen, Stevie Parry and Catrin Rhys. Directed by Alison Hindell.

(07-08-2001; Rpt) Harvey Angell (Diana Hendry)
Adapted by Hendry from her Whitbread Prize-winning children's book. Ten-year-old Henry, his aunt Agatha and the other residents of her dingy guesthouse find their lives transformed by a new lodger, whose attic room becomes the centre of some very peculiar electrical activity. With Chris Harris, Michael Wilson and Josephine Tewson. Directed by Sara Davies.

(08-08-2001) The Devil's Music - 1: Roll, Jordan Roll (Alan Plater)
Three plays inspired by the women's jazz archive. Jazz musician Megan keeps playing a certain melody - but where does it come from? The trail leads back to the 1880s and the visit to Swansea of a choir of emancipated slaves. With Rakie Ayola, Margaret John, Helen Griffin and Don Warrington, and composer and guitarist Paula Gardiner. Directed by Alison Hindell.

(09-08-2001) Mela Mania (Anjum Malik)
Jim, a private detective, has followed Aftab to the biggest Asian festival in the country to get evidence of his affair with aspiring comic Sita. With Mina Anwar, Kulvinder Ghir, Geoffrey Leesley and James Quinn. Directed by Susan Roberts and Wils Wilson. Recorded on location at the Bradford Mela.

(10-08-2001; Rpt) Devonia - 3: Night Boat (Andy Rashleigh)
1936. Devonia has a curious group of passengers aboard who may well be spies. Meanwhile, will Harry and Mercy finally tie the knot? With John Duttine and Sophie Thompson. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(13-08-2001) There's Me, David, Chelsea, Charlene, Scott & Bianca
(Pam Leeson) Lee lives in Salford with his mum and five brothers and sisters. Life is very busy for him - looking after the kids, arguing with his girlfriend, and climbing the house roof to escape. Then Jeannie, a girl from across the street, disappears. With Daniel Hanbridge and Jill Halfpenny. Directed by Susan Roberts.

(14-08-2001) The Birthday (Stephen James)
To celebrate Michelle's birthday, Roger takes her to a romantic hotel in Dorset. But he can't shake the shadowy presence of his wife and children. With David Thorpe and Jenny Funnell. Directed by Gordon House.

(15-08-2001) The Devil's Music - 2: The Great Pork Pie Mystery
(Alan Plater) Jazz musician Megan is tracing the history of a melody she can't stop playing. Perhaps the answer lies in the Kohinoor Tearoom, Swansea, in the 1920s? With Rakie Ayola, Margaret John, Karin Diamond and Helen Griffin, and composer and guitarist Paula Gardiner. Directed by Alison Hindell.

(16-08-2001) The Stiffkey Tapes (Carolyn Sally Jones)
A harassed barrister is waylaid by a suspect character with a bag full of recordings which chronicle the strange events of a major 30s scandal, and show that the man at its heart was wronged by the Church, the press and lawyers. With Sunny Ormonde and Keith Ellery. Directed by Alastair Wilson.

(17-08-2001) Fly By Night (Louise Oliver)
For her 50th birthday, Eva Sparrow chooses 50 days of solitude, perched high in the tree house at the bottom of her garden. With her sons away, she sits in her wing-backed armchair, looking back over her life. Starring Pam Ferris, with songs composed by Clive Bell and sung by Amanda Hadingue, with lyrics by Louise Oliver. Directed by Susan Roberts.

(20-08-2001; Rpt) 46 Nursing Homes (Ruth Silcock)
A drama based on a sequence of poems charting her experience of finding appropriate residential care for her mother - a search involving nearly 50 nursing homes. With Rosemary Leach, Marcia Warren, Anthony Hyde and Elizabeth Bradley. Directed by Jules Wilkinson.

(21-08-2001) The Treasure of Sierra Midrumbie (Simon Little)
When Willie Crawford strikes a seam of gold in the middle of his council estate as he digs for the gas main, he and his family are preyed upon by assorted parasites and vultures. Then the council disputes the ownership rights to the mineral deposits. With Rodney Matthew, Ann-Louise Ross, Meg Fraser and John Ramage. Directed by Dave Batchelor.

(22-08-2001) The Devil's Music - 3: Beacons (Alan Plater)
Jazz musician Megan is tracing the past of a melody she cannot stop playing, and her journey comes full circle when her grandmother arranges a surprise. With Rakie Ayola, Margaret John, Karin Diamond and Helen Griffin, and composer and guitarist Paula Gardiner. Directed by Alison Hindell.

(23-08-2001) The Past Is A Foreign Country (Louise Page)
A play exploring the difficulties faced by wartime evacuees when they returned from the countryside to their families. With Declan Wilson, Terence Mann, Sue McCormick and Hassan Hassan. Directed by Polly Thomas.

(24-08-2001) Emily Rising (Dan Rebellato)
Ten-year-old Emily wakes one morning to find that her feet do not touch the ground. Despite the frantic efforts of her family and the authorities, she continues to rise. With Louisa Lytton, Ross Cook, Zoe Henry and Graeme Hawley. Directed by Polly Thomas.

(27-08-2001; Rpt) Smiles Of A Summer Night
(Ingmar Bergman, adap Shaun McKenna) A delightful `fairy tale for adults', set in Sweden at the start of the 20th century. Fredrik Egerman thinks himself content with a child bride the same age as his son, until he sees a past love, the vivacious Desiree Armfeldt. With Nicholas Farrell, Samantha Spiro, Samuel West and Claire Carrie. Directed by Marion Nancarrow.

(28-08-2001) National Velvet - 1: The Dream
(Enid Bagnold, dram Michelene Wandor) Velvet Brown wins a piebald pony in a raffle. Although the horse is reputed to be untamable, Velvet and her friend Mi are convinced it is a very special beast. With Kate Maberly, Sorcha Cussack, Jason Merrells and Struan Rodger. Directed by Celia de Wolff.

(29-08-2001) National Velvet - 2: The Race
(Enid Bagnold, dram Michelene Wandor) Velvet and Mi enter the piebald for the Grand National and, although women jockeys are banned, Velvet has a plan. With Kate Maberly, Sorcha Cussack, Jason Merrells and Struan Rodger. Directed by Celia de Wolff.

(30-08-2001) The Story Of Tracy Beaker
(Josephine Wilson, dram Georgia Pritchett) Tracy Beaker is a ten-year-old girl, a feisty survivor who, despite some setbacks in dealing with life in a children's home, realises her dream of finding someone to love her. With Victoria O'Donnell, Lauren Bird, Lewis Reece and Ruby Stokes. Directed by Marilyn Imrie.

(31-08-2001) Better To Have Loved - 1: Stone Trees
(Jane Gardam, dram Eric Pringle) Three dramatised short stories on the subject of love and loss by leading women writers. Lou's husband has died suddenly, leaving her with an overwhelming sense of loss. But lurking deep beneath the idyllic picture she paints of her marriage are dark shadows. With Anna Massey and Stella Gonet. Directed by Cherry Cookson. (NB: There seemed to be no follow-up plays in this 'series'!)

(03-09-2001) The Flanders Panel
(Arturo Perez-Reverte, dram Jonathan Holloway) A hidden inscription in a medieval painting depicting a chess game sets Spanish picture restorer Julia on the path to solving murders past and present. With Lizzie McInnerny, James Greene, Phillip Joseph and Geraldine Fitzgerald. Directed by David Hunter.

(04-09-2001) Home & Dry (Ed Jones)
Insightful and darkly humorous look at how a relationship survives change when one of the partners kicks a habit. With Maxine Burth, Ken Bradshaw, James Nickerson and Gary Martinelli. Directed by Polly Thomas.

(05-09-2001) The Moderniser (Steve Waters)
When a journalist attempts to uncover the truth about a missing MEP, she encounters obsession and madness. With Rosy Stonham, Jonathan Tafler, Kay Stonham and Jonathan Keeble. Directed by Mairi Russell.

(06-09-2001) The Deceit Of Angels (Kelvin Segger)
Comedy set in the 16th century and following the fortunes of a merchant and his daughter, a priest and a servant. With David Timson, Robin Kingsland, Sara Poyzer, Pauline Munro and Terry Molloy. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.

(07-09-2001) Chin Hair (Rachel Matthews)
A fantastical play about a woman who discovers a whole new world of sound and the wonders of nature, thanks to her chin hair. With Jo-Anne Horan, Shaun Prendergast, Daryl Fishwick and Richard Cole. Directed by Polly Thomas.

(10-09-2001) Smokers (Andy Rashleigh)
Every day on a street in Islington, London, a group of workers meet in the only place they are allowed to smoke. With Maria Charles, Benedict Sandiford, Poppy Miller and James Greene. Directed by Clive Brill.

(11-09-2001) Barbara Allen (David Pownall)
The mystery of love's compelling power, explored in a drama based on one of the best-loved folk songs of all time. With Keith Barron, Benedict Sandiford, Honeysuckle Weeks and Adam Godley. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.

(12-09-2001) Unbridled Spirits (Stevie Davies)
Factually based drama of the English Civil War featuring three characters who also appear in her novel `Impassioned Clay'. With Lynne Seymour, Becky Hindley and Jimmy Chisholm. Producer: Julia Butt.

(13-09-2001) Upton Women (Andy Barrett)
While the men of Upton-by-Southwell are caught up in the battle between the Roundheads and the King's Men, the women are left to battle for survival. Based entirely on parish records, this play charts a year in the life of three village women. With Gillian Goodman, Ann Beach, Sarah Poyzer and Peter Meakin. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.

(14-09-2001) Comforting (Joseph Crilly)
Geraldine is looking to buy a house and is drawn to the McAneerys' property business. On this occasion, Paul and Eugene's services go far beyond the selling of a house, and Geraldine's life is changed for ever. With Eleanor Methven, Conor Grimes and Gordon Fulton. Directed by Tanya Nash.

(17-09-2001) Free Gift (Israel Horovitz)
An Englishwoman in New York finds the most wonderful `free gift' left on her doorstep - a baby. But she lives in fear that he will one day be taken away.

(18-09-2001) Honey
(Unknown) (NB: No information given in listings.)

(19-09-2001; Rpt) A Matter Of Interpretation (Peter Morgan)
Ivo, a UN interpreter in the Bosnian War, waits in the Hague to give evidence against a fellow Croatian accused of war crimes. But what is the whole truth?

(20-09-2001) Secrets In Sepia (Val Syms)
A comedy of family affairs. It is a shock for Lilian when her sister Mabel dies suddenly, but nothing compared to the surprises waiting in Mabel's photo album.

(21-09-2001) The Alien Sister (Judy Upton)
Darkly comic drama about what happens to the family of a teenage computer whiz when his elder sister suddenly returns home four years after she went missing.

(24-09-2001; Rpt) For I Have Sinned (Wally K Daly)
Bernard Cribbins plays an elderly priest haunted by the memory of one particular confession which forced him to confront his own faith and beliefs.

(25-09-2001) The Man on the Green Bicycle (Jennifer Curry)
Dramatisation of the love affair between Alison Grant and translator of Chinese poetry Arthur Waley. A chance encounter becomes a wonderful day out.

(26-09-2001; Rpt) Sabina! (Chris Dolan)
Plain Sandra Hamilton bets her flatmate that she'll have more luck with men if she pretends to be Sabina Vasiliev, a raven-haired temptress from Eastern Europe.

(27-09-2001) The God At The Gate (Jamila Gavin)
Prasad disowned his pregnant daughter, keeping the child. But the ageing man is now barely able to distinguish past and present, or daughter and granddaughter.

(28-09-2001) Mr Reliable (Peter Tinniswood)
As he often remarks, Mr Openshaw is a listener. It is his job to listen to people. Only he does not - listen, that is. With Peter Sallis and Edna Dore.

(01-10-2001; Rpt) Hidden History - 1: Betrayal
- The Trial Of William Davidson (Tanika Gupta) Based on the 1820 Cato Street Conspiracy. William Davidson, opposed to an oppressive government, has to decide whether to betray his country or his principles.

(02-10-2001) Five Letters Home To Elizabeth
(Simon Stephens( When William Curran, a 70-year-old former boxer, discovers he is dying, he goes in search of his daughter, whom he disowned when she became pregnant at 18.

(03-10-2001) The Man Who Knew Everything
- 1: The Extraordinary Case Of Serafino Pelizzioni (Robin Brooks) Three new cases for George Lewis, the famous 19th-century lawyer who defended the indefensible and never lost.

(04-10-2001) Other Voices (Sara Maitland)
Drama about a young teacher who begins to hear voices. The testimony of real people who hear voices is woven in.

(05-10-2001; Rpt) The Art Class (Neil Brand)
In 1942, New York physicist Lisa Reubens is transferred to work on the highly secret Manhattan Project, unaware of the true application of her work.

(08-10-2001) Hidden History - 2: Blood For Britain
(Michael McMillan) Drama set during World War II about Charles Drew, the blood plasma pioneer, who had a very private war to fight for his own freedom.

(09-10-2001; Rpt) Sunday Morning At The Centre Of The World
(Louis De Bernieres) Early morning, Sunday, and posh Katy sings in the bath. Her cool contralto negotiates the louvres, filtering out into Earlsfield at the centre of the world.

(10-10-2001) The Man Who Knew Everything
- 2: The Balham Mystery (Robin Brooks) Three new cases for George Lewis, the famous 19th-century lawyer who defended the indefensible and never lost.

(11-10-2001) A Good Place For Fishing (Richard Lumsden)
Following the death of her husband, Joan reflects on life, and is forced to confront not only the treacheries of her husband, but also her own secrets.

(12-10-2001) Uncle Happy (wri/perf Michael Mears)
Bob, who is half Italian, is inspired to learn his mother's language and go in search of an uncle who disappeared years earlier.

(15-10-2001; Rpt) Hidden History - 3: When Tiger Woods Comes To Tiger Bay
(Leonora Brito) Marcus's search for identity becomes focused when he learns of his white grandmother's involvement in the 1919 Cardiff race riots.

(16-10-2001) Always On My Mind (Carolyn Bonnyman)
After his death, Jennifer discovers her husband was twice the man she thought, in a dark comedy about grief, love and Elvis.

(17-10-2001) The Man Who Knew Everything
- 3: Darling Daisy (Robin Brooks) Three new cases for George Lewis, the famous 19th-century lawyer who defended the indefensible and never lost.

(18-10-2001; Rpt) The Deceit Of Angels (Kelvin Segger)
A priest who is not all he seems, knowing servants and naive masters, and a girl who longs to marry for love come together in a Shakespearean-style comedy.

(19-10-2001) The Latecomer (Don Paterson)
It is turning into a disastrous dinner party, with ex-lovers Bob and Alison sparring tentatively and Rachel drowning her sorrows. And Lucy has not even shown up.

(22-10-2001; Rpt) Baldi - 1: The Prodigal Son
(Barry Devlin) Paolo Baldi, Franciscan priest and philosophy lecturer, accidentally becomes involved in solving a murder at an Italian chip shop.

(23-10-2001; Rpt) Baldi - 2: Keepers Of The Flame
(Simon Brett) Paolo Baldi, priest, philosophy lecturer and accidental sleuth, is caught up in solving the murder of a leading academic.

(24-10-2001; Rpt) Baldi - 3: Miss Lonelyhearts
(Barry Devlin) Paolo and Tina investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of a nurse at an old people's home.

(25-10-2001; Rpt) Baldi - 4: Death Cap
(Simon Brett) At a monastic retreat far out in County Cork, a sudden death among the Franciscan brothers causes Paolo to suspect foul play.

(26-10-2001; Rpt) Baldi - 5: Devil Take The Hindmost
(Annie Caulfield) Paolo and Tina investigate the death of a student, following the trail to a clique that dabbled in the occult.

(29-10-2001) Fatal Loins (Perry Pontac)
An irreverent blank-verse rewriting of Romeo & Juliet. What would have happened if Friar Laurence's message that Juliet wasn't dead had reached Romeo?

(30-10-2001) Blunt Speaking (wri/perf Corin Redgrave)
Redgrave speculates on the hopes, fears and regrets of Anthony Blunt, the art historian and fourth member of the Cambridge circle of spies.

(31-10-2001) Boomerang (Lesley Glaister)
Bob never dreamt that his Australian friends Ray and Carla would take up him up on his offer and visit him on a trip to Britain, but they do.

(01-11-2001; Rpt) Remembrance: Strange Meeting
(Peter Wolf) Wolf's play, inspired by Owen's remarkable First World War poem, dramatises the events leading up to Owen's death on the eve of the Armistice. With Alex Jennings, Paul Rhys.

(02-11-2001) Matinee Performance (Deborah Cook)
A London crowd in AD 150 roars for the female gladiators. Greeneyes was once slave to Claudia, and their journey of lust, friendship and betrayal leads to a death.

(05-11-2001; Rpt) A To Z (Lucy Catherine)
1936: Phyllis Pearsall begins the task of walking 3,000 miles and mapping 23,000 streets, in order to fulfil her dream of producing the first A-Z of London.

(06-11-2001) The Dimming Of The Day
(Unknown) (NB: No information given in listings.)

(07-11-2001) Smooth As Chocolate (Susan Stern)
Maria's story is about her passion for old buildings, how she fell in love towards the end of her life and how she found her voice at last. With Elizabeth Bell.

(08-11-2001) Between The Lines (Neil Brand)
In 1924, Siegfried Sassoon was still mourning his friends lost in the war, but the gift of a car sent him off on an 800-mile trip to see his living friends.

(09-11-2001) Humble Beasts (Matt Parker)
During WWI, the RSPCA sent to France an officer with funds raised by the public to help animals at war. He was both shocked and amazed by what he found.

(12-11-2001) Incommunicado (Stephanie Young)
Louise and Claire flirt with disaster by entrusting sweet nothings to mobile phone, palmtop computer and walkie-talkie, as they flirt with Tony, Sam and Dave.

(13-11-2001) In The Treacle Well (Patricia Hannah)
A genteel Edinburgh housewife, having found that her husband is having an affair, seeks guidance from two unlikely sources: Bette Davis and Celia Johnson.

(14-11-2001) From A Great Height (Dave Duggan)
Phoebe, who loves heights, has recently broken off her relationship with Phoenix, who is more ground level. Now she's going out with a skilled mountaineer.

(15-11-2001; Rpt) Hanna, I'll Find You (Frances McNeil)
Half-sisters Ushi and Hanna are parted when Hanna, who is Jewish, flees the Nazis. Ushi searches obsessively for her after the war. But did Hanna escape?

(16-11-2001) The Look Across The Eyes / Lovely Evening
(Peter Gill) A double bill of short plays portraying a family in post-war Cardiff. With Melanie Hill, Richard Coyle, Phillip Joseph and Anthony O'Donnell.

(19-11-2001) Comforting (Joseph Crilly)
Geraldine is looking to buy a house and is drawn to the McAneerys' property business. This time, Paul and Eugene's services go far beyond the selling of a house.

(20-11-2001) Past Forgetting
(Angela Huth. Jane and Arthur have been married for nearly 30 years. Should a blemish buried in the past be allowed to destroy the future? With Julia McKenzie and Barry Foster.

(21-11-2001; Rpt) The Sicilian Fairy & The Irish Giant
(Nicholas McInerny) In 1824, the skeleton of the smallest girl in the world is exhibited beside that of the tallest man. How did she come to be in the Museum of Anatomy?

(22-11-2001) Hen Party (Diane Samuels)
Russ and Nicky have been together for seven years. Russ at times seems to think more of his hens than of Nicky. And then Nicky's best friend drops a bombshell.

(23-11-2001) Man Talk (Othniel Smith)
A chance encounter with Vince reminds Kenny what he owes to their unusual friendship, even though it ended rather abruptly.

(26-11-2001) Someone, Somewhere... (Pat Davis)
The story of the nine years between 22-year-old Jessie Earl's disappearance in 1980, and the discovery of her body in dense undergrowth on Beachy Head.

(27-11-2001) The Present (Jackie Pavlenko)
Dark comedy. Eva's life is a chaotic whirl of missed appointments and mad dashes, but only when she starts to keep a diary does the real problem emerge.

(28-11-2001) Always The Bridesmaid (Noel Greig)
At a wedding reception, two women meet and fall in love. With Brigit Forsyth, Helen Schlesinger, Russell Dixon and Maxine Burth. Directed by Pauline Harris.

(29-11-2001) Criminal Conversation (Judith French)
In 1738, London was fascinated by a bawdy kiss-and-tell trial. In an elaborate blackmail plot, a famous actor had forced his wife to have an affair.

(30-11-2001) Dear Dr Goebbels (Neville Smith)
Fitting Dr Goebbels with his surgical boots would not appear to be good start to a young Jew's career. But Philip Morgenstern is a resourceful lad.

(03-12-2001) Money For Old Rope (Juliet Ace)
Taking a few pills in the interests of scientific research and extra cash should not be a problem - but Jason finds there are unexpected consequences.

(04-12-2001) Human Rights (Jonathan Lichtenstein)
A human rights lawyer has finally secured the release of a man held in solitary confinement for a decade. But has the right man been released?

(05-12-2001) The Waltzer (Rhiannon Tise)
Sally is thrilled to be going out on her first ever date, with Brian Wilcox, though her jealous friend Paula reckons he is only after `just one thing'.

(06-12-2001) In The Keep-Net (Penny Gold)
A petty thief is accused of the attempted murder of a small boy half-drowned in a canal. He protests his innocence, but in the past he has lied.

(07-12-2001) The Recall Man (David Napthine)
Grace Hayle and her boss were working alone - and now he is dead. She claims to have no memory of what happened, so an expert in memory recovery is brought in.

(10-12-2001) Stowaway (Tanika Gupta)
Vikram has made the desperate decision to stow away in the wheel bay of a jumbo jet bound for the UK. With Madhav Sharma, Paul Bazely and Lolita Chakrabarti.

(11-12-2001; Rpt) Before Beeton: The Eliza Acton Story
(Jyll Bradley) A compendium of the life and reputation of England's finest cook. With Clarissa Dickson-Wright, Sarah Freeman, Delia Smith, Marcia Warren and Liza Sadovy.

(12-12-2001) Pyramid - 1: The Love Of Evie (William Golding)
Blinded by adolescent desire as he forces himself upon Evie, Oliver fails to notice she has her own problems.

(13-12-2001) Pyramid - 2: A Real Princess (William Golding)
Against his better judgement, Oliver is persuaded by his mother to take part in the amateur operatic society's bold new production.

(14-12-2001) Pyramid - 3: A Sprat To Catch A Mackerel (William Golding)
Oliver suffers at the hands of the frail but formidable music teacher Bounce.

(17-12-2001) It's A Wonderful Divorce (Anthony Green)
The love of Frank Capra's `It's a Wonderful Life' could become grounds for divorce as the season of goodwill approaches. With David Bamber

(18-12-2001) Get Stuffed! The Farcical Life Of Georges Feydeau
(Natalia Power) Georges Feydeau's farces were grounded in his parents', and later his own, bitter marriage. The worse domestic life got, the funnier the plots became.

(19-12-2001) The Night Before Christmas (Steve May)
To 17-year-old Justin, it does not feel like Christmas: in trouble with his mum and his girlfriend, he is dismissive. But he discovers the magic of Christmas is real

(20-12-2001) Cyanide At Five O'Clock (Pavel Kahout)
The author of a novel about the Holocaust is visited by a fan, but there is more to the visit than meets the eye. With Harriet Walter and Hana-Maria Pravda.

(21-12-2001) Tasty Morsels (Lindsay Jane Sedgwick)
Sandy Love cannot help thinking of men as varieties of cake. Every time she thinks it is true love, but every time she is left with a little less hope.

(24-12-2001) Grace And The Angel
Sheila Goff - It is Christmas Eve in Ruislip and a rather disgruntled Angel, resplendent in his pungent and exotic finery, lands rather clumsily in Graces back garden. With Marlene Sidaway, Rudolph Walker, Carolyn Jones, Jonathan Kydd, Caroyln Pickles, Sean Baker, John Hartley, Peter Darney and Jonathan Forbes. Directed by David Hunter.

