Showing results by narrator "David Thorpe" in All Categories

Retired bank manager George Pearmain is apparently dead. According to the behaviour of everyone around him, it seems he is no more. Not only that, but his mother has also passed away – and on the eve of her 99th year. Not only that, it could be that they were both murdered. Apart from that he feels fine.

Casper Candlewacks is the only boy with any sense in a village full of idiots…the fourth and final instalment in the hilarious Casper Candlewacks series. Most villages have an idiot but Casper's village is full of them. So being bright makes Casper something of an outsider. Luckily Casper has Lamp to him company - his less-than-bright best mate who is also a strangely ingenious inventor. Lamp’s latest invention is a time-travelling toaster - or so he says. But can a toaster really transport them through space and time? Or will they both just end up as toast?

Eddie thinks nowhere could be more boring than his hometown of the Wellcome Valley. Unfortunately he is about to be proved spectacularly wrong. Eddie’s problems start with the arrival of Scarlett, who seems rather too confident and mysterious for your average schoolgirl. She attracts trouble, and she’s apparently interested in only two very strange things - protecting the town’s local crackpot scientist and telling Eddie absolutely nothing about what’s going on.

Living at the heart of sophisticated, brittle and brutal Roman society at the time of Pompey, Catullus is obsessed with Clodia, the Lesbia of his most precious poems.

A missile tears a passenger plane from the skies over London. Everyone onboard is killed, including 37 special children. As terror turns to international chaos, can the government survive?

A successful British television producer who fancies himself a Hollywood mogul, Sam Jackson makes enemies easily and delights in the fact. It is no great surprise that such a man should meet a violent death. Detective Chief Superintendent Lambert and Detective Sergeant Hook deduce that the person who killed him is almost certainly to be found among the company of actors who are shooting a series of detective mysteries in rural Herefordshire.

When unexpected disaster strikes Lord Westfield's Men during a packed performance, Nicholas Bracewell must save the day. Will a vagabond clown prophesy the end of the troupe - and perhaps the demise of Nick himself?

Most villages have an idiot but Casper's village is full of them. So being bright makes poor Casper something of an outsider. When famous magician the Great Tiramisu curses the village, Casper's father is blamed and sentenced to death by pigeon. It's up to Casper and his best friend to find the magician, reverse the curse and save the day. A riotous tale that proves all you really need in life is a buggy that runs on washing-up liquid and a couple of boys to crash it.

A family of Hasidic Jews dies suddenly while picnicking in Finsbury Park, and the finger is quickly pointed at a gang of Islamist youths. Too quickly, thinks local reporter Rex Tracey. Rex starts to investigate. But when his longtime colleague and friend is also accused of murder, the sleuthing journalist with a fondness for Polish lager and dry one-liners is catapulted out of his depth into a disturbing world of religious fanaticism, false prophets and century-old secrets.

When the castle walls of Max and Finlay's den start crumbling away, little do the best mates know that everything is about to change. Trapped inside the wall is the ancient god Hercules, and he needs the boys' help! The friends must complete a terrifying challenge every day for seven days and can choose only one of Hercules' amazing superpowers at a time to help them. Here are their first two extraordinary challenges.

John Motram has the chance of a lifetime. A cell biologist convinced that the Black Death was not caused by bubonic plague but by an unknown virus, he is asked to examine preserved bodies buried under the ancient abbey at Dryburgh. However, Motram’s excavations end up in disaster when he first becomes violent and then dangerously ill after entering the secret tomb.

Who can Flavius Belisarius call an enemy? The Goths he must fight to take Italy back for the Byzantium. Or is it the intrigues of the Empress Theodora, who fears his ambitions. There is his own wife, betraying him in more than one way and Justinian, the unreliable emperor he helped to the throne. Sixth-century Byzantium, a hotbed of intrigue; Italy and Persia where he must combat some of his fellow generals.

When Harry Jones discovers that former friend Zac Kravitz's life is in danger, a debt of honour sends him on a perilous rescue mission to Ta'argistan, a mountainous and landlocked former Soviet republic bordering Russia, China, and Afghanistan.

Seven Bengal tigers are the star attraction of Carey's Circus. Their trainer is the fearless Anton, whose work demands absolute fitness and the steadiest of nerves. When Anton is found lying dead in the tigers' cage, it seems that he has lost control and been mauled by the tigers - but Detective Inspector Minto of Scotland Yard is not convinced. Minto's investigations lead him deep into the circus world of tents and caravans, clowns and acrobats, human and animal performers. No one is above suspicion.

In February 1915, the Great War is still raging on the Western Front, but in Westminster, at the centre of Hardcastle's bailiwick, a policeman is shot dead. At first, Hardcastle believes the murderer to have been a disturbed burglar. But as enquiries continue, attention focuses on an antiquarian bookseller, a struggling artist, a reporter, officers of the Royal Flying Corps, both in England and in France, and the activities of Isabel Plowman, the wife of one of them and the lover of others.

Passengers boarding the 10.35 train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston have no idea that their journey is about to be brutally curtailed. Holly has just landed her dream job, and Jeff is heading for an interview after months of unemployment. They end up sitting next to each other.

Nick is stuffed in his locker. Again. It’s not so bad. Lockers are roomier than you’d think. Especially when you’re the shortest kid on the planet, which is exactly why Bully-Boy Roy stuffed him in there in the first place: He fits. The school counselor says Roy has issues. The only issue Nick can see is that Roy is a mutant troll. Nick’s friends, Molly and Karl, think the troll needs to be defeated. Together they are The Odd Squad.

It is the summer of 2001 and in Cairo’s crowded streets the heat is rising ...The unsolved murders of young homeless boys are fanning the embers of religious hatred. As tensions mount, Makana is hired to investigate threats made to a hapless travel agent. But Makana’s troubled past is trying to lay claim to him and when Makana witnesses a brutal killing he attracts the attention of both the security services and a dangerous gangster family....

Darkness falls. The undead rise to feast on the succulent blood of the living. For years vampires have fascinated great writers of the occult such as De Maupassant, Count Stenbock, E. Nesbit, and E.F. Benson. This is The Story Circle's collection of some of their spine-chilling tales told by award-winning actors.

December 1916. Inspector Sam Blackstone is suspicious when he is called to the office of Superintendent Brigham - the new head of Special Branch. A German traitor wants £25,000 in exchange for intelligence on U-boat locations, and 'Max' has specifically asked for Blackstone to be the one to deliver the money - alone. Blackstone and his sergeant, Archie Patterson, are certain there's more to it, but Blackstone can't turn down the job.