Audiobooks narrated by Rachel Atkins

What Does the K Stand For?: A BBC Radio 4 Sitcom About Growing up Black, Gay and Funny in 1980s Lond

Stand-up meets sitcom in Stephen K Amos’s semi-autobiographical show about growing up black, gay and funny in 1980s London ‘One of the most likable figures in British comedy Radio Times Comedian Stephen K Amos is one of eight children, whose parents came to London from Nigeria in the 60s. In these three series, co-written with multi-award-winning British playwright Jonathan Harvey, he takes us back in time to the 1980s, as he reminisces about his dysfunctional childhood and formative experiences, and shares the dramas and traumas of his teenage years. We join his younger self as he wrestles with his identlty; falls in love; overcomes his stage fright and takes the lead role in the school play, Balham Side Story. And as he takes his first steps into working life, he gets caught up in the Brixton riots, worries about his parents splitting up, and finally plucks up the courage to reveal a secret… Shaquille Ali-Yebuah stars as Young Stephen, and each show is hosted by Stephen K Amos himself, adding stand-up narration and his own comic perspective. Among the cast are Ellen Thomas and Don Gilet as Stephen’s mum and dad, Fatou Sohna as Stephanie Amos, Gemma Whelan as Miss Collins, Michelle Butterly as Miss Bliss and Frankie Wilson as Jayson Jackson. And the answer to the show’s title? You’ll have to listen and find out... Cast and credits Stephen K Amos – Himself Young Stephen – Shaquille Ali-Yebuah Stephanie Amos – Fatou Sohna Virginia Amos – Ellen Thomas Vincent Amos/Tanktop – Don Gilet Miss Collins – Gemma Whelan Jayson Jackson/John the Baptist – Frankie Wilson PE Teacher/Red Coat/Philip/Check-in guy/Random Bloke – Harry Jardine Fanni – Emerald O'Hanrahan Fola – Kathryn Drysdale Bo Bells/Taxi driver/Stephanie Turner – Rachel Atkins Samaritan/Policeman/Taxi driver – David Seddon Miss Bliss – Michelle Butterly Mary Magdalene/Bette Davis/Sophie – Nadia Kamil Boy Roy – Ryan Watson Miss Hunt/Moira Stuart/Fergie – Margaret Cabourn-Smith Princess – Jocelyn Jee Esien Dustin – Laurie Kynaston With Frances Barber, Bola Okun, Emerald Crankson, Karen Bartke and David Sterne Written by Jonathan Harvey with Stephen K Amos Produced by Colin Anderson and Paul Sheehan Violin played by Rachel Barnes First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 27 November 2013-1 January 2014 (Series 1), 31 December 2014-4 February 2015 (Series 2), 25 January-15 February 2017 (Series 3) © 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Jonathan Harvey, Stephen K Amos (Author), Don Gilet, Ellen Thomas, Emerald O'hanrahan, Fatou Sohna, Frankie Wilson, Full Cast, Gemma Whelan, Harry Jardine, Rachel Atkins, Shaquille Ali-Yebuah, Stephen K Amos (Narrator)

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Steven Appleby's Normal Life: The Complete Series 1 and 2: A BBC Radio 4 Sitcom

All twelve episodes of the absurdist series based on Steven Appleby’s comic strip – plus a Christmas Special 'No one is more talented or original' Richard Ingrams, Spectator Cartoonist Steven Appleby asks where reality ends and fantasy begins, as he gives us his distinctly abnormal insights into everyday life. In these two series, he takes a look at a few of life’s fundamental topics, including Love, Death, Science, Truth and Oceanography. From seeking romance when his wife elopes with the electric kettle to searching for the hidden meaning of life, said to be written on a sausage, he takes us on a personal journey through his memories, experiences, dreams and fantasies to reveal his own idiosyncratic version of normality. Along the way, he discovers that his kids are actually alien tourists visiting Earth on a rowdy package holiday; signs a pact with the Devil to to reverse the ageing process (and look more like Richard Burton), undergoes surgery to explore his brain’s inner workings; and proves once and for all that dinosaurs could read, write and ride bicycles. But will his attempts to tell the absolute truth prove to be a less-than-wise career move? Also included is a festive special episode, Steven Appleby’s Normal Christmas, in which Steven meets Santa and learns that Christmas isn’t just about receiving... Paul McCrink and Mark Perry star as Steven, with Steven Appleby as himself and Rachel Atkins, Ewan Bailey, Nigel Betts and Rosalind Paul as the figments of his imagination. Credits Written by Steven Appleby Produced by Toby Swift Starring Paul McCrink and Mark Perry as Steven and featuring Rachel Atkins, Ewan Bailey, Nigel Betts, Rosalind Paul and Steven Appleby First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 8 August-12 September 2001 (Series 1), 19 February-26 March 2003 (Series 2), 23 December 2004 (Steven Appleby’s Normal Christmas) © 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Steven Appleby (Author), Ewan Bailey, Nigel Betts, Paul Mccrink, Rachel Atkins, Rosalind Paul, Steven Appleby (Narrator)