(25-12-2001) The Growing Summer (Noel Streatfeild)
When their father falls ill, the Gareth children are sent to stay with their great-aunt Dymphna in her crumbling mansion on the west coast of Ireland.

(26-12-2001) The Red Balloon
(Anthony Clark, music by Ark Vibrans) A musical version of this classic love story of a lonely Parisian boy and a stray balloon which befriends him. With Nick Corrin, Deborah McAndrew, Daniel Crowder, Maeve Larkin, Claude Close, Andrew Rowson, Alice French, the Liverpool Philharmonic Training Choir. Music performed by:Dane Preece (piano), Owain Bailey (flute and piccolo), Tim Redpath (clarinet and soprano saxophone), Annalise Martinsen (french horn), Claire Gainford (bassoon), Matthew Whittington (percussion). Musical Director Dane Preece.

(27-12-2001) Mary Mary (Martin Sorrell)
Mary Bennet, the third of the sisters in Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice', tells a very different version of events in her journal. With Lucy Briers.

(28-12-2001) A Haunting (William Boyd)
A modern ghost story in which the worlds of the international landscape architect and the 19th century Scottish Engineer collide with extraordinary personal consequences for the architect and final recognition for the engineer. Alexander Rief finds himself taken over by an unseen presence in an aeroplane and is forced to make a strange drawing which he doesn't recognise. He begins to act out of character, lusting after waitresses and butchers assistants, growing a beard and behaving so strangely that he seems to have a breakdown - his wife divorces him and he starts to see a psychiatrist. The resolution involves overcoming the modern disinclination to believe in forces beyond the grave. Rief builds a tribute to the true discoverer of a natural phenomenon who had never been given his true credit and thus relives him of his demon. John Sessions plays Alexander Rief. The other members of the cast are: Liam Brennan, Crawford Logan, Eliza Langland, Emma Currie and Joanna Tope. Produced by Dave Batchelor.

(31-12-2001) The Stone Diaries
- 1: 1905-1916 Birth & Childhood (Carol Shields) Overflowing love, an unexpected birth, lingering grief and anger, and the careful construction of a tower.

THE SATURDAY PLAY

2:30pm Saturdays; 60mins (some 90mins).

(06-01-2001) A Man Lay Dead
(Ngaio Marsh, dram Michael Bakewell) When a murder takes place at a country-house party, Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn faces another baffling case. With Jeremy Clyde, Stephen Thorne, Donald Sinden, Nick Waring and John Moffatt. Directed by Enyd Williams.

(13-01-2001) Rutabega Romance
(Rebecca Bartlett) A man buys his mother a laptop computer for her birthday. When she enters a cookery chat room, she begins a relationship that will change all their lives. With Julia Dearden, Charles Lawson, Pat Laffan and Duncan Keegan. Directed by Pam Brighton.

(20-01-2001) Below Suspicion
(John Dickson Carr, dram Peter Ling) The stifling respectability of a South London suburb in the 1930s is disturbed by a series of ruthless poisonings. Dr Fell uncovers a criminal underworld and a cult of black magic. With Donald Sinden, John Hartley, James Fleet and Connie Walker. Directed by Enyd Williams.

(27-01-2001) Isabella - The Real Mrs Beeton
(Tony Coult, based on Alison Neil's stage play) The surprising story of Britain's most famous cookery expert, who couldn't cook, didn't write recipes and died young - and whose fame was thanks to her husband. With Michael Maloney, Natasha Little, Joan Walker and Carolyn Jones. Directed by Nandita Ghose.

(03-02-2001) The Wyndham Case
(Jill Paton Walsh, dram Neville Teller) Amateur sleuth Imogen Quy solves another mystery at Cambridge University. The locked library of St Agatha's College houses an invaluable collection of 17th-century volumes. It also contains one dead student... With Carolyn Pickles, Richard Derrington, Tracey Wiles and Jeffery Dench. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.

(10-02-2001) Feng Shui & Me
(Barry Keeffe) Chanting seems to help, but not even a Buddhist romance can quite quell Mick's craving for alcohol. From the lotus sutra to the hard-core drinkers at the Ship, the characters in Barry Keeffe's play are in search of a salvation that can be both painful and comic. With Phillip Joseph, Janet Maw, Jimmy Yuill and Gordon Reid. Directed by Ned Chaillet.

(17-02-2001) Games
(Mike Walker) To prevent a talented young journalist from leaving his magazine, the editor proposes a bet. He then throws her into situations which will ensure he wins. Against a backdrop of `Cosi Fan Tutti', Mozart's opera about the perils of love and gambling, she learns about malice and manipulation. With Angeline Ball, Geraldine James, David Thorpe and Michael Troughton.

(24-02-2001) Murder On The Home Front - The Secret Agent
(Michael Crompton, adapted from the book by Molly Lefebure) In early 1940s London, forensics experts Molly and Hardcastle become involved with some apparently connected killings. With Kevin Whately, Emily Bruni, Mary MacLeod and Jonathan Hackett. Directed by John Dove.

(03-03-2001) Picasso & Chips
(Dave Sheasby) An international story of intrigue and wealth in which the discovery in France of a drawing of Picasso's first lover, Fernande, brings together a small-time Rotherham art dealer and fish and chip shop proprietors Reg and Edna Mullins. With Geoffrey Whitehead, Phyllida Law, Clive Swift and Rachel Davies. Directed by David Hunter.

(10-03-2001) The African Queen
(C S Forester, adap Mike Walker) World War I has broken out and the Germans control Central Africa, where two unlikely companions, strait-laced missionary Rose Sayer and gin-swigging cockney Charlie Allnutt find themselves marooned. With Tara Fitzgerald, Jamie Foreman and Paul Humpoletz. Directed by Kate McAll.

(17-03-2001) Something Strange
(Eric Pringle) A psychological thriller in which an innocent flirtation turns into something more serious. With Robert Glenister, Beth Chalmers, Geoffrey Whitehead and Thomas Arnold. Directed by Tracey Neale.

(24-03-2001) For Richer For Poorer
(Martha Gellhorn, adap Annie Caulfield) A comedy of manners. Attractive Rose Answell has spent ten years manoeuvring her husband up the political ladder - and nothing is going to stop her reaching the top. With Simon Russell Beale, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Gordon Reid and Selina Cadell. Directed by Claire Grove.

(31-03-2001) The Rocky Road To Wexford
(Peter Roberts) Anna Cassidy was one of the most promising Irish flautists of her generation. Twenty years later, while she is coping with a grown-up son, a broken marriage and mild agoraphobia, a chance meeting leads her to pick up her flute once more. With Janet Maw, Peter Meakin, Richard Derrington and J D Kelleher. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.

(07-04-2001) The Outside Child
(Nina Bawden, dram Alison Potts) Teenager Jane has always felt different from other children, and the discovery that she has an unknown brother and sister prompts her to investigate why the adults in her life have always lied to her. With Sara Bienvenue, Christopher Pizzey, Alwyne Taylor and Christine Cox. Directed by Michael Fox.

(14-04-2001) Mr Stimpson & Mr Gorse
(Patrick Hamilton, dram Allan Prior) An intriguing study of the British class system of the 20s. Estate agent Donald Stimpson is planning to marry pretentious widow Joan Plumleigh-Bruce, until a perverse young con man called Ralph Gorse intervenes. With Robert Glenister, Corin Redgrave, Kika Markham and Anna Livia Ryan. Directed by Richard Wortley. (NB: 90min play.)

(21-04-2001) Penny Gaffs & Angel Places
(Mike Dorrell) October 1857: as problems in Charles Dickens's marriage come to a head, he feels pressures mounting. One night, unable to sleep, he walks the 30 miles from his London home to Gad's Hill, Kent, but still can't escape the voices in his head. With Richard Tate, Siobhan Redmond, Andrew Wincott and Alexandra Mathie. Directed by Alison Hindell.

(28-04-2001) City Of Spades
(Colin MacInnes, adap Biyi Bandele) MacInnes' kaleidoscopic novel set in 50s London. Newly arrived from Nigeria, 19-year-old Johnny Fortune is soon caught up in the exuberant new black subculture, a world which holds an irresistible fascination for liberal welfare officer Montgomery Pew. With Chiwetel Ejiofor, Raymond Coulthard, Ray Fearon and Clare Corbett. Directed by Toby Swift.

(05-05-2001) Agatha Christie's The Moving Finger
(dram Michael Bakewell) Miss Marple applies her expertise to a plague of anonymous letters in a sleepy market town, which has already brought about one suicide. Can she prevent further deaths? With June Whitfield, Nicholas Boulton, Clare Corbett and Annabelle Dowler. Directed by Enyd Williams. (NB: A 90min play.)

(12-05-2001) Marmalade (Michael Butt) As Agnes reviews the marmalade recipes her children have given her, they seem to represent something more than filial duty - but what? With Barbara Jefford, Adam Godley, Sally Dexter and Emma Rice. Directed by Claire Grove.

(19-05-2001) Doomsday
(Tony Harrison) The Doomsday section of Harrison's adaptation of the medieval plays of York, Wakefield and Chester, from the Royal National Theatre production of `The Mysteries'. With Peter Armitage, Stephen Bent, David Bradley and Cathryn Bradshaw. Directed by Bill Bryden. (NB: A 90min play)

(26-05-2001) Invitation To The Waltz
(Rosamund Lehmann, dram Tina Pepler) The tender classic about an adolescent girl's coming of age. Olivia wakes up on her 17th birthday knowing that something has changed, but what exactly it is she doesn't yet understand. With Mary Nighy, Rosie Giarratana, Diana Quick and Andrew Collins. Directed by Sara Davies.

(26-05-2001) Invitation To The Waltz
(Rosamund Lehmann, dram Tina Pepler) The tender classic about an adolescent girl's coming of age. Olivia wakes up on her 17th birthday knowing that something has changed, but what exactly it is she doesn't yet understand. With Mary Nighy, Rosie Giarratana, Diana Quick and Andrew Collins. Directed by Sara Davies.

(02-06-2001) The Ten O'Clock Horses
(Laurie Graham) It is 1963, the first figs and avocado pears are appearing in the shops, and Ronnie Glover - husband, father, painter and decorator - is about to get a taste of the new permissive society. With Michael Fenton Stevens, Janine Duvitski, Jemma McAlear and Roberta Taylor.

(09-06-2001) Falling Through Italy
(Nigel Gearing) A modern divine comedy about a man who, haunted by his first wife, escapes on a holiday to Italy. His surroundings are described as Paradise, but he is in Purgatory and sliding towards the Inferno. With James Laurenson, Sandy Walsh, Janice Acquah and Sean Baker. Directed by Claire Grove.

(16-06-2001) Wakefield
(Nathaniel Hawthorne, dramatised by Martyn Wade) A bored, dull middle-aged man devises a plan to temporarily leave home and observe the effect on his wife from the flat opposite. But the longer he stays away, the harder it becomes to return... With David Haig, John Rowe, Richenda Carey and Jonathan Keeble. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(23-06-2001) Cheryl
(John Harvey) While Nottingham-based DI Charlie Resnick pursues a gang of armed robbers, meals-on-wheels woman Cheryl takes the law into her own hands on behalf of an elderly client - and their investigations collide. With Keith Barron, Gwen Taylor, Sean Baker and Kate Eaton. Directed by David Hunter.

(01-06-2001) Stepniak
(Martyn Wade) The bitter-sweet real life love story of Olive Garnett, sister of the famous Russian translator Constance, who meets and falls for a Russian expatriate whose charms hide a secret and rather sinister past. With Justine Waddell, David Horovitch, Jennie Stoller and Charles Simpson. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(07-07-2001) The Strange Affair Of Adelaide Harris
(Leon Garfield, dram Roy Apps) Young Harris decides to give his baby sister every chance in life, and takes it upon himself to arrange this - with devastating results. With David Westhead, Hugh Viney, Nick Robinson and Martin Barr. Directed by Celia de Wolff.

(14-07-2001) Princess Caraboo
(dram Roger Stennett) A true story. A young woman walked into the village of Almondsbury, near Bristol, in 1817, dressed in outlandish clothes and speaking an unrecognisable foreign language. Taken in by a local magistrate and his wife, she soon became the talk of high society. With Clare Corbett, Jenny Coverack, Philip Manikum and Chris Donnelly. Directed by Sara Davies.

(21-07-2001) Crossing The Water
(Jane Stevenson, dramatised by Mike Walker) Oliver's quiet weekend in the country with his old university friends turns into a drunken midnight expedition to retrieve a family heirloom. With Robert Daws, Belinda Lang, David Thorpe and Robert Whelan. Directed by Chris Wallis.

(28-07-2001) Black Maria
(John Fletcher) The true story of the most famous murderess of the Victorian era, Maria Manning. The seamstress's trial mesmerised the nation, and it was after her that prison vans were dubbed `Black Marias'. With Charlotte Coleman, Andrew Lincoln, Julian Glover and John Hartley. Directed by Victoria Crompton.

(04-08-2001) A Dangerous Game
(Shirley Cooklin) When a paroled murderer kills after his release, justice is put on hold. A prisoner caught in a Home Office freeze on new paroles challenges the ruling and demands a psychological profile from a hardline psychiatrist. Their meetings prove explosive. With Suzanna Hamilton, Ray Lonnen, Roger May and Terence Edmond. Directed by Ned Chaillet.

(11-08-2001) Missing
(Elisabeth Bond) When the presenter of an Italian radio programme about missing persons takes a call from a woman who claims to know the whereabouts of a brilliant young flautist, she sets off to find him. With Suzanna Hamilton, Lynda Rooke, Matthew Thomas and Rob Hutchinson. Directed by Sara Davies.

(18-08-2001) The Holiday
(Stevie Smith, dram Michelene Wandor) A story of unresolved love, set at the end of World War II, when everyone is unsettled and summer is drawing to a close. With Lucy Whybrow, Andrew Wincott, Roger May and Philip Joseph. Directed by Janet Whitaker.

(25-08-2001) Agatha Christie's Appointment With Death
(dram Michael Bakewell) Through a hotel window in the Red Rose city of Petra, ominous words are heard, and their subject is soon murdered. With John Moffat, Miriam Karlin, Jill Balcon and Connie Walker. Directed by Enyd Williams.

(01-09-2001) The Marseilles Trilogy - 1:
Marius (Marcel Pagnol, adap from the film by Juliet Ace, trans Margaret Jarman) Marius, son of Cesar, feels the pull of the sea, and is prepared to sacrifice his family and his love for beautiful Fanny to fulfil his dreams. With Richard Johnson, Simon Scardifield, Monica Dolan and Andrew Sachs. Directed by Ned Chaillet.

(08-09-2001) The Marseilles Trilogy - 2:
Fanny (Marcel Pagnol, adap from the film by Juliet Ace, trans Margaret Jarman) The story of a lovely young woman abandoned by Cesar's son Marius, who is unaware she is pregnant. With Monica Dolan, Richard Johnson, Andrew Sachs and Simon Scardifield. Directed by Ned Chaillet.

(15-09-2001) The Marseilles Trilogy - 3:
Cesar (Marcel Pagnol, adap from the film by Juliet Ace, trans Margaret Jarman) A mother's secrets send her son off in search of a father he never knew.

(22-09-2001) Queen Gertrude PLC
(Fay Weldon) It is 2004, and Gertrude Hazlett is chief executive of Britain at Work plc. Having made a career out of controlling others, she herself is completely out of control.

(29-09-2001) The Aerodrome
(Rex Warner, dram Graham White) 1930s: Roy and Bess's idyllic village is transformed by the construction of a sinister military aerodrome on its edge.

(06-10-2001) Cool Water Murder
(Chris O'Connell) Disturbing psychological thriller. In a hotel on a remote headland, there is only one guest - and everyone there has a motive for murder.

(13-10-2001) The Visitor
(Jo Anderson) Alfred Lord Tennyson has lost his nerve, but then his life is changed by two seemingly unrelated visitors. But is there, in fact, an unseen connection?

(20-10-2001) The American Dentist
(Mary Baker) When Dr Thomas W Evans became imperial court dentist to Napoleon III, neither of them realised it was an appointment that was to change the course of history.

(27-10-2001) Killing Katerina
(Marcy Kahan) An urbane comedy of unpleasant manners. With Jane Bertish, Paul Bhattacharjee, Kerry Shale and Emily Raymond. Directed by Marion Nancarrow.

(03-11-2001) Foreign Bodies - 1:
120 Rue De La Gare (Leo Malet, dram Chris Dolan) Paris, 1942: private eye Nestor Burma investigates a murder which leads back to an address that doesn't exist.

(10-11-2001) Foreign Bodies - 2:
Murder Repeats Itself (Didier Daeninckx, dram Melanie Garrett) In 1985, a history student is gunned down in a street, and Inspector Cadin discovers that his father, too, was shot dead.

(17-11-2001) Foreign Bodies - 3:
Letter To Lorenzo (Amanda Prantera) Italy 1972: A businessman dies in suspicious circumstances, but the police show little interest, so his widow carries out her own investigation.

(24-11-2001) The Calling
(Pearse Elliott) Thriller. Eimear O'Hanlon is a doctor and a Samaritans volunteer. But with a murderer at large in the city, she stops being the helper and becomes the hunted.

(01-12-2001; Rpt) A Woman In Waiting
(Thembi Mtshali & Yael Farber) Thembi Mtshali's autobiographical play about her mother, a live-in maid for a white family, begins in the days of apartheid.

(08-12-2001) Agatha Christie's Sleeping Murder
(Agatha Christie) Before a murderer is provoked to strike again, Miss Marple must solve the mystery surrounding a young woman's terrifying childhood memory. With June Whitfield. (NB: A 90min play.)

(15-12-2001) Edgar Allan Poe's The Gold Bug
(dram Gregory Evans) With a critical overhaul to excise the 19th-century casual racism from this compelling tale of obsession. With Clarke Peters and John Sharian.

(22-12-2001) One Night In Winter
(Rose Tremain) Dance and Dream weekends for the elderly are proving very popular at Beth's Hotel. But not everyone is looking forward to the festive season.

(29-12-2001) The Mystery Of Charles Dickens
(Peter Ackroyd) Simon Callow recounts the remarkable life of Charles Dickens, bringing to life a host of the colourful characters in his novels. Directed by Gemma McMullan. (NB: A 90min play.)

THE CLASSIC SERIAL

3:00pm Sundays (repeated Saturdays 9:00pm); 60mins; Individual synopses where available.

(07-01-2001) Hawksmoor
(Peter Ackroyd, adap Nick Fisher) With Philip Jackson, Norman Rodway, Richard Johnson and Miranda Foster. Directed by Janet Whitaker.

2: Starring Jackson as both Dyer, the 18th-century architect becoming ever more steeped in evil, and the modern detective Hawksmoor, who is failing to find the murderer, who leaves no trace of himself.

(14 to 21-01-2001) December Bride
(Sam Hanna Bell, dram Carlo Gebler) With Monica Dolan, Gerard Crossan, Lalor Roddy, Dario Angelone and JJ Murphy. Directed by Roland Jaquarello.

1: Sarah Gomartin comes to work as a servant on Andrew Echlin's farm in puritanical 19th-century Ulster. The relationships which she develops with his two sons have dramatic consequences for both herself and the community.

2: Servant girl Sarah Gomartin has borne a child to one of the Echlin brothers, farmers in puritanical 19th-century Ulster. Her refusal to name the father alienates them all from the local community, and has dramatic consequences.

(28-01 to 11-02-2001) The Cornish Trilogy
(Robertson Davies, dram Roger Danes) With Matt Zimmerman, Elaine Claxton, Buffy Davis and Barbara Barnes. Directed by Patrick Rayner.

1: The Death Card - As Francis Cornish, art expert and millionaire philanthropist, looks down from Limbo, nervously awaiting whatever is in store for his soul, his family and colleagues in Toronto oversee the disposal of his art collection.

2: The Knave Of Coins - Rev Darcourt's ferreting into Cornish's past is beginning to shine light into some very dark corners.

3: The Fool - Rev Darcourt is drawing closer to uncovering the astonishing final secret of Cornish's past.

(18-02-2001) Summoned By Bells
(John Betjeman) A new version for radio of Betjeman's verse autobiography. Taken from a recording Betjeman made in the 60s, the poet remembers his Highgate Hill childhood, Cornish holidays, school in Oxford and the master who inspired his love of architecture. With specially composed music by Jim Parker.

(25-02-2001) Bayeux - The Battle Of Hastings
(Simon Armitage & Jeff Young) A dramatisation of the story depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry. On the ground, there is fear and expectation as ordinary men on both sides prepare for battle. With Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Dillane, Kirsty Wark and Andrew Tiernan. Directed by Kate Rowland. (NB: Continuation and final part of the week's Woman's Hour Drama.)

(04 to 11-03-2001) Inside Mr Enderby
(Anthony Burgess, dram Jim Poyser) Acerbic 60s comedy about a mediocre poet who is thrust upon an unsuspecting world. With Philip Glenister, Valerie Edmond, Russell Dixon and David Fleeshman. Directed by Polly Thomas.

1: Misadventures abound as Enderby becomes the bemused recipient of the attentions of the lovely Vesta Bainbridge.

2: Trapped into marriage, will Enderby lose his poetic gift and become simple Hogg the gardener instead?

(18 to 25-03-2001) The Thirty-Nine Steps
(John Buchan, dram Bert Coules) Buchan's 1915 spy thriller. With David Robb, Tom Baker, William Hope and Struan Rodger. Director: Bruce Young.

1: The Milkman Sets Out On His Travels - When a man is murdered in Richard Hannay's flat, he goes on the run, pursued by police and a gang of German spies intent on recovering a secret notebook which could destroy the British naval fleet.

2: The Coming Of The Black Stone - A gang of German spies is after Richard Hannay and a notebook containing the secret of the 39 steps, and Hannay must solve the mystery of the steps if he is to save the British naval fleet.

(01 to 08-04-2001)
The White Guard Betrayal (Mikhail Bulgakov, dram D J Britton) Bulgakov's classic Ukrainian novel. With Paul Hilton, James Loye, Manon Edwards and Gerry Lepkowski. Directed by Alison Hindell.

1: In the winter of 1918, the citizens of Kiev wait for the city to fall, either to the Bolsheviks or the Nationalists. The Turbin family, supporters of the Tsar, take refuge at home.

2: As Ukrainian nationalists seize control of Kiev, Alexei and Nikolka are running for their lives.

(15-04-2001) The Red Badge Of Courage
(Stephen Crane, dram James Saunders) Crane's classic novel about the American Civil War. Will Henry Fleming, a raw Union recruit, earn his badge of courage (a visible wound) or will he prove a coward? With Matthew Ferguson, Michael Mahonen, Shaun Smyth and Alison Sealy-Smith. Directed by Martin Jenkins.

(22-04 to 20-05-2001) Little Dorrit
(Charles Dickens, dram Doug Lucie) With Ian McKellen, Julian Wadham, Margaret Tyzack, John Wood and Jasmine Hyde. Directed by Janet Whitaker.

1: Arthur Clennam returns from China, carrying the burden of a wrong committed by his parents. He meets Little Dorrit, a young seamstress, and follows her to her home: the Marshalsea Debtor's Prison.

2: Arthur Clennam still believes that his parents have wronged someone, but gets no help from the Circumlocution Office. He also thinks he has found a new love, and Little Dorrit receives a proposal.

3: Mr Pancks has made discoveries about the Dorrit family, but Arthur has still not solved his family's secret. The banker, Mr Merdle, is introduced.

4: The newly wealthy Dorrits set off on a tour of Europe, but Little Dorrit is soon homesick. Fanny finds a suitor. William is gratified by the attentions of the banker Mr Merdle.

5: Following her father's death, Little Dorrit is still in Italy when the newly married Fanny receives a strange visit from Mr Merdle. Arthur is struck by disaster, And Mrs Clennam is blackmailed into revealing the family secret.

(27-05 to 03-06-2001) Back
(Henry Green, dram Peter Tegel) With Jamie Glover, Becky Hindley, Kim Wall and Rachel Atkins. Directed by Richard Wortley.

