Opening Lines

John Yorke explores why Don Quixote has had such a profound influence on storytelling in the four hundred years since it was published. The first European novel, it’s an epic work of comic - and tragic - genius. Quixote embodies an ideal of heroic resilience in the face of a broken reality. And it’s a novel that’s in our bones: familiar even if we haven’t read any of its nearly a thousand pages.The programme includes an interview with film director, cartoonist and Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, who spent nearly thirty years attempting to make a film about Don Quixote. He says:“What I love about Cervantes - he's been through it all. This is the guy who's really had rough and tumble life. And he's learned to laugh at it: because he'd been through so much. And he survived with a sense of humour and a brilliant pen. [Quixote] wouldn’t have been like that if Cervantes hadn't experienced this. It's about the falling, and the dignity with which he manages to pull himself up from the mess that he finds himself in. It's just wonderful.”Also including contributions from Isabel Torres, Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen’s University, Belfast.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain; from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters, now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for Radio 4.Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery Reader: Ewan Bailey Executive Producer: Sara Davies and Caroline Raphael Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams and Nina Semple Researcher: Henry Tydeman Sound: Iain HunterA Pier production for BBC Radio 4

Tom Stoppard was of course best known for his work writing for stage and screen - but the dramas he created for radio were also an extremely important part of his career and his development as a writer. Across five decades he continued to return to a medium that suited him so well; without the constraints of visuals, his deft structural turns, linguistic pyrotechnics and imaginative leaps could flourish. In this special episode of Opening Lines for Radio 4’s Celebrating Stoppard season, John Yorke examines how Stoppard benefitted from and contributed to a golden age in BBC Radio drama.The programme features extracts from ‘The Dissolution of Dominic Boot’, ‘Albert’s Bridge’ and ‘The Dog It Was That Died’, as well as contributions from Stoppard’s biographer Professor Hermione Lee and archive of Stoppard himself.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4.Producer: Geoff Bird Contributor: Professor Hermione Lee Sound: Sean Kerwin Researcher: Henry Tydeman Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams Reader: Daniel Weyman Executive Producer: Caroline RaphaelA Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

Flight was the second novel by one of twentieth century’s America’s most influential figures, Walter White. Published in 1926, it asks questions about race and identity when its central character chooses to ‘pass’ as a white woman. A prime mover in the Harlem Renaissance, White was a celebrated writer and activist but his book has largely been forgotten. John Yorke looks at the man and his work.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4. Written and presented by John Yorke.Contributors: Kenneth Janken, Professsor of African American history at the University of North Carolina and author of White: The Biography of Walter White, Mr. Naacp. Gayle Wald, Professor of English and American studies at George Washington University and author of Crossing the Line; Racial Passing in TwentiethCentury U.S Literature and Culture. . Reading by Eric Stroud Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith Production Coordinator: Dawn Williams Researcher: Henry Tydeman Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4

Owen Wister’s 1902 novel The Virginian did more than any other single piece of art in establishing the parameters of the Western as a genre. Telling the tale of a charismatic tight-lipped cowboy whose actions always speak louder than his words, it was wildly popular with readers and viewers of its many screen adaptations. The book is a celebration of rugged individualism and frontier spirit that spoke profoundly to its audience at the beginning of the twentieth-century - but does it offer any insights into the state of America today?The programme features James Annesley, Professor of American literature at Newcastle University. John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative, including many podcasts for Radio 4. Contributors: James Annesley, Professor of American literature at Newcastle University. Sound: Sean Kerwin Researcher: Henry Tydeman Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams Producer: Geoff Bird Reader: Eric Stroud Executive Producer: Sara Davies A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

In the series that takes a look at books, plays and stories and how they work, John Yorke continues his exploration of Margaret Mitchell’s epic Civil War romance, Gone with the Wind.In the 90 years since it was published it has sold more than 30 million copies – it was the bestselling American novel of the 20th century - but the book has become increasingly problematic for modern readers.In this second episode, John considers how the history of the American Civil War and its aftermath inform the way the story is told. And he asks how we should address Margaret Mitchell’s shockingly complacent attitude to slaveholding and the racist language in the book.John is joined by Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London and the author of The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells; Dr Nicole King, Associate Professor of American Literature and Fellow of Exeter College Oxford; and Rachel Joyce, who has adapted Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4. Together they explore the racism that underlies the story and the difficulties of navigating Mitchell’s attitude to her black characters.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for Radio 4. Contributors: Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London Rachel Joyce, adapter of Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4 Dr Nicole King, Associate Professor of American Literature and Fellow of Exeter College Oxford Reading by Samantha DakinCredits: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, published by Vintage BooksProduced by Jane Greenwood Executive Producer: Sara Davies Sound by Sean Kerwin Researcher: Henry Tydeman Production hub coordinator: Dawn Williams A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

