Showing titles in Entertainment & Performing Arts

First broadcast in 1948, Sports Report is the longest-running radio sporting programme in the world and one of the BBC’s hardy perennials. Pat Murphy has been a reporter on the programme since 1981 and here he sifts comprehensively through the experiences of his contemporaries and those who made their mark on Sports Report in earlier decades. Drawing on unique access from the BBC Archives Unit, he highlights memorable moments from Sports Report.

In each episode of this BBC Radio 4 series, Mark Steel visits a UK town and researches its history, heritage and culture, after which he performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents. Mark's destinations in series 5 and 6 are Glastonbury, Derry/Londonderry, St. Davids, Southall, Birkenhead, Huddersfield, Melton Mowbray, Fleetwood, Shrewsbury, Barnard Castle and Saint Anne.

Brought to you by Penguin. Rob Brydon - star of Gavin and Stacey, Steve Coogan's partner in The Trip, and one of Britain's favourite comedians - tells the funny and frank story of his slow ascent to fame and fortune in Small Man in a Book. A multi-award-winning actor, writer, comedian and...

Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) was a towering figure in American musical theater. Celebrated for such iconic Broadway shows as Company, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods, his accolades include eight Tony Awards, multiple Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Pulitzer Prize. In this intimate biography, Daniel Okrent follows Sondheim through the tumult of his upbringing and his parents’ divorce, his life-changing relationship with Oscar Hammerstein II and subsequent immersion in musical theater, and his rise to fame as both a lyricist and composer.

Each week we invite one of the biggest guests in the world of magic to maroon themselves on a desert island. They are allowed to take with them 8 tricks, 1 book, 1 banishment and 1 non magic item that they use for magic! We discuss their 'can't live without' lists and why those items were chosen. Episodes are uploaded every Friday and are available via all Podcast service providers! To find out more about the team behind Desert Island Tricks, please visit: www.alakazam.co.uk

The hysterical, shocking and incredibly intimate memoir from one of the most original and unique comedians alive today. Hello! I’m Brian Limond, aka Limmy. You might know me from Limmy’s Show. Or you might not know me at all. Don’t worry if you don’t. They asked me to write a book about...

Ricky chats with comedians Sean McLoughlin, David Baddiel, Brett Goldstein, Diane Morgan, Robin Ince and Joel Dommett.

The Last Kings of Hollywood tells the thrilling, dramatic inside story of how the three filmmakers rivalled and supported each other, fell out and reconciled, and struggled to reinvent popular American cinema. Along the way, Coppola directed The Godfather, then the highest-grossing film of all-time, until Spielberg surpassed it with Jaws—whose record Lucas broke with Star Wars, which Spielberg surpassed again with E.T. By the early 1980s, they were the richest, best-known filmmakers in the world, each with an empire of their own.

Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told through vintage newspaper accounts from the golden age of yellow journalismBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

The complete television soundtracks of all 12 episodes of the legendary BBC sitcom Ground-breaking, satirical and anarchic, The Young Ones introduced alternative comedy to mainstream TV, and made household names of its writers and performers. It ran for two series on BBC Two between 1982 and...

We adapt words from other languages, from slang, from developments in science, literature and art. Learn the advantages of having your own signature word; why the lifts in the House of Commons have posh accents; and discover the discreet art of the loophemism. Do you know your geek-speak from your geek-chic? Ever wanted to put Humpty Dumpty together again? Can you distinguish Spanglish from Chinglish?

The youngest child of debtor William Dorrit, Amy is born in Marshalsea prison. She and her father are befriended by Arthur Clennam, whose mother employs 'little Dorrit' as a seamstress. The fortunes of the Dorrits undergo an extreme change when Williams inherits a fortune, and the family move to...

Forty-five episodes from Series 1-8 of the Sony Award-winning BBC Radio comedy show, hosted by Rufus Hound. In this hilarious and revealing show, host Rufus Hound invites his guests to revisit their formative years by dusting off their intimate teenage diaries and reading them out in public for...

The Now Show is a much-loved stalwart of radio comedy. Featuring some of the best and brightest contemporary comedians, this award-winning show takes a satirical look at the news through a mix of stand-up, songs and sketches, as well as interview segments in which experts in their field explain the facts behind the headlines. In these three series, hosts Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by special guests.

 The popular topical comedy show is back with another helping of political vituperation, media mauling and celebrity savaging. So sit back and treat your ears to a bumper helping of superb satirical impressions from the team: Jon Culshaw, Lewis MacLeod, Jan Ravens, Jess Robinson, Duncan Wisbey and Jason Forbes.

David Sedaris's remarkable ability to uncover the hilarious absurdity teeming just below the surface of everyday life is surpassed only by his ability to make his stories even more hilarious when he reads them aloud. This is the complete recording of Meet David Sedaris Series Five, for Radio 4...

Uncover the twisted tales that inspired the big screen's greatest screams. Which case of demonic possession inspired The Exorcist? What horrifying front-page story generated the idea for A Nightmare on Elm Street? Which film was inspired by an 18th-century Japanese folktale? Unearth the...

This audiobook is read by the author and includes an exclusive Q&A between Mark Kermode and Jenny Nelson 'Brims with enthusiasm and joyful insight' – Richard Ayoade How can a film score make you cheer, shiver, cry or punch the air? How do directors communicate their musical vision to composers?...

In this fourth treasury of rare archive material, our irrepressible hero forms an association to save Fred’s Pie Stall in a newly restored 1959 radio episode of Hancock’s Half Hour. From the BBC TV series comes The Italian Maid (1959), in which Tony and Sid are bowled over by the lovely Silvano. Also included in this treasury are interviews with Paul Merton, Roger Wilmut and Freddie Hancock, who all talk about the life and career of Tony Hancock.

In these 26 episodes, we turn the clock back to 2014 - the year when Scotland said 'no' to independence, Ukrainians ousted their pro-Russia president in the Maidan Revolution, and the European Space Agency's Philae probe made its historic first landing on a comet. Sandi Toksvig is in the chair for every show bar one, in which Susan Calman steps in as temporary host. Subjects on the table for the team include NHS pay, a badger crash, commuter train standards, Russian activities in Crimea, dietary health scares, passport delays and black cab strikes.