1: The Colour Of Her Hair - England, 1944. Confused Charley Summers has returned from a prisoner-of-war camp, haunted by his former sweetheart, Rose. He cannot grasp the fact that she is dead.

2: Just A Tale - Young Charley Summers, confused ex-prisoner of war, needs Nancy to resolve his nightmares.

(10 to 17-06-2001) Tom Brown's Schooldays
(Thomas Hughes, dram Joe Dunlop) With Robert Hardy, Tom Huntingford, Henry Peters and Jordon Copeland. Directed by Chris Wallis.

1: It is the autumn of 1835 and 12-year-old Tom Brown arrives at Rugby school, eager to take part in school life. But Flashman and his cronies have other ideas.

2: Tom's career at Rugby comes to a premature end, but Dr Arnold has a plan.

(24-06-2001) My Last Duchess
(Robert Browning, dram Martyn Wade) Inspired by a fresco portrait of the Italian Duke of Este's first wife, who died young in suspicious circumstances, Browning wrote his poetic masterpiece My Last Duchess. This dramatisation solves the mystery posed by the poem. With Roger Allam, Emily Mortimer, Tim McInnery and Robert Hands. Directed by Marilyn Imrie.

(01 to 08-07-2001) My Family & Other Animals
(Gerald Durrell, dram Janys Chambers) With Adam Usden, Will Tacey, Celia Imrie and Toby Jones. Directed by Polly Thomas.

1: The classic comic tale about Durrell's eccentric upper-class family, whose antics persist in disrupting his enthralling natural history escapades on the sunny island of Corfu, in the 30s.

2: Gerry's animal collection causes the Christmas party to get out of hand.

(15 to 22-07-2001) Justine
(Lawrence Durrell, dram Carey Harrison) The first book in Durrell's masterpiece `The Alexandrian Quartet'. With Martin Jarvis, Andrew Sachs, Phyllis Logan and Frank Lazarus. Directed by Pam Wardell.

1: Egypt in the 30s. Darley, an impoverished school teacher, falls in love with an Alexandrian society woman, Justine Hosnani, wife of one of Egypt's richest men.

2: Darley, immersed in his affair with enigmatic Justine, is troubled by the effect his betrayal has on his lover Melissa, and on Justine's husband.

(29-07 to 19-08-2001) Tess Of The D'Urbervilles
(Thomas Hardy, adap Alan Sharp) With Claire Rushbrook, Adam Godley, James D'Arcy and Keith Barron. Directed by Mary Peate.

1: When her father discovers that the family is related to the aristocratic d'Urbervilles, Tess is sent to see if she can find preferment. She meets Alec d'Urberville, who is to have a dramatic effect on her life.

2: Having left her employment after Alec d'Urberville took advantage of her, Tess gives birth to Alec's child at home.

3: Tess has finally agreed to marry Angel, but is still torn over whether to tell him about her child, conceived when Alec took advantage of her.

4: Tess is working at a desolate farm, hoping that her husband, Angel, will come to save her. By chance, she has met up with Alec, the father of her child, who wants to make amends.

(26-08-2001; Rpt) A Far Cry From Kensington
(Muriel Spark, dram Jennifer Phillips) A witty slice of 50s London is evoked by the eccentric and engaging occupants of a rooming house near South Kensington station, and the charming gentlemen and ladies of the shabby but genteel world of publishing. With Celia Imrie, Sorcha Cusack and Bill Wallis. Directed by Viv Beeby.

(02 to 09-09-2001) The Group
(Mary McCarthy, dram Moya O'Shea) With Gayle Hunnicutt, Briony Glassco, Mark Caven, Teresa Gallagher and Rebecca Front. Directed by Tracey Neale.

1: The story of eight graduates - the class of '33 - from the prestigious American women's college Vassar, as they begin their lives away from campus, determined to be more sexually and socially enlightened than their mothers.

2: It is 1936, and in the three years since graduation, half the group from Vassar College has married, although some remain single, including Lakey, who is still studying at the Sorbonne.

(16 to 23-09-2001) This Sporting Life
(David Storey, dram Gary Brown) The gritty novel, set in a northern industrial town in the late 50s, about a ruthless young rugby league player.

(30-09 to 07-10-2001) The Faerie Queene
(Edmund Spenser, dram Philip Palmer)

1: The towering Elizabethan epic poem. Fast, funny and furious yarn-telling mixes with moments of vivid poetry.

2: Sir Guyon, the Knight of Temperance, journeys to the Bower of Bliss.

(14-10-2001; Rpt) Wakefield
(Nathaniel Hawthorne) A man temporarily leaves home to observe the effect on his wife from the flat opposite. But the longer he stays away, the harder it becomes to return...

(21 to 28-10-2001) The Heart Of The Matter
(Graham Greene, dram John Harvey) The story of one man's personal and spiritual confusion as he struggles to behave honourably against the odds.

(04-11-2001) In A Summer Season
(Elizabeth Taylor, dram Jennifer Howarth) Kate, a well-heeled widow, causes a sensation in her conventional late-50s community when she marries a younger man.

(11-11 to 02-12-2001) The Woman In White
(Wilkie Collins, dram Martyn Wade) The classic Victorian thriller. With Toby Stephens, Juliet Aubrey, Emily Bruni and Jeremy Clyde.

1: Walter Hartright encounters a strange woman as he returns home across Hampstead Heath one night.

2: Laura is preparing to marry Sir Percival. Marian, though aware of Laura's feelings for Walter, is powerless to stop the wedding.

3: Laura has finally met the woman in white who so resembles her. Marian begins to fear for her sister's safety.

4: Wilkie Collins' classic Victorian thriller, dramatised in four parts by Martyn Wade.

(09-12-2001) Don't Look Now
(Daphne du Maurier) The tale of slowly dawning terror. John and Laura are trying to get over their daughter's death, but then a psychic starts relaying messages from beyond the grave.

(16 to 23-12-2001; Rpt) Tom Brown's Schooldays
(Thomas Hughes, dram Joe Dunlop) With Robert Hardy, Tom Huntingford and Henry Peters.

1: It is the autumn of 1835 and 12-year-old Tom Brown arrives at Rugby school, eager to take part in school life.

2: Tom's career at Rugby could come to a premature end, but Dr Arnold has a plan.

(30-12-2001) The Grapes Of Wrath
(John Steinbeck) The masterpiece set in 1930s America. (NB: Parts 2 and 3 transmitted in 2002.)

1: Exodus - Released from prison, Tom Joad returns to the family farm, but the land is parched and the farmsteads destroyed.

SHORT STORIES

3:30pm Weekdays; 15mins; Individual synopses where available; Slot 'name' only used once, but rather fitting.

(08 to 12-01-2001) Interpreter Of Maladies
(Jhumpa Lahiri, abr Sally Marmion, read by Indira Varma) Five stories from Lahiri's acclaimed collection.

1: A Temporary Matter - A delicate game in the dark marks the end of a marriage.

2:When Mr Pirzada Came to Dine.

3: Interpreter of Maladies.

4: A Real Durwan.

5: Mrs Sen's.

(22 to 26-01-2001) Victorian Love Stories
- Five tales of requited and unrequited passion.

1: The Nightingale and the Rose, by Oscar Wilde. A young man needs a red rose with which to woo his love, and a nightingale makes the ultimate sacrifice to provide such a bloom. Read by Jo James.

2: A Little Grey Glove, by George Egerton. A rich man with a passion for fishing meets a mysterious woman on a river bank in Kent. Read by Simon Tait.

3: An Old Wife's Tale, by Ellen T Fowler. A man recounts how he saved his wife-to-be in a house fire, but couldn't save her sister. Read by Hilary Neville.

4: 4: Flower o' the Quince, by Henry Harland. An aristocrat returns to England to succeed as lord of a grand estate after having suddenly and inexplicably disappeared abroad more than 30 years earlier. Read by Joanna Tope.

5: The Statute of Limitations, by Ernest Dowland. A man who has worked in Chile for 15 years grows increasingly apprehensive at the thought of seeing the faded beauty of his fiancee on his return to England. Read by Jimmy Chisholm.

(29-01 to 02-02-2001) Dot Dot Dot
- The five winning stories from Radio 4's first online short-story competition.

1: This Wild Life, by Elizabeth Bennett. Passion in the shape of a white bull unexpectedly enters the life of Pasiphae, as she is returning home from the supermarket. Read by Josie Lawrence.

2: Breadcrumbs, by Kelly Beuth. Annette Crosbie reads a tale of dark secrets and disappearances.

3: The Painting, by Alma Hromic. When Molly discovers that her favourite painting at the local museum is to go into storage, she finds herself pouring her heart our to two complete strangers. Read by Barbara Jefford.

4: The Stone Mermaid, by Mohan Kumar. For a young man on holiday from Madras, a seaside trip brings mystery and danger in the shape of a woman sculpted in the rock. Read by Paul Bhattacharjee.

5: Horses for Courses, by Susannah Pearse. Snow White is rewritten for the 21st century, and the moral of the story is that you shouldn't rely on a mirror to live by. Read by Maria McErlane.

(05 to 09-02-2001) Long, Long Ago
- Five stories from different cultures, each telling a tale of long ago gods and demons and the people who believed in them.

1: `The Coming of Amalivaca'. An enchanting Amerindian myth from Guyana, which tells of a romance between the wind and a rainbow. Read by Ben Onwukwe.

2: `How Evil Came into the World'. A dramatic African folk tale retold by a Zulu shaman, about the first malevolent spirit in the world and how his legacy lives on. Read by Hugh Quarshie.

3: Thor's Duel with Hrungnir. When Odin challenges a giant to drink more mead than he can hold, Thor ends up fighting a duel on behalf of the gods. The ancient Norse myth is retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland and read by Ian MacMillan.

4: Came Worship. A Caribbean folk tale telling the story of a child of God who comes amongst the beauty of the world but is saddened by the realisation that the people who adopt him give no thanks to God for the natural riches of their life. Read by Martina Laird.

5: Through the Water Curtain. This ancient Japanese tale gently mocks the credulity of some people in their willingness to be taken in and believe in spirits and demons. Read by Adjoa Andoh.

(12 to 16-02-2001) Histories
- Five specially commissioned stories giving voice to figures from the historical or mythical past.

1: I, Boadicea (Fay Weldon, read by Vanessa Redgrave) On the eve of battle, Boadicea keeps vigil in her encampment, planning her vengeance on the Romans and contemplating the omens for the following day's encounter.

2: Maudie (Pippa Gladhill, read by Elizabeth Bell) Maudie is a fading relic, propped in a corner of a Bristol boatyard, and the ship she was carved for is a museum piece. But her memories are vivid.

3: Conquistador (Sara Maitland, read by Douglas Hodge) A young Spanish soldier, part-crazed with hunger and the lust for power, drifts down the Amazon, locked in a struggle with the jungle around him and his own passions.

4: Resurrection (Bonnie Greer, read by Patricia Hodge) It is Easter 1882, and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti lies dying. But he must perform one last act of artistic sabotage to set his conscience at rest.

5: Ever After (wri/read by Souad Faress) Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, is ferried along a river on her journey in the afterlife. Where is she being taken, and will she be reunited with the lover for whose sake she has taken her own life?

(19 to 23-02-2001)
Isaac Babel Stories - David Suchet reads stories by the Jewish short-story writer who grew up in Odessa, joined the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution and fought with the Red Army Cavalry in Poland in 1920. Translated by David McDuff and abridged by Keith Darvill. (NB: Transmitted each day except Tuesday.)

1: In The Basement and Awakening - A junior performance of `Julius Caesar' and the tribulations of learning the violin.

2: Crossing The Zbrucz
(1920), My First Goose and The Rebbe - A spectacle-wearing Jewish intellectual meets sabre-wielding Cossacks for the first time.

3: Squadron Leader Trunov.

4: How It Was Done In Odessa.

(26-02 to 02-03-2001) Fictional Familiars
- Five new stories offering a fresh perspective on some existing literary characters.

1: Oliver's Story (Matthew Kneale, read by Michael Mackenzie) Oliver Twist and Jack Dawkins - alias the Artful Dodger - are reunited in middle age.

2: Thank God It's Friday (Sian Preece, read by Jimmy Chisholm) This story, featuring characters from Daniel Defoe's `Robinson Crusoe'.

3: Big Brother (Des Dillon, read by Steven McNicholl) Arch-schemer Iago plots to keep his place in the `Big Brother' house.

4: Deconstructing Emily (Frederic Lindsay, read by Hilary Neville) At a criminology conference in Edinburgh, an authority on detective fiction comes face to face with one of the genre's first heroes.

5: Round Ireland with an Inanimate Household Object (Ian MacPherson) Comedian Ian MacPherson recounts a heroic tale.

(05 to 09-03-2001) Broadcast From Bath
- Five new stories performed on stage at the Bath Literature Festival.

1: Treatment Room (Chrissie Gittings, performed by Stephanie Cole) A beauty therapist reveals more than purely professional secrets in her weekly sessions with a client. Performed by .

2: One Box Of Books (Mat Coward, performed by John Telfer) Every time you move home, you lose one box of books - this is the mysterious rule. But where they go, and why, is an even deeper mystery.

3: Water Under The Bridge (Eddi Woodbridge, performed by Stephanie Cole) When Mrs Sutton initiates correspondence with her local water company, it is in the hope of getting her bills reduced. By the time it ends, her whole life has been transformed.

4: Swim, Zara, Swim (Tamar Hodes, performed by John Telfer) Zara's weekly swim has been her treat, her time alone, throughout her marriage, but when her husband becomes suspicious, he is quite unprepared for what he discovers.

5: Mrs Sheen (Paul Dodgson, performed by Stephanie Cole) When an office cleaner becomes computer literate, her working life takes on a new dimension.

(12 to 16-03-2001) The Funniest Thing I Ever Heard
- For Comic Relief, listeners can ring in to choose between two comic stories.

1: John Sessions reading from `1066 & All That (W C Sellar & R J Yeatman) or Josie Lawrence's selection from Bridget Jones's Diary (Helen Fielding).

2: Martin Jarvis reading from Towards The End Of Morning (Michael Frayn) or David Baddiel's selection from Lucky Baby Jesus (Pater Bradshaw).

3: Jenny Eclair reading from The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole (Sue Townsend) or an extract from London Fields (Martin Amis) read by Arthur Smith.

4: Miriam Margolyes reading The Night The Bed Fell (James Thurber) or an extract from the comic travelogue Round Ireland With A Fridge (Tony Hawks) read by Neil Pearson.

5: Ian Hislop reading from England, Their England (A G MacDonnell) or Mrs Chocolate (F O H Nash), a short story from The Adventure Book for Girls, read by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.

(19 to 23-03-2001) The Language Of Heaven:
Stories from the Welsh - Five stories of contemporary Welsh life, translated by Meic Stephens.

1: Going In (Meg Elis, read by Mari Gwilym) Bethan wonders if she should tidy her house before going to prison.

2: Dear Mr Atlas (Angharad Jones, read by Eiry Thomas) A chance encounter with a hunk makes Elen reassess her weedy boyfriend.

3: A White Afternoon (Sonia Edwards, read by Siriol Jenkins) On her mother's wedding day, Mari helps her to dress.

4: The Woman Next Door (Angharad Price, read by Caryl Parry Jones) When a teetotal grandfather dies, surprising truths are revealed by a neighbour.

5: Next Door To Avalon (Mared Lewis, read by Jennifer Vaughan) Meriel's plan to get a green card to work in LA doesn't turn out as expected.

(26 to 30-03-2001) Thicker than Water
- Five stories exploring family relationships.

1: The Red Car (Edward James, read by Christopher Timothy) A young boy is evacuated to the countryside during the Second World War and quickly finds that life with `auntie' is as devastating as London's Blitz.

2: Jet (Catherine Smith, read by Isabelle Scott-Plummer) The death of beloved Nan leaves a family bereft and young Fern alone once again. And conflict arises about onwership of Nan's mysterious jet necklace.

3: Everything But (Nick Burbridge, read by Paul Moriarty) Paul's acting career is failing fast as he struggles with his new roles of stepfather and househusband. When Lisa falls dangerously ill at school, relationships are put to the test.

4: Weather (Julia Widows, read by Ruth Linnett) A couple have for years been receiving regular postcards from exotic places - but who is the man `brought down by the weather', and what does he want?

5: You (Mark Wilson, read by Victoria Gould) A frightened woman examines her life as she prepares to meet her only son, 21 years after giving him up for adoption.

(02 to 06-04-2001) Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day
(Winifred Watson, abr Elizabeth Bradbury) Maureen Lipman reads one of her favourite books, a touching and funny bestseller from the 30s about an unmarried governess who is sent by her agency to the wrong booking. Her employer greets her in her negligee and has a man in her room. In the face of such shocking behaviour, will Miss Pettigrew blunder or blossom?

(09 to 12-04-2001) When I Was a Child
(abr Jill Waters) Four readings celebrating the experiences of childhood. (NB: Transmitted each day except Friday.)

1: Oleander, Jacaranda - Patience Tomlinson reads an extract from Penelope Lively's memoir of growing up in Egypt, in which she looks back with wonder on her seven-year-old self.

2: Firebird - American poet Mark Doty recalls the moment when, as a ten-year-old, he first learned that his mother wasn't keen on him displaying his passion for Judy Garland. Read by Mark Leake.

3: The Gypsy's Baby - Imogen Stubbs reads Rosamond Lehman's story of an encounter between the children of the big house and those from the world of poverty in the village beyond.

4: Ash On A Young Man's Sleeve - Owen Teale reads Dannie Abse's account of growing up in a Jewish-Welsh family in Cardiff.

(17 to 20-04-2001) Short Story (NB: Transmitted each day except Monday.)

1: Perhaps You Should Talk To Someone (Beryl Bainbridge, read by Jasmine Hyde) Communication is a two-way process, but what happens when a mother can't talk to her daughter?

2: Marriages Are Made In Heaven (Dina Mehta, read by Shaheen Khan) Matchmaking can be an arduous pursuit in any family, but when a potential bride seems determined to turn down every suitor, her mother begins to despair.

3: A Pedicure In Florence (Deborah Moggach, read by Sunny Ormonde) Now Helen and Alan are divorced, she can do anything she likes, and what she really wants is to rent a house in Italy - and not do anything cultural.

4: Love's Coming Of Age (Daphne Glazer, read by Jean Alexander) When a clairvoyant tells a widow that she is going to meet a dark stranger, she decides to become a blonde bombshell and make the most of what life has left to offer.

(23 to 27-04-2001) Round & Round The Garden
- Five stories inspired by nursery rhymes.

1: London Bridge (Gillian Tindall, read by Diana Bishop) The old song about the destruction and rebuilding of a bridge brings back childhood memories that suggest that there is more to the rhyme than just history.

2: The Noisiness Of Sheep (Diana Hendry, read by Sally Cookson) It's one thing being followed to school by a snowy little lamb when you're seven, and quite another being stalked by a fat grubby ewe when you're 17, as Mary finds out.

3: Cock-A-Doodle-Doo (Peggy Pole, read by John Mackay) Violent robbery, abduction and mutilation are the unsettling ingredients of the legend behind an innocuous-sounding farmyard rhyme.

4: Pretty Maids All In A Row (Marina Warner, read by Carolyn Backhouse) When Mary arrives at school from her home far away, the seeds which the nuns give her to plant in the garden are as much a mystery to her as the strange habits and behaviour of her schoolmates.

5: The Cave-In Area (Mimi Thebo, read by Bonnie Hurren) It was frosty the night the horses came, and no one could explain why they should appear on that particular night, or even if they came at all: memory, like the mist on the mulberry bush, is an insubstantial thing.

(30-04 to 04-05-2001; Rpt) Over Hill & Dale
(Gervase Phinn, abr Jane Marshall) Phinn reads from his second book of memoirs about his life as a primary school inspector in the North Yorkshire Dales.

(08 to 11-05-2001) Building Stories - As part of this year's Brighton Festival, local writers have been asked to breathe life into four of the city's landmarks. (NB: Transmitted each day except Monday; Episodes 2 and 4 are marked as repeats.)

1: Tracks (Lynne Truss, read by Chris Langham) In the midst of travellers and commuters, James waits for something or someone to change his life.

2: The Confession Of Constance Kent (Roy Apps, read by Tom Cotcher) In the awe-inspiring gothic surroundings of Wykeham Terrace, a horrific tale unfolds.

3: As We Forgive Those... (Nick Burbridge, read by Denys Hawthorne) Two people with damaged lives try to find redemption, overlooked by the decaying West Pier that knows only too well how they feel.

4: The Magic Flute (Simon Nolan, read by Dora Bryan) As the production of a Mozart opera plays out on the Theatre Royal stage, it has a profound effect on a restless young couple.

(14 to 18-05-2001) Spinning Yarns
- The first of five new stories from Ireland, all about storytelling. (NB: Episode 5 is marked as a repeat.)

1: Strolling Players (wri/read by James Ellis) The tale of a chance encounter in Galway, while he was on tour. He met an old gentleman of the road with an extraordinary story to tell.

2: Web (John Goldworthy, read by Catherine Cusack) When a young couple become parents, they aren't prepared for the family politics involved in choosing a name for the baby.

3: The Awakening Chamber (Lana Citron, read by Luke Griffin) Because he is small for his age, Oliver is allowed into the girls' communal changing room with his older sister. But one day his innocent fun comes to an end.

4: Fabrication (Jo Baker, read by Pauline McLynn) A cautionary tale about a small village community which told too many stories.

5: Tiger Slayer (Pearse Elliot, read by George Irving) When a young orphan's prize cow is killed by a man-eating tiger, he sets out with an old rusty rifle to avenge the death.

(21 to 25-05-2001) Expatriates
- Five specially commissioned short stories exploring what it means to live in a foreign land.

1: Please Excuse My Husband - He's A Vegetarian (Michele Roberts, read by Lindsay Duncan) An English couple retire to rural France, where the husband's vegetarianism causes tension in their marriage and the community.

2: The Water Bird (wri/read by Emily Perkins) An Australian girl, of Portuguese descent and living in England, considers her double expatriation.

3: Yellow Label Tea (Ruth Thomas, read by Natasha Little) A homesick English woman spends a lonely pregnancy in stifling weather in Argentina.

4: How To Be An Expatriate (Peter Ho Davies, read by David Yip) A British postgraduate student in America discovers that expatriation creeps up on you, each year's passing making it harder to go home. Meanwhile, his parents keep up their hopes that he will return to England.

5: Learning How To Talk (Tracy Chevalier, read by Laurel Lefkow) An American woman living in Britain cannot decide where she belongs or how she should talk.

(29-05 to 01-06-2001) Making Hay
- Four writers at the 2001 Hay Festival of Literature perform specially commissioned stories on the subject of making hay. (NB: Transmitted each day except Monday.)

1: Margaret Atwood.

2: Abdulrazak Gurnah.

3: Lavinia Greenlaw.

4: Patrick Gale.

(04 to 15-06-2001) Telling Tales
(wri/read by Alan Bennett) With customary wryness, Alan Bennett reminisces about growing up in Leeds. With music by George Fenton.

1: A Strip of Blue

2: Our War

3: An Ideal Home

4: A Shy Butcher

5: Days out

6: Proper Names

7: Eating out

8: Aunt Eveline

9: Unsaid Players

10: No Mean City

(18 to 22-06-2001; Rpt) The Best Of Bombeck
(Erma Bombeck, abr Jane Marshall, read by Maureen Lipman) The US humorist's revelations of family life.

1: The Facts Of Life.

2: Car Pool Allergy.

3: Household Drudge.

4: Teenagers.

5: Communication.

(25 to 29-06-2001; Rpt) In Cuba I Was A German Shepherd
(Ana Menendez, abr Richard Hamilton, read by Mia Soteriou) From a powerful new collection about the passions, regrets and dreams of Cuban-Americans in Miami.

1: In Cuba I Was A German Shepherd, Part 1.

2: In Cuba I Was A German Shepherd, Part 2.

