Katie Hims – författare

Two boys out sledging in their local park find the body of an old woman in the snow. Who is she? How did she come to be there?Over ten episodes, this compelling series moves backwards and forwards in time to reveal the chain of events that led her to that point.We meet members of her family, her friends and the people she has encountered, all of whom provide clues to help us put the puzzle together. From the police and paramedics to the nurses and residents in an old people''s home, each character has their own relationships and circumstances - and on our journey to understanding the old woman''s story, we hear theirs too, combining to form a brilliant kaleidoscope of modern life and love.Christine Bottomley, Marcia Warren, Neil Dudgeon, Amelia Bullmore and John Rowe are among the stars in Katie Hims'' funny, poignant drama.Directed by Mary PeateCastRyan - Harry GrasbyJackson - Aaron GelkoffMick - David ReedHayley - Christine BottomleyKadija - Nahel TzegaiPat/Shirley - Heather CraneyRose - Jessica TurnerFrank/Taxi driver - Neil McCaulMarion - Marcia WarrenZoe - Amanda WilkinEve - Sinead MacInnesBloke/Phil - Ian ConninghamEli/Ben - Greg JonesOzzy - Ikky ElyasNed/Baxter - Will KirkCall Handler/Girl - Scarlett CourtneyJoe - John RoweLee - Neil DudgeonSaskia - Amelia BullmoreFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 3-14 February 2020

18 biographical dramas based on the lives and loves of celebrated writersThese surprising, revealing dramas take a behind-the-scenes look at some of our best-loved authors, mingling fact and fantasy to explore their extraordinary hidden lives. From love affairs, friendships and family relationships to traumas, tragedies and journeys of self-discovery, we glimpse the unwritten worlds that shaped their unforgettable fiction. Among the star casts are Andrew Scott, Toby Jones, Richard Dormer, Glenda Jackson, Bella Ramsey, Julia Davis, Ian McDiarmid, Haydn Gwynne, David Threlfall, Alistair McGowan, Tom Goodman-Hill, Hattie Morahan, Rosie Cavaliero, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Paul Ritter and Lia WilliamsJane and Tom - Writing to her sister, Jane Austen describes her love for Tom Lefroy - a love that would lead to Pride and Prejudice.When Fanny Met Germaine - A delightful romp through the passionate, scandalous friendship between two 18th Century writers: Fanny Burney and Mme de Stael.Comrade Ackland - Dorset, 1936. Newly returned from an illicit trip to Civil War Spain, Sylvia Townsend Warner and her lover Valentine Ackland have an unexpected visitor....Tongues of Fire - 1913. When a Nobel laureate visits Dublin''s Abbey Theatre, fireworks erupt between WB Yeats and Sean O''Casey.A Year at the Races - Approaching the end of his career, Groucho Marx meets a wisecracking fan determined to teach him new comedy tricks.Spike and the Elfin Oak - A comic fantasy inspired by Spike Milligan''s madcap attempts in the mid-1960s to preserve a curious sculpture in Kensington Gardens.Everybody''s Got Conditions - Casting Bette Davis in his play The Night of the Iguana proves the biggest mistake in Tennessee Williams'' career...I Believe I Have Genius- Humble and obscure, young Charlotte Brontë travels to Brussels to study at a girls'' school.Marian and George - Marian Evans (aka George Eliot) must choose between her adored brother and the love of her life...Lying Low - An intriguing drama imagining what happened to Samuel Beckett during his mysterious three weeks in Folkestone in 1961.A Terrible Beauty - WB Yeats travels to France to propose to beautiful Maud Gonne, soon after her husband''s execution in the 1916 Easter Rising.The Watcher on the Wall - Dramatised from his letters, this is the story of Louis MacNeice''s transatlantic love affair and the poetry it inspired.Edith Sitwell in Scarborough - Returning to her birthplace, Edith Sitwell sets out to wreak revenge.Mrs Tolstoy - A five-part drama charting the tempestuous marriage between Leo and Sofya Tolstoy.The ''B'' Word - The opening night of George Bernard Shaw''s Pygmalion causes a scandal and sparks a passionate love/hate triangle...The Rules of Palship - The young Noël Coward demanded fierce loyalty from his friends - but did he live up to his own high standards?The Lost Road - A playful tribute to the long friendship between CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien and how it influenced their respective masterpieces.Luxembourg Gardens - Re-imagined from Katherine Mansfield''s stories, letters and journals, this Mansfieldesque play explores her last day in Paris, where she is dying of consumption aged 34.Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

