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Confessions of a Justified Sinner

The series that takes a look at books, plays and stories and how they work. John Yorke explores Confessions of a Justified Sinner.

John Yorke delves into James Hogg’s masterpiece of Gothic horror, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Presented as a β€˜found document’, the confessions give a chilling insight into the mind of a murderer. This novel is a horror story, a mystery thriller, a psychological study of religious extremism, and at its heart lurks a serial killer. Despite being first published in 1824 it still has all the contemporary resonance, in the view of renowned crime writer Ian Rankin, to make a 21st century blockbuster movie.

John shares a lifetime of experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the secrets behind the books, plays and stories that are being dramatized in ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. He has been working in television and radio for nearly 30 years.

From East Enders to the Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book β€˜Into the Woods’. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Writers Academy John has trained a generation of screenwriters.

Contributors
Professor Kirsteen McCue Professor of Scottish Literature and Song Culture (Scottish Literature), Glasgow University
James Robertson Author of The Testament of Gideon Mack among other novels

Reader: David Rankine
Researcher: Nina Semple
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Production Manager: Sarah Wright
Producer: Mark Rickards
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael

A Pier production for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

Available now

14 minutes

Last on

Sun 19 Mar 2023 14:45

Broadcast

  • Sun 19 Mar 2023 14:45

Podcast