3: Hurricane Stories.

4: Story Of A Parrot.

5: Her Mother's House.

(02 to 06-07-2001) Five Stories By Elizabeth Bowen
(adapy Simon Hutton, read by Harriet Walter) Five stories of English middle-class life, from the 20s to the Blitz. Directed by John Tydeman.

1: Mrs Windemere - The psychic Mrs Windemere reenters Esmee's life in a London restaurant, where her attempts to help have a distinctly unsettling effect.

2: The New House - Long-suffering Cicely and her irritable brother Herbert are moving into their first home without Mother. All is well until Cicely makes a shattering announcement.

3: Tears, Idle Tears - Plucky widow Mrs Dickinson can cope with just about anything except her seven-year-old son's uncontrollable outbursts of crying. When they take a walk in a London park, help comes from an unexpected quarter.

4: Telling - Terry is an embarrassment to his family and to himself, unable to do anything right. But when a friend of his sister arrives, he sees a way to make an impact.

5: Pink May - A married woman is visited in her room by a ghost - but only on those evenings when she prepares to meet her lover.

(09 to 13-07-2001; Rpt) Just William
- The 80th Anniversary (Richmal Crompton, read by Martin Jarvis) Five stories, originally broadcast to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first appearance of Crompton's immortal 11-year-old. Directed by Pete Atkins.

1: April Fools' Day.

2: That Boy.

3: The Bishop's Handkerchief.

4: The Haunted House. 5: The Cure.

(16 to 27-07-2001) Sleeping Arrangements
(Madeleine Wickham, abr Samantha Bakhurst, read by Harriet Walter)

1: When a mutual friend loans two families his villa in Spain, unfortunately it's in the same week. The apparently accidental double booking leads to some interesting discoveries.

2: Sharing a villa with unexpected fellow guests leads to some interesting recollections of previous meetings.

6: Thrown together by an apparently accidental double-booking, two families make the best of a summer holiday. But Chloe and Hugh had a passionate affair 15 years ago, and their current partners do not know about it.

7: Two families rent a villa in Spain in the same week. The apparently accidental double booking leads to some interesting discoveries.

(30-07 to 03-08-2001) School Days
- A week of stories about childhood and school.

1: The Dirty Di Renzis (Sheila Yeger, read by Marlene Sidaway) To a young girl growing up in post-war suburbia, the unruly Di Renzi children hold out the promise of forbidden pleasure.

2: Wreckage (Julia Stoneham, read by Susannah Harker) When Ulrich arrives at an English school with two other wartime Jewish refugees, no one understands the depth of his pain and grief for his country.

3: Romeo & Julie (Clare Seal, read by Lisa Coleman) The first performance of the school play should be a triumph, but it turns into the stuff of Julie's worst nightmare.

4: Doves (Nicola Bennett, read by Juliet Prew) Martha and the doves arrived on the same day, and throughout her short stay, strange, uprooted Martha seemed to have a special bond with the birds.

5: Lost Love (Tessa Hadley, read by Dee Sadler) When Helly picks Clare for membership of the Sacred Sisterhood of the Stump, the two girls embark on a friendship that lasts through adolescence, boyfriends, sex and shoplifting - until adulthood brings conflict.

(06 to 10-08-2001) Under The Southern Cross
- Five stories from Australia.

1: And Women Must Weep (Henry Handel Richardson, read by Lucinda Cowden) Dolly's first grown-up ball does not live up to expectations.

2: Kaijek The Songman (Xavier Herbert, read by Douglas Walker) An encounter with a gold prospector provides inspiration for a new song.

3: Lady Weare & The Bodhisattva (Kylie Tennant, read by Darlene Johnson).

4: The Shed (Elizabeth Jolley, read by Madi Hedd) Building a shed proves more satisfying than reading a letter from England.

5: Hickenlooper's Syndrome (Terry Lane, read by Douglas Walker) Morris is a news junkie, but one day he just cannot read the papers any more.

(13 to 17-08-2001) Edinburgh International Book Festival
- Five leading authors and actors present new short stories to a Festival audience.

1: Beyond Midnight (David Malouf) A beautiful and evocative story about a woman suffering from cancer who `captures the moment' of a balmy evening on a Tuscan hillside.

2: Tunnel Of Fish (Kate Atkinson) A mother worries about the future of her strange, obsessive 12-year-old son.

3: The Blue Hen (Des Dillon) Two young men on a housing estate in Glasgow decide to better themselves by breeding chickens.

4: A Legacy & Some Gunks (Bernard MacLaverty) The true story of a writer who receives a letter from Germany asking for some original prose in return for a vast inheritance.

5: The Universal Story (Ali Smith) Interconnecting weird and wonderful stories make up one universal tale.

(20 to 24-07-2001) Comic Fringes
- Five comic short stories, performed in front of an audience at the Pleasance Cabaret Bar on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

1: The Rotters' Club (Jonathan Coe, read by Crawford Logan) A schoolboy forgets his trunks and has to face the embarrassment of swimming without them.

2: The Ex-Magician From The Minhota Tavern (Murilo Rubaio, read by Steven McNicoll) When a man can't stop producing lions, snakes and free lunches from thin air, what can he do?

3: Ted Hughes & The Fancy Rabbit (Patricia Hannah, read by Vivienne Dixon) A pet goes missing during a poetry reading - just as the buffet serves rabbit tartlets.

4: Footnotes: Peterhead, Winter 1963 (Iain Grant, read by Michael Mackenzie) A critic's comments on a great Scottish poem reveal the poet's disastrous home life as a drunken misogynist.

5: Unknown.

(28 to 31-08-2001) Four New Shorts
- The first of four stories. (NB: Transmitted Tues to Fri.)

1: The Piano Teacher's Pupil (William Trevor, read by Joanna David) The strange relationship between a teacher and pupil.

2: Rushpool (Jane Gardam, read by Anna Massey) A farmer has vivid memories about his land and golden cattle.

3: Mr Pants (Harland Miller, read by Nick Mercer) From a wannabe rock star to children's entertainer in one fell swoop.

4: Joint Matrimonial Coasters (Barbara Anderson, read by Michael Siberry) How to get ahead in an outfit called TALC.

(03 to 07-09-2001) Ruth Rendell Stories
- Five stories by one of Britain's leading crime writers.

1: A Dark Blue Perfume (read by John Rowe) On returning from abroad, a retired businessman decides to find his ex-wife who left him for another man many years before.

2: The Wink (read by Kathy Staff) An elderly woman exacts revenge on the man who raped her when she was a teenager.

3: Computer Seance (read by Lesley Joseph) A medium comes face to face with her dead brother.

4: The Wrong Category (read by Nick Moran) No synopsis.

5: Burning End (read by Sue Johnston) A woman caring for her difficult mother-in-law watches as strong sunlight hits a glass vase in the old lady's home and scorches the papers beneath.

(10 to 14-09-2001) Tales From East Anglia
- Five stories by writers whose East Anglian identity is important in their work. Directed by Ivan Howlett.

1: Master Of None (wri/read by Ronald Blythe) A countryman applies for an unusual job, but must first get around the village to see who will speak for his character.

2: Vendor (wri/read by Terence Blacker) Beaten by economic forces, bureaucracy and, finally, animal disease, a farmer decides to sell up, while a Londoner arrives, dreaming of a swimming pool, an attic conversion and the good life.

3: The Secret To A Long Life (wri/read by Ivan Cutting) An old lady waits for a man from the Museum to come round and record her memories. She realises that the past isn't another place, and that things can always happen to make sense of the events of long ago)

4: Funeral In The Fens (Edward Storey, read by Glyn Dilley) A music teacher born and raised in the Fens returns home for his best friend's funeral. It is a sad opportunity to discover whether he could return himself.

5: Passage Migrants (wri/read by D J Taylor) It is late summer in a Norfolk seaside town, and casual workers and visitors ogle, make a show and prepare to move on.

(17 to 21-09-2001) Five New Sparks
(Muriel Spark, abr Duncan Minshull, read by Sian Phillips)

1: The Snobs - The hazards of chateau hopping.

2: The Hanging Judge - Sentencing gives him a strange thrill...

3: Quest For Lavishes Ghast - A talent for misunderstanding people.

4: Ladies & Gentlemen - Assignations don't pay.

5: A Hundred & Eleven Years Without A Chauffeur - Pictures that do tell stories.

(24 to 28-09-2001) The Adventures Of Robin Hood
- Five stories dedicated to the legendary English outlaw.

1: Robin Hood's Story (Adam Thorpe) How Hood became an outlaw and how his fascination with the Greenwood began.

2: Friar Tuck's Story (Philippa Gregory) The renegade priest voices his outrage over the Crusades and Richard I's neglect of England.

3: The Sheriff's Story (Dylan Ritson) The sheriff bemoans his lot - the good folk of Nottingham are determined to cast him as a villain.

4: The Prioress's Story (Wally K Daly) Greed overrides religious beliefs when the prioress sees the chance of acquiring Robin's lands.

5: Maid Marian's Story (Sara Maitland) Marian tries to reconcile her memories of the man she knew with the legend he has become.

(01 to 05-10-2001) The Montana Stories
(Katherine Mansfield, abr Richard Hamilton, read by Emilia Fox) Four stories written by Mansfield while she was living in the mountains of Montana, Switzerland. (NB: Trasmitted each day barring Thursday.)

1: Marriage A La Mode - A happy marriage suffers when Isobel falls in with a racy set.

2: The Doll's House - The Burnell children invite all their classmates except the pauper Kelsey sisters to see their new toy.

3: A Cup Of Tea - The vanity of popular and rich Rosemary Fell is exposed when she decides to do a good deed.

4: Honeymoon - No synopsis.

(04-10-2001) National Poetry Day:
Journeys (Andrew Motion) The Poet Laureate introduces some of the poems he commissioned for National Poetry Day, each about some kind of journey. (NB: Ten installments occured through the day under the title Journeys: Ten Poems For National Poetry Day.)

(08 to 12-10-2001) Something Out Of Nothing
- Stories by five Welsh writers.

1: The Day Trippers (Richard John Evans, read by Oliver Ryan) Passing the time in Pontypridd, a young couple invent a day out.

2: Learning To Speak Klingon (Catherine Merriman, unknown reader) Iestyn and Dale have created full lives with few resources, but Mr and Mrs Mouse aren't so lucky.

3: On Top Of The World (Roger Granelli, unknown reader) Rob and Roxanne's experience of life in Laugharne proves more painful than Dylan Thomas' colourful fiction.

4: The Bread Van (Brian Smith, unknown reader) Set in an Orwellian Wales of the future, Owen's attempt to find a job takes him somewhere he didn't expect to go.

5: That Good Night (Ceri Williams, read by Melanie Walters) Nostalgia, alcohol and music accompany Mr Davies as he tackles the long journey home.

(15 to 19-10-2001) On Stage At Cheltenham
- Five stories from the Cheltenham Festival of Literature.

1: Clackety Clack Down The Track: Telling Train Stories (Tracy Chevalier) The author of `Girl With A Pearl Earring' reads her new essay about the art of storytelling.

2: Not a Nice Person (Fay Weldon) From Weldon's new novel, `The Bulgari Connection'.

3: Bushfire (Kate Grenville) story about the Australian outback from the Orange Prize-winner.

4: The Audioguide (Toby Litt) A new short story.

5: Ted Hughes (Elaine Feinstein) From the biography of the late Poet Laureate.

(22 to 26-10-2001) Graham Greene's Short Stories
- Selection of the best short fiction from the master storyteller.

1: Special Duties - Mr Ferraro employs Miss Saunders to pray for his salvation, but can she really be trusted?

2: The Invisible Japanese Gentleman and The Case For The Defence.

3: Men At Work - It is wartime and committees are busily convening, among them the Book Committee.

4: I Spy - A boy wakes in the night and wanders down to his father's shop and, in `Beauty', appearances deceive.

5: A Shocking Accident - Deborah Findlay reads this quirky meditation on the crosses that some children have to bear.

(29-10 to 09-11-2001) Rebecca
(Daphne Du Maurier, abr Sally Marmion, read by Emma Fielding)

1: Du Maurier's much-loved story of a second wife haunted by the presence of her predecessor, the charming and charismatic Rebecca.

2: Maxim makes an offer and returns to his beloved Manderley with a new bride on his arm.

3: The new Mrs de Winter begins her life at Manderley.

4: Manderley continues to offer up surprises, as Mrs de Winter finds the happy valley and the hut on the beach.

5: Mrs Danvers shows her new mistress the west wing.

6: A ball is proposed in honour of the new bride.

7: After the ball...

8: There must be an inquest...

9: The verdict is questioned... Can Maxim survive?

10: An answer to Rebecca's last riddle.

(12 to 16-11-2001) From The Front
- Five programmes of poetry and prose for Remembrance Week. (NB: Unknown readers.)

1: Soldier Poets Of The Forgotten War - Poetry by young American servicemen caught up in the Korean War.

2: Finished With The War (Pat Barker) Psychologist W H R Rivers questions poet Siegfried Sassoon.

3: Somewhere In France - A selection of poignant front-line letters home from Frank Orchard and Ludwig Kuttner.

4: Aboard The Uganda - Simon Weston's vivid account of the immediate aftermath of the attack on his ship, during the Falklands War.

5: Conflict - A compilation, including private letters and oral testimonies, reflecting personal WWII experiences.

(19 to 23-11-2001) Mrs Miniver
(Jan Struther, read by Penelope Wilton) Ten stories of middle-class family life which first appeared in the Times in 1937. (NB: The Book Of The Week was The Real Mrs Miniver

Ysenda Maxtone Graham's biography of Jan Struther.)

1: Mrs Miniver Comes Home and On Hampstead Heath.

2: The New Car and Guy Fawkes Day.

3: Married Couples and At the Dentist's.

4: Doing A Mole and Christmas Shopping.

5: Back From Abroad and Three Stockings.

(26-11-2001) Let's Dance
(Dermot Bolger, read by Margaret D'Arcy) A woman has the chance to e-mail her friend of 80 years at her home in South Africa. But what will she say?

(27-11-2001) Wishing Carefully
(Marian Keyes, read by Cathy Belton) A woman wishes for a fairy-tale romance, and gets one. Will it live up to her expectations?

(28-11-2001) The Dancing Master
(Frank Delaney, unknown reader) Eddie Dance brings both fun and jealousy on his quarterly visits to teach the parish wives to dance. The husbands conspire to offer Eddie a wager.

(29-11-2001) Home Coming
(Maeve Binchy, unknown reader) For many years, the Brennans have successfully run Quentin's restaurant in Dublin for the owner, who lives abroad. Then he suddenly pays a visit.

(30-11-2001) The Searcher
(Maurice Leitch, read by Clive Mantle) When Sonny embarks on a search for a 15-year-old runaway, the experience leaves him feeling his age.

(03 to 07-12-2001) Voices From Behind The Canvas
- Five short stories in which a famous painting, or a character within it, speaks. (NB: Unknown readers, apart from Part 3.)

1: Tobias & The Angel (Barbara Trapido) A tale about Andrea del Verrocio's painting.

2: Olympia (Susie Maguire) Manet's studio is seen from the point of view of the little black cat who sits on Olympia's bed.

3: Ennui (Shena Mackay, read by Tilly Visburgh) A tale about Walter Sickert's painting.

4: Madame Moitessier (Giles Waterfield. A tale about Ingres's painting.

5: Sacrifice (Rachel Cusk) A contemporary interpretation of Caravaggio's Sacrifice of Isaac.

(10 to 14-12-2001) The Funniest Thing I Ever Heard
- Recorded for Comic Relief, five comedians and actors read their favourite funny story. (NB: These were presumably the stories that weren't chosen for broadcast in March.)

1: An extract from Bridget Jones's Diary (Helen Fielding, read by Josie Lawrence).

2: A selection from Lucky Baby Jesus (Peter Bradshaw, read by David Baddiel).

3: Mrs Chocolate, a short story from The Adventure Book For Girls (F O H Nash, read by Mel Giedroyc & Sue Perkins).

4: An extract from London Fields (Martin Amis, read by Arthur Smith).

5: An extract from the comic travelogue Round Ireland With A Fridge (Tony Hawks, read by Neil Pearson).

(17 to 21-12-2001) Ned Sherrin's Theatrical Anecdotes - An alphabet of show business legends, stories and gossip.

1: A-B.

2: C-E.

3: F-I.

4: J-Q.

5: R-Z.

(24 to 28-12-2001) No programme.

(31-12-2001) Cold Comfort Farm
(Stella Gibbons, read by Sophie Thompson) Five extracts from the hilarious classic, which describes Flora Poste's attempts to civilise her rural relatives the Starkadders. (NB: Continued into 2002.)

1: A Curse

4:

OTHER AFTERNOON DRAMAS

Various - those not in the 3:30pm slot.

(01-01-2001) Tales The Countess Told
(Stephen Wyatt) Eleanor Bron stars as the Countess D'Aulnoy, who read her fairy tales to enraptured audiences in the salons of 17th-century Paris. The adventures of princesses, serpents, yellow dwarves and tiny pagodas mirror the equally colourful life of the Countess. With Janine Wood, Adam Godley, Phillip Joseph and Kenny Blyth. Directed by Claire Grove. (Mon 2:30pm; 90m)

(07 to 21-01-2001) Fairy-Tale Economics
(Bridget Rosewell) Three mischievous reworkings of fairy tales. (Sun 5:40pm; 15m)

1: Jack & The Beanstalk - The story becomes a fable of entrepreneurial risk-taking in a free-market economy.

2: Cinderella - A parable of consumerism, with Cinders herself as a lesson in brand management.

3: The Elves & The Shoemaker. - Could the genial old shoemaker be an exponent of the sweat shop? A reworking of the tale as a guide to profit, loss and exploitation.

(22 to 26-01-2001) Victoria's Children
- Daniel Snowman tells their story from 1840 to 1944. With Annette Crosbie as Queen Victoria. (Weekdays 3:45pm; 15m)

1: And Then There Were Nine!

2: Marriage Plans.

3: Family at War.

4: Grandmama of Europe.

5: Children Alone.

(10-06 to 01-07-2001; Rpt) Batman & Rosie
(Unknown) Readings by Vanessa Redgrave. (NB: It's unknown whether this is drama, comedy or documentary - only the third episode included the 'readings by' information.) (Sun 2:45pm; 15m)

1: The Bat's Haircut - In the first of four programmes, Dr Henry Schofield, who is studying the rare Bechstein's bat, prepares for a bat hunt by radio-tagging one of the creatures.

2: The Bat Hunt - Dr Henry Schofield and his colleague Colin spend the night radio-tracking bats, while Rosie the dog spends the night sleeping and eating crisps.

3: The Storm - Rosie has her bark slowed down by a bat detector before a dramatic storm confines the team to the caravan, where Henry dispels some myths.

4: Lights In The Night Sky - Henry puts tiny lights on the bats so he can see where they are in the dark. On the final day of the study, will Henry and Rosie find the bat which they have lost?

(18 to 25-11-2001; Rpt) Radio Poem
- Two poems written by a poet about a place central to their imagination and heart. (Sun, 4:30pm, rptd Sat, 11:30pm; 30mins) (NB: A resurrection of the old slot, though it only lasted two weeks. Presumably the former was a repeat.)

1: Essex Rag - Lavinia Greenlaw returns to the village where she grew up to explore the landscape she has come to associate with the boredom and isolation of her teenage years.

2: Such Heavenly Bric-a-Brac - Michael Longley travels to Carrigskeewaun in Co. Mayo.

(25 to 28-12-2001) Master Of Disguise
(Grant Allen, read by Martin Jarvis) Relying on his own natural cunning, mastery of disguise and mimicry, and the assistance of a charming female accomplice, 'Clay' (actually one of his many aliases) stalks his quarry, the morally dubious millionaire Sir Charles Vandrift, with a bagful of brazen schemes - each one more daring, more brilliant than the last. There's something devilishly attractive about this wily confidence-man, Colonel Clay. A master impersonator, he has long evaded recognition and capture. Now we are going to find out who he actually is. Aren't we...? The dazzling array of characters in these mysteries of the Naughty Nineties gives Martin Jarvis great scope for his own range of vocal disguises. And the question still remains - which one is the real Colonel Clay...? (NB: Dual episode on the 28th.) (Tues-Thurs 3:45, Fri 3:30/3:45; 15m)

1: The Episode Of The Missing Dividends.

2: No title.

3: The Episode Of The Reluctant Prosecutor - Will the colonel finally face his accuser in court?

4: The Episode Of The Old Bailey - Who is the true villain in the trial of the master impersonator?

5: The Episode Of The Final Verdict - What will be the verdict of the court, and can the colonel effect a final escape?

(25-12-2001) Rumpole & The Old Familiar Faces
(John Mortimer) A trip to the pantomime provides Horace Rumpole with the opportunity to solve a crime involving a duplicitous dame, and to indulge in a little seasonal, charitable blackmail. (Tues 4:00pm; 90m)

(29-12-2001; Rpt) Edna, May, Vera & The Zulus
- A true story in which Zulu Natal meets Pennine West Yorkshire as three sisters and a team of Zulus revive lost family carols. (NB: Unknown whether this was a drama.) (Sat 5:00pm; 40m)

THE FRIDAY PLAY

9:00pm Fridays; 60mins.

(05-01-2001) Konfidenz
(Ariel Dorfman, dram Ariel & Rodrigo Dorfman) It is Paris, 1939, just before war is declared. Barbara, a young German, has come to meet Martin, but is rung by `Leon', who tells her that Martin is in grave danger, working for the German resistance. Truth and illusion begin to blur. With Anton Lesser, Luisa Bradshaw-White, Gavin Muir and Andrew Wincott. Directed by Rosalynd Ward.

(12-01-2001) East O The Sun
(Carey Harrison) Intrigued by the unexpected death of Thomas Harrell, the last and greatest of Britain's Victorian explorers, journalist Daniel Bacon attempts to retrace Harrell's journey through one of the loneliest deserts in the world. With Anton Lesser, Elizabeth Spriggs, Roshan Seth and William Gaunt. Directed by Gordon House.

(19-01-2001) Where'er You Walk
(Alan Pascoe) A love story and mystery which unfolds against Handel's timeless music and Alexander Pope's poetry. When two music students begin the search for a missing Handel manuscript, they discover the truth about their own relationship. With Robert Pickavance, Alison Darling, Adam Sunderland and Kathryn Hunt. Directed by Pauline Harris.

(26-01-2001) The Wild Party
(dram Malcolm McKee) In 1928, Joseph Moncure March wrote his sensational jazz poem, using the language of the tabloids and the lyrics and rhythms of jazz to capture the hedonistic spirit of the 20s. With Ed Bishop, Teresa Gallagher, James Jordan and William Roberts. Directed by Sue Wilson.

(02-02-2001) The Crashed Plane
- No details!

(09-02-2001) Harmonics
(Stephen James) A play about love, sex and guilt. Lillian loves Julian, who thinks he loves her. But he also loves Jill, and cares very deeply about Keith. With Jenny Funnell, Thomas Arnold, Jasmine Hyde and Gareth Armstrong. Directed by Gordon House.

(16-02-2001) A Capital Case - Karl Marx Meets Sherlock Holmes
(David Zane Mairowitz) Sherlock Holmes has had many strange requests, but none are so strange as the request from a certain Mr Karl Marx to help him find his stolen revolutionary tract `Das Kapital'. With Robert Bathurst, David de Keyser, Jasmine Hyde and Thomas Arnold. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.

(23-02-2001) Knowledge & A Girl
(Howard Baker) The story of Snow White, reinterpreted by the Prix Italia winning author. The Queen is infertile and the object of the King's obsessive jealousy, while Snow White envies the Queen's sexual experience. With Victoria Wicks, Gerrard McArthur, Sarah Belcher and Sean O'Callaghan. Directed by the author.

(02-03-2001) 23 Years
(Mike Walker) Inspired by the true story of Patrick Nicholls, who was imprisoned for 23 years for a murder which he did not commit, this powerful play charts one man's fight to clear his name when all around are convinced of his guilt. With Alun Armstrong, Danny Webb, Struan Rodger and Janice Acquah. Directed by Marion Nancarrow.