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Calling Sergeant Crockford

It's the dawn of the Swinging Sixties. The Cold War is at its height and support for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is building. The Berkshire Constabulary's Detective Gwen Crockford is promoted to Woman Police Sergeant in Newbury – the town at the heart of Britain's atomic weapons programme. Gwen's initial reservations that her posting in rural Berkshire will be boring soon prove to be unfounded. A serial sex attacker on the loose, an attempted murder at Greenham Common US Airforce Base, and a charismatic heiress with a family secret keep things interesting for the capable sergeant. Laser-focused on her police career – and resigned to the single life – Gwen is forced to re-evaluate her plans when a nature-loving war veteran PC walks into the station with an orphaned fox cub, and there's a shocking discovery in a railway station lavatory. Written by her daughter Ruth and rich in social history, this is the story of a real-life woman police sergeant at the top of her game, guiding her WPCs through the immense societal changes of the early 1960s.

Ruth D'alessandro (Author), Rachel Atkins (Narrator)

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A Sting in the Tale: Five Eerie Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramas

Five full-cast BBC Radio Dramas to send a chill up the spine Thrilling, creepy, and utterly unforgettable, these five stories of strange voices, haunting passions, and terrifying nightmares will stay with you forever... In No Conferring, four students from Bracewell College, Cambridge, attempt a Christmas bonding week in order to prepare for their upcoming University Challenge appearance. But the isolated moorland cottage stay soon goes very, very wrong. Written by Jonathan Holloway. Myrtle, Mahonia and Rue finds a young landscape gardener who loves her work, but will do anything to escape the terrible nightmares she suffers from. Her only hope is a drastic course of action... Written by Bryony Glassco. Voices from Another Room sees an artist troubled by the voices he thinks he's hearing - voices discussing his murder. And what is worse: the voices are in the future, and the murder is due to happen at any moment. Written by Philip Martin. In Sally Go Round the Moon, Sally is working hard at her job - perhaps too hard. Is it stress that's making her hear the voice of a child no one else can? Or is she really being haunted? Written by Natalia Power. Ghosting is the tale of a young novelist, who agrees to some ghostwriting work on the memoir of supermodel Vita. Soon he discovers exactly how seductive Vita is - but how much will he risk for his work, and for Vita herself? Written by Gregory Evans. Featuring a star-studded cast including Neil Dudgeon (Midsomer Murders, Life of Riley, Common as Muck), Claire Cage (Casualty, Submarine), Damian Lynch (EastEnders, Tommies, Little Britain), Jaimi Barbakoff (The Archers, Black Mirror, The Power), Lydia Leonard (The Crown, Gentleman Jack, Ten Percent), Rachel Atkins (Absolute Power, Ed Reardon's Week, Mrs Sidhu Investigates), Jimi Mistry (Coronation Street, East is East, The Syndicate), and Honeysuckle Weeks (Foyle's War, Lewis), this is just the collection for those who love the chilling, spine-tingling dramas of The Man in Black, The Price of Fear, and Fear on 4. ©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Briony Glassco, Gregory Evans, Jonathan Holloway, Natalia Power, Philip Martin (Author), Chris Moran, Chérie Taylor Battiste, Claire Cage, Damian Lynch, Frances Jeater, Full Cast, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Honeysuckle Weeks, Ioan Meredith, Jaimi Barbakoff, Jimi Mistry, Kenny Blyth, Lydia Leonard, Neil Dudgeon, Rachel Atkins (Narrator)

