Bernard Kops: A BBC Radio Collection: 19 Full-Cast Productions including Ezra, Soho Nights & more

An anthology of plays and original radio dramas from the prolific playwright

Born and brought up in the East End of London, Bernard Kops came to fame in the late 1950s as part of British drama’s ‘New Wave’. A lyrical chronicler of Jewish family life, he is often compared to Arnold Wesker and Harold Pinter, though his work is more sentimental and surreal.

In a 50-year career, he wrote 10 novels, numerous poetry collections, two autobiographies and over 40 stage, TV and radio plays. Included here are some of his most popular pieces, beginning with two East End tales of love, loss, friendship and community, Whitechapel Dreams and Harry and the Angels, both featuring Kops himself as the narrator.

An adaptation of his famous stage play, Ezra, about the treacherous, anti-Semitic poet Ezra Pound, is followed by a selection of original radio dramas including Falling in Love Again, the five-part serial Soho Nights and a two-parter featuring the trials and tribulations of a Yiddish theatrical troupe, The Jericho Players and The Jericho Players: Rogues and Vagabonds.

Next up are more plays specially written for radio: The Lost Loves of Phoebe Myers (commissioned to mark Kops’ 80th birthday), Kafe Kropotkin, Trotsky Was My Father, Over the Rainbow, Bournemouth Nights, and The Anarchist Bed and Breakfast. Also featured are Congress in Manchester, centring around an ageing publisher’s attempts to seduce a young poetess; and Simon at Midnight, his 1982 radio drama about an East End factory owner facing bankruptcy which was later adapted for the theatre.

Concluding this collection are a quartet of vintage plays from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s that have not been broadcast since they first aired: The Street Game; I Grow Old, I Grow Old; The Lemmings and The Dark Ages.

Showcasing the range and prodigious output of an extraordinary talent, these 19 dramas star a wealth of leading actors, among them Miriam Margolyes, Ian Holm, Anne-Marie Duff, Maureen Lipman, Timothy West, Amanda Root, Stephanie Cole, Mark Bonnar, Louise Brealey, Alfred Molina, Warren Mitchell, Lesley Joseph, Leo McKern, Derek Fowlds,Tracy-Ann Oberman, Jane Asher, Andrew Sachs and Denis Quilley

With thanks to Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle

Content Warning: The themes present in some of these dramas could be distressing for some listeners

Production credits Written by Bernard Kops Text copyright © 1959 (The Street Game), 1963 (The Lemmings), 1964 (The Dark Ages), 1979 (Bournemouth Nights; I Grow Old, I Grow Old), 1980 (Over the Rainbow), 1981 (Ezra), 1982 (Simon at Midnight), 1984 (Trotsky Was My Father), 1988 (Kafe Kropotkin), 1990 (Congress in Manchester), 1993 (Soho Nights), 1996 (The Jericho Players), 1998 (The Jericho Players: Rogues and Vagabonds), 2000 (Falling in Love Again, The Anarchist Bed and Breakfast), 2006 (The Lost Love of Phoebe Miles), 2008 (Whitechapel Dreams), 2010 (Harry and the Angels) All rights reserved

Content List

Whitechapel DreamsHarry and the AngelsEzraFalling in Love AgainSoho NightsThe Jericho PlayersThe Jericho Players: Rogues and VagabondsThe Lost Love of Phoebe MilesKafe KropotkinTrotsky Was My FatherOver the RainbowBournemouth NightsThe Anarchist Bed and BreakfastCongress in ManchesterSimon at MidnightThe Street GameI Grow Old, I Grow OldThe LemmingsThe Dark Ages

© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

© 2025 BBC Digital Audio (Lydbog): 9781529968262

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Lydbog: 11. december 2025