(09-03-2001) The Seven White Masks Of Scaramouche
(Justin Butcher) Warren Mitchell plays Scaramouche, a 100-year-old clown, whose white face is his greatest asset and his greatest handicap. His story is a vivid odyssey through the heart of the 20th century. Directed by Claire Grove.

(16-03-2001) Ecce Homo - Behold The Man!
(David Napthine) Comedy in which Birmingham decides to appoint a philosopher-in-residence in a bid to improve its intellectual standing. From the moment when free thinker Diogenes Walker steps through the door, chaos envelops City Hall. With Paul Bown, Helen Atkinson Wood, Philip Whitchurch and Rachel Atkins. Directed by Toby Swift.

(23-03-2001) Louis: The Lonely Days
(Bonnie Greer) Biographical drama. It's the early 30s, and Louis is on his European tour, keeping ahead of the women, the gangsters and the racists. One night, on the stage of the London Palladium, his lip is split in front of the Prince of Wales, and the music has to stop. With Ray Shell, Kerry Shale, Geoff Burton and Don Gilet. Directed by Pam Fraser-Solomon.

(30-03-2001) Red Star Belgrade
(Peter Wolf) In 1941, as the Nazis begin their invasion of the Balkans, half of the Belgrade football team is wiped out as the pitch is bombed. In prison camp, the survivors form a new team to play a match against the prison guards, but the price of winning will be their lives. With Bill Nighy, Mark Bazeley, Stephen Critchlow and Tracy-Ann Oberman. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

(06-04-2001; Rpt) Into The Mystic
(Annie McCartney) Following regression therapy, Susan Sinclair throws her family into turmoil when she accuses her brother of abusing her as a child. The family recoils in anger and disbelief until a shattering incident gives them all pause for thought. With Samantha Bond, Ron Cook and Sophie Thompson. Director: Eoin O'Callaghan.

(13-04-2001; Rpt) Hotel Europa
(John Dryden) A psychological thriller about Eastern European refugees working in a London hotel. Australian receptionist Kate is drawn in to what she thinks is a harmless scam involving jobs for illegal immigrants. But she soon discovers that there is something deeply shocking going on. With Kerry Fox, Roshan Seth and Rad Lazar.

(20-04-2001; Rpt) The Missing Wife
(Peter Whalley) A man's wife goes missing... Has she walked out on him, or has she come to harm...? Directed by Pauline Harris.

(27-04-2001; Rpt) Games
(Mike Walker) To prevent a talented young journalist from leaving his magazine, the editor proposes a bet. He then throws her into situations which will ensure that he wins. Against a backdrop of `Cosi Fan Tutti', Mozart's opera about the perils of love and gambling, she learns about malice and manipulation. With Angeline Ball, Geraldine James, David Thorpe and Michael Troughton.

(04-05-2001) Angel
(Richard Eyre) An hour in the lives of Stephen, a jaded jingle composer who has fallen out of love with his music and his wife, and Angie, a homeless Scottish woman who turns up on his doorstep. All she wants is a bath, a sandwich and to deliver a message, but their meeting has a profound effect on Stephen. With Douglas Hodge, Sharon Small and Clare Cathcart. Directed by Kate Rowland.

(11-05-2001) Mama, Papi, Mial & Me
(Kara Miller) Camilo is just ten when his father decides to risk all by leaving Cuba and taking his family on a raft across the Florida straits. But Camilo, only just coming to terms with his grandmother's death, is not at all happy about leaving his homeland. With Daniel Anthony, Derek Griffiths, Jaye Griffiths and Bruno Munoz Rojas. Directed by Jeremy Mortimer.

(18-05-2001) I'll Be George
(Snoo Wilson) In search of the truth about mothers and daughters, an Australian tour guide in modern Paris evokes some 19th-century free spirits. Novelist George Sand's turbulent relationship with her courtesan daughter is reflected in a gritty and bawdy morality tale. With Jane Lapotaire, Simon Callow, Federay Holmes and Jennie Stoller. Directed by Ned Chaillet.

(25-05-2001) The Marilyn Room
(Gregory Whitehead) A disturbing portrait of an American family following the suicide of their son, a young man with a consuming passion for Marilyn Monroe. With Gregory Whitehead, Leslie Hendrix, Patricia Hodges and Henry Strozier. Directed by Gregory Whitehead.

(01-06-2001) The Force of Change
(Gary Mitchell) DS Caroline Patterson has only a few hours before she has to release her suspect, and believes his silence is not the only obstacle she faces in trying to charge him. Used to confronting sexism from colleagues, she is shocked to discover something far more sinister at work. With Abigail McGibbon, Dan Gordon, Richard Dormer and Sean Caffrey. Directed by Stephen Wright.

(08-06-2001) Red Rock Grey Rock
(Jeff Young) Writer Jeff Young walks the streets of Liverpool in search of his grandfather, whose ghost he saw on the day he became caught up in an armed robbery. With Jeff Young, William Dixon, Sam Kelly, Eileen O'Brien and Andrew Schofield. Directed by Melanie Harris.

(15-06-2001) Comrades
(Michael Butt) An old man tries to jump off a bridge and fails. During questioning, he recalls a night many years before: a bridge in ethnically-divided India, four soldiers guarding it, bored, tired, frightened. What happened on that hot summer night? With Lee Ross, Neil Maskell, Kenny Blyth and George Sewell. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.

(22-06-2001; Rpt) Beauty & The Beasts
(Mike Harris) A black comedy. When anthropologist Anthea Lostgarden decides to get the decorators in, she opens up a whole new field of study, complete with all the dangers of the wild. With Stella Gonet, Trevor Peacock and Darren Tighe. Director Clive Brill.

(29-06-2001) The Destiny Of Nathalie X
(William Boyd) The ironic take on Hollywood and its grotesque inhabitants tells the story of African filmmaker Aurelian No's attempt to remake his prize-winning student film `City of Dreams'. With John Sessions, Maynard Eziashi, Rosaleen Pelan and Paul Birchard. Directed by Dave Batchelor.

(06-07-2001) Alpha
(Mike Walker) This play, which won this year's Sony Award for Best Radio Drama, is about a computer so all-knowing that it appears to have an independent life of its own. It is, thus, an abomination for those who believe in a Supreme Creator... With David Calder, Sarah-Jane Holm, John Moffatt and Ana Sofrenovic, with music by David Chiltern. Directed by Gordon House. Previously broadcast on World Service.

(13-07-2001) Poppy Q
(Nicola Baldwin) A stark, modern thriller. In a seedy northern rural town, friendship isn't always what it seems and Poppy Q is always on the run - but from what? With Katie Cavanagh, Claudie Blakley, Emma Ashton and Susan Twist. Directed by Polly Thomas.

(20-07-2001; Rpt) Don't Be A Stranger
(Carolyn Sally Jones) University law lecturer Dave Trimby's life has been drifting. A young woman turns up on his doorstep and his life takes on a new meaning - but not without a cost. With Peter Egan, Emilia Fox and Christopher Timothy. Director Ralph Rolls.

(27-07-2001) Stake Out (Jens Blendstrup)
Dark Danish comedy transposed to the suburbs of Hull, about a man who can not tolerate disorder, particularly in his garden. With Claude Close, Susan Cookson and Michael Begley. Directed by Melanie Harris.

(03-08-2001) The Cube Of The Rainbow
(Peter Morgan) When a genetic experiment on a 17-year-old boy goes wrong, a pioneering research scientist has to question her own beliefs, while others question her motives. With Melanie Walters, Helen Griffin, Steffan Rhodri and Vivian Parry. Directed by Alison Hindell.

(10-08-2001) American Heavy
(Gregory Whitehead) Shock jock Jack French wakes up to find himself sinking into a murky bog, unable to move. The last thing he can remember is a one-night stand the night before. A dark comedy developed with an ensemble of actors from Massachusetts-based theatre company Shakespeare and Company. With Jonathan Epstein, Allyn Burrows, Elizabeth Ingram and Lucia Brawley. Directed by the author.

(17-08-2001) Habakkuk Of Ice
(Steve Walker) The extraordinary story of a battleship made entirely of ice, which was designed for use in the Second World War, but left to dissolve in a lonely Canadian lake in Northern Alberta. With Tim McInnerney, Dermot Crowley, Melanie Hudson and Chris Emmett. Directed by Andy Jordan.

(24-08-2001) A Woman In Waiting
(Thembi Mtshali & Yael Farber) Award-winning actress and singer Thembi Mtshali's autobiographical play about her mother, a live-in maid for a white family, runs from the days of apartheid to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. Performed by Thembi Mtshali. Directed by Claire Grove.

(31-08-2001) Goodnight Irene
(Lucy Catherine) It is the last weekend of August, and Lily and Jack have organised a family reunion at Brean Sands Caravan Park. With June Barrie, Maggie Tagney, Mark Buffery and Paul Mohan. Directed by Jeremy Mortimer.

(07-09-2001) Eden
(Eugene O'Brien, adap Conor McPherson) A poignant story, set in modern-day Ireland, about the expectations and desires of a couple who are ten years into their marriage. With Don Wycherley and Catherine Walsh. Directed by Conor McPherson.

(14-09-2001) Fall Out
(Neil McKay) A play about a couple, now separated, who lost a young child in a ferry accident. Eight years on, on the anniversary of the tragedy, Rachel visits the resort where the accident occurred, accompanied by Laura, who has counselled her and her husband Rob. Unknown to them, Rob has also decided to make the same pilgrimage to say some kind of goodbye. (NB: This play was presumably held back due to '9/11', as it's also billed on 26-10-2001.)

(21-09-2001; Rpt) I Want To Go Home
(David Pownall) And on the eighth day God created language. Little did he expect the confusion that would ensue. With David Bamber, Joanna Monro, Ben Crowe and Georgie Alexander.

(28-09-2001; Rpt) Falling Through Italy
(Nigel Gearing) A modern divine comedy about a man who, haunted by his first wife, escapes on a holiday to Italy. With James Laurenson, Sandy Walsh, Janice Acquah and Sean Baker.

(05-10-2001; Rpt) All Of Me Tempting
(Max Hillman) A failing marriage is torn apart by an act of betrayal, and reborn through an act of revenge. With Peter Sallis and Rosemary Leach. Directed by Cathryn Horn.

(12-10-2001; Rpt) Marmalade
(Michael Butt) As Agnes reviews the marmalade recipes her children have given her, they seem to represent something more than filial duty - but what? With Barbara Jefford.

(19-10-2001; Rpt) Cheryl
(John Harvey) The investigations of DI Charlie Resnick and meals-on-wheels woman Cheryl collide. With Keith Barron and Gwen Taylor.

(26-10-2001) Fall Out
(Neil McKay) What happens to people who turn against each other following a human tragedy? With Kathryn Hunt, Julia Ford and John Lloyd Fillingham. Directed by Melanie Harris. (NB: Presumably this was held back from the 14-09-2001 slot.)

(02-11-2001) Ruby On Tuesday
(Charlotte Jones) A comic odyssey in which 40-year-old Ruby goes on the run with a boy in a mobile library. They head for Norfolk, where the Virgin Mary once made Ruby a promise.

(09-11-2001) There Are Such Things
(Mark McDonnell & Steven McNicoll) A darkly imaginative exploration of the life of Bela Lugosi.

(16-11-2001) Tragedy: A Tragedy
(Will Eno) The sun has set over the streets, houses and government buildings of America, and no one knows if it will ever rise again. A news team is on the scene. Is it a tragedy?

(23-11-2001) Groupie
(Arnold Wesker) When Matty reads the memoirs of a celebrated artist from the East End of London, she finds mirror images of her own life, and needs to make contact with him.

(30-11-2001) Do Not Feed The Animals
(Cheryl Martin) The story of Ota Benga, a Bambuti hunter from Central Africa, who was displayed as an exhibit in the monkey house at New York's Bronx Zoo in 1906.

(07-12-2001) Think Tank
- Three Philosophical Tales (Julia Darling, Sean O'Brien & Peter Straughan) Marcus Aurelius interrogates a Geordie, Martin Heidegger argues with a Geordie guard and the ideas of Mary Midgley are explored.

(14-12-2001) The Harbour
(Anne Theron) A romantic thriller set in Milford Haven docks. When Bernard goes in search of his runaway wife, he uncovers a story of promises and betrayal.

(21-12-2001) 2000 Miles
(Michael Butt) When Mike and his father meet up for their annual Christmas reunion, they discover that telling each other stories is more than just entertaining.

(28-12-2001) The Seven White Masks Of Scaramouche Jones
(Justin Butcher) Warren Mitchell plays a 100-year-old clown, whose white face is his greatest asset and greatest handicap.

EVENING DRAMAS

Various - some one-off pieces, some series.

(03 to 17-01-2001) Signs Of Life
(Nicholas McInery) A series of three docudramas that explore the metaphors of illness. (Wed 9:00pm; 30m)

1: Mapping The World: Alzheimer's Disease
(with documentary from Dr Richard Harvey, Winn Harris and Margaret Benson) Two cartographers each claim that they have the true map of the world.

2: The Wrong Target: Multiple Sclerosis
(with documentary from Dr Giles Ellrington and Wendy Tindall-Shepherd) Agent 1 is debriefing Agent 3 after a seemingly successful assignment. So why is Agent 2 watching from behind a mirror?

3: The New Controller: Anorexia Nervosa
(with documentary from Dr Jill Welbourne and Esther Gluck) A new controller has taken over the factory. She is beautiful, fascinating and inspiring - so why does everything start going wrong?

(03-01-2001) Me & Little Boots
(Shaun McKenna) The sensational story of the emperor Caligula has been told in many ways, but never before from the point of view of his horse, Incitatus. With Leslie Phillips, Tom George, Beth Chalmers and Gavin Muir. Directed by Tracey Neale. (Wed 11:00pm; 30m)

(04-01 to 08-02-2001) Balti Kings
(Sudha Bhuchar & Shaheen Khan) With Anil Desai, Anthony Zaki, Kriss Dosanjh and Shiv Grewal. Directed by Kristine Landon-Smith. (Thur 11:00pm; 30m)

1: When self-made balti pioneer Yahsin Anwar suffers a heart attack, his youngest son is called back from his studies to help save his ailing restaurant. Ruthless undercutting competitors present Shahab with quite a task.

2: Mel puts pressure on Shahab, and temperatures rise in the kitchen as Nadim's illicit affair with the Bosnian cleaner jeopardises his forthcoming arranged marriage.

3: The idea of a night of `curryoke' and Bollywood stars is planted firmly in Shahab's mind. But will it be enough to win the price war in the Balti triangle?

4: Poison letters and dubious accusations put Yahsin Anwar's business at risk. The people in the kitchen are not without their own trials.

5: It's the night of the curryoke, and KK will stop at nothing to sabotage it. Mel's presence and the shenanigans of the kitchen staff do little to help.

6: After a disastrous start, the curryoke evening is finally a great success. Shahab wins his father's respect, but loses his girlfriend's commitment.

(06-01-2001) On Stage At Cheltenham - Physics & Chemistry
(Sara Davies) Last in series. Scandal cements a staff-room romance in a poignant new story. (Sat 12:30am; 30m)

(10-01 to 14-02-2001) The Truck
(Annie Caulfield) With Melanie Hudson, Stuart Graham, Vincent Ebrahim and Richenda Carey. Directed by Toby Smith. (Wed 11:00pm; 15m)

1: Helen nervously sets off on what she hopes will be a life-changing journey: a budget safari in East Africa with her bubbly flatmate, Perry.

2: The rubbish safari continues - until the grouchy driver reveals some terrible news about the truck.

3: The useless safari continues - not quite as tour-leader Jim had planned, thanks to the group demanding to visit some allegedly scenic waterfalls.

4: The pathetic safari continues, and crotchety Susan surprises everyone by saving the day in an unexpectedly vigorous fashion.

5: The pathetic safari continues, with the group visiting a `genuine' Masai village.

6: The appalling safari staggers to its conclusion by the shores of Lake Victoria, where nothing is so impressive as dull Graham's inflatable swimming trunks.

(13-01 to 10-02-2001; Rpt) Writing On The Body
- Five new fictional stories on the theme of the body. (Sat 12:30am; 15m)

1: Vincent Vice's Rainbow (Caspar Walsh, read by Jack Davenport) In need of a new identity, gangster Vincent Vice approaches celebrated plastic surgeon Serge Lafronze. But Serge's idea of a facial metamorphosis comes as a bit of a shock.

2: Impermanence (Valerie Miner, read by Teresa Gallagher) It is the 1960s, and Sophie's mother is giving her a long-awaited home perm. However, the shared experience marks a rite of passage that Sophie was not expecting.

3: Jack (Russell Manly, read by Mark Straker) Damian's mysterious friend Jack is back from his travels around the world, and the two have plenty to talk about.

4: Battleship Phyllis (Rachel Bentham, read by Geraldine Fitzgerald) Massage oils and a special prescription for herbal tea are the unconventional weapons of war against an irritating mother-in-law.

5: Working Out (Helen Kendall, read by Juliet Prew) In the gym, a young woman tries to exorcise the ghosts of her childhood.

(17-02 to 17-03-2001; Rpt) Nearest & Dearest
- Five stories about the complex nature of families. (Sat 12:30am; 15m)

1: Dinner On The Roof (Gee Williams, read by Gareth Morris) In Canada, a Welsh pioneer family awaits the return of the father from a dangerous journey in the snow in search of food.

2: Sheets (Celia Bryce, read by Nicola Hemsley) A teenage daughter persuades her father that it is time to wash the sheets.

3: Touch & Go (Sian Preece, read by Lois Charlton) A girl sits with her mother on a long flight, trying to find ways to pass the time.

4: The Pilot Light (Rhodri Clarke, read by Sue Roderick) An encounter with a tour bus triggers Mama's memories of her Polish family's capture by Russians during the war.

5: Flying Blind (Sian Preece, read by Eiry Thomas) A Welsh family sets off for their first holiday in Spain. Grandad has not been invited, but he accompanies them to the airport.

(20-02-2001; Rpt) Ringing The Changes
(Robert Aikman, dram Jeremy Dyson &Mark Gatiss of The League of Gentlemen) Gerald Banstead weds a girl 24 years younger than himself, but puts off their honeymoon for some months. Then he takes Phrynne to a curiously deserted seaside resort - where the church bells ring, and ring, and ring. With George Baker, Fiona Allen, Barbara Shelley and Michael Cochrane. With George Baker, Fiona Allen, Barbara Shelley and Michael Cochrane. (Tues 11:00pm; 30m)

(21-02 to 14-03-2001) Tales From The Backbench
(Peter Tinniswood) With Leslie Phillips. Directed by Enyd Williams. (Wed 11:15pm; 15m)

1: The General Thingermejig - A useless and forgetful MP recalls how he was seduced back into politics after three years in the wilderness, and tells of his happy association with Major Atlee, co-founder of the House of Commons Train Spotters' Club.

2: Naming Names - A useless and forgetful MP recalls a particularly juicy scandal involving an eminent politician and the Third Lady.

3: The 1929 Committee - An ineffectual and forgetful MP recalls his loathing of most politicians and their social proclivities, with the exception of one series of events.

4: The Great Snitcher - An ineffectual and forgetful MP recalls his one great hero and his own dalliance with a Russian spy whose antecedents were definitely not Soviet.

(24-03 to 21-04-2001; Rpt) Improvisations
(Adam Thorpe) Five short stories exactly 2,001-words long. (Sat 12:30am; 15m)

1: Sheets (read by Souad Faress) A nurse in a hospice is pursued by her dreams.

2: Cafe (read by Nigel Anthony) Bob and Myrtle's Greek island dream has not worked out as they expected.

3: Missing (read by Joanna Monro) Sally's visit to the standing stones is more revealing than she anticipated.

4: Letters (read by Barrie Rutter) After his wife's death, Hanklin makes an unhappy discovery.

5: Mercenary (read by David Calder) Stuart's past both defines and haunts him.

(28-04 to -05-2001; Rpt) Shaggy Dog Stories
- Five stories on a canine theme. (Sat 12:30am; 15m)

1: Shalimar (Shena Mackay, read by Annette Crosbie) An old theatrical landlady guards some dramatic secrets, including the origins of her crazy yellow dog.

2: A Partner For Life (Kate Atkinson, read by Stephen Tompkinson) A man joins a dating agency. Up till now his best friend has always been his dog.

3: Good Dog (Lynne Truss, read by Caroline Quentin) A child yearns for the family greyhound which disappeared before she was born.

4: Puppy Love (Philippa Gregory, read by Abigail Cruttenden) In the late 1920s, a young man wooing an upper-class girl gives her the most fashionable dog of the day - a Great Dane. But will the dog be enough to persuade her to marry him?

5: Eyes In The Dark' (wri/read by Fay Weldon) A dog killed in a road accident comes back to visit the family.

(01 to 08-05-2001; Rpt) Two Handers
(Tues 11:00pm; 30m)

1: Love & The Art Of War (Michael Butt) Chinese martial arts teacher Su Li falls for timid student Donald. But how can she woo him when she has got to bash him around? With Douglas Hodge and Su-Lin Looi. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.

2: Doreen's Chair (Nick Warburton) Timid Bobby lets his wife Doreen dictate every aspect of home decor. Then he discovers feng shui. With Peter Sallis and Gillian Barge. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.

(02 to 30-05-2001; Rpt) Wonderland Girls
(Marianne Carey) Five-part series of a comedy drama set in the offices of an Edinburgh insurance company. With Fiona Bell, Gayanne Potter, Monica Gibb and Jenny Ryan. (Wed 6:30pm; 30m)

1: Lothian Rock is celebrating its centenary, but the employees of the marketing department face an uncertain future.

2: The management consultancy team, headed by Adele `Jaws' Scott, descends on Lothian Rock.

3: The management consultants draw up their report, and a new boy joins the department.

4: It is the annual staff outing to Middlebury House, but not all the entertainment is as innocent as face painting and bungee jumping.

5: These are critical days for Lothian Rock, and there may be New Age romance for Debbie.

(02 to 06-06-2001; Rpt) Scottish Shorts
(Sat 12:30am; 15m)

1: Starlings (Roddy Hamilton, read by Lesley Mackie) The inner turmoil suffered by a librarian who feels she has been sexually assaulted by one of her readers.

2: Shakespeare's Hands (Paul R Hyde, read by Michael Mackenzie) A man encounters Shakespeare in a dream and finds him to be a scoundrel, a rogue - and a waiter in Verona.

3: The Girl From Quebrada (Meaghan Delahunt, read by Tamara Kennedy) A young Mexican girl determines to escape poverty and prostitution by becoming one of the famous divers of Acapulco - but the competition is for men only.

4: When That's Done (Jim Glen, read by James Bryce) A man visits a therapist for the first time and finds himself looking at the world in a different light.

5: Reunion (Michael Faber, read by Jimmy Chisholm) A domineering husband becomes suspicious of his wife's plans to attend a school reunion.

(05 to 26-06-2001; Rpt) The Little World Of Don Camillo
(Giovanni Guareschi, dram Peter Kerry) Dramatisation of the comic novel. With Alun Armstrong, Joss Ackland, John Moffatt and Sean Prendergast. (NB: Previously transmitted 19-03 to 09-04-2001.) (Tues 6:30am; 30m)

(13-06 to 04-07-2001) Late
(Unknown) Four brief visits to a city, late at night. Featuring Paul Merton, Meera Syal, Richard Wilson, Liz Smith, Tilly Vosburgh, Julie Balloo, Julian Clary and Holly Johnson, with music by Rex Brough and Robert Katz. (NB: There are no notes to say exactly what this series is.) (Wed 11:15pm; 15m)

1: Unknown.

2: A son thoughtlessly takes his grieving mother to see `Mamma Mia', a provincial theatre director talks about his latest play and a business woman stumbles on her husband's secret obsession.

3: A lonely heart phones up her best friend for help, a radio DJ hands out advice, a group of friends bicker over what makes a play and a mother tries to sooth a crying baby.