During the mid-19th century America was undergoing unprecedented change. New railroads and canals allowed people and goods to criss-cross the country, as the old agrarian economy was replaced by a fast-paced industrialised one. This rapid market expansion was driven by profit and underpinned by slavery. As the lives of Americans began to speed up, Henry David Thoreau took time out to ask himself a question - is this the best way to live? In 1845, when he was 27 years old, he built a one-roomed cabin next to Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, and began an experiment in what he called ‘living deliberately’.During the two years he spent at Walden Pond, Thoreau lived simply. He studied, read widely, went for long walks, and often just sat and contemplated the natural world around him. The journal he kept during the two years he lived in his microhouse would become Walden, a genre-defying mix of memoir, essay, nature diary, philosophical treatise and self-help guide. The book was not an immediate success but steadily grew in popularity after Thoreau’s early death at the age of 44. Walden is now regarded as a foundational work of both American literature and Transcendentalist philosophy. It has been continuously in print since 1862.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4.Contributors: Laura Dassow Walls, author of Henry David Thoreau: A Life. Professor Emerita of English at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Kristen Case, poet and Thoreau scholar. Editor of the Oxford Handbook of Henry David Thoreau. Editor of essays on Thoreau and author of Thoreau’s Kalendar – Charts and Observation of Natural Phenomena. Tracy Fullerton, game designer, educator and writer, best known for Walden, a game. Professor in the USC Interactive Media & Games Division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and Director of the Game Innovation Lab at USC. Reader: Eric Stroud Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams Researcher: Henry Tydeman Sound: Iain Hunter Producer: Kate McAll Executive Producer: Caroline RaphaelA Pier production for BBC Radio 4

In this second episode, John Yorke assesses the criticism levelled against James Fenimore Cooper’s 1826 novel The Last of the Mohicans - primarily that it is responsible for the widely held, inaccurate, view that indigenous Americans were inevitably disappearing during the period the novel is set, and that that false narrative was used to justify colonisation. Also, John delves deeper into the author’s background to understand his influences, and asks what we should make of The Last of the Mohicans today. John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for Radio 4. Contributors: Jordan Abel, Nisga’a writer and academic. Richard Slotkin, American Cultural Historian. Credits: Readings by Eric Stroud Excerpts from The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, 1826. Excerpt from Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses, by Mark Tawain, 1895. Film clip from The Last of the Mohicans, 1992 Morgan Creek Entertainment / Twentieth Century Fox. Excerpt from Empty Spaces by Jordan Abel, 2023, read by the author.Researcher: Henry Tydeman Sound: Sean Kerwin Producer: Jack Soper Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn WilliamsA Pier production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Ian Sansom, sitting in for John Yorke, takes a look at Joy In the Morning, the 44th Jeeves and Wooster novel by PG Wodehouse. Published in 1946, it revolves around Bertie Wooster’s attempts to avoid a series of social and romantic calamities. The omniscient Jeeves, of course, remains the great calm at the centre of the novel’s storm, devising ingenious solutions just when disaster seems inevitable. Readings from the book are by Stephen Fry, who also describes why he’s such an enthusiast for Wodehouse so much, and what it is he loves about this adventure in the Jeeves and Wooster canon.Ian Sansom is a novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is the author of more than 20 books, including the Mobile Library and the County Guides series of detective novels and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He has worked as a columnist for The Guardian and The Spectator and currently writes for the TLS, The Irish Times and The Dublin Review. He is a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 3. He was formerly the Director of the Oscar Wilde Centre at Trinity College Dublin and a Professor and Head of English at Queen’s University Belfast.With readings and contributions from Sir Stephen FryArchive: Archive 1961 BBC Interview – Alistair Cooke speaks to P.G. Wodehouse Archive 1972 BBC Interview – Keith Dewhurst speaks to P.G. WodehouseReader: Sir Stephen Fry Producer: Laura Grimshaw Executive Producer: Sara Davies Programme Hub Co-ordinator: Nina Semple Researcher: Henry Tydeman Sound: Sean KerwinA Pier production for BBC Radio 4

John Yorke explores the romantic framework of Jane Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, as well as the reasons for its enduring appeal. It’s a novel that explores the cost of love, and in it, Austen develops writing techniques that revolutionised this new form, which are still in use some two hundred years later.With contributions from Professor John Mullan, and poet and dramatist Claudine Toutoungi.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for thirty years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he’s trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for R4.Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery Reader: Rhiannon Neads Executive Producer: Sara Davies Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams Sound: Iain HunterA Pier production for BBC Radio 4

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has not only captured the hearts of generations of readers, it also helped change the way that novels are written. This most beloved tale of Regency romance, featuring the brilliantly quick-witted Elizabeth Bennett and the haughty figure of Fitzwilliam Darcy, allows us into its characters’ heads and hearts in newly sophisticated ways that set the template for so much of the fiction that followed. In this, the first of two parts focusing on Austen’s most popular novel, John Yorke examines how a book she described as ‘too light, and bright, and sparkling’ retains a special place and a special importance in the history of English literature. The programme features leading Austen expert John Mullan, professor of English Literature at UCL, and Dr Lucy Powell, lecturer in English at the University of Oxford. John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative, including many podcasts for Radio 4. Contributors: John Mullan, professor of English Literature at UCL and Dr Lucy Powell, University of Oxford Sound: Sean Kerwin Researcher: Henry Tydeman Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams Producer: Geoff Bird Reader: Rhiannon Neads Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

