The Queen of Romance: The Complete Series 1-3: A Full-Cast BBC Radio Comedy Drama

Lesley Joseph stars as romantic novelist Angela Temple in these three sparkling series

Angela Temple is a best-selling ‘bonk-buster’ writer beloved by her readers for her raunchy, bodice-ripping historical romances. To her adoring public, she’s demure, chaste and respectable – but in reality, she’s a much-married, chain-smoking, heavy-drinking hedonist who treats her staff like dirt.

Her long-suffering housekeeper, Mrs Partridge, is used to the abuse, but when her agent’s son, Conrad Bone, becomes her new personal assistant, he soon finds that life with Angela isn’t exactly a bowl of cherries. An ex-journalist and aspiring author of serious literary fiction, Conrad considers it deeply unfair that he should have to work for a talentless hack. But despite his deep dislike of her, he saves her bacon on more than one occasion as Angela tangles with an old flame, a rival author, an untrustworthy reporter, her soap star sister and her erstwhile boyfriend, the dashing Dr Lockheart...

Starring alongside Lesley Joseph in Stephen Sheridan’s lively sitcom are Matthew Byam Shaw, Anna Wing, Pat Coombs and Gordon Reid, with guest stars including Honor Blackman, Geoffrey Whitehead, Jean Heywood, James Grout and Sally Grace.

Written by Stephen Sheridan Produced and directed by Caroline Leddy and Ann Jobson

Cast Angela Temple – Lesley Joseph Conrad Bone – Matthew Byam Shaw Mrs Partridge – Anna Wing/Pat Coombs Donald Bone – Gordon Reid

With Jon Glover, Elizabeth Spriggs, Robert Harley, Melinda Walker, Jonathan Adams, Saira Todd, Ken Bruce, Victoria Plum, Michael Melia, Francesca Ryan, Andrew Rashleigh, Chris Emmett, Frank Windsor, Jonathan Gould, Liz Smith, James Grout, Linda Polan, Philip Anthony, Honor Blackman, Ronald Herdman, Ainslie Foster, Christopher Rowe, Geoffrey Whitehead, Jean Heywood, John Baddeley, Michael Onslow, Rachel Atkins, James Taylor, David Thorpe, Barry J Gordon, Robert Lang, Mary Wimbush, Dominic Letts, Colin Pinney, David Swift, John Evitts, Margaret Courtenay, Jonathan Keeble, Hilda Braid, Joshua Towb, Deborah Berlin, Ian Masters, Peter Yapp, Norman Bird, Sally Grace, Dan Strauss, Andrew Branch and Eva Stuart

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 18 November-23 December 1992 (Series 1), 2 December 1993-13 January 1994 (Series 2), 17 February-23 March 1996 (Series 3)

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

© 2025 BBC Digital Audio (Lydbog): 9781529976922

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Lydbog: 6. november 2025