A BBC Radio 4 Comedy

The In Crowd: Complete Series 1-4

All four series of the comedy sketch show from Manchester's Comedy Store starring Robin Ince, Helen Moon, Smug Roberts and Kate Ward 
 
Get in with The In Crowd – the coolest clique of comedians to come out of Manchester’s Comedy Store. Their world is a weird but beguiling one, inhabited by a varied menagerie of peculiar personalities, everyday eccentrics, odd obsessives and plenty of strange old ladies. 
 
Meet Dot and her friend Millie, who only communicates in catchphrases; Wendy Clapper, who thinks TV, credit cards, swimming pools and soup are nothing but trouble; and Jonathan Tudge, who just can't help putting his foot in it. You’ll also encounter the worst therapist in the world, the travel agent who won't let anyone go further than Lowestoft, a registered platitudopath, a bag lady turned sacred icon, and the furniture removal men who think they're on Antiques Roadshow. 
 
Plus, there’s lots of helpful hints and useful advice, including how to obtain a privatised Christian name; how not to go about being a medium, an auctioneer or a tramp; and how to track down your old school bully. Find out what to do if you suspect your friends have been seeing other friends behind your back, discover some swimwear solutions for dieters who haven't yet reached their target weight, learn a surprising tip for conkers – and hear why the best way to do business is by having fights with rival companies near the old oak tree… 
 
Production credits 
With Robin Ince, Helen Moon, Smug Roberts and Kate Ward 
Written by Colin Anderson, Alex Boardman, Marvin Cheeseman, Eliah Chlopicki, Steve Cochran, Carl Cooper, Martin Dempsey, Mick Davies, Ed Dyson, Robin & Neil Gibbons, Sandy Gort, Robin Ince, Tom Mitchelson, Martin Mor, Sue Morris, Susan Murray, Lavinia Murray, James Quinn, Howard Reed, Lara Silverstone, The Trap, Susan Vale and Stan Vernon 
Produced by Graham Frost 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 8 August-12 September 2001 (Series 1), 6 March-10 April 2002 (Series 2), 24 July-21 August 2002 (Series 3), 1 June-6 July 2004 (Series 4) 
 
© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. ? 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Classical Myths and Stories, from the Amazons to Cleopatra

Women in Power

Classical stories about women who wield power, from the Amazons to Dido to Cleopatra 
 
In this fascinating anthology, ancient women threaten male power by stepping into the roles traditionally held by men. They command armies, exercise sexual autonomy, speak in public, issue laws and subject others (even masculine heroes and citizen men) to their control. All of these stories were written by men and none of them can be read as affirmations or celebrations of women in power. Instead, their sexist attitudes continue to justify women’s exclusion from power. 
 
Yet despite the fear and suspicion the male authors direct toward these women, we can find much to admire in their tales, from the coordinated action of the women of Aristophanes’s Assemblywomen, to the righteous anger of Boudicca against sexual violence by men in power, to the successful resistance of Amanirenas against Rome’s colonial expansion. Read differently, these tales testify to the long history of women in power and suggest new paths for female empowerment.

In this fascinating anthology, ancient women threaten male power by stepping into the roles traditionally held by men. They command armies, exercise sexual autonomy, speak in public, issue laws and subject others (even masculine heroes and citizen men) to their control. All of these stories were written by men and none of them can be read as affirmations or celebrations of women in power. Instead, their sexist attitudes continue to justify women’s exclusion from power. 
 
Yet despite the fear and suspicion the male authors direct toward these women, we can find much to admire in their tales, from the coordinated action of the women of Aristophanes’s Assemblywomen, to the righteous anger of Boudicca against sexual violence by men in power, to the successful resistance of Amanirenas against Rome’s colonial expansion. Read differently, these tales testify to the long history of women in power and suggest new paths for female empowerment.

Festive Tales for a Joyeux Noël

A French Christmas

The English-speaking Francophiles and travellers among us who like nothing more than to suss out the soul of a foreign place can rejoice in this endearing collection of Christmas stories from ten of France’s most esteemed writers - past and present - skilfully translated

A joy to hold and page through, as it is beautifully produced ... The Christmas themes are treated with a refreshing originality and variety, and I can imagine returning to reread this collection for many Christmases to come

Wonderful anthology ... It's funky, it's wild, it's French

Guy de Maupassant (Contributor) 
GUY DE MAUPASSANT (1850-93) was known for his hugely influential short stories and the vivid realism of his novels. He was born in Normandy and served in the Franco-Prussian War, which would become the subject of some of his best-known stories. Maupassant enjoyed financial and critical success before illness led to his death in an asylum at the age of forty-two. 
 
