Louis MacNeice: The Dark Tower, Christopher Columbus & more: Six Classic Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramas
About this audiobook
A rare collection of vintage radio dramas from the renowned Ulster poet, plus bonus documentary
Born in Belfast in 1907, Louis MacNeice wrote some of the most beautiful and best-loved poetry of the 20th century. But he was also one of the BBC’s most innovative writers and producers, scripting numerous dramas for radio, including the landmark production The Dark Tower and the epic verse play Christopher Columbus. Those two seminal productions are included here, alongside tales drawn from Irish mythology and Graeco-Roman history, a psychological drama about a distracted painter and a fascinating profile of MacNeice himself.
They Met on Good Friday – AD 1014, just north of Dublin, and as Good Friday dawns, Brian Boru and his army of Irishmen face a formidable force of Viking warriors on the battlefield at Clontarf. Who will prevail, and gain control of Ireland? Patrick Magee and Patrick Wymark star in MacNeice’s ‘sceptical historical romance’ dramatising a key event in Irish history.
Christopher Columbus – First broadcast on 12 October 1942 to mark the 450th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World, this ambitious, theatrical play blends MacNeice’s verse with music by William Walton to tell the story of the famed explorer. Starring Laurence Olivier as Columbus, with Marius Goring, Stephen Murray and Margaret Rawlings.
Cupid and Psyche – Jealous of the beautiful Psyche, the goddess Venus orders her son to make the girl fall in love with a hideous creature. But Cupid scratches himself with his own arrow, and becomes enamored with her himself... Alan McClelland and Betty Linton star in this dramatisation of the famous story from Apuleius’ ancient Roman novel The Golden Ass.
Trimalchio’s Feast – Dramatised from a section in The Satyricon, a first century AD work by the Roman author Petronius, this satirical story revolves around a lavish, ostentatious banquet hosted by a nouveau riche shipping merchant and former slave. Starring Wilfred Pickles as Trimalchio, with Dylan Thomas as Agamemnon.
Persons from Porlock – Louis MacNeice 's last work for radio was broadcast just a few days after his death in 1963. Spanning over 20 years, it tells the story of an artist whose creative process is continually derailed by unforeseen – and unwelcome – interruptions. Jon Rollason stars as the frustrated painter, Hank.
The Dark Tower – Initially transmitted in 1946, this iconic parable play in verse was inspired by Robert Browning's poem ‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came’. It centres on Roland, the last of a family whose menfolk are all doomed to set out on a quest from which there is no return... Starring Cyril Cusack, with music specially composed by Benjamin Britten.
In the Dark Tower: Louis MacNeice at the BBC – Poet Paul Muldoon recalls a fellow Belfast wordsmith, exploring Louis MacNeice’s life and work through broadcasts from the BBC’s archive.
Production credits
Written by Louis MacNeice
Contents:
They Met on Good Friday
Christopher Columbus
Cupid and Psyche
Trimalchio’s Feast
Persons from Porlock
The Dark Tower
In the Dark Tower: Louis MacNeice at the BBC
© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
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About the author
Dylan Thomas (Reader)
Dylan Marlais Thomas was born in Swansea on 27 October 1914 and educated at Swansea Grammar School where his father was an English master. He did not learn Welsh although his language has often been described as Welsh written in English. He began writing poetry while a student and continued writing in his spare time when, after leaving school in 1931, he worked as a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post in Swansea. He moved to London in 1934, and in December of that year his first volume of verse, 18 Poems, was published to critical acclaim. He then embarked on a career as a journalist and scriptwriter. As his reputation as a poet grew, so too did his personal popularity and he became well known for his exuberant and charismatic personality. He married Caitlin Macnamara in 1937 and they settled in Laugharne, Wales which was the inspiration for the town in Under Milk Wood. He returned there after many travels in 1949. During the Second World War, he was declared unfit for service and stayed in London, working as a scriptwriter and broadcaster for Strand Films and the BBC. All the while he wrote his own material and published two volumes of short stories, The Map of Love in 1939 and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog in 1940. With the publication of New Poems in 1943 and two further volumes, Death and Entrances (1946) and In Country Sleep (1953), his reputation was established. His Collected Poems 1934-1952, published in 1952, was a critical and popular success. In the 1950s, Thomas conducted several reading tours of his work in the United States. They drew large audiences and confirmed his reputation as a charismatic and lyrical poet. In 1953, he returned for a fourth visit to America despite poor health and exhaustion. Here he revised his play for voices Under Milk Wood which he had worked on intermittently for ten years. It had its first reading on stage on 14 May 1953 in New York. The first BBC broadcast was in 1954, although several sections were omitted. In 1963, the producer revisited the project and recorded the full and complete play. Dylan Thomas died in New York on 9 November 1953 and is buried in Laugharne. He and Caitlin had three children.
Lucy Robinson (Reader)
Lucy Robinson is the author of The Greatest Love Story of All Time, A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger and The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me. Lucy worked in theatre and then television documentaries before starting a blog for Marie Claire about her laughably unsuccessful foray into the world of online dating. She did not meet a man during this time but she did become a novelist: every cloud has a silver lining. She now lives in Bristol with her partner, The Man, whom she met when she took off to Buenos Aires to become a bohemian writer in 2010.
Twitter: @Lucy_Robinson
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LucyRobinsonWriter
Instagram: RobinsonWriter
Website: www.lucy-robinson.co.uk
