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Law and Order

Andrew Buchan and Josette Simon read poetry and prose about crime, police and the courts, including works by Dickens, TS Eliot, Arthur Conan Doyle, Seamus Heaney and Oscar Wilde.

Andrew Buchan (Garrow's Law) and Josette Simon OBE (Casualty, Silent Witness) read poetry and prose about Law and Order. Following the model used by a popular American TV series of the same name, they begin by focusing on crime itself with T.S.Eliot's mischievous cat Macavity and extracts from "Crime and Punishment" and PD James, followed by the appearance of the police - both the uniformed variety and the private detective. Then they are in court with Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mocking Bird" (Harper Lee) and Shakespeare's Portia from "The Merchant of Venice". Finally sentence is carried out and the notorious highwayman Dick Turpin is hanged and Oscar Wilde is in Reading Gaol writing his famous ballad. Other writers featured include Seamus Heaney, Arthur Conan Doyle, Roger McGough, Carol Ann Duffy and Alfred Noyes.The texts are interwoven with music by Janacek, Britten, Gilbert and Sullivan, Prokofiev and Henry Mancini.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Tue 20 Dec 2011 17:00

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • T. S. Eliot

    Macavity: the Mystery Cat (excerpt), reader T. S. Eliot

  • 00:00

    Henry Mancini

    The Pink Panther Theme

    Performer: Henry Mancini and His Orchestra

  • 00:03

    John Tavener

    Innocence

    Performer: Westminster Abbey Choir, Martin Baker (organ), Martin Neary (conductor)

    • Sony SK 66613 Tr2.
  • Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett

    Crime and Punishment (excerpt), reader Andrew Buchan

  • Carol Ann Duffy

    Stealing, reader Josette Simon

  • Mother Goose

    The Tarts, reader Andrew Buchan

  • 00:07

    Lionel Bart

    Pick a pocket or two (from the film version of Oliver!)

    Performer: Ron Moody and Boys, John Green (arranger and conductor)

    • Sony BMG 88697310452 Tr5.
  • 00:10

    John Williams

    March of the villains (excerpt)

    (Superman: suite – music from the film) Performer: London Symphony Orchestra, Roy Budd (conductor)

    • D sharp DSH CD7004 Tr3.
  • Roger McGough

    Vandal, reader Andrew Buchan

  • Brian Patten

    Little Johnny’s Confession, reader Josette Simon

  • 00:12

    Sergey Prokofiev

    Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev - The Fight from 'Romeo and Juliet'

    Performer: Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado (conductor)

  • 00:14

    Kurt Weill

    Kurt Weill - Mack the Knife from 'The Threepenny Opera'

    Performer: Louis Armstrong and His All-stars

  • 00:18

    Charles Williams

    The Devil's gallop

    Performer: Â鶹ԼÅÄ Concerto Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth (conductor)

    • White line CD WLS 501 CD4 Tr1.
  • Alfred Noyes

    The Highwayman (excerpt), reader Josette Simon

  • Untitled

    Plaque erected in York near where Dick Turpin was hanged, reader Andrew Buchan

  • 00:20

    Cole Porter

    Miss Otis regrets

    Performer: Ethel Waters, The Dorsey Brother Orchestra

    • ASV CD AJA 5290 Tr19.
  • 00:24

    Bernard Herrmann

    Psycho Suite (excerpt)

    Performer: Tippett Quartet

    • Signum SIGCD234 Tr5.
  • P. D. James

    Death in Holy Orders (excerpt), reader Andrew Buchan

  • 00:26

    John Sheppard

    Media Vita in morte sumus [In the midst of life we are in death] (excerpt)

    Performer: The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips (conductor)

    • Gimell CDGIM 016 Tr1.
  • 00:32

    Nat King Cole

    Call the police

    Performer: Nat King Cole

    • Emporio EMTBX 335/3, Vol 3 Tr 8.
  • John Drinkwater

    Bobby Blue, reader Josette Simon

  • 00:36

    Leonard Bernstein

    Leonard Bernstein - Gee, Officer Krupke (from the film of West Side Story)

  • 00:40

    Christopher Gunning

    Christopher Gunning - Poirot Variations (excerpt)

    Performer: Martin Robertson (saxophone), Â鶹ԼÅÄ Philharmonic, Rumon Gamba (conductor)

  • Arthur Conan Doyle

    A Study in Scarlet (excerpt), reader Andrew Buchan

  • Franklin Waldheim

    Help Wanted, reader Josette Simon

  • 00:43

    Leos JanáÄek

    Allegretto from Sinfonietta

    Performer: Pro Arte Orchestra, Charles Mackerras (conductor)

    • EMI CDM 7 63779 2 Tr4.
  • Solon

    Quotation, reader Josette Simon

  • John Kendrick Bangs

    As to the law, reader Andrew Buchan

  • 00:47

    Arthur Sullivan

    When I, good friends, was called to the bar from 'Trial by Jury'

    Performer: John Reed (the learned judge), The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, Orchestra of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Isidore Godfrey (conductor)

    • London 417 358-2 CD2 Tr12.
  • 00:50

    Benjamin Britten

    Prologue from 'Peter Grimes' (excerpt)

    Performer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson (Peter Grimes), Stafford Dean (Swallow), David Wilson-Johnson (Hobson), Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Bernard Haitink (conductor)

    • EMI 7 54832 2 CD1 Tr1.
  • Harper Lee

    To kill a mocking bird (excerpt), reader Josette Simon

  • 00:53

    Lovas and Oi Va Voi

    Refugee

    Performer: KT Tunstall (voice), Tigran Aleksanyan (duduk), Oi Va Voi

    • Outcaste CasteCD29 Tr1.
  • Untitled

    Old Bailey proceedings 1693, reader Andrew Buchan

  • Untitled

    Bible (King James Version): 1 Kings 3 vv 23-28, reader Josette Simon

  • 00:58

    Josquin des Prez

    Kyrie from Missa L'homme armé sexti toni

    Performer: The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips (conductor)

    • Gimell CDGIM 019 Tr7.
  • Seamus Heaney

    Punishment, reader Andrew Buchan

  • William Shakespeare

    Portia’s speech from The Merchant of Venice (excerpt), reader Josette Simon

  • Untitled

    Old Bailey proceedings 1674, reader Andrew Buchan

  • 01:03

    Hector Berlioz

    March to the Scaffold from 'Symphonie fantastique'

    Performer: Anima Eterna Brugge, Jos van Immerseel (conductor)

    • Zig Zag Territoires ZTT 100101 Tr4.
  • Oscar Wilde

    The Ballad of Reading Gaol (excerpt), reader Andrew Buchan

  • 01:11

    Maurice Ravel

    Le gibet from 'Gaspard de la nuit' (excerpt)

    Performer: Louis Lortie (piano)

    • Chandos CHAN X10142(2) CD2 Tr2.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 24 Apr 2011 22:15
  • Tue 20 Dec 2011 17:00

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