A BBC Radio collection of dramatisations of E. Nesbit’s finest children’s books with extra magical readings plus an original drama by Martin Jameson.
E Nesbit is widely regarded as the first modern children’s writer. Her ground-breaking novels have influenced authors from Oscar Wilde to Jacqueline Wilson, and over 100 years after their first publication, they remain perennially popular.
This wide-ranging collection comprises some of her very best children’s fiction, commencing with her timeless tale The Railway Children. Starring Victoria Carling, Daniel Eyssen and Kate McEnery, Frances Jeater this enchanting dramatisation tells the story of three suburban children forced to move to the countryside after their father is mysteriously taken away.
Martin Jameson’s sequel Roberta, Peter and Phyllis revisits them 13 years later, in 1919, to reveal how their lives have changed. Fiona Clarke, James Alper and Emma Hughes-Jones star as the titular siblings.
Also included is Nesbit’s classic ‘Psammead’ trilogy. In Five Children and It, Five children are granted a series of wishes by a sand fairy – but inevitably, things do not go to plan…
Cast includes Julia McKenzie, Simon Carter, James Richard, Justyn Towler.
Patricia Hodge reads the second book in the series, The Phoenix and the Carpet, in which the discovery of a mysterious egg in an old carpet heralds the start of a magical adventure. And in The Story of the Amulet, a full-cast dramatisation the children voyage through history on a quest for an ancient lucky charm.