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Calling Detective Crockford

This nostalgic and absorbing memoir tells the story of a real-life female police detective in post-war Britain, as she navigates a man's world. It's 1956, and the Berkshire Constabulary has never had a woman detective before. That is, until bright and ambitious WPC Gwen Crockford passes out of Hendon Detective Training School with flying colours... After five years serving as one of Britain's first policewomen, Gwen Crockford becomes one of its first female detectives. Swapping crime prevention for detection, she must soon become comfortable with attending murder scenes and post-mortems, investigating sex crimes and going undercover. Her police work is diverse and challenging: dealing with Teddy boy violence, arson, a paedophile 'war hero', and solving an unexplained death are all part of her remit. Gwen is sharp and quick to learn, considered 'one of the boys' by her colleagues, DS Kinch and DS Le Mercier. Until, that is, the traumatizing death of a child, the arrival of a new sexist DS, and near-zero opportunity for promotion force Gwen to reevaluate her career. Written and researched by Gwen's daughter Ruth from family papers, remembered stories from her mother and contemporary newspapers, this is a fascinating insight into late-1950s society and the challenges faced by female police officers. This is the second book in the Crockford series, following Calling WPC Crockford – Gwen's time as a pioneering uniform policewoman in the early 1950s.

Ruth D'alessandro (Author), Rachel Atkins (Narrator)

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Calling WPC Crockford: The Story of a 1950s Police Woman

In the early 1950s, the Berkshire Constabulary finally opened its ranks to more women. And WPC Crockford was one of those early pioneers... When 21-year-old Gwendoline Crockford signed up to join the Berkshire Constabulary in 1951, she had little idea of what she was getting herself into. Whether carrying a human skeleton out of the woods, finding a missing child, investigating thefts, or chasing an escaped zebra, every day brought fresh adventures. In this nostalgic, tender and honest account of post-war British society, we follow a bright, determined woman navigating a man's world, serving as many people as she can. From performing traffic duties to unravelling a dark secret at the heart of an impoverished family, WPC Crockford's career was full of joy, thrills – and heartbreak. Written by her daughter Ruth, this is the story of a real-life woman police constable as she embarks on her police career.

Ruth D'alessandro (Author), Rachel Atkins (Narrator)

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The Steel Beneath the Silk: A Novel

A breathtaking conclusion to Bracewell’s Emma of Normandy Trilogy, brimming with treachery, heartache, tenderness and passion as the English queen confronts ambitious and traitorous councilors, invading armies and the Danish king’s power-hungry concubine. In the year 1012 England’s Norman-born Queen Emma has been ten years wed to an aging, ruthless, haunted King Æthelred. The marriage is a bitterly unhappy one, between a queen who seeks to create her own sphere of influence within the court and a suspicious king who eyes her efforts with hostility and resentment. But royal discord shifts to grudging alliance when Cnut of Denmark, with the secret collusion of his English concubine Elgiva, invades England at the head of a massive viking army. Amid the chaos of war, Emma must outwit a fierce enemy whose goal is conquest and outmaneuver the cunning Elgiva, who threatens all those whom Emma loves.

Patricia Bracewell (Author), Rachel Atkins (Narrator)

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The Bone Road

Can anyone outrun their past? When two bodies wash up on a river bank in the Balkans, Simo Subotic is called in to investigate. It soon becomes clear that their deaths were the result of torture not seen since the Bosnian War. Meanwhile, after a drug bust prematurely ends the Tour de Balkans, former Olympic cyclist Heather Bishop is in freefall after her journalist boyfriend Ryan Mackinnon goes missing. Her desperate search for him uncovers not only Ryan's dark past, but that of a region still reeling from the trauma of war. As tensions within the community rise and old fault lines make themselves known, Heather and Simo must find Richard before its too late – for him and for themselves…

N.E. Solomons (Author), Rachel Atkins (Narrator)

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Dark Rooms: The brand new 2022 Jane Tennison thriller from the Queen of Crime Drama

Helena Lanark is the only one who knows about the horrors which once occurred in her family's house. The heiress of an immense family fortune, she now resides in a luxurious care home; her mind and memory fading fast. Jane Tennison is leading a murder investigation into the recent brutal death of a young girl, her decomposed, starved body discovered in an old air raid shelter in the garden of the Lanark's now derelict house. Initially the focus is on identifying the victim, until another body is found hidden in the walls of the shelter. As the investigation and search for answers intensifies, Jane travels to Australia. There she discovers the dark secret that the Lanark family has kept hidden for decades. A secret that not only threatens to bring down a family dynasty, but also places Jane Tennison in mortal danger . . .

