Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

BBC Radio 4 LW

The Doll Factory: Episode 5

The Doll Factory

Episode 5

BBC Radio 4 - The Doll Factory, Episode 5

Iris begins her new life as an artist's model.

Iris arrives at her first sitting as a model for Louis Frost, a role she has only agreed to take if he will teach her to paint.

Set in London 1850 -1851 at the time of The Great Exhibition, The Doll Factory follows the story of a young woman called Iris who we first meet painting the faces of tiny porcelain dolls. 

Iris burns to become an artist but her modest upbringing and strict working class parents have always meant  this seems to be little more than a dream. She lives with her twin sister, Rose, in a room above a doll shop in Regent Street. When a chance encounter offers the glimpse of a new life she is ready to embrace it.
 
In Episode 5, Iris is estranged from her parents and sister.



Written by Elizabeth MacNeal
Read by Louise Brealey
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Lizzie Davies
Produced by Lizzie Davies
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Audiobooks

Drama

Set in Victorian London, Elisabeth MacNeal's novel tells the story of a young doll painter

Set in Victorian London, Elisabeth MacNeal's novel follows the story of a young woman called Iris - a porcelain-doll painter who burns to become an artist. Read by Louise Brealey.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Doll Factory

Episode 5

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4