4: The labour ward, a police station, and a late night train.

(07 to 28-07-2001; Rpt) Four Late Shorts
- Four short stories by well-known authors. (Sat 12:30am; 15m)

1: A Feast For Catherine (Michele Roberts, read by Sian Thomas) Catherine is planning a trip to Rome to meet her lover. But the best laid plans...

2: The Tree (Helen Simpson, read by Gavin Muir) Moving the old tree causes all sorts of non-gardening problems.

3: The White Witch (wr/read by Christopher Hope) A trip to the highlands in Malaysia that was both perilous and strange.

4: The Mission To Brazil (Clare Boylan, read by Dermot Crowley) A windfall for Father Ambrose means that he can realise a dream, of sorts.

(25-07 to 29-08-2001; Rpt) Faithful Departed
(Christopher Fitz-Simon) When Frances Butler receives a windfall from a deceased aunt in County Cork, she thinks her financial worries are over. But then she discovers the truly unusual nature of the legacy that awaits her. With Sylvestra le Touzel, T P McKenna and Dermot Crowley. Director: Eoin O'Callaghan. (NB: No individual synopses.) (Wed 6:30pm; 30m)

(31-07-2001; Rpt) Louis: The Lonely Days
(Bonnie Greer) Biographical drama. It is the early 1930s, and Louis is on his European tour, keeping ahead of the women, the gangsters and the racists. One night, on the stage at the London Palladium, his lip is split in front of the Prince of Wales, and the music has to stop. With Ray Shell, Kerry Shale, Geoff Burton and Don Gilet. Directed by Pam Fraser-Solomon. (NB: Repeat of The Friday Play, 23-03-2001.) (Tues 11:00pm; 60m)

(07-08-2001; Rpt) The Cave Of Harmony
(Neil Brand & Michael Eaton) A play with music. It is Christmas 1863, and Thackeray receives a strange visitor who takes him on a journey back in time to the raucous song-and-supper evenings at the Cave of Harmony, presided over by the irrepressible Charles Dickens. With Roger Allam, Stephen Boxer, Alison Pettitt and Nickolas Grace. Directed by Jeremy Mortimer. (Tues 11:00pm; 60m)

(14-08-2001; Rpt) False Fingering
(Stephen Jeffreys) A drama exploring the choices left when we lose the thing we hold most dear. Johnny South's talents in life - playing the tenor sax and being a great host - are deserting him. He is offered an operation that will enable him to eat, but will finish his playing career. With David Horovitch, Harry Towb, James Cosmo and Adjoa Andoh. Directed by Claire Grove. (Tues 11:00pm; 60m)

(31-10 to 21-11-2001) Tales From The Backbench
(By Peter Tinniswood) Starring Leslie Phillips. (Wed 11:15pm; 15m)

1: The Campaign - A useless MP recalls how he and his fellow candidates resolved to keep the general election to themselves.

2: How Long, How Long?'. The useless and forgetful MP wonders why he allowed himself to be persuaded back into politics.

3: Dalliances'. The useless and forgetful MP warms to the memory of his many happy carnal and amorous associations in Westminster.

4: Time to Confess'. The useless and forgetful MP admits to having created his persona on untruths and fantasy.

(29-11-2001; Rpt) Paradise (Nick Warburton) Antonia chucks in her job in the City and buys an idyllic cottage in the countryside. She soon finds out why it was going so cheap. (Thur 11:00pm; 30m)

(05 to 19-12-2001) Signs Of Life
- Three docudramas exploring the metaphors of illness. (Wed 9:00pm; 30m)

1: The Drowning: Cystic Fibrosis (Nicholas McInerny, with documentary from Dr Diana Bilton and Tim Dinsley).

2: Battle Cry: Parkinson's Disease (unknown) In the war room, a campaign is being planned - but then things begin to go awry.

3: The Chosen Path: Alcohol Dependency (unknown).

(06-12-2001; Rpt) How Guillaume Appollinaire Saved My Marriage
(Michael Butt) Bill has two unfortunate hobbies: philately and philandering. His wife Penny needs help. But how can the poet Appollinaire, buried in a cemetery in Paris, help? (Thur 11:00pm; 30m)

(26-12-2001) Beyond The Back Of Beyond
(Unknown) Brian Tongue is getting married. But can fellow explorer, Mark Bark-Jones persuade him to take a final trip to the Amazon in search of the mythical Wet People? With Neil Warhurst, Paul Barnhill, Rosie Cavaliero, Mark Benton and Jacey Salles. Director Sally Avens. (Wed 11:00pm; 15m) (NB: This may be the first of a series,)

BOOK AT BEDTIME

10:45pm Weekdays; Individual synopses where available.

(01 to 12-01-2001) 2001: A Space Odyssey
(Arthur C Clarke, read by William Roberts) Set in our present, it is a vision of a future yet to be and of a past shrouded in mystery.

(15 to 26-01-2001) The Constant Gardener
(wri/read by John le Carre, abr Katrin Williams)

1: Le Carre begins a reading of his latest novel, an international tale of corporate greed and diplomatic intrigue.

2: Following the murder of Tessa Quayle, the British Government is anxious to avoid a scandal.

3: Officers from Scotland Yard continue their interrogation of Sandy Woodrow.

4: Justin leaves Nairobi for London and finds himself under surveillance.

5: Justin plunges into the heart of Tessa's secret world.

6: Justin travels to Germany to learn more about Marcus Lorbeer and the wonder-drug Dypraxa.

7: Justin goes to Canada to meet Dypraxa's inventor, Dr Lara Emrich.

8: Sir Kenneth Curtiss, of the House of Three Bees, requests a meeting with the local head of British intelligence.

9: Justin threatens Woodrow with blackmail and learns the truth.

10: Following in Tessa's footsteps, Justin shares the last of her secrets.

(29-01 to 09-02-2001) The Peppered Moth
(Margaret Drabble, abr Malcolm & Elizabeth Bradbury, read by Tessa Peake-Jones) Drabble's novel based on the life of her mother, about a gifted, frustrated woman growing up in South Yorkshire.

(12 to 16-02-2001) The Pastoral Symphony
(Andre Gide, read by Robert Glenister) To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Gide's death, his novel about a Protestant pastor who is taken to an isolated farmhouse to give the last rites to an old woman and discovers a blind idiot girl cowering in a corner. When he takes her home with him, the seeds are sown for a domestic tragedy.

(19-02 to 02-03-2001) The Dud Avocado
(Elaine Dundy, abr Peter Everett, read by Laurence Bouvard)

1: In the mid-50s a young American woman goes looking for adventure and becomes entangled with the left-bank bohemians of Paris.

2: Sally Jay Gorce tries to end her affair with Teddy, the suave Italian diplomat.

3: Sarah-Jane becomes an actress, and endures a disastrous dinner party.

4: Sally Jay has a wild night out on the Left Bank and ends up in jail.

5: It's opening night, and for Sally Jay, one thing leads to another.

6: Sally Jay becomes a painter's model, and receives a proposal.

7: Sally Jay joins a house party in Biarritz and tries for a film role.

8: Sally Jay has adventures with El Wheero the bullfighter and Bax the handsome Canadian.

9: The Biarritz jaunt ends in tears, and Sally Jay finds out a few things about her friends.

10: Laurence Bouvard reads the final part of Elaine Dundy's novel.

(05 to 16-03-2001) Homestead
(Rosina Lippi, abr Sally Marmion, read by Stella Gonet) The award-winning collection of stories set in the Austrian Alps and spanning a century of change and turmoil.

1: Anna's Story, 1909 - Anna receives a mysterious love letter.

2: Johanna's Story, 1916 - A beguiling tale of an encounter in the mountains.

3: Johanna & The Soldier, 1916 - Johanna's story is concluded.

4: Isabella's Story, 1917 - A tale of a mother's love.

5: Barbara's Story, 1921 - A woman gets a home of her own, at last.

6: Wainwright's Katherina, 1938.

7: Mikatrin's Story, 1943.

8: Olga's Story, 1946 and Katherina's Story, 1950.

9: Martha's Story, 1959 - A secret is revealed as Johanna heads for the mountain.

10: Lilimarlene's Story, 1974 and Laura's Story, 1977.

(19 to 23-03-2001) Inferno
(Dante, read by John Sessions)

(02 to 13-04-2001) Border Crossing (Pat Barker, abr Doreen Estall, read by Douglas Hodge) The compelling novel about children who kill, guilt, punishment and the border between good and evil.

1: Danny, convicted of murder at the age of ten and now released into an unforgiving world, seeks out the psychologist who assessed him before the trial.

2: Following his release from prison, Danny seeks to understand his past.

3: Just what does Danny want from Tom?

4: Was Tom to blame for Danny's conviction?

5: Was it nature or nurture?

6: Tom goes in search of answers at Long Garth, the secure unit where he spent his adolescence.

7: Angus gives Tom a different story.

8: As Tom gets closer to the murder, how dangerous is Danny?

9: Danny and Tom finally reach Lizzie's murder.

10: How safe is Danny?

(16 to 20-04-2001) Miss Garnet's Angel
(Salley Vickers, read by Eileen Atkins)

1: A retired teacher rents an apartment in Venice, profoundly changing her previously narrow life.

2: Julia Garnet discovers the beauty of art and the dangers of love.

3: Julia makes friends with a pair of twins - and the angel Raphael.

4: Julia faces a deepening mystery.

5: The city finally yields up its secret to Julia.

(24-04 to 04-05-2001) Shooting Sean
(Colin Bateman, abr Doreen Estall, read by Adrian Dunbar)

1: The comic thriller about journalist Dan Starkey's commission to write a biography of film star Sean O'Toole, which leads him into the murkier end of the movie industry.

2: In his hotel bar, Dan discovers that the delectable Alice is Sean's assistant.

3: Dan and Alice are captured by Michael O'Ryan's thugs.

4: Dan discovers that Sean may have a cashflow problem.

5: Dan fails to receive an invitation to Sean's end-of-shoot party.

6: Gangster Michael O'Ryan pays Dan a visit.

7: Michael O'Ryan holds Dan's family hostage. All Dan has to do is shoot Sean O'Toole.

8: Dan is in Amsterdam, frantically seeking Sean.

9: Dan finds Alice in the red-light district of Amsterdam.

10: At Cannes, Sean appears at his movie premiere.

(07 to 18-05-2001) Around The World In 80 Days
(Jules Verne, trans William Butcher, abr Andrew Simpson, read by Robert Powell.)

1: Phileas Fogg takes on a 20,000-pound bet from his fellow members at the Reform Club. The challenge is to travel around the world in 80 days. But can he do it?

6: Passpartout, the worse for opium, has disappeared in Hong Kong, and Inspector Fix has bluffed his way aboard the Takadere as it carries Fogg and Mrs Aouda towards Shanghai.

7: The travellers hurtle eastwards from the Wild West.

8: A duel is not the only obstacle placed in the path of the intrepid Mr Fogg as he battles his way across the United States.

9: Time is running out for Phileas Fogg, and the treacherous Inspector Fix is planning his downfall.

10: In the final part, Phileas Fogg keeps his friends on tenterhooks.

(21-05 to 01-06-2001) Breakfast At Tiffany's
(Truman Capote, abr James Robertson, read by Henry Goodman) The vivid and witty novel about the relationship between a young writer and a captivating girl-about-town in 1940s New York.

6: Holly returns from her holiday in Havana.

(04 to 15-06-2001) Prodigal Summer
(Barbara Kingsolver, abr Jill Waters, read by Buffy Davis) A novel set in the southern Appalachian mountains. The life of Deanna, a forest ranger, becomes entwined with those of a farmer's wife and two feuding neighbours, in a moving story that depicts human passions and eccentricities and the struggle to live alongside the natural world.

6: Lusa is struggling to make a living from her dead husband's farm and Deanna is trying to protect the coyote den from the man she has fallen in love with.

(18 to 29-06-2001) Thin Ice
(Compton Mackenzie, abr Jane Marshall, read by Richard Pascoe) George Gaymer tells the story of his life-long friendship with the brilliant and ambitious Henry Fortescue MP, whose hopes of high political office are threatened by his outlawed homosexuality.

6: Henry Fortescue's political career is not progressing as quickly as it might and his friend George Gaymer is alarmed as Henry becomes less discreet about his private life.

(02 to 13-07-2001) Back When We Were Grownups
(Anne Tyler, abr Doreen Estall, read by Liza Ross) A witty portrait of a woman whose life took the wrong path.

1: Rebecca, at the age of 53, discovers that she has turned into the wrong person.

2: Rebecca realises that her life took a wrong fork without her knowing.

3: Rebecca goes back to her home town.

4: Rebecca starts living a might-have-been life.

5: Childhood sweethearts are reunited.

6: A new grandchild, an apology and a chance to start over.

7: Guess who's coming to dinner as Rebecca turns the clock back.

8: It's time to meet the children.

9: Rebecca has a chance to start over.

10: Just what is our real life?

(16 to 27-07-2001) An Impossible Marriage
(Pamela Hansford Johnson, abr Yvonne Antrobus, read by Stella Gonet) In 1930s Clapham, a young woman grows up in the shadow of her popular friend. When she meets Ned Skelton, 14 years her senior, she falls hopelessly in love and nothing else matters. Directed by Claire Grove.

(30-07 to 10-08-2001) On The Road
(Jack Kerouac, abr Jane Marshall, read by Toby Stephens)

1: The American cult classic about the Beat Generation.

2: Sal Paradise hitchhikes into the West.

3: Sal Paradise stops off in Denver.

4: Sal Paradise arrives in California.

5: Christmas 1948.

6: Beat and deserted in San Francisco.

7: The holy goof.

8: Leaving Denver.

9: The road south.

10: Mexico.

(13 to 31-08-2001) Super-Cannes
(J G Ballard's, abr Neville Teller, read by David Suchet) Ballard's hallucinatory thriller, where work becomes the new leisure.

1:Will this scheme in the South of France take off?

6: The doctor's killing spree is revealing dark secrets.

11: A terrible discovery is made, incriminating the whole of the workforce at Eden Olympia.

(03 to 07-09-2001) Heart Of Darkness
(Joseph Conrad, abr Katie Campbell) Conrad's famous tale of Marlowe's journey upriver and into the jungle in search of the enigmatic Mr Kurtz. With Redmond O'Hanlon and Anton Lesser.

(10 to 21-09-2001) The Siege
(Helen Dunmore, abr Sally Marmion, read by Sara Kestelman)

1: The story of a family caught in the struggle to survive the siege of Leningrad in 1942.

2: No synopsis.

3: As refugees flood the city, Anna receives an unwelcome guest.

4: The German encirclement is tightening.

5: With food supplies running low, Anna takes a risk.

6: No synopsis.

7: The cold deepens and hunger bites.

8: So little wood, so little food.

9: Desperate times mean desperate measures.

10: January 1943 - the darkest hour.

(24-09 to 05-10-2001) The Ambassadors
(Henry James, read by Stuart Milligan) Dispatched to Europe by a rich widow, Strether sets off to save her son from the clutches of a `wicked woman'.

1: Strether arrives in Britain.

2: Strether is on his way to Paris.

3: Strether becomes absorbed in Chad's lifestyle.

4: Strether finally confronts Chad.

5: Strether is persuaded to meet the mysterious Madame de Vionnet.

6: Strether is aware that his opinion of Madame de Vionnet has radically changed.

7: The Pococks have arrived.

8: A trip into the French countryside holds a surprise for Strether.

9: The truth has been revealed about Chad and Madame de Vionnet

10: Farewells.

(08 to 19-10-2001) The Idea Of Perfection
(Kate Grenville, reader unknown) The Orange Prize-winning novel about what happens when two strangers arrive in Karakarook, New South Wales. Passions are running high over a local bridge.

(22 to 31-10-2001) Girl With Green Eyes
(Edna O'Brien) The classic 1960s romance of a young woman's first love with a married man.

1: Caithleen and her best friend Baba have left their country homes for excitement in Dublin.

2: Caithleen, determined to meet Eugene again, invites him to tea.

3: Caithleen has discovered that Eugene is still married, but accepts an invitation to stay at his house.

4: Eugene is away in London and Baba says Caithleen will not hear from him again.

5: Caithleen finds herself back home in the country, after an anonymous letter to her father brings him to Dublin to save her reputation.

6: Caithleen escapes from her father's house and returns to Eugene, but her father and cousins pursue her back to Dublin.

7: Caithleen and Eugene live happily until jealousy rears its ugly head.

8: Eugene is tiring of Caithleen's tantrums. She has one last plan to win back his love.

(01 to 02-11-2001) Mrs Reinhardt
(Edna O'Brien, read by Stella Gonet) The novella about a woman coming to terms with her husband's affair.

1: Mrs Reinhardt takes a holiday at a luxurious hotel in Brittany.

2: Mrs Reinhardt is enjoying the attentions of her new admirer.

(05 to 08-11-2001) Nightmare Town
(Dashiell Hammett, abr Neville Teller, read by Stuart Milligan)

1: On arriving in Izzard, a desert boomtown, Steve Threefall finds that all is not as it seems.

2: An unsavoury reception committee drives Steve Threefall into the arms of the enigmatic Nova Vallance. Why is she so afraid of Izzard's townspeople?

3: As Steve Threefall deliberates the crime and intrigue that's gripped the desert boomtown of Izzard, events take another sinister turn.

4: Steve Threefall finally unravels the town's dark mystery, but not before encountering more danger and intrigue.

(09-11-2001) The Man Who Killed Dan Odams
(Dashiell Hammett, abr Neville Teller, read by Stuart Milligan) A mysterious and brooding western set in Montana.

(12 to 23-11-2001) Year Of Wonders
(Geraldine Brooks), abr Sarah LeFanu, read by Helen Sheals) The novel based on the true story of a Derbyshire village in 1665.

6: Anna's village has been struck by the plague

(26-11 to 14-12-2001) Persuasion
(Jane Austen, abr Doreen Estall, read by Juliet Stevenson)

1: The tale of Anne Elliot, prevented at the age of 19 from marrying the man she loves.

2: A naval tenant arouses memories of an old love.

3: Anne goes to Uppercross - and Captain Wentworth draws nearer.

4: Erstwhile lovers meet again.

5: Two vie for the Captain's favour, while a third can only watch.

6: A visit to the sea and new acquaintances.

7: An accident on the Cobb.

8: The company in Bath proves better than anticipated.

9: Anne discovers an old friend.

10: Mr Elliot's hopes are growing, and Captain Wentworth's appear dashed.

11: Anne and Captain Wentworth meet once more and feelings remain in turmoil.

12: Mrs Smith reveals an unsavoury past.

13: The arrival of the Musgroves has repercussions.

14: The Captain shows his hand.

15: Happiness at last.

(17 to 21-12-2001) Three Men On The Bummel (Jerome K Jerome, abr Peter Everett, read by Hugh Laurie) The comic classic in which George, Harris and J are in need of a change, and decide on a cycling tour of Germany.

(24 to 31-12-2001) The Big Sleep (Raymond Chandler, abr Neville Taylor, read by John Turturro) Chandler's noir classic. Published when Raymond Chandler was 50, The Big Sleep bursts with sex, violence and explosively direct prose. It's perhaps the most representative example of the "hard-boiled" American school of detective novel. The hero, a tough-speaking, cynical private detective, Philip Marlowe, has been immortalised by Hollywood in the guise of the chain-smoking, trench coat- wearing Humphrey Bogart. Stylistically the book is a delight. The caustic dialogue and compelling soliloquies of Chandler's hero represent a highly original form of lyrical beauty. The pared-to-the-bone prose, with Chandler's graphic hallmark similes changed detective fiction forever. (NB: Not transmitted on Christmas Day, but continued into 2002.)

1: Private detective Philip Marlowe steps into a Los Angeles cauldron of murder, sex and violence.

2: No title.

4: Curtains For Brody.

5: Police Business..

6: Colour Of Blood.

WOMAN'S HOUR DRAMA

10:45am Weekdays (repeated at 7:45pm); 15mins; Individual synopses where available.

(01 to 05-01-2001) The Book Of The City Of Ladies
(Christine de Pizan, trans Rosalind Brown, dram Carol McGuigan) France's first professional woman author lived in the 15th century and wrote an allegorical fantasy about a fortress for women. With Kathryn Hunt, Claire Benedict, Helen Lederer and Barbara Marten. Directed by Polly Thomas.

1: Reason, Rectitude and Justice command Christine to oppose male slanders with a City of Ladies.

2: As Christine starts to lay the bricks of the city's walls, she is treated to visions of female valour.

3: Christine is blinded by the brilliance of women's minds, so Reason takes her underground, to a great temple of learning.

4: Having proven women to be neither weak nor stupid, Christine and her guides look to the female virtues of loyalty and faithfulness.

5: Exhausted after her labours, Christine finally comes to the Chapel of Women, where a huge female company appears, singing jubilantly, celebrating the book's completion.

(08 to 19-01-2001) The Mind Teacher
(Alex Ferguson) With Kika Markham, Don McCorkindale, Dinah Stabb, Clare Corbett, Phillip Dowling, Jon Strickland, Helen Ayres, Laurajane Gray and Kenny Blyth. Directed by Claire Grove.

1: Fortysomething Annie Wilson, an ex-florist with an Open University degree, begins her training as an educational psychologist. She may have children of her own and two years' teaching experience, but this is the sharp end of the education system.

2: Annie Wilson has begun her training as an educational psychologist, but has been so busy with her course work that she has not noticed her own goddaughter's emotional distress.

3: Trainee educational psychologist Annie Wilson makes home visits to two families who have appealed against decisions about which schools their children can attend.

4: Annie Wilson meets a group of school-phobics.

5: Annie Wilson stalls over her future with her husband and finds a runaway on her doorstep.

6: Teenager Kate is ruling Annie's kitchen, to the dismay of Annie's old friend Ted.

7: Runaway Kate has disappeared again, and Annie Wilson receives two bunches of flowers.

8: Annie prepares to go on a school trip to assess a teacher and a pupil, but her husband has still not rung from Brazil.

9: Annie's tutor advises her against getting involved with runaway teenager Kate. And Annie tackles school bullying head on.

10: Annie faces her first course assessment.

(22-01 to 02-02-2001) Young Victoria
(Juliet Ace) Serial based on the letters and diaries of the young Queen Victoria. With Imogen Stubbs, Adrian Lukis, Anna Massey and Christopher Cazenove. Directed by Cherry Cookson.

1: Clipped Wings.

2: Looking For Love.

3: The Young Queen.

4: The Learning Process.

5: The Wedding.

6: The Newlyweds - The honeymoon is over all too soon for Albert and Victoria, as pressing matters of state require her attention. But their happiness is increased when their first child is expected.

7: The Family.

8: Albert's Achievements.

9: The Marriage Of True Minds.

10: The Death Of Albert.

(05 to 16-02-2001) Telling Liddy
(Anne Fine) A ten-part dramatisation of Fine's popular novel about a close-knit family blown apart by a secret. With Gerda Stevenson, Monica Gibb, Wendy Seager and Simon Tait.

(19 to 23-02-2001) Bayeux Tapestry
(Simon Armitage & Jeff Young) A dramatisation of the Bayeux Tapestry. With Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Dillane, Kirsty Wark, Andrew Tiernan and Sean McKenzie. Directed by Kate Rowland. (NB: The serial was concluded in the week's Classic Serial slot.)

1: Bosham - Harold arrives in Bosham and the air is full of speculation as he waits for a sailing wind.

2: Normandy - Harold arrives in France and is captured by Count Guy de Ponthieu. Rescued by William, Duke of Normandy, the indebted Harold swears an oath of allegiance.

3: The Oath & Edward's Death - Back in England, King Edward dies in his sleep, and Harold is anointed his successor.

4: The Coronation & The Cornet - Following Edward's death, the streets are thronged with mourners and celebrants, as the funeral and coronation coincide.

5: The Building Of Boats - The Normans prepare to set sail for England, building a fleet on an unparalleled scale. Meanwhile, Harold has been fighting the King of Norway.

