First World Problems

The next British civil war, told from the viewpoint of the Fletchers: an asset-rich, cash-poor middle-class family from the North West of England, trying to love and look after each other as the UK dissolves into conflict, in a not very distant future. Writer Martin Jameson meticulously researched the story by consulting a range of experts including civil contingency planners, defence analysts and conflict response experts, as well as a host of BBC correspondents and someone with first-hand experience of the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.

Future Home Of The Living God

In Louise Erdrich’s new novel, evolution has gone into reverse. Fewer babies - or their mothers - are surviving to full term, and of those babies born, many have been identified as belonging to a more primitive species of human. As governments take drastic action to limit the catastrophe, there has never been a more dangerous time to be having a baby. Read by Cherrelle Skeete.

Shadowbahn

It's 2021 and The Twin Towers have reappeared in South Dakota. Dubbed by reporters on the scene as an "American Stonehenge" they immediately become a pilgrimage site, and a 15 year old and her brother begin a road trip across a divided and dangerous America. The cast includes Mike Iveson, Antu Yacob, Robbie Tann and Patch Darragh. Written by Steve Erickson and adapted for radio by Anita Sullivan.

The Double

Jonathan Holloway’s dramatisation, based on Dostoyevsky’s novella about a man driven to madness when his life is usurped by a doppelganger.

Speak

A dystopian love story about the power of language, written by Philip Palmer. Set in a near future where the language spoken is Globish - a version of English, which has been reduced to just 1500 core words (and a real language developed in 2004 as an international means of communication), Speak stars Pippa Haywood and Andrew Gower.

Forward Presence

A drama inspired by the recent UK-Russia tensions, written by Hugh Costello.

Freedom

Written award winning playwright Gary Owen, Freedom examines the difficulty of being who you really are in a society that has abandoned tolerance. Set in the near future, Marian tries to protect her son, Jamie, from the consequences of a new Freedom Law that has licensed both the freedom to say what you like, however hateful, and the right to take offence. Starring Suzanne Packer as Marian.

All dramas and readings will be available to listen to online for 30 days. You can also download each drama via the BBC iPlayer Radio app.