Showing results by narrator "Andrew Sachs" in All Categories

Andrew Sachs stars in this BBC Radio 4 'Afternoon Play' about painter Edward Lear. The Need for Nonsense was originally broadcast on 9 February 2009, and repeated on 17 January 2011.

Julia Blackburn's play captures the warm, heartfelt, and comic story of the Victorian poet and painter Edward Lear's lifelong friendship with his eccentric Greek servant, Giorgio, who inspired him to address the painful truths in his life while making us laugh.

Captain, Ladybird and Herbert – two Shire horses and a Suffolk Punch – are not pleased when Jenny, a retired seaside donkey, arrives at the Old Horses' Home. It's supposed to be a home for horses, and they don't want to share their field with a common little donkey. Then rustlers are spotted in the area: thieves who like nothing better than to steal horses and ship them abroad – to be made into horse pie! Can Jenny and her friends save the huge heavy horses?

Quasimodo is abandoned as a baby on the steps of Notre Dame. He becomes a bell-ringer there, but in order to hide his grotesque features he spends his life virtually imprisoned in a tower. While there, he becomes obsessed by Esmerelda, a gipsy who dances in the square below. A tragic and moving tale.

Corduroy Mansions, Pimlico is an oasis of old-fashioned civilisation, its inhabitants considerate and peace-loving. But beneath the polite exterior seismic change is stirring. Barbara Ragg makes an eye-popping discovery about her stolid Scottish suitor’s past, while Oedipus Snark – newly appointed and tirelessly self-interested Government Minister – has a close encounter in Switzerland that leaves him a new man all together.

Peter is a young boy, living on a farm. One day, whilst out doing chores for his father, he comes across a strange white stick floating in the stream. He reaches out and catches it - and finds an exciting new friend in the process. Ninnyhammer is the local village simpleton, but Peter knows there's more to him than that - he's a magician and the white stick is his magic wand. Ninnyhammer is so grateful that he starts to help Peter and his family with their struggling farm. But Peter wants to do something for Ninnyhammer in return.