Photo credit: Omar Balaa
Fantastic wins in the British Audio Awards aka The Speakies 2025!!!!….Best Original Drama Restless Dreams by Dan Rebellato and Best Ensemble for the entire cast of Our Mutual Friend.
Incredibly proud of the nominations for Best performance Henry Goodman, Best ensemble cast of Restless Dreams, Best performance Bettrys Jones and Best audio dramatisaton for Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens dramatised by Dan Rebellato
Restless Dreams was a Naked Production for BBC Radio 4, Our Mutual Friend was a Thomas Carter Projects production for BBC Radio 4.
Both dramas produced by Polly Thomas.
ODDS ON
BBC RADIO 4 / BROADCAST 11th DECEMBER 2025, 1415
— produced by Jelena Budimir
Dark new comedy about grief, friendship and musical theatre from Liv Fowler, new writer shortlisted for the Best Debut Audo Drama Imison Award, 2024.
It’s Maddie’s funeral. She got hit by the 453 after thinking she could get across Old Kent Road in a traffic cone, like Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 2. Her bezzies, Josie and George are in shell shock. They were convinced she’d get across with ease. They are avoiding Maddie’s family at the wake. See, Maddie’s Mum, Rita, isn’t aware that Maddie was with Josie and George that night. She also doesn’t know that Maddie lost a bet to them which is how she ended up being a corpse. Riddled with guilt, they didn’t think they’d have to answer so many questions!
Starring Erin Riley, Emika Sesay and Sarah Finigan
Written by Liv Fowler.
Produced by Jelena Budimir / production manager Darren Spruce / sound designer Jon Nicholls / Original music Sebastian Walsh and Euan Hill / Illustration Danny Atkinson / Executive Producer Polly Thomas
— a Thomas Carter Projects production for BBC Radio 4
PLUM IN PRISON
BBC RADIO 4 / BROADCAST 23rd DECEMBER 2025, 1415
— produced by Polly Thomas
Can – or should – comedy play a role in times of political extremes and cruelty?
Plum in Prison considers responsibility, judgment, and choices in bad times, offering a defence of laughter, comedy and joy even in our darkest hours. Stephen Mangan plays P G Wodehouse aka Plum.
In late May 1940, author PG Wodehouse was interned by Nazis. During that time, he made a series of radio broadcasts, essentially humorous monologues about his time as prisoner, combined with subtle mocking of his captors. However, the simple fact of the broadcasts and certain phrases from them, plus his apparent reluctance to denounce his German captors, led to hostile accusations that he was a traitor, a quisling, or worse, a man with fascist sympathies who had sold out his country to gain early release. Wodehouse was never entirely forgiven. Despite his enormous fame and popularity, it took until the eve of his death for him to be knighted.
Starring Stephen Mangan, Clare Lawrence Moody, Silas Carson, Graeme Hawley, Harley Viveash and Max Runham
Written by Dan Rebellato.
Produced by Polly Thomas / production manager Darren Spruce / sound designer Steve Brooke
— a Thomas Carter Projects production for BBC Radio 4
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
BBC RADIO 4 / BROADCAST 28th DECEMBER 2025 and 4th JANUARY 2026, 1500
— produced by Polly Thomas
A bold new revisiting of James Fenimore Cooper’s iconic and now widely discredited novel, placing the experience of Indigenous Americans and women at its heart. A hit of its time, the original novel is hampered by dense text, melodramatic stereotyping and historical inaccuracy. Not least of which is that the Mohicans did not perish in 19th century – the tribe is alive and well today. The title is disliked by most Indigenous Americans, for its dismissive and confused portrayal of Indigenous peoples.
ARIA nominated dramatist Shahid Iqbal Khan’s new version gives agency to those marginalised in the original. It is narrated by Cora, dual heritage Black British woman, and Uncas, Mohican warrior. Their love story takes us on a dramatic adventure through forest, rivers and mountains, with more nuanced portrayal of the Indigenous American characters. A new ending offers a more accurate reflection of the continued existence of the Mohican tribe.