(26-02 to 16-03-2001) The Furys
(James Hanley, dram Kevin Fegan) This powerful family saga follows the fortunes of the Fury family. With Brenda Fricker, Tony Rohr, Annabelle Dowler, Vincent Patrick, James McMartin, Eileen Walsh and Susan Twist. Directed by Melanie Harris.

1: In Liverpool, 1912, disgraced youngest son Peter makes a dramatic return.

2: Peter Fury is terrified of telling his mother why he has been expelled from college by the priests.

3: Determined to avoid his mother, Peter Fury leaves the house and is caught up in a violent street protest.

4: Peter visits his brother Desmond and immediately falls for his sister-in-law, Sheila.

5: Fanny Fury finally agrees that Peter should go to sea. But he has other ideas.

6: Fanny Fury almost forgets about her debts when her husband takes her out for a night at the Lyric.

7: Peter's return is the perfect excuse for his father's escape to sea.

8: Peter begs his brother's wife to run away with him.

9: Fanny Fury has trouble paying the money lender.

10: Furious with rejection, Peter goes in search of vengeance.

11: Peter's jail sentence is enough to send his mother into a state of collapse.

12: As the war draws nearer, Denny has his orders to sail and Fanny starts work cleaning troop ships.

13: Fanny writes to Denny at sea, but hears nothing until a news report announces that his boat has been torpedoed.

14: Fanny accedes to her children's request that a memorial service be held for their father.

15: True to form, Denny Fury turns up for his own funeral.

(19 to 23-03-2001) Not Either an Experimental Doll

The correspondence of Lily Moya and Mabel Palmer, edited by Shula Marks and dramatised by Rosemary Kay, telling the story of how, in 1950s South Africa, an orphaned black schoolgirl seeks help from a 70-year-old white educationalist.

1: Lily sends a plea to Mabel and receives a supportive reply. With Shula Marks, Wendy Baxter, Paola Dionisotti and Connie M'Gadzah. Directed by Polly Thomas.

2: Mabel agrees to pay for Lily to go to college.

3: Lily grows disillusioned, and Mabel cannot empathise with her.

4: Lily realises that Mabel will never give her the affection she craves.

5: Mabel finally withdraws all support from Lily, who then disappears. In the 70s, Shula tracks her down.

(26 to 30-03-2001)
Manuscripts Don't Burn (Yelena Bulgakova, abr DJ Britton) From the collection edited by JAE Curtis. With Suzanne Burden, Jonathan Tafler and Sue Jones Davies. Directed by Alison Hindell.

1: When Yelena became the third wife of author Mikhail Bulgakov, he asked her to keep a diary of their life, afraid that his might be burnt by the KGB, as it had been once before.

2: Stalin's approval of Bulgakov's writing affords Mikhail and Yelena some protection, but they can't get permission to travel abroad.

3: A ball at the American embassy is a novelty, but government spies are everywhere.

4: As Stalin's Terror reaches its height and more and more colleagues and friends are arrested, the pressure on Yelena and Mikhail becomes acute.

5: Bulgakov's health is deteriorating, and he races against time to complete his masterpiece, `The Master and Margerita'.

(02 to 13-04-2001) A Child In The Forest
(Winifred Foley, dram David Goodland) Foley's vivid recollection of growing up in the remote Forest of Dean in the 1920s. With Stephanie Cole, Suzanna Hamilton, Robert Glenister and Anna Townsend. Directed by Viv Beeby and Jeremy Howe.

1: Chapel Treat is the highlight of a year dominated by hunger.

2: Slab cake, liver and `The Circle of the Sciences'.

3: A magic lantern show with a former African missionary.

4: The Queen of the Fairies.

5: Father Christmas brings Poll a very ugly doll.

6: During the 1926 coal strike, Poll is taken ill.

7: A black sheep returns to the fold.

8: Great-Aunt Lizzie's story.

9: A death in the family.

10: Poll says goodbye to school, her family and the Forest.

(16 to 27-04-2001) The Flight Of Maidens
(Jane Gardam, abr Penny Leicester) The delightful tale of girls growing up over the summer of 1946. There are adventures in fresh woods and pastures new. With Sian Thomas, Alison Pettitt, Tilly Gaunt and Clare Corbett.

(30-04 to 11-05-2001) Ladies Of Letters
Log On (Lou Wakefield & Carole Hayman) With Patricia Routledge, Prunella Scales, Mia Soteriou, Nicholas Boulton and Christopher Kelham. Directed by Claire Grove

1: Merry widows Vera Small and Irene Spencer prepare to outsurf one another on the worldwide web.

2: Vera prepares to host `Dales Diaries', a TV chat show, after her successful appearance on `A Life with Sheep'. Irene lunches with her handsome newfound son.

3: Irene joins her old friend Vera as co-presenter of `Dales Diaries', the TV chat show.

4: Irene and Vera have stopped speaking to each other, communicating by handwritten note only. But their chat show is about to go live.

5: Irene and Vera's show gets a rave review in the Shagthorne Gazette, and Irene is left in charge of the sheep farm.

6: Irene's son has whisked her off to Europe. Meanwhile, Vera has delivered her son's surrogate baby with the help of a local vet.

7: Irene has been arrested. On her release, she plans to use the `Dales Diaries' TV show to proclaim her son's innocence.

8: Irene's son may not be her son, after all, and the proof can be found on his bottom.

9: Irene loses one son and gains another, while Vera's family work out their problems on live television.

10: Irene is in hospital. Vera's family fight on, until the two old friends are united once more.

(14 to 25-05-2001) The Rainbow Bridge
(Tim Jackson) With Julia Hills, David Hargreaves, Janet Maw and David Schofield. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.

1: Science historian Kate Williams is researching a book on Emma Darwin and the influence she had on the life of her famous husband, Charles. But Kate's father is ill and she is torn between her work and her father's need for emotional support.

2: Having made the decision to stick by her sick father, Kate still finds it hard to keep her mind off her work. And so the past leaps to life...

3: With her father's angiogram safely out of the way, Kate is back at the university. Still haunted by the story of Emma and Charles Darwin, she is distracted by Polly, who has a story of her own to tell.

4: Emma Darwin struggles with pregnancy, Charles struggles with his magnum opus, and Kate is about to discover treachery in the corridors of academia.

5: Setting Polly's betrayal behind her, Kate is once again at the hospital. As she waits for her father to return from his angioplasty, she contemplates Emma Darwin's curious affection for Tennyson.

6: Kate is now facing the prospect of her father's death, as he has collapsed after minor surgery.

7: With Polly's boyfriend in tow, Kate treks once more between her office and the hospital. But Charles and Emma Darwin refuse to be banished from her thoughts.

8: Charles moves further towards `The Origin of Species', Eugene moves closer to Kate, and Kate moves closer to understanding her obsession with Emma Darwin.

9: After her evening with Eugene, Kate had hoped for a peaceful night. But it isn't just dreams of the past that disturb her sleep...

10: David and Kate finally find time to confront their past, while Emma Darwin confronts an uncertain future.

(28-05 to 01-06-2001) Growing Pains
- Kate Clanchy introduces a five-part anthology of extracts about parenthood. Directed by Lindsay Leonard.

1: Conception & Pregnancy - featuring Geoffrey Palmer, Lindsay Duncan, Barbara Flynn and Tim Bentinck.

2: Giving Birth - Including the words of Sylvia Plath, Laurie Lee and Fleur Adcock.

3: Babies & Toddlers - Including the words of Charles Jennings, Eavan Boland and John Betjeman.

4: Noisy Childhood - Vigorous children and frazzled parents feature in readings from Philip Larkin, Laurie Graham and R S Thomas.

5: Letting Go - Pieces about flying the nest, from writers including Keith Waterhouse, Laurie Graham and C S Lewis.

(04 to 15-06-2001) Byron's Women
(Robin Brooks) With Joseph Fiennes, Jane Lapotaire, Emma Fielding and Ruth Platt. Directed by Clive Brill.

1: Fame - The young Lord Byron bursts upon London society at the start of the 19th century, setting many hearts aflutter.

2: Annabella - Byron's sudden literary fame has made him a darling of the social scene, and he has begun an affair with Lady Caroline Lamb.

3: Caro - In order to escape from a disastrous affair with Lady Caroline Lamb, Byron has proposed to Annabella Milbanke.

4: Frances - Byron is staying with his friend Webster - and can't help attempting to seduce Lady Frances, his host's wife.

5: Augusta - After a hectic series of love affairs, Byron is visited in London by his sister Augusta, to whom he is particularly close.

6: Lady Byron - Knowing he must somehow break off an incestuous relationship with his half-sister Augusta, Byron has again proposed to Annabelle Milbanke.

7: Clare - Byron is tortured by his incestuous relationship with his half-sister Augusta and his increasingly erratic and violent behaviour has forced his wife to leave him.

8: Marianna - Fleeing the scandal of separation from his wife and rumours of his relationship with his half-sister Augusta, Byron has left England and arrived in Venice.

9: Teresa - In Venice, Byron has immersed himself in a life of dissipation, but now he has fallen in love.

10: Allegra - Byron seems finally to have settled down with Teresa Guiccioli. But self-inflicted disaster threatens his equanimity.

(18 to 22-06-2001) Dear Exile
(dram Hilary Fannin) A dramatisation of a year of letters between Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery, who left college together in the late 90s in Eastern Seaboard,

1: Just Swimming, Thank You.

2: Take Me To America Where The Women Are Free.

3: King X.

4: Witch Doctor?

5: Coming Home For Christmas.

(25 to 29-06-2001) Frederick & Augusta
(Lizzie Slater) With Nigel Lindsay, Jasmine Hyde, Linda Marlowe and David Troughton. Directed by Kate Valentine.

1: Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his new bride Augusta - the founders of Kew Gardens - are united in their need to break away from the vitriolic court of his father, George II.

2: After the birth of their first child, the Prince of Wales and his wife escape the clutches of the Royal Family by fleeing to Kew.

3: Frederick, shunned by his dying mother, Queen Caroline, finds solace in planting out his new garden at Kew with his wife.

4: Frederick, inspired by the spirit and courage of Flora MacDonald, battles on to create his own life at Kew, away from the clutches of the Royal Family.

5: After the death of Prince Frederick, the gardens at Kew become Princess Augusta's haven, as she labours to complete their dream.

(02 to 20-07-2001) Adam Bede
(George Eliot, dram Robert Forrest) With Thomas Arnold, Ann Scott-Jones, Katherine Igoe, Richard Greenwood, Crawford Logan, John Kielty and Vicki Liddelle. Directed

1: It is the summer of 1799 in the Staffordshire village of Hayslope, and one of Lisbeth Bede's sons has marriage on his mind.

2: Dinah Morris, a young Methodist preacher, arrives to comfort Lisbeth Bede.

3: The young squire, Arthur Donnithorne, pays a visit to Hall Farm and the seeds of love are sown.

4: Arthur takes a fateful summer's evening stroll in the Donnithorne Woods.

5: Adam is now free to ask Hetty to marry him.

6: The lovers meet in Donnithorne Woods.

7: In his summer house in Donnithorne, Arthur is forced to face facts.

8: A marriage is announced.

9: Hetty is in prison, about to stand trial for a crime she denies.

10: Hetty will confess her crime, but only if Dinah makes a confession in return.

11: In the darkness of the prison cell, Dinah struggles for Hetty's soul.

12: Hetty finally confesses the full horror of her crime and Dinah makes her own confession...

13: The early hours of the morning on the day of the hanging.

14: The journey to the scaffold.

15: Dinah has to decide where her heart really lies.

(23-07 to 03-08-2001) Little House On The Prairie
(Laura Ingalls Wilder, dram Jennifer Howarth) Wilder's evocation of life in the American West through a child's eyes. With Debora Weston, Jenni

1: The Ingalls family pack all their belongings into their covered wagon and leave Wisconsin in the middle of winter.

2: The Ingalls family have reached the high prairie and must decide where to build their house.

3: The walls of the log cabin are in place, but there is no door to keep out the wolves Laura hears at night.

4: Indians come to the house while Pa is out hunting.

5: Pa and Mr Scott start to dig a well.

6: Laura and Mary pick blackberries with Ma, and are plagued by mosquitos.

7: Mrs Scott comes to visit, full of talk about Indian massacres.

8: The weather is so bad Laura fears Santa Claus will not make it across the creek in time for Christmas.

9: The Ingalls family hears war cries from the Indian tribes gathering in the creek bottoms.

10: The Ingalls family must leave their log cabin and travel once more in their covered wagon.

(06 to 10-08-2001) Memories Of Gascony
(Pierre Koffman, adap/dram Rod Dungate) Koffman's autobiographical cookbook. With Alan Leith, Hugh Viney, Jean Trend and Keith Drinkel.

1: The year begins and young Pierre, settling happily into the rhythm of farm life, learns an unorthodox fishing technique, a recipe, and receives a lecture on cows.

2: April is here, and Pierre helps in the kitchen garden, goes hunting for snails at night and samples Nan's stupendous Easter lamb with armagnac.

3: The long school summer holiday sees Pierre back on the farm for the slog and fun of the harvest, yet he still finds time to discover some fascinating local history in the dusty tomes of the

4: Autumn finds Pierre ploughing with the cows and delighting in the strangest man he has ever met, who distills wine into armagnac in a most unusual place.

5: The land lies bare as Christmas comes and presents are exchanged between feasts of Nan's mouth-watering Gascon food.

(13 to 17-08-2001) Exes
(Emma Donoghue) With Pauline McLynn, Akbar Kurtha and Eleanor Methven. Directed by Tanya Nash.

1: Urban Myths - Marion is a mature student writing an MA thesis on the urban myths of sexual revenge. But is she taking her research too literally?

2: The Modern Family - Ronan's partner Rachel is having his best friend Mick's baby. Can they all be modern parents and share the childcare?

3: The Conspiracy - Just what is Paul's girlfriend Nuala doing having lunch with his ex? They must be up to something...

4: The Mothers - Teresa is left in a difficult position when her ex-partner Nadine wants to take their son to England.

5: The Estate Agent - A newly-married couple are faced with the husband's ex when they decide to buy a house. Has he chosen the right woman?

(20 to 24-08-2001) The History Of The Life & Memoirs Of The Late Ingenious Mrs Aphra Behn
(dram Alison Joseph) The 17th-century playwright's extraordinary life. With Samantha Bond, Emma Fieldin

1: Adventures In Surinam - Aphra loses her heart to a married man and causes a scandal.

2: Marriage To A Pantaloon - To keep Aphra out of trouble, her mother marries her off to an ancient Dutch merchant.

3: The She-Spy - Aphra is sent to Antwerp by Charles II to spy on the Dutch during the Anglo-Dutch wars.

4: Writing For Bread - Widowed, Aphra refuses to be a kept woman, setting out to earn her living as a playwright.

5: The Wits - The wits of Charles II's court meet their match when Aphra enters their social circle.

6: Lovers - Reprobate lawyer John Hoyle wins Aphra's heart and becomes the model for the loveable rogues in her plays.

7: The Rover - Aphra's play, `The Rover', is a huge success at court, but the critics have their knives out.

8: Whigs & Tories - Aphra's outspoken political views get her into trouble, and she narrowly avoids a spell in the Tower.

9: Oroonoko - Theatre work is drying up, and Aphra turns to prose writing. She publishes `Oroonoko', a template for the English novel.

10: Give My Verses Immortality - Increasingly depressed over the coronation of William of Orange, Aphra's health deteriorates.

(03 to 07-09-2001) Clay Bull
(Stewart Conn) The story of Ellen Naismith's exile in Africa, where she brought up her young son away from the prying eyes and twitching curtains of 1950s Edinburgh

1: A concert in Edinburgh reminds Ellen of her first experiences in Africa in the late 1950s.

(10 to 21-09-2001) Diary Of A Provincial Lady
(E M Delafield, adap Mike Harris) With Imelda Staunton, Nicholas Le Provost, Susan Brown, Mary Wimbush, Victoria Shepherd, Sonia Ritter, Anne-Marie

1: Elizabeth's modest literary achievements result in an invitation to America, but how will her husband react?

2: Elizabeth leaves for America aboard the SS Statendam.

3: Elizabeth travels to Chicago but finds her US tour is not to be as extensive as she was promised.

4: England has finally declared war on Hitler and Elizabeth hurries home to be with her family.

5: Elizabeth resolves to abandon health and home to make her contribution to the war effort.

6: Elizabeth has arrived in London and is determined to find useful work in the fight against Hitler.

7: Elizabeth's preparations for the potential bombing campaign on London gallop on apace.

8: Elizabeth finally gets a war job, in the underground canteen at the Adelphi Hotel.

9: Elizabeth meets the redoubtable Pussy Winter-Gammon, the sunbeam of the Adelphi underground.

10: After weeks of standing by, Elizabeth finally faces the prospect of real war.

(24 to 28-09-2001) All Change
- In a series of five semi-dramatised monologues, comedian Helen Lederer takes a look at growing old disgracefully. With Stephen Moore, Tracy Ann Oberman and Tom G

(01 to 05-10-2001) A Monkey With A Box Of Paints
(Jane Beeson) The author looks at Impressionist artist Berthe Morisot through her correspondence with her family.

1: A look back to the first stirrings of Berthe's talent.

2: Manet is impressed with Berthe's passion.

3: Manet paints Berthe's portrait, but is losing interest in her.

4: Berthe agonises over whether or not to exhibit her latest painting.

5: The first Impressionist exhibition opens.

(08 to 12-10-2001) The Chocolate Lovers' Club
(Moya O'Shea)

1: At the Muchly Bottom Village Chocolate Lovers' Club, five women take turns to create a chocolate delight and, while they devour it, tell a chocolate tale.

2: At Muchly Bottom Village Chocolate Lovers' Club, a work of art sits in the middle of the table. It is a magnificent creation by Charlotte - but what is it?

3: Clementine takes her turn to create a chocolate delight, while Charlotte tells the tale of the terrible chocolate cravings she had while pregnant.

4: Rosie delivers her chocolate creation to the club, while Clementine regales them with the tale of how she came to own a chocolate shop.

5: A huge cake box sits on the table and Mrs Drexl has a tale which surprisingly concerns them all and explains how she came to be invited to join the club.

(15-10 to 09-11-2001) Mary Barton
(Elizabeth Gaskell, dram Lavinia Murray) With David Calder, Emma Rydal, Paul Copley, Deborah Berlin, Fiona Clarke, Roy Hudd and Ian Dunn. Directed by Claire Gr

1: Mary Barton, the daughter of a cotton weaver, is wooed by her childhood sweetheart.

2: Mary grows up and takes over the running on the Barton household.

3: Mary, now working as a dressmaker, meets Margaret and her eccentric grandfather, Job Legh.

4: Jem longs for any sign of affection from Mary, and Carson's Mill catches fire.

5: Mill workers are laid off. Wilson and Barton find a desperately poor family barely alive in a cellar.

6: Jem clumsily offers Mary his love, but she is secretly seeing someone else.

7: Jem's father dies. Mary is teased at work about her flirtation with Henry Carson, the mill owner's son.

8: John Barton is desperate for work. A relative gives him a warning about Mary.

9: Jem proposes. Mary meets Henry Carson in secret.

10: Margaret has an admirer. Jem hears Mary's secret from a mysterious stranger.

11: Jem Wilson confronts Henry Carson, and the mill workers present their demands to their employers.

12: Negotiations between the mill owners and workers break down, and the workers plan their next move.

13: Jem's beloved Aunt Alice falls ill. Carson receives news of a murder.

14: Jem is arrested for murder and Mary is accused of bringing about his downfall.

15: Mary finds proof of Jem's innocence and is determined to clear his name.

16: Mary's romantic attachment to the murder victim and the accused make her the centre of gossip and attention.

17: Mary goes to Liverpool in search of an alibi for Jem. With Emma Rydal and Simon Trinder. .

18: Jem's defence has little chance of success without an alibi, and there is still no sign of Will Wilson or Mary.

19: Jem's trial begins. His mother is forced to give evidence against him and there is still no sign of Jem's alibi.

20: Jem and Mary are reunited and John Barton seeks forgiveness.

(12 to 16-11-2001) Inner Voices III - Five monologues.
Directed by Mary Peate

1: Aria (wri/read by Lynn Ferguson) Middle-aged teacher Elspeth lives in her own musical dreamworld, and it can get her into trouble.

2: Mummyfication (wri/read by Emma Clarke) A new mum finds her old self consumed by full-time motherhood.

3: Gambling Rambling (wri/read by Gina Yashere) A young woman promises herself that tonight will be her last bet, even though she's not an addict, really.

4: Teresa (wri/read by Cecilia Delatori) Suffering from a mid-life crisis, Teresa has finished with her boyfriend. Now she wants him back.

5: Shop Till Your Mind Goes Pop (wri/read by Bobby Baker) A visit to the supermarket has an unexpected twist.

(19 to 23-11-2001) The Tale Of Lady Murasaki
(Liz Dalby) The fictional biography of the first woman novelist. With Sian Thomas, Mali Harries, Vivian Parry and Manon Edwards.

1: In 11th-century Japan, Fuji invents the adventures of Prince Genji, but is soon involved with her own first love.

2: Fuji reluctantly agrees to marry Nobutaka, despite his other wives.

3: Fuji's stories reach the Imperial Palace.

4: Fuji's success at the Imperial Palace brings her unwanted attention.

5: Fuji tires of the court and brings her stories to an end.

(26 to 30-11-2001) Freedom's Daughter
- The correspondence between the young Indira Gandhi and her father Nehru.

1: Hold Fast To The Truth - Nehru has been imprisoned for his political activities.

2: A Testing Time - Indira is growing up without her father. From prison, Nehru advises her about her education.

3: A Dutiful Daughter - Indira travels with her sick mother in search of a cure.

4: Kamala - Nehru feels increasingly cut off from his family as events threaten to overtake them.

5: Resistance - Their correspondence continues after Nehru's release as he embarks on a tour of India.

(03 to 14-12-2001) Not Me But Us
(Maggie Allen) With Julia Watson and Christopher Scott.

1: It is 1869 and Sophia Jex-Blake, appalled by the mortality rate among women and children, decides she must qualify as a doctor.

2: Sophia, in her determination to become a doctor, decides to focus her efforts on Edinburgh University.

3: With six determined women by her side, Sophia enters the portals of Edinburgh University.

4: When the University of Edinburgh fails to meet its obligation to the female medical students, Sophia decides to see what London can offer.

5: Sophia Jex-Blake receives encouragement to establish her medical school in London.

6: Eight years after Sophia Jex-Blake began her struggle to qualify as a doctor, she is in Switzerland and about to achieve her dream.

7: Sophia has returned to set up a medical practice in Edinburgh. The work is rewarding but arduous, and the death of her assistant hits her hard.

8: With the Edinburgh Hospital for women and children established, Sophia turns her attention to establishing a medical school for women.

9: With matters at the school getting out of hand, Sophia Jex-Blake finds herself in court again.

10: With a rival medical school for women in Edinburgh, Sophia Jex-Blake races to gain recognition for her students.

(17 to 21-12-2001) Be Not Afraid
(John Fletcher) The story of Handel's composition of his oratorio Messiah. With Derek Jacobi.1: Comfort Ye - With Paul Jesson.

2: Hallelujah - With John Hartley.

3: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth - With Paul Jesson.

4: If God Be For Us - With Sarah Badel.

5: Rejoice - With Stanley Townsend.

(24 to 28-12-2001) Ladies Of Letters Make Mincemeat
(Lou Wakefield & Carole Hayman) Irene Spencer and Vera Small were brought to life by Prunella Scales and Patricia Routledge in 'More Ladies O

1: Irene and Vera are back offering recipes and tips on how to survive Christmas, but somehow when Irene and Vera are around disaster is never far away.

4: Irene encourages Vera's children to vent their feelings in verse, and drama turns to crisis.

5: Vera's family are released from police cells and Irene attempts to make peace with her son Christopher. Then the ladies raise a glass to the New Year.

