Lucinda Brayford: A Full-Cast BBC Radio Drama
"The classic tale of an Australian girl who marries into the English aristocracy at a time of great change to the traditional order
November 1910, and seventeen-year-old Lucinda is looking forward to being making her debut in Melbourne society. Beautiful and wealthy, she is set to make a brilliant match – and when she meets dashing army officer Hugo Brayford, the younger brother of an English viscount, it seems she has succeeded in landing her prize. Bowled over by his charm and aristocratic lineage, impressionable Lucinda quickly forgets her first love, Tony Duff, and accepts Hugo’s proposal of marriage.
Leaving Australia, she prepares to start a new life in England – but all is not as she had anticipated. Hugo is frequently away, runs up debts that Lucinda must settle, and even the birth of his son, Stephen, cannot keep him by his wife’s side. And when he is injured fighting in the Great War, Lucinda finds herself faced with a terrible dilemma. Torn between society’s expectations and her heart’s desires, can she find the happiness she craves?
Inspired by his own upper-class ancestors and his experiences during World War I, Martin Boyd’s seminal tale of family, class, marriage and money spans 30 years, from the last days of the Edwardian era to the Second World War. At once a romance and a chronicle of a world in flux, it charts one woman’s life and loves against the backdrop of societal transformation. Juliet Aubrey stars in this captivating adaptation, with a stellar cast including Eleanor Bron, James Laurenson, Penelope Wilton and Paul Rhys.
Production credits
Written by Martin Boyd
Dramatised by Elspeth Sands
Directed by Janet Whitaker
Cast
Lucinda – Juliet Aubrey
Hugo – Jonathan Firth
Julie – Angela Pleasence
Fred – James Laurensen
Lydia – Abigail McKern
Lady Wendale – Eleanor Bron
Marian – Penelope Wilton
Tony Duff – Matt Day
Paul Brayford – Paul Rhys
Susannah Brayford – Pamela Wise
Arthur – Michael Cochrane
Pat Lanfranc – Mark Straker
Watteau – Miranda Barber
Canon Chapman – David Timson
Bill Vane – Nicholas Boulton
Mrs Greene-James – Joanna McCallum
Mrs. Galway – Ndidi Del Fatti
Driver – Jason Chan
Lord Fitzauncell – Stephen Hogan
Stephen – Robert Hastie
Muriel – Helen Longworth
Heather – Alex Tregear
Bill as a child/Stephen as a child – Pax Baldwin
Commanding Officer – Hugh Dickson
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2-16 January 2005
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd"
Martin Boyd (Author), Alex Tregear, Angela Pleasence, Eleanor Bron, Full Cast, Helen Longworth, Jason Chan, Joanna McCallum, Jonathan Firth, Juliet Aubrey, Mark Straker, Michael Cochrane, Paul Rhys, Penelope Wilton (Narrator)
Audiobook
