British novels adapted into plays
13 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
A Christmas Carol
From Bah Humbug to God Bless Us Every One: Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Charles Dickens' story of Scrooge's salvation by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come.
16 December 2021
Featuring: Juliet John, Jon Mee, Dinah Birch
CultureNovels adapted into balletsVictorian novelsBritish novels adapted into television showsBritish novellasBooks illustrated by Arthur Rackham1840s fantasy novels, Ghost novelsBritish novels adapted into filmsNovels adapted into operasChapman & Hall booksNovels about time travelNovels set in the 19th centuryNovels set in LondonBritish novels adapted into plays19th centuryBookAlice's Adventures in Wonderland
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Lewis Carroll's work published in 1865 and inspired by telling stories to Alice Liddell and her sisters on picnics and boating trips in Oxford
15 February 2024
Featuring: Franziska Kohlt, Kiera Vaclavik, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst
Animal Farm
4 Extra Debut. Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss George Orwell's Animal Farm, which he struggled to publish in WW2 as the USSR was an ally. From 2016.
29 September 2016
Featuring: Steven Connor, Mary Vincent, Robert Colls
CultureDystopian novelsNovels adapted into radio programsRoman à clef novelsBritish novellasBritish novels adapted into television showsEnglish novelsBritish novels adapted into filmsCensored booksBritish political novels, Novels about propaganda, Novels about revolutionaries, Novels about totalitarianism, Novels by George Orwell, Secker & Warburg booksNovels adapted into comicsBritish satirical novelsAllegoryBritish novels adapted into playsBookEmma
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jane Austen's novel Emma, which features, according to Austen, 'a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like'.
19 November 2015
Featuring: Janet Todd, John Mullan, Emma Clery
Fielding's Tom Jones
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Henry Fielding's influential comic novel in which the hero Jones has such a fundamentally good nature that even his critics forgive his faults.
13 June 2024
Featuring: Judith Hawley, Henry Power, Charlotte Roberts
Frankenstein
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Mary Shelley's story of Victor Frankenstein and the creature he makes from cadavers and then rejects - only for the monster to take his revenge
16 May 2019
Featuring: Karen O'Brien, Michael Rossington, Jane Thomas
CultureEpistolary novelsCensored booksBritish novels adapted into playsFrame stories1818 British novelsDisability in the artsWorks published anonymouslyNovels adapted into balletsNovels set in GermanyNovels adapted into comicsNovels adapted into video gamesBritish science fiction novelsNovels adapted into radio programsBritish Gothic novelsBritish novels adapted into filmsNovels set in the 18th centuryNovels about revengeVegetarianism in fictionBritish novels adapted into television shows18th century20th centuryBookJane Eyre
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell.
18 June 2015
Featuring: Dinah Birch, Karen O'Brien, Sara Lyons
CultureNovels adapted into balletsFiction about suicideBritish Gothic novelsVictorian novelsBritish novels adapted into television showsHarper & Brothers booksBritish bildungsromansBritish novels adapted into films1847 British novelsLove storiesFemale characters in literatureNovels set in the 19th centurySmith, Elder & Co. booksBritish novels adapted into playsWorks published under a pseudonym19th centuryBookNineteen Eighty-Four
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Orwell's dystopian novel where the state rewrites history, war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength - and Big Brother is watching you
15 September 2022
Featuring: David Dwan, Lisa Mullen, John Bowen
CultureBritish science fiction novelsNovels adapted into radio programsNovels adapted into balletsDystopian novelsBritish novels adapted into television showsEnglish novelsNovels set in fictional countriesBritish novels adapted into filmsNovels adapted into operasCensored booksSocial science fictionBritish political novels, Novels about propaganda, Novels about revolutionaries, Novels about totalitarianism, Novels by George Orwell, Secker & Warburg booksNovels set in LondonBritish novels adapted into playsBookPersuasion
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jane Austen's final completed novel: the story of Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth, their broken engagement and their chance meeting 8 years later.
22 December 2022
Featuring: Karen O'Brien, Fiona Stafford, Paddy Bullard
Robinson Crusoe
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Daniel Defoe's seminal novel Robinson Crusoe. Published in 1719, it was an immediate success and is considered the classic adventure story.
22 December 2011
Featuring: Karen O'Brien, Judith Hawley, Bob Owens
CultureNovels adapted into radio programsMaritime folkloreBritish novels adapted into television shows18th-century British novelsMale characters in literatureBritish novels adapted into filmsAtlantic slave tradeAdventure film charactersNovels adapted into comicsBritish novels adapted into plays18th centuryBookEconomicsSilas Marner
Melvyn Bragg and guests Rosemary Ashton, Dinah Birch and Valentine Cunningham discuss George Eliot's 1861 novel Silas Marner.
28 January 2010
Featuring: Rosemary Ashton, Dinah Birch, Valentine Cunningham
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, which challenged Victorian morality and made Hardy's fortune when published in the 1890s.
5 May 2016
Featuring: Dinah Birch, Francis O'Gorman, Jane Thomas
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Anne Bronte's story of the mysterious Helen Graham who seeks a new independent life as an artist after escaping her abusive, alcoholic husband.
30 September 2021
Featuring: Alexandra Lewis, Marianne Thormählen, John Bowen