CIVIL TO STRANGERS

AN ACADEMIC QUESTION

In a provincial university town, Caro Grimstone, a dissatisfied faculty wife, becomes the unwilling accomplice to her husband Alan's ambitions. When she volunteers to read to a blind, esteemed anthropologist in a nursing home, Alan seizes the opportunity to steal his papers - research that could both advance his reputation while refuting the findings of a respected colleague. A delightful comedy of manners with a touch of mystery, An Academic Question is prime Barbara Pym territory.

BARBARA PYM: A BBC RADIO DRAMA COLLECTION

Dramatisations and a reading of selected novels by Barbara Pym - plus bonus material. Included in this collection are the BBC Radio dramatisations of some of her most beloved books, including her debut Some Tame Gazelle; her second novel Crampton Hodnet, published posthumously in 1985; and its sequel Jane and Prudence. Alongside them are her fifth and sixth novels, A Glass of Blessings and No Fond Return of Love; and a comic spy thriller, So Very Secret. Adapted by actress and writer Elizabeth Proud, they feature stellar casts including Miriam Margolyes, Hannah Gordon, Samantha Bond, Rebecca Front, Joanna David, Penny Downie and Amanda Root.

CRAMPTON HODNET

Formidable Miss Doggett fills her life by giving tea parties for young academics and acting as watchdog for the morals of North Oxford. Anthea, her great-niece, is in love with a dashing undergraduate with political ambitions. Of this, Miss Doggett thoroughly approves. However, Anthea's father, an Oxford don, is carrying on in the most unseemly fashion with a student - they have been spotted together at the British museum! But the only liaison Miss Doggett isn't aware of is taking place under her very own roof: the lodger has proposed to her paid companion Miss Morrow. She wouldn't approve of that at all.

GLASS OF BLESSINGS

Wilmet Forsyth's interest in the Anglo-Catholic church leads her into the company of three unmarried priests, and Piers Longridge!

QUARTET IN AUTUMN

In 1970s London Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia work in the same office and suffer the same problem - loneliness. Their work is their chief point of contact with each other and with the outside world. When the two women retire, the equilibrium of the quartet is upset.

SOME TAME GAZELLE

The Misses Bede are actively involved in the affairs of a country parish. Things start to change with two new arrivals, Nathaniel Mold, a famous librarian, and a Bishop from Africa.

THE SWEET DOVE DIED

Between the amorous antique dealer Humphrey and his good-looking nephew James glides the magnificent Leonora, delicate as porcelain, cool as ice. Can she keep James in her thrall? Or will he be taken from her by a lover, like Phoebe . . . or Ned, the wicked American?