Moll Flanders

Original version

BBC Radio 4 Extra

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Jessica Hynes

Ben Miles

Brian Protheroe

Elizabeth Bennett

Blake Ritson

Claire Perkins

Alex Jarett

Nick Underwood

Kirsty Oswald

Tom Forrister

Sam Rix

Sean Baker

Daniel Defoe

Nick Perry

Sasha Yevtushenko

Moll Flanders: Episode 1

Defoe: Moll Flanders

Episode 1

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Moll Flanders, Episode 1

Jessica Hynes plays the woman who inspired Daniel Defoe's eponymous heroine.

4 Extra Debut. The story of the fortunes and misfortunes of the lusty and resourceful 18th century heroine. Stars Jessica Hynes and Ben Miles.

Daniel Defoe, once more in need of ready money, finds inspiration for a new book when he meets Elizabeth Atkins in Newgate gaol. 

She tells him her stranger-than-fiction story; of how she was born in prison to a petty thief and of how she loved and bargained her way from rags to riches, from prostitution in the streets of London to prosperity on a Virginia plantation, and then lost it all again. 

Defoe interprets it all in his characteristic manner, blending fact with fiction, and re-inventing his interlocutor as the lusty and resourceful Moll Flanders. 

Dramatised in two parts by Nick Perry who plays fast and loose with this 18th century classic, melding fiction and reality in a manner inspired by Daniel Defoe.

Moll Flanders    ......    Jessica Hynes
Daniel Defoe    ......    Ben Miles
Mr Mist    ......    Brian Protheroe
Lady Cholmondley    ......    Elizabeth Bennett
Jemmy    ......    Blake Ritson
Nurse    ......    Claire Perkins
Young Moll    ......    Alex Jarett
Rob    ......    Nick Underwood
Lucy    ......    Kirsty Oswald
John    ......    Tom Forrister
Robin    ......    Sam Rix
Gaoler    ......    Sean Baker

Harpsichord  played by Peter Ringrose.

Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2016.

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Drama: Biographical

Nick Perry's free adaptation of the 18th-century classic. Starring Jessica Hynes

Nick Perry's free adaptation of the 18th-century classic. Starring Jessica Hynes and Ben Miles

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