Irène Némirovsky (Contributor) 
Irène Némirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903, the daughter of a successful Jewish banker. In 1918 her family fled the Russian Revolution for France where she became a bestselling novelist, author of David Golder, All Our Worldly Goods, The Dogs and the Wolves and other works published in her lifetime or soon after, such as the posthumously published Suite Française and Fire in the Blood. She was prevented from publishing when the Germans occupied France and moved with her husband and two small daughters from Paris to the safety of the small village of Issy-l'Evêque (in German occupied territory). It was here that Irène began writing Suite Française. She died in Auschwitz in 1942.

Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas! These festive stories welcome Christmas à la française – delicious, chic and unexpected. 
 
Sparkling Parisian streets, opulent feasts, wandering orphans, kindly monks, oysters, bonbons, flickering desire, and more than a little wine: this collection of stories proves that the French have truly mastered Christmas. 
 
Bringing together the best French Christmas stories of all time, this lovely book includes classics by Guy de Maupassant and Alphonse Daudet, plus stories by the esteemed twentieth-century author Irène Némirovsky and contemporary writers Dominique Fabre and Jean-Philippe Blondel. 
 
Let these generous, joyous stories transport you and your loved ones into the heart of a very French Christmas.

The Big Book of Cyberpunk Vol. 1

JARED SHURIN has edited or co-edited twelve anthologies. He has been a finalist for the British Science Fiction and Hugo Awards, and twice won the British Fantasy Award. Jared was the editor of the award-winning geek culture website Pornokitsch.

VOLUME ONE OF TWO 
 
'A huge, eye-opening, mind-blowing surprise' Lisa Tuttle, Guardian 
 
A genre-defining-and redefining-collection of fiction's boldest, most rebellious, and most prescient genre, featuring a smorgasbord of stories from across the globe 
 
In The Big Book of Cyberpunk, award-winning anthologist Jared Shurin brings together over a hundred stories from more than twenty-five different countries. Here are tales that both establish and subvert the classic Cyberpunk tropes and aesthetic – from gritty, near-future noir to pulse-pounding action. Urban rebels undermine their monolithic corporate overlords, daring heists are conducted through back alleys and the darkest parts of the online world, and dangerous new technology, cybernetic enhancements, scheming AIs, corporate mercenaries, improbable weapons and roguish hackers all collide into rich, thrilling entertainment. Set across two volumes, these are stories that examine the near-now, extrapolating the most provocative trends into fascinating and plausible futures. 
 
We live in an increasingly Cyberpunk world, packed with complex technologies and globalised social trends. It is a world so bizarre that even the futurists couldn’t explain it – though many authors in this book have come closer than most. As both an introduction to the genre and the perfect compendium for the lifelong fan, The Big Book of Cyberpunk Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 offer more than a hundred ways to understand where we are, and where we’re going – or simply the opportunity to venture down dazzling, neon-slicked streets.

The Big Book of Cyberpunk Vol. 2

VOLUME TWO OF TWO 
 
'A huge, eye-opening, mind-blowing surprise' Lisa Tuttle, Guardian 
 
A genre-defining-and redefining-collection of fiction's boldest, most rebellious, and most prescient genre, featuring a smorgasbord of stories from across the globe 
 
In The Big Book of Cyberpunk, award-winning anthologist Jared Shurin brings together over a hundred stories from more than twenty-five different countries. Here are tales that both establish and subvert the classic Cyberpunk tropes and aesthetic [RR1] [SN2] – from gritty, near-future noir to pulse-pounding action. Urban rebels undermine their monolithic corporate overlords, daring heists are conducted through back alleys and the darkest parts of the online world, and dangerous new technology, cybernetic enhancements, scheming AIs, corporate mercenaries, improbable weapons and roguish hackers all collide into rich, thrilling entertainment. Set across two volumes, these are stories that examine the near-now, extrapolating the most provocative trends into fascinating and plausible futures. 
 
We live in an increasingly Cyberpunk world, packed with complex technologies and globalised social trends. It is a world so bizarre that even the futurists couldn’t explain it – though many authors in this book have come closer than most. As both an introduction to the genre and the perfect compendium for the lifelong fan, The Big Book of Cyberpunk Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 offer more than a hundred ways to understand where we are, and where we’re going – or simply the opportunity to venture down dazzling, neon-slicked streets.

The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries

A scintillating and unusual anthology of lost treasures from the timeless murder mystery genre 
 
For The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries, writer and anthologist Michael Sims did not summon the usual suspects. He sought the unfamiliar, the unjustly forgotten, and little-known gems by writers from outside the genre. This historical tour of one of our most popular literary categories includes stories never-before reprinted, features rebellious early &quot;lady detectives&quot;, and spotlights former stars of the crime field. For twenty-first century connoisseurs of crime, The Penguin Books of Murder Mysteries celebrates how the nineteenth century added a fierce modern twist to the ancient theme of bloody murder.

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