John Yorke takes a look at an enduring classic of children’s literature, The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Published in 1908, The Wind In The Willows is about nature – both human and animal. It is, on the face of it, a children’s book packed with beloved characters. But hidden beneath the bucolic adventures and Grahame’s beautiful evocation of the landscape, there is a desperate longing to escape the stresses of wide world into the peace and freedom of the natural world - a longing that ran through Kenneth Grahame’s life. His life was claustrophobic, the story – like the countryside - offers space to breathe. Kenneth Grahame said of his own writing, “You must please remember that a theme, a thesis, is in most cases little more than a sort of clothes line on which one pegs a string of ideas, quotations, allusions and so on, one’s mental undergarments of all shapes and sizes, some possibly fairly new but most rather old and patched; and they dance and sway in the breeze and flap and flutter, or hang limp and lifeless; and some are ordinary enough, and some are of a private and intimate shape, and rather give the owner away, and show up his or her peculiarities.”John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for R4.Producer: Laura Grimshaw Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael Reader: Toby Hadoke Guests: Elisabeth Galvin and David Gooderson Researcher: Henry Tydeman Programme Hub Co-ordinators: Nina Semple and Dawn Williams Sound: Sean Kerwin A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

Northanger Abbey was Jane Austen’s first book, although it wasn’t published until after her death. It tells the story of Catherine Morland, an impressionable young woman who is introduced to fashionable society when she’s taken by a wealthy neighbour to Bath. There, Catherine’s imagination catches fire when she’s initiated into the thrills of Gothic fiction by new friend, Isabella Thorpe – a pretty, charming but devious gold digger.Another great reader of Gothic novels is ‘not quite handsome but very near it’ Henry Tilney, whom Catherine finds enchanting. When Henry invites Catherine to stay at Northanger Abbey, the home of his father, General Tilney, she imagines secret passages, haunted catacombs and an evil secret. Catherine does indeed find something wicked at the Abbey but not in the way she expects.In this first of two episodes John Yorke explores the dual nature of the book - part satire on Gothic fiction and part celebration of the novel form.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for R4.Contributors: Emma Clery, Literary Critic and Cultural Historian, Professor of English Literature at the Uppsala University, Sweden, and author of Jane Austen: The Banker’s Sister.Rebecca Romney, author of Jane Austen’s Bookshelf.Reader: Esme Scarborough Production Hub Coordinators: Nina Semple and Dawn Williams Researcher: Henry Tydeman Sound: Iain Hunter Producer: Kate McAll Executive Producer: Sara DaviesA Pier production for BBC Radio 4

In the winter of 1847, the Star of the Sea sets sail from Ireland for New York. Among the refugees are a maidservant, a bankrupt aristocrat, an aspiring novelist and a maker of revolutionary ballads. It reads like a Victorian gothic novel, with murder and intrigue at its heart.Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor was published in 2002 and attracted multiple plaudits as well as literary awards. O’Connor talks about the shocked response from his publishers when he proposed writing a novel about the Irish Famine and we learn how real facts are woven skilfully into fiction.Novelist Colm Tóibín explains how there are elements of pastiche in Star of the Sea and how it’s written like a 19th century novel. He also states that, at a time when the Irish narrative was being re-imagined, even the great Irish playwrights such as Sean O’Casey didn’t write about the Famine.At the heart of the story is the threatening figure of Pius Mulvey – the balladeer and adventurer. Known as ‘The Monster’, Mulvey stalks the decks of the ship like some kind of embodiment of the tragedy that has overtaken the old country. We hear about the tragic and human stories within this novel into which O’Connor is also able weave humour and a propulsive narrative.John Yorke explains that the skill of this novel is that, with the aid of eyewitness accounts, historical documents, letters home, passenger manifests and Captain’s logs, O’Connor unravels the extraordinary relationships at the book’s heart by re-stitching them into a grander tapestry – that of a terrible horror, long hidden, central to a nation’s heart.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for R4.Contributor: Colm Tóibín, bestselling writerExtracts from: The Arts Show, BBC Radio Ulster with Marie Louise Muir, 16 August 2007 Reading from Star of the Sea by Peter Marinker, from the audiobook of the same title published by W.F. Howes Ltd, 2011Star of the Sea published in 2002 by Secker and WarburgSound: Sean Kerwin Researcher: Henry Tydeman Production Hub Coordinator: Nina Semple Producer: Belinda Naylor Executive Producer: Caroline RaphaelA Pier production for BBC Radio 4