Starring Jay Rincon, Bradley Lewis, Leonie Elliott, Jose Palma, Robyn McIntyre, Thomas Dennis, Adam Bond, Curtis Zunigha and Matthew Pidgeon.
Featuring original score by Chickasaw classical composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate.
Produced by Polly Thomas / Consultant Robbie Richardson / Historical and Cultural Consultant Curtis Zunigha/ production manager Darren Spruce / sound designer Lucinda Mason Brown.
Written by Shahid Iqbal Khan.
— a Thomas Carter Projects production for BBC Radio 4
BECOMING MEG DASHWOOD
AUDIBLE / RELEASE 6th OCTOBER 2025
— produced by Polly Thomas
Executive produced by, and starring, Emma Thompson, Becoming Meg Dashwood picks up where Sense and Sensibility left off. A bold imagining of what it might have meant to rewrite the rule book in 19th century England.
Marriage is not for Margaret Dashwood. Where others see duty, Margaret sees entrapment. And rage.
But when an invitation from family friend Mrs Jennings hurls her into the chaotic heart of Covent Garden, Margaret discovers an intoxicating world beyond afternoon tea and polite society. Here she meets three women who live unapologetically: Nelly, an impulsive actress; Hester, a witch who works in the textile factory; and Inge, a sex worker who loves money and knows exactly how to get it. Here, Margaret’s rage is celebrated, along with her musical talents, and in their fierce company she is reborn as Meg: artist, and woman of hidden fires.
Over the years, Meg’s feelings for Nelly – tender, electric, terrifying – begin to deepen. How does one fall in love, when that love has no name?
Starring Emma Thompson, Erin Doherty, Naomi Ackie, Liz Carr, Jessica Gunning, Paterson Joseph, Golda Rosheuvel, Greg Wise, Hedi Honert and Imelda Staunton. Plus a full ensemble cast starring Alex Austin, Robyn Holdaway, , Rebecca Humphries, Gordon Kennedy, Clare Lawrence Moody, Ashley McGuire, Timothy Renouf, Sam Swann, Delilah Tahiri, Harry Trevaldwyn, Harley Viveash, Rose Alban Davies, Martha Bobroff and Chloe Raphael.
Featuring a dynamic new score by Natasha Khan, known as Bat for Lashes and written by Rebecca Humphries.
Produced by Polly Thomas / directed by Jo Tyabji / production manager Darren Spruce / sound design Olga Reed
— a Thomas Carter Projects production for Audible
https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Becoming-Meg-Dashwood/dp/B0FKHQTG3V
BLEAK HOUSE
AUDIBLE / RELEASE 26 SEPTEMBER 2024
— directed by Polly Thomas and Jo Tyabji
Charles Dickens’ classic revisited. London. A city drowning in fog. A man with no name dies above a strange junkshop. Threads of mist and intrigue weave around a court case with no resolution, linking great country houses with the lowest slums in the city, mingling the high-born with a boy who sweeps the filthy streets (Lenny Rush), enshrouding devious plots and sudden murder, bringing together two extraordinary women – Lady Dedlock (Thandiwe Newton) and Esther Summerson (Ambika Mod) – who apparently have nothing whatsoever in common, yet find themselves inextricably linked.
The last of Audible’s trilogy of Dickens dramatisations concludes with a dramatic and atmospheric finale. Dramatised by Marty Ross, executive produced by Sam Mendes, original score by Dan Gillespie-Sells and sound design by Joe Richardson. Cast inlcudes Thandiwe Newton, Ambika Mod, Mackenzie Crook, Mark Strong, Lenny Rush, Mark Gatiss, Adeel Akhtar, Miriam Margolyes, Sophie Stone, Philip Glenister, Alex Austin, Sule Rimi, Jonathan Slinger, Saffron Coomber, Jonathan Case, Mat Fraser and more.
For full credits and to pre order, go to www.audible.co.uk
