WESSEX TALES

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

Bathsheba Everdene moved to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Pursued by three very different suitors, her life is made complicated and unsettled by each in different ways. But when tragedy ensues the stability of the community is threatened.

JUDE THE OBSCURE

Jude Fawley, a stone-mason, has already suffered. Trapped in a loveless marriage, he is now alone but not free. He comes to love his cousin Sue who, seemingly emancipated, is herself miserably married. Together they defy conventional morality to seize a chance of happiness.

THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE

Michael Henchard sells his wife and child at a fair when drunk. He later renounces alcohol, becomes prosperous and eventually Mayor of Casterbridge. But past events return to haunt him.

A PAIR OF BLUE EYES

Elfrida, the clergyman's daughter, wants an attractive, sensible husband, but the attentions of rival suitors leads to tragedy.

THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE

After several years in Paris, Clem returns to find romance, scandal and tragedy awaiting him.

SELECTED SHORT STORIES BY THOMAS HARDY

This selection of stories ranges from the "Wessex Tales" of "The Withered Arm" and "The Distracted Preacher" to the portrait of "The Fiddler of the Reels".

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES

When Tess Durbeyfield's father discovers that their family is descended from the aristocratic Stoke-D'Urbervilles, he insists that Tess visits them to 'claim kinship'. Arriving at the great house, she is given a job by the D'Urbervillles' son, Alec, who is attracted by her innocence and beauty and attempts to seduce her. But this is not a man used to being rejected, and he will not leave her alone... Tess of the D'Urbervilles attracted fierce criticism on first publication for its challenge to Victorian moral and sexual attitudes, and its depiction of a heroine who did not conform to the familiar binary stereotypes of virgin and whore. This fresh, compelling full-cast dramatisation puts Tess centre stage as the narrator of her own life - wrestling with her conscience, searching for solutions and making her own decisions - revealing her as a complex, modern woman and illuminating Thomas Hardy as a man ahead of his time.

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES

Driven by poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles, Tess is cruelly seduced by her cousin Alec. Later she finds true love with Angel Clare, but when she confesses her past he, hypocritically, abandons her leaving her yet again as the unwilling prey of Alec.

THE THOMAS HARDY BBC RADIO DRAMA COLLECTION

Renowned novelist and poet Thomas Hardy is best known for his fatalistic, often tragic novels set in the 'realistic dream-country' of Wessex, in south and south-west England. Drawing on his own life, he created some of the most memorable characters and stories in Victorian literature - many of which are included here. In five dramas taken from Radio 4's 'Hardy's Women' season, we meet a few of Thomas Hardy's most compelling female protagonists. The Hand of Ethelberta centres around an infamous poet who's not the lady everyone thinks she is; while Two on a Tower is the star-crossed love story of Lady Viviette Constantine and handsome young astronomer Swithin St Cleeve. The Woodlanders tells Hardy's tale of ambition, money and missed chances from the perspective of its unsung heroine, Marty South; unhappy Tess Durbeyfield recounts her life story in Tess of the d'Urbervilles; and in Jude the Obscure, Sue Bridehead relates the tale of stonemason Jude and his dreams of being a scholar. Among the stars of these irresistible adaptations are Rebecca Humphries, Olivia Poulet, Callum Scott Howells, Katy Sobey, Sacha Dhawan, Faye Marsay, Kirsty Oswald and Robert Emms. Also featured are dramatisations of three of Hardy's other masterpieces. Far from the Madding Crowd sees the beautiful, independent Bathsheba Everdene (Alex Tregear) pursued by three suitors: Gabriel Oak (Shaun Dooley), William Boldwood (Toby Jones) and Sergeant Troy (Patrick Kennedy). In The Return of the Native, Hardy's poignant tale of love and longing is brought to life by an ensemble cast including David Calder, Emma Fielding and Adam Godley. And in The Mayor of Casterbridge, starring John Lynch and Ruth Wilson, a man spends his life trying to atone for his terrible past - but however hard he tries to conceal it, it will not be buried.

THE TRUMPET MAJOR

Set in Wessex during the Napoleonic Wars, the bitter-sweet love story of the rivalry of two brothers for the hand of the heroine is interwoven with fears of invasion and the press gang, and the effect of distant events, such as the Battle of Trafalgar.

TWO ON A TOWER

Lady Constantine breaks all the rules of social decorum when she falls in love with the beautiful youth Swithin St Cleeve, her social inferior and ten years her junior. Science and romance are destined to collide, however, as work, ambition and the pressures of the outside world intrude upon the pair.

UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE

This delightful portrayal of a picturesque rural society established Hardy as a writer. However, the double-plot, in which the love story of Dick Dewey and Fancy Day is inter-related with a tragic chapter in the history of Mellstock Choir, hints at the poignant disappearance of a long-lived and highly-valued traditional way of life.

THE WELL-BELOVED

Set in London and Portland, the story follows the sculptor, Jocelyn Pierston, in his search for his ideal in womanhood.

WOMEN'S WORDS

A selection of poems from the feminine point of view.

THE WOODLANDERS

A moving tale of unrequited love, which revolves around the young woman Grace Melbury, who returns to the leafy world of Little Hintock and finds herself at the centre of a number of tragic events. Fate and the constraints of society thwart the happiness of our heroine.