Lynda La Plante (Author), Rachel Atkins (Narrator)

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London, SE15: A DC Ruth Hunter Murder Case: A DC Ruth Hunter Murder Case, Book 4

A murdered ex-soldier. A British Army conspiracy. Can DC Ruth Hunter and DC Lucy Henry uncover the killer's identity before there's yet another cover-up. When ex-soldier Ashley Campbell is brutally murdered outside a Peckham nightclub, Ruth's first thought is that it is gang related. Yet, as the investigation progresses, it seems that the victim's time as a recruit at Cranleigh Barracks might hold the key to the true identity of the murderer. As Ruth and Lucy uncover a brutal culture of bullying, racism and sexual abuse at the barracks, it seems that several officers in the British Army will go to any lengths to protect their identity. Can Ruth find enough evidence to bring the officers to justice? And what will she do when new evidence appears to suggest that CID should have been looking far closer to home for Ashley's killer?

Simon Mccleave (Author), Rachel Atkins (Narrator)

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Mafia Princess

Marisa Merico, the daughter of one of Italy's most notorious Mafia Godfathers, was dazzled by her father, Emilio DiGiovine. To her he was all powerful, sophisticated and loving; to the rest of the world he was staggeringly ruthless. Marisa knew her father would do anything for her, but she hadn't expected just how much he would ask in return. Born to an English mother, Marisa turned her back on her quiet life in Blackpool to join her charming father, Emilio DiGiovine, who had spent years trying to tempt her back to Italy. Arriving in Milan, Marisa had no idea she was returning to the heart of one of the most notorious drugs, arms and money laundering empires in the world. At first her father shielded her from the family operations and Marisa was overwhelmed by the attention and gifts he lavished on her. But soon the temptation of a new recruit was too great and Marisa was drawn ever deeper into the family's sinister and brutal regime, witnessing things she was too scared to believe. The day she eloped with her father's chief henchman was the day her father decided she was ready to be initiated into the true nature of the family business. Suddenly Marisa saw there was no limit to what he would expect her to do for him. She knew it was wrong, she knew she had to get out, but she had no idea how she could break the sacred Coda Nostra – and survive. Marisa's extraordinarily story is the most powerful portrayal of a Mafia family to emerge in recent years. It's the perfect balance of shocking violence, dangerous betrayals and enduring love.

Marisa Merico (Author), Rachel Atkins (Narrator)

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John Aubrey: My Own Life

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2015 COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD This is the autobiography that John Aubrey never wrote. You may not know his name. Aubrey was a modest man, a gentleman-scholar who cared far more for the preservation of history than for his own legacy. But he was a passionate collector, an early archaeologist and the inventor of modern biography. With all the wit, charm and originality that characterises her subject, Ruth Scurr has seamlessly stitched together John Aubrey's own words to tell his life story and a captivating history of seventeenth-century England unlike any other. 'A game-changer in the world of biography' Mary Beard 'Ingenious' Hilary Mantel An audacious and successful attempt to write a biography in the subject's own words. Scurr has ingeniously edited Aubrey's swift, vivid prose into a coherent account of the life lived by one of the most interesting (and interested – in everything) writers of our most exciting century, the seventeenth. Irresistible ? Guardian To me this book is a delight and…it is the one that I would take with me to a desert island ? The Times Writing a biography of a biographer that doubles as an experimental analysis of biography itself is a formidable and astonishing achievement. That it is also profoundly affecting is what makes John Aubrey: My Own Life a triumph -- Stuart Kelly ? The Times Literary Supplement In an act of daring ventriloquism, Scurr here tells Aubrey's life story in his own words, stitched together from his scattered manuscripts. The result is a triumph of historical imagination, as vivid and endearing as its subject's own -- Kathryn Hughes ? Guardian Scurr confidently walks an imaginative life between historical fact and fiction. Her Aubrey – curious yet self-effacing- is a very English hero ? Sunday Times Scurr's judgment and scholarship in constructing Aubrey's own account of events are so flawless that she allows us almost to forget that she is there ? Guardian An extraordinarily original piece of biography… gripping, moving, and beautifully rendered -- Neel Mukherjee ? New Statesman Another writer of brief lives, Lytton Strachey, feared that in our modern civilization John Aubrey would 'never come into existence again'. But that is exactly what he does in Ruth Scurr's absorbing and imaginative biography. In these pages his purchase on posterity returns with all his ingenious visions and impulses. Scurr is no less a pioneer biographer than Aubrey himself. -- Michael Holroyd It is a bold and brilliant experiment, but it suits the fragmentary nature of Aubrey's work and life. -- Andrew Brown ? Sunday Telegraph

Ruth Scurr (Author), Mark Elstob, Rachel Atkins (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Rachel Atkins