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Bernard Kops: A BBC Radio Collection: 19 Full-Cast Productions including Ezra, Soho Nights & more
An anthology of plays and original radio dramas from the prolific playwright
Born and brought up in the East End of London, Bernard Kops came to fame in the late 1950s as part of British drama’s ‘New Wave’. A lyrical chronicler of Jewish family life, he is often compared to Arnold Wesker and Harold Pinter, though his work is more sentimental and surreal.
In a 50-year career, he wrote 10 novels, numerous poetry collections, two autobiographies and over 40 stage, TV and radio plays. Included here are some of his most popular pieces, beginning with two East End tales of love, loss, friendship and community, Whitechapel Dreams and Harry and the Angels , both featuring Kops himself as the narrator.
An adaptation of his famous stage play, Ezra , about the treacherous, anti-Semitic poet Ezra Pound, is followed by a selection of original radio dramas including Falling in Love Again , the five-part serial Soho Nights and a two-parter featuring the trials and tribulations of a Yiddish theatrical troupe, The Jericho Players and The Jericho Rogues and Vagabonds .
Next up are more plays specially written for The Lost Loves of Phoebe Myers (commissioned to mark Kops’ 80th birthday), Kafe Kropotkin, Trotsky Was My Father, Over the Rainbow, Bournemouth Nights, and The Anarchist Bed and Breakfast . Also featured are Congress in Manchester , centring around an ageing publisher’s attempts to seduce a young poetess; and Simon at Midnight , his 1982 radio drama about an East End factory owner facing bankruptcy which was later adapted for the theatre.
Concluding this collection are a quartet of vintage plays from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s that have not been broadcast since they first The Street Game; I Grow Old, I Grow Old; The Lemmings and The Dark Ages .
Showcasing the range and prodigious output of an extraordinary talent, these 19 dramas star a wealth of leading actors, among them Miriam Margolyes, Ian Holm, Anne-Marie Duff, Maureen Lipman, Timothy West, Amanda Root, Stephanie Cole, Mark Bonnar, Louise Brealey, Alfred Molina, Warren Mitchell, Lesley Joseph, Leo McKern, Derek Fowlds,Tracy-Ann Oberman, Jane Asher, Andrew Sachs and Denis Quilley
With thanks to Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle
Content The themes present in some of these dramas could be distressing for some listeners
Production credits
Written by Bernard Kops
Text copyright 1959 (The Street Game), 1963 (The Lemmings), 1964 (The Dark Ages), 1979 (Bournemouth Nights; I Grow Old, I Grow Old), 1980 (Over the Rainbow), 1981 (Ezra), 1982 (Simon at Midnight), 1984 (Trotsky Was My Father), 1988 (Kafe Kropotkin), 1990 (Congress in Manchester), 1993 (Soho Nights), 1996 (The Jericho Players), 1998 (The Jericho Rogues and Vagabonds), 2000 (Falling in Love Again, The Anarchist Bed and Breakfast), 2006 (The Lost Love of Phoebe Miles), 2008 (Whitechapel Dreams), 2010 (Harry and the Angels)
All rights reserved
Content List
Whitechapel Dreams Harry and the Angels Ezra Falling in Love Again Soho Nights The Jericho Players The Jericho Rogues and Vagabonds The Lost Love of Phoebe Miles Kafe Kropotkin Trotsky Was My Father Over the Rainbow Bournemouth Nights The Anarchist Bed and Breakfast Congress in Manchester Simon at Midnight The Street Game I Grow Old, I Grow Old The Lemmings The Dark Ages
2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Born and brought up in the East End of London, Bernard Kops came to fame in the late 1950s as part of British drama’s ‘New Wave’. A lyrical chronicler of Jewish family life, he is often compared to Arnold Wesker and Harold Pinter, though his work is more sentimental and surreal.
In a 50-year career, he wrote 10 novels, numerous