All six episodes of the BBC radio sitcom about a former nun who takes a job with a chaotic catering companyLooking for a sign from God, nun Martina leaves her convent and becomes a temporary chef – only to walk straight into a catering crisis of epic proportions. Valentine’s Viennese Patisserie supplies classy Austrian snacks for corporate events, but now their pastry cook has left, no-one knows how to make any of the delicacies they’re offering. And that’s not their only problem – they’re also being chased by clients, up to their necks in bills and cancellations, and stuck with a clapped-out delivery van that keeps breaking down.When owner Kingsley does a runner, owing £2500, it seems like the last straw. Left in the lurch, his brother Jimmy has just six weeks to get the money together. Then Martina has a brainwave: why not rename the company Bangers and Mash, and serve up sausages and pies instead of patisserie? Helped by kitchen assistant Juan Jose, she and Jimmy are soon producing food that wows even the pickiest customers – but just as they’re turning things around, the toffee tin containing half the company’s profits goes missing. With only three days to go till they have to pay up, it’ll take a miracle to save their bacon…Scripted by award-winning dramatist Katie Hims (Home Front, 24 Kildare Road), this flavourful comedy drama stars Catherine Harvey as Martina, with Mark Straker as Kingsley, Gerard McDermott as Jimmy and Roger May as Juan Jose.Production creditsWritten by Katie HimsDirected by Catherine HornCastMartina – Catherine HarveyKingsley – Mark StrakerJimmy – Gerard McDermottJuan Jose – Roger MayMrs Olney – Marlene SidawayCarol – Jane WhittenshawHealth Inspector – Anthony ZakiFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 11 Jan-15 Feb 1999© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Series 1-5 of the groundbreaking BBC Radio 4 drama charting life on the home front during World War OneFirst heard on radio between 4 August 2014 and 9 November 2018, each episode of Home Front is set exactly one hundred years before the broadcast date, and each follows one character’s day. Together they create a mosaic of experience from a wide cross-section of society, mixing historical fact with enthralling fiction to explore how ordinary people coped with daily life in wartime Britain.The story begins in Folkestone, as the first troops march off to the front lines. Soon, families such as the Grahams and the Wilsons begins to feel the impact of war, as the wounded return and first Belgian refugees, then Canadian troops, arrive in the seaside resort. In addition, the White Feather and suffragette movements grow in popularity, and a tide of grief increasingly leads people to thoughts of the hereafter.Industrial Tynemouth, meanwhile, is experiencing a quite different war. The factories and shipyards are at peak production, and more women are joining the workforce. At the munitions factory, owner Geoffrey Marshall and his family must adapt to the changing times – as must workers like Fraser and Edie Chadwick.Tackling themes including the outbreak of war, recruitment, industry, profiteering and spiritualism are some of radio’s foremost dramatists including Katie Hims, Sebastian Baczkiewicz and Shaun McKenna. Among the extensive cast are Michael Bertenshaw, Keely Beresford, Freddie Fox, Ami Metcalf, Edmund Wiseman, Barbara Flynn, Mark Stobbart and Toby Jones, with Dame Harriet Walter making a cameo appearance as Emmeline Pankhurst.

Series 6-10 of the epic BBC Radio 4 drama charting life on the home front during the First World War – plus special episode Home Front: A LighteningFirst heard on radio between 4 August 2014 and 9 November 2018, each episode of Home Front is set exactly one hundred years before the broadcast date, and each follows one character’s day. Together they create a mosaic of experience from a wide cross-section of society, mixing historical fact with enthralling fiction to explore how ordinary people coped with daily life in wartime Britain.We resume the story in Folkestone, where hospital staff face pressure to return wounded men to duty as conscription is introduced. Zeppelin bombs leave residents jumpy, and ‘spy fever’ is at a pitch as the Secret Service comes to town. Food shortages begin to bite – and the town is rocked by Britain’s first ever air raid, causing the greatest number of civilian casualties of the war to date.We also meet the residents of Ashburton, Devon, where the future of Isaac Cox''s family hangs in the balance as old feuds are reignited at Halecot Farm.In Tynemouth, paranoia is rife and emotions run high for those at Marshall’s factory. The repercussions of a devastating explosion ripple through people''s lives, but they face the future with fortitude, taking small but courageous steps forward.Tackling themes including nursing and casualties, conscription and objection, espionage and propaganda, xenophobia and suspicion and the church and class are some of radio’s foremost dramatists including Richard Monks, Mike Walker and Sarah Daniels. Among the extensive cast are Martine McCutcheon, Anton Lesser, Maggie Steed and Gunnar Cauthery. Also included is Home Front: A Lightening, a special 45-minute episode marking the centenary of Britain’s first Gotha Air Raid, which devastated Folkestone on 25 May 1917.