The Somerset Maugham BBC Radio Collection

Aug 8, 2025 3:41 PM

Author:W. Somerset Maugham,Alex Jennings,Janet Maw,Full Cast

BBC Radio 4 dramatisations and readings of Somerset Maugham's fiction - plus bonus programme Replay: Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham was one of the most successful English writers of the 20th Century, and remains the most adapted for film and TV. This collection includes eight of his novels, plays and short stories, as heard on BBC radio, as well as an illuminating interview with the author himself.

The Moon and Sixpence - Respectable stockbroker Charles Strickland abandons his wife and children to live as a painter in Paris and Tahiti. Starring Ronald Pickup andPatrick Allen.

The Painted Veil - First published in 1925 to a storm of protest, this is a haunting, poignant tale of one woman's spiritual awakening. Starring Sarah Smart andNicholas Farrell.

The Sacred Flame- Invalided following an air crash, Maurice is determined to remain cheerful. But his condition affects all those who are close to him. Starring Julian Glover, Wendy Hiller, Hannah Gordon and Janet Maw.

Ashenden, Gentleman Spy - Ashenden, a writer by profession, returns from the First World War and is offered a position in the Secret Service. Five short stories based on Maugham's own wartime experiences, read byAlex Jennings.

For Services Rendered- In this incisive state-of-the nation play, it is 1932, and the progressive Ardsley family seem to be managing their lives very well. But in reality, each of them is fighting for survival. Starring David Calder, Sian Thomas and Louise Brealey.

The Narrow Corner - Sailing home from the East Indies, a doctor and his two companions are forced to seek shelter on the island of Kanda - where they encounter the beautiful, sultry Louise... Starring Garard Green, Owen Scott, Douglas Blackwell and Cara Kelly.

Christmas Holiday - 1938, and Charley is looking forward to spending Christmas in Paris with his old school friend, Simon. But they are both ignorant of the storm clouds lowering over Europe... Starring Peter Rumney and Anthony Daniels.

The Razor's Edge - After the First World War, Larry Darrell returns to Chicago but finds it difficult to fit back into society. To the dismay of his fiancée, Isabel, he heads for Paris and embarks on a spiritual quest. StarringNicholas Le Prevost, John Light and Megan Dodds.

Replay: Somerset Maugham - Philip French presents an archive interview with Somerset Maugham, recorded in 1954 on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

Reviews

Praise for American Royals: An addictive Jilly Cooperesque saga

—— Guardian

As You Were is an absolute tour de force: raw, sharp and wild. Elaine Feeney writes with such love for and understanding of her characters. It’s the literary equivalent of a stiff drink beside a warm fire: a book that will rattle you before it settles you.

—— Lisa McInerney

As You Were was just (effing) amazing. Brimful of brilliant characters – what an exciting, visceral, poetic read. I adored the lack of sentimentality. Sinéad Hynes is complex and excellently realised – a role model too, for I found her (sometime) selfishness thrillingly refreshing. As You Were gives permission to Irish women to put themselves first, and considering what we've come from, that's seismic. Elaine Feeney is such a talent. I LOVED it!

—— Marian Keyes

A truly original voice. Raw, urgent and uncompromising about the lengths we go to to conceal hurt, deception, psychic pain... A brilliant portrayal of the kindness of strangers, the kinship of women and the heartbreak of married love.

—— Mary Costello

'An absolutely fabulous book’

—— Kevin Barry

As You Were is a powerful openhearted novel with an authentic visceral voice. It is a thrilling, hugely enjoyable read and a quite brilliant fiction debut from this superbly gifted poet.

—— Mike McCormack

Outraged, compassionate, and very very funny, Elaine Feeney is a ferociously good writer.

—— Claire Louise Bennett

Elaine Feeney's voice is utterly singular, thrilling, unpredictable, a continuous pleasure. It seems trite in the face of such a captivating and original novel to say that we're lucky to have her - but we are.

—— Nicole Flattery

Beautiful, torrential, vital, Elaine Feeney's debut novel aches with all the comedy and sorrow of how it feels to be alive now.

—— Conor O'Callaghan

Rendered with searing honesty, biting humour, and most importantly of all perhaps, layers of compassion that creep up on you like a fragile child, Elaine Feeney's As You Were is a comet’s tail of loss, regret, hurt, damage, sass, wit, and courage; an artfully braided paean to resilience, to not giving up, to the small ways we find to bandage our broken selves. We should be grateful for this wonderful debut.

—— Alan McMonagle

A beautifully manic soliloquy to life’s tickly pleasures and wacky distresses. What an absolute kick box of a novel. Just wow.

—— June Caldwell

I was totally gripped: the writing thrums with originality. Fierce, astonishing, perceptive - I loved As You Were!'

—— Danielle McLaughlin

[A] blistering flow of wild, full-on language and gritty life-story telling

—— Kerry Fowler , Sainsbury's Magazine

Feeney's voice is at once fresh and sharp, with an eye for the comedy of existential dread

—— Stephanie Merritt , Observer

Extraordinary... This is writing that often reaches into your heart and clutches it

—— Evening Standard

Inventive, entertaining and utterly original

—— i Newspaper

A powerful novel... Fierce and insistent, its stories continue to burn brightly long after reading

—— Irish Times

Exhilarating... While As You Were may seem at first glance to be a novel about facing death, it is gloriously full of life

—— Irish Independent

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