(31-12-2001) Les Miserables
(Victor Hugo) It is France in 1815. Jean Valjean is finally released from prison after 19 years. Brutalised by his incarceration, he steals from the kind Bishop of D

MID-MORNING

Various weekdays in the 11:30am slot; 30mins; Usually series, some entries may be solely comedic (particularly those in Jan/Feb).

(01-01-2001) Just William - Live!
The Sweet Little Girl In White (Richmal Crompton) Martin Jarvis performs Crompton's classic story in a special version recorded as part of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature. William is introduced to the phenomenon that is Violet Elizabeth Bott. (Mon 11:30am; 30m)

(03 to 24-01-2001) Odd Balls
(Don Haworth) (Wed 11:30am; 30m)

1: Emma Harper, Tussles In A Theme Village - Ex-headteacher Emma Harper writes a column for a village newspaper, but when she is poached by the local radio station, her gossip programme leads to controversy, anger and revenge. With Marcia Warren, David Holt, Ian Brooker and Robert Lister. Directed by Julie Beckett.

2: Bill Bosun, Speedily To School. Bill is the popular driver of the country school bus, whose speed at the wheel makes school journeys a hazard - and an adventure. With Shaun Curry, Peter Meakin, Russell Dixon and Jillie Meers.

3: Stan Rooker, Night Receptionist. Late one Saturday night, Wilfred Parkin brings a man with a strange problem to the hospital reception. Stan Rooker is oddly reluctant to call the doctor. With Terry Molloy, Paul Copley and Barry Farrimond.

4: Jack Acorn, Disputed Inheritance. When Fred Melthorpe inherits an estate from his estranged father, he also inherits Jack Acorn, the general factotum. But Jack is not all he seems. With John Webb, Stephen Tomlin, Alex Trinder and Pauline Jefferson. Directed by Julie Beckett.

(05-01 to 09-02-2001) Rolling Home
(Richard Monks) With Bernard Hepton, Stephanie Cole, Annette Badland, Helen Ayres and Gerard McDermott. Directed by David Hunter. (Fri 11:30am; 30m)

1: Jeanette's Story - When Jeanette and her ratcatcher husband Stephen win a two-berth Musketeer and join the Southern Counties Caravanners' Club, they find friendship, eccentricity and unexpected success in the manoeuvring contest.

2: Ron's Story - Defeated in the caravan manoeuvring competition, long-time club chairman Ron Wheeler stands for re-election. But he's up against glamorous Carol in leather trousers, and a surprise visit from irrepressible former-army colleague Nobby.

3: Ray's Story - Ray, longtime member of the Southern Counties Caravanners' Club and budding entrepreneur, sees a chance to make a fortune by importing cheap French beer in his caravan.

4: Fran's Story - Fran, now the reluctant First Lady of the Southern Counties Caravanners' Club, fears that her prized 1928 Eccles will not win the Caravan Show because the original badge is missing.

5: Audrey's Story - The purchase of a top-of-the-range Duchess and a surprise meeting with an old, now titled, friend leads Audrey, grand dame of the Southern Counties Caravanners' Club, to reconsider her lifestyle.

6: Steven's Story - Steven, proud to have been appointed rally officer for the last caravan outing of the season, takes the club to Selsey Bill, where he finds childhood memories, an unusual catch and a spectacular firework display.

(08-01 to 05-02-2001) Tales From Thackeray
(dram Stephen Wyatt) With Gerard Murphy. Directed by Sally Avens. (Mon 11:30am; 30m)

1: The Three Suitors - Letitia Dean stars in the first in a series of short stories by Thackeray. When Morgiana Crump looks for a husband, a battle of wigs and waistbands ensues. With Lindsey Coulson, Terence Edmond and Hamish McColl.

2: The Widower - When Miss Prior is engaged as governess to Horace Mililken's children, she seems the model of propriety - but breeding will out. With James Fleet, Sian Thomas and Thomas Arnold.

3: The Bedford Row Conspiracy - When John Perkins falls in love, little does he realise that affairs of the heart are governed by political allegiances. With Marston Bloom, Jasmine Hyde and Shirley Dixon.

4: The Ravenswing - Matilda Snodgrass's debut in the world of opera takes London by storm. With Clare Corbett, Carolyn Jones and Marcello Magni.

5: A Little Dinner At Timmins - With Peter Gunn, Sara Crowe and Tessa Worsley.

(12-02 to 12-03-2001) One Pair Of Hands
(Monica Dickens, dram Sam Boardman-Jacob) With Jasmine Hyde, Zoe Waites, Richard Huw, Helen Ayres, Eleanor Tremain, Ian Masters, Malcolm Sinclair, Kenny Blyth, Frances Jeater and Elizabeth Mansfield. (Mon 11:30am; 30m)

1: Time On My Hands - It's 1938 and Monica Dickens, bored by countless rounds of debutante parties, decides to prove she can earn her living as a cook.

2: Dinner For One, Please, James - As Monty struggles to adjust to life below stairs, her employer decides to throw a party - and invite all Monty's old chums.

3: I'll Do My Best To Keep You Happy - Monica's quest for a reference as a cook brings her to the house of a temperamental couturier with an aggressive Pekinese.

4: Looking On The Bright Side Of Life - Monica escapes from a large Devonshire estate to carry on cooking, but at the annual ball she's pursued by an old flame, providing the butler with the perfect opportunity for blackmail.

5: Music Maestro Please - Monty has been cooking badly for nearly a year now. If Isobel can't persuade her to hang up her apron, perhaps Hitler can?

(14 to 28-03-2001) Who Me?
(Janey Preger) A three-part satire on the fickle world of instant celebrity. With Charlie Hardwick, Jill Halfpenny, Fenella Woolgar and Trevor Fox. Directed by Wils Wilson. (Wed 11:30am; 30m)

1: Susan Brown thinks of herself as pretty ordinary, but she doesn't realise quite how ordinary until she reaches the national finals of Today's Woman magazine's Mrs Average competition.

2: Susan Brown beats off the competition in the national final and is crowned Britain's Mrs Average 2001, becoming an overnight cult sensation.

3: Susan discovers that life is tough at the top, and just as she finds that she needs a friend, her 15 minutes of fame are over. But can she go back to her old life? Will she ever be ordinary again?

(19-03 to 09-04-2001) The Little World Of Don Camillo
(Giovanni Guareschi, dram Peter Kerry) Dramatisation of the comic novel. With Alun Armstrong, Joss Ackland, John Moffatt and Sean Prendergast. (Mon 11:30am; 30m)

1: A few years after the war, Peppone, the communist mayor of a small town in northern Italy, is trying to have his baby son baptised. The local priest, Don Camillo, is refusing point blank: might it be because they want to call the child Lenin?

2: Don Camillo has been trying for months to raise funds for a community centre, and now Peppone announces that he is building a People's Palace and has the money already.

3: Has Don Camillo finally gone too far? It looks like the village is going to get a new priest - unless a miracle happens.

4: The church community centre and the People's Palace are finished and due to be opened on the same day - but the Bishop can't be in two places at once.

(04-04 to 09-05-2001) The Leopard In Autumn
(Neil Anthony) Comedy drama series. With David Swift, Sian Phillips, Graham Crowden and Paul Bigley. (Wed 11:30am; 30m)

1: The Caramba Campaign - Life is colourful chaos for the ruling family of Renaissance Italy's most inconsequential city-state. Ludovico, hen-pecked prince of Monte Guano, hears that two neighbouring states are about to go to war and is sent off in search of booty by his wife, Plethora.

2: The Pilgrim Industry - Following a fleeting visit from a cardinal, Plethora comes up with a plan to put Monte Guano on the pilgrimage map.

3: Prince Ludovico plans to introduce a new currency to his realm.

4: Prince Ludovico buys a cannon, and his wife makes a journey to Rome.

5: Prince Ludovico does battle with his enemies in the local tavern, and Princess Plethora tries to reconcile her quarrelsome sons.

6: A new pope is to be elected.

(16-04 to 07-05-2001) Lucia In London
(E F Benson, dram Ned Sherrin) With Belinda Lang, Nickolas Grace, Sarah Badel, Anna Quayle and Guy Henry. (Mon 11:30am; 30m)

1: Lucia Bereaved - Enter Lucia, the Queen of Risholme, the creme de la creme of social climbers.

2: Lucia Takes The Town - Lucia deserts Risholme and all her friends to cut a dash in London.

3: Luciaphils - Lucia takes her social climbing to the extreme.

4: Lucia Reclaims Her Crown - Following her deposition, Lucia endeavours to reclaim her throne.

(11-06 to 02-07-2001) Wise Children
(Angela Carter, dram Bryony Lavery) With Marcia Warren, Elizabeth Bell, Terence Edmond and Jon Strickland. Directed by Claire Grove. (Mon 11:30am; 30m)

1: Welcome To The Wrong Side Of The Tracks - Dora and Nora Chance are the illegitimate twin daughters of the great Shakespearean actor Sir Melchior Hazard. Disowned by the Hazard family, and by

2: Just The Way You Look Tonight - The Lucky Chances, illegitimate twin daughters of the great Shakespearean actor Sir Melchior Hazard, stomp and sing their way across Britain, while the legiti

3: Hurray For Hollywood - The Lucky Chances, illegitimate twin daughters of the great Shakespearean actor Sir Melchior Hazard, join forces with the legitimate family to make a film version of `

4: What A Joy It Is To Dance & Sing - The Lucky Chances, illegitimate twin daughters of the great Shakespearean actor Sir Melchior Hazard, get ready for his 100th birthday party.

(09-07-2001) Paradise
(Nick Warburton) Antonia chucks in her job in the City and buys an idyllic cottage out in the countryside. She soon finds out why it was going so cheaply. With Amanda Root

(15-07-2001) How Guillaume Appollinaire Saved My Marriage
(Nick Warburton) Bill has two unfortunate hobbies: philately and philandering. His wife, Penny, needs help. But how can the French poet

(23-07 to 20-08-2001) Agatha Christie's They Do It With Mirrors
(dram Michael Bakewell) With June Whitfield, Ursula Howells, Jill Balcon, Stephen Thorne and Peter Howell. Directed by Enyd Willi

1: Miss Marple is invited to stay with an old school friend at the manor house she runs with her husband as a school for delinquent boys. But it is not just a social visit.

2: Something is clearly wrong at Stonygates, but the most disquieting factors are the jealousies and tensions within the family itself.

3: A murder has taken place at Stonygates, and it is time for the police to be called in.

4: Someone is systematically trying to poison Carrie Louise. But who - and why?

5: A chance observation by one of the family gives Miss Marple the key to the solution.

(13-09-2001; Rpt) Before The Party
(Somerset Maugham, dram Neville Teller) In tribute to Dorothy Tutin, this story stars herself, her husband Derek Waring, and her daughter Amanda Waring. Narra

(08-10 to 12-11-2001) Dr Finlay: The Adventures Of A Black Bag
(A J Cronin, dram Sue Rodwell) Dramatisation of Cronin's comic stories. With John Gordon Sinclair. (Mon 11:30am; 30m)

1: The Resolution That Went Wrong - Finlay picks a fist fight with one of his less reasonable patients.

2: Who Laughs Last - Finlay meets his match in Miss Meg Mirlees, the stingiest, meanest most cunning widow in Scotland.

3: The Day Dandini Came To Town - Finlay finds that a touring `Cinderella' has more in common with `La Traviata' than a pantomime.

4: Wee Robertson - Finlay gets caught in the middle when a husband escapes a hen-pecking wife by losing his memory.

5: The Wife Of A Hero - Finlay nearly kils two patients on the eve of Levenford United's Cup semi-final with Glasgow Rangers.

6: The Sisters Scobie - Finlay rashly decides he can cure the crabby Scobie sisters of both the flu.

(31-10 to 21-11-2001) Our Brave Boys
(Unknown) Drama series about a high-flying civil servant who is posted to the MOD, where she finds herself boss to four military officers. (Wed 11:30am; 30m

1: Nanny Knows Best.

2: Bangety Bang.

3: Ladies Who Lunch - Politics comes uncomfortably close to home for Colonel George.

4: Crabs & Penguins.

(19-11 to 10-12-2001) Three Men On A Plane
(Mavis Cheek) (Mon 11:30am; 30m)

1: Pamela Says Goodbye, & Possibly Hello... - To cheer Pamela up after her son leaves home, her neighbour Peaches tries matchmaking at a barbecue.

2: Which Casket? Which Prince? - Much to Pamela's surprise and cautious delight, her three ex-lovers make contact now she is single again.

3: Three Men They Will A-Wooing Go... - Pamela decides to accept dinner invitations from her ex-husband and ex-lover.

4: Three Not So Wise Men Traverse Afar - Pamela's three ex-lovers have all invited her to Dublin for Christmas. Whose invitation will she accept?

(28-11 to 12-12-2001) Out Of The Blue
(Patricia Hannah) (Wed 11:30am; 30m)

1: Symmetries - The embalmed sleep of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is about to be disturbed, as he sets off on an unexpected journey.

2: Phase Shifting - Angela has rescued the embalmed body of Lenin from a snowdrift. What should she do with him now?

3: Shadow Melodies - The embalmed body of Lenin has ended up on the island of Tost. He enjoys the company of Henrik Ibsen while Angela decides what to do.

(17 to 21-12-2001) The Incredible Adventures Of Professor Branestawm
(Norman Hunter) (Weekdays 11:30am; 30m)

1: The Time Machine - Professor Branestawm voyages through time and space, with predictably chaotic results. Where, or when, will his new contraption take him?

2: Burglars - The professor finds he has been burgled. But his ingenuity is more than equal to the problem, as almost everyone but the burglar discovers.

3: Pancakes - No one can satisfy Colonel Dedshott's insatiable appetite for pancakes, until the professor invents a pancake-making machine.

4: Everlasting Clocks - The professor's clock keeps winding down, so he invents an everlasting clock. But when it strikes 13, he realises something is wrong.

5: One Prof Too Many - The professor takes a holiday by the sea and discovers he has a twin, who is performing a comedy act at the end of the pier

(24-12-2001) The Tailor Of Gloucester
(Beatrix Potter) The poor Tailor of Gloucester must make a coat of cherry-coloured corded silk for the Mayor of Gloucester to be married in on Christmas mo

(26-12-2001) Just William - Live!
(Richmal Crompton, read by Martin Jarvis) Recorded live before a packed audience at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham. A visit to the pantomime leads William by

BOOK OF THE WEEK

9:45am Weekdays (repeated, from 5th March, at 12:30am); 15mins; Individual synopses where available. Drama entries only.

(16 to 20-04-2001) William's Crowded Hours
(Richmal Crompton) Martin Jarvis performs his choice of five Crompton stories new to radio. Directed by Pete Atkin.

1: The Outlaws & The Tramps - William Brown and his faithful Outlaws are unusually concerned with making provision for their future careers. As so often, attempting to raise money has unforeseen consequences.

2: Aunt Florence & The Green Woodpecker - William's desire to reward the deserving and improve the lot of the disadvantaged leads to a natural history adventure.

3: William & The Begging Letter - One of the mysteries of the arcane financial arrangements of adults is cracked open by a chance visitor to the Brown household, with a startling impact upon the love life of William's older brother.

4: William & The Temporary History Master - Modern teaching methods clash with natural justice in an epic tale of humiliation, hubris, hedonism and humiliation.

5: William & The Badminton Racket - William's village is taken over by a badminton craze. The connection between this and William's French homework, not to mention his sister's latest beau, leads him into unprecedented physical peril.

(17 to 28-12-2001) Chosen For Christmas
(NB: Repeats from the year's readings, from both the Book Of The Week and Short Stories slot; Not transmitted on Christmas Day.)

1: Christmas On The Other Side Of The Dale (wri/read by Gervase Phinn) The school inspector drops in on some primary school nativity plays in North Yorkshire.

2: The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 (Sue Townsend, abr Jane Marshall, read by Sam Moloney) An extract in which Adrian prepares for Christmas.

3: The Best Of Bombeck (Erma Bombeck, abr Jane Marshall, read by Maureen Lipman) An extract in which Bombeck comments on Christmas news letters.

4: The Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Dog - Old Garbo (Dylan Thomas, abr Jane Marshall, read by Phillip Madoc).

5: How To Survive Christmas (Jilly Cooper, abr Jane Marshall, read by Annette Crosbie).

6: Christmas Pudding Is Mediterranean Food (Elizabeth David, abr Jane Marshall, read by Joanna David).

7: The Russian Journal Of Lady Londonderry - 1836 (abr Jane Marshall, read by Barbara Leigh Hunt) The cold had been daily increasing and now had arrived at nearly thirty degrees below zero.

8: Hand Grenade Practice In Peking (Frances Wood, abr Jane Marshall, read by Emma Fielding).

9: May Week Was In June (wri/read by Clive James) The Oxford and Cambridge ski club go to Austria. Christopher. Then the ladies raise a glass to the New Year.

(31-12-2001) Les Miserables
(Victor Hugo) It is France in 1815. Jean Valjean is finally released from prison after 19 years. Brutalised by his incarceration, he steals from the kind Bishop of D

THE LATE BOOK

12:30am Weekday Nights; Individual synopses where available.

NB: All are repeats, some from the then-defunct 9:45am Serial. From 5th March the slot was replaced by repeats of that day's usually-biographical 9:45am Book Of The Week (the Serial's own replacement).

(01 to 05-01-2001; Rpt) The Penguin Book Of 20th-Century Essays
- Five essays from distinguished writers which form a picture of the last century.

1: England Your England
(George Orwell, abr Chris Wallis, read by Tim Pigott-Smith) `As I write highly civilised human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.' Orwell challenges the concept of patriotism.

2: The English Aristocracy (Nancy Mitford, read by Eleanor Bron) Mitford's famous essay which developed the expressions `U' and `non-U' to define the classes.

3: The Guilty Vicarage
(W H Auden, read by John Shrapnel) Auden examines the addictive delights of the whodunnit.

4: Return Trip To Nirvana
(Arthur Koestler, read by John Shrapnel) Using first-hand experience, Koestler challenges the cult of mind-altering drugs as advocated by his friend Timothy Leary.

5: Living On Capital
(Jonathan Raban, read by Tim Pigott-Smith) A moving tribute to the rewards and tensions of the relationship between father and son, written when the author was in his mid-30s.

(08 to 12-01-2001; Rpt) You Won't Believe This But...
(Barry Cryer) Award-winning comedy writer and performer Barry Cryer reads from his autobiography, in which he looks back over more than 40 years in show business.

(15 to 19-01-2001; Rpt) Barrow's Boys
(Fergus Fleming, abr Di Speirs, read by Samuel West) In 1816, John Barrow sailed an Admiralty desk, rather than a ship, but he was fascinated by unexplored territory, and wanted the Navy to fill in the blanks in the map of the world.

1: The first of five adventures by one of Barrow's boys: a journey up the unexplored Congo.

2: Ross's search for the North-West Passage.

3: The story of 11 months ice-bound in the Arctic.

4: A journey to the heart of Africa, in full naval regalia,

5: The story of the man who ate his boots, r

(22 to 26-01-2001; Rpt) The Shark Net
(Robert Drewe, abr Elizabeth Bradbury, read by Peter O'Brien) Extracts from the haunting memoir of Australian writer, showing how the author's life became entangled with the last man to be hanged in a Fremantle jail.

1: Six-year-old Robert moves to Perth in the 1950s.

2: Eleven-year-old Robert meets Eric, his father's new handyman, who teaches him the art of `moss pissing'. The boy also worries about a prowler targeting his mother.

3: At 16, Robert falls in love and kills a shark. Meanwhile, a menacing stranger has started to murder local women - but is he really a stranger?

4: At 18, Robert acquires a job, a wife and a baby. Then someone murders his best friend, and all hell breaks loose.

5: The net is closing in around the serial killer, but who is to blame for the death of Robert's mother?

(29-01 to 02-02-2001; Rpt) The Real James Herriot
(Jim Wight, Paul Kent, read by David Holt) Wight's biography of his father - vet and best-selling author, James Herriot.

(05 to 09-02-2001; Rpt) The Dark Room
At Longwood (Jean-Paul Kauffmann, abr Jill Waters, read by Simon Russell Beale) Following his surrender after the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was exiled to the remote Atlantic island of St Helena. Kauffmann spent a week on the island absorbing Napoleon's powerful presence.

(12 to 16-02-2001; Rpt) The Deprat Affair
(Roger Osborne, abr Doreen Estall, read by Jamie Glover) The gripping account of a scientific scandal at the start of the 20th century, in which a young geologist was accused of fraud.

(19-02 to 02-03-2001; Rpt) The River King
(Alice Hoffman, abr Richard Hamilton, read by Liza Ross) The gripping and lyrical tale about a mysterious, watery death in a divided town.

(04 to 25-08-2001; Rpt) A Short Hello
(Susie Maguire) - Four short stories from Maguire's collection.

1. A Night In (read by Alexander Morton) An encounter with a noisy group of women in a bar convinces James that sexism really does work both ways.

2. The Tale Of The Cat Burglar (read by Carol Ann Crawford).

3: Incomplete (read by Susie Maguire) A young woman visits her dying father in hospital and reflects on the changing nature of their relationship.

4: A Brown Study (read by Crawford Logan) A fictional episode in the real life of Scottish comedian Arnold Brown.

(01 to 29-09-2001; Rpt) Fantastic Tales
- Five classic European stories exploring the weird and the wonderful.

1: The Shadow (Hans Christian Andersen, read by Peter Capaldi) A wise scholar grants his shadow freedom, releasing him into society to live as a man. But his act of generosity goes badly awry.

2: Autumn Sorcery (Joseph von Eichendorff, read by Jamie Glover) A young knight is driven to madness when he dicovers everything he holds dear is pure illusion.

3: `The Holes in the Mask (Jean Lorrain, read by Simon Russell Beale) The narrator dreams his own death. Will he have the strength to wake up?

4: The Ghost and the Bonesetter (Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, read by ?) A petrified bonesetter fears for his life when a ghost makes an unusual request.

5: The Night (Guy De Maupassant, read by ?) A young man takes great pleasure in his nightly walks through Paris - but tonight, something is terribly wrong.

(06-10 to -11-2001; Rpt) Up Against The Wall
- Five specially commissioned poems about Hadrian's Wall.

1: Wall Dreams (Ken Smith) The miseries of guarding the Roman wall.

2: This Far & No Further (Katrina Porteous) This poem draws upon the voices and sounds of those living in the wall's shadow.

3: Unknown Title (Robert Crawford) A poem about the continuing power of Hadrian's Wall as an image of division and tension.

4: A Talking Book (Don Paterson) The Scottish poet reflects on the idea that, as well as walls having ears, ears have walls.

5: Kathleen Jamie asks if Hadrian's Wall be tamed once and for all, or is it still an itch that needs to be scratched?

(10-11-2001; Rpt) The Gardener
(Rudyard Kipling, read by Patricia Hodge) On the eve of Armistice Day, a story of remembrance. The poignant account of Aunt Helen's grief for her nephew, killed by a shell-splinter on the Somme. (NB: Not specifically billled as part of The Late Story.)

(17-11 to 15-12-2001; Rpt) Ballet Stories
- New versions of tales on which ballets have been based. (NB: Unknown readers.)

1: Swan Lake (Elizabeth Buchan) An encounter with Odette, a swan-woman, is the first taste of love for Prince Siegfried.

2: Coppelia (Adam Thorpe) Dr Coppelius, a skilful toy-maker, makes a clockwork doll and sits her on his balcony.

3: The Firebird (Bonnie Greer) Prince Ivan lies in wait in the forest to catch the beautiful bird of fire.

4: Giselle (John Burnside) In the lonely forest, beautiful sylphs dance in the night. But danger is in the air.

5: The Nutcracker (Berlie Doherty) At a Christmas party, Clara is given a toy nutcracker by her godfather.

(22-12-2001; Rpt) The Special Sale
(Maeve Binchy, read by Dervla Kirwan) A good deed leads to a romantic encounter on the day after Christmas.

(29-12-2001; Rpt) Protein
(India Knight, read by Rebecca Front) No synopses. (NB: Not specifically billled as part of the The Late Story.)

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