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44 Scotland Street: The Complete Series 1-5 by Alexander McCall Smith

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44 Scotland Street: The Complete Series 1-5

Full-cast BBC Radio adaptations of the much-loved novels

by Alexander McCall Smith

Length 5 hours 40 minutes

Language English

Narrators Crawford Logan, Carol Ann Crawford, Belle Jones, Anita Vettesse, James Mackenzie, Samuel Keefe & Full Cast

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Summary
About the author

The complete BBC radio adaptations of Alexander McCall's bestselling series

Inspired by Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, 44 Scotland Street started life as a serial in The Scotsman. It was a huge hit, and was soon novelised, adapted on stage and dramatised for BBC Radio 4. Collected here are all five radio series, in which we follow the interconnected lives of the residents of adjoining flats in a tenement in Edinburgh's Georgian New Town.

There's Pat, a young tenant who arrives at 44 Scotland Street to flat-share with handsome surveyor Bruce (a man with more of an eye for the ladies than for a sound property); Matthew, setting up the Something Special Gallery with little knowledge of art; and child prodigy Bertie Pollock, who wants the life of an ordinary little boy, but instead has psychotherapy, yoga and Italian conversation lessons. And at the local café, owner Big Lou is looking for love - but seems doomed to romantic disappointment...

Their chance day-to-day criss-crossings, quirky foibles and comic adventures are all observed by Number 44's longest-term resident, anthropologist Domenica MacDonald, her painter friend Angus Lordie - and Angus' dog, Cyril, the only canine in Scotland with a gold tooth.

Full of charm, humour and empathy, these delightful dramas star Carol Ann Crawford and Crawford Logan, with a superb cast including James Mackenzie, Samuel Keefe, Belle Jones and Anita Vettesse.

Also included is an edition of Radio 4's Bookclub, in which Alexander McCall Smith talks about his novel 44 Scotland Street with James Naughtie and readers.

Written and dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith
Produced and directed by David Ian Neville
Music by Tom Cunningham

Cast
Domenica/Mrs MacGillvray - Carol Ann Crawford
Raeburn Todd/Dr Fairbairn/Angus Lordie/Glasgow Man/Dr Fairbairn - Crawford Logan
Bruce - James Mackenzie/James Rottger
Ian Rankin - James Mackenzie
Irene - Rosalind Syndney/Emma Currie
Bertie - Euan Lee/Simon Kerr
Matthew - Samuel Keefe
Pat - Belle Jones
Stuart - Tom Freeman/David Jackson Young
Big Lou/Antonia/Miss Harmony/Glasgow Woman/Stewardess/Fiona/Claire/Barmaid - Anita Vettesse
Markus/Lawyer - Matthew Zajac
Social Worker - Molly Innes
Olive - Sophie Lawrence
Alec/Gerry - Simon Donaldson
Lard O'Connor - Iain Agnew
The New Pretender - David Jackson Young
Secretary/Mr Lawrence - Richard Conlon
Torquil MacLean/Hotel Clerk - James Bryce
Edinburgh Man - David Jackson Young
Andy - Daniel Aitken
Katie - Helen Mackay
Miss Campbell - Nicola Roy
Neill - Gavin Jon Wright

First broadcast BBC Radio 4: 30 April-4 May 2012 (Series 1), 9-13 February 2015 (The Blue Spode Tea Cup), 30 May-3 June 2016 (Edinburgh for Pretenders), 20-24 February 2017 (Series 4), 20-24 August 2018 (Series 5)

© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Fiction

Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world's most prolific and most popular authors. His career has been a varied one: for many years he was a professor of Medical Law and worked in universities in the United Kingdom and abroad. Then, after the publication of his highly successful No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has sold over twenty million copies, he devoted his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over forty-six languages and become bestsellers through the world. These include the Scotland Street novels, first published as a serial novel in The Scotsman, the Isabel Dalhousie novels, the Von Igelfeld series, and the Corduroy Mansions series, novels which started life as a delightful (but challenging to write) cross-media serial, written on the website of the Telegraph Media Group. This series won two major cross-media awards - Association of Online Publishers Digital Publishing Award 2009 for a Cross Media Project and the New Media Age award. In addition to these series, Alexander writes stand-alone books, including The Forever Girl; Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party and Emma - a reworking of the classic Jane Austen novel. He is also the author of a book on Edinburgh, A Work of Beauty: Alexander McCall Smith's Edinburgh, as well as several collections of short stories, academic works, and over thirty books for children. He has received numerous awards for his writing, including the British Book Awards Author of the Year Award in 2004 and a CBE for service to literature in 2007. He holds honorary doctorates from nine universities in Europe and North America. In March of 2011 he received an award from the President of Botswana for his services through literature to that country. Alexander McCall Smith lives in Edinburgh. He is married to a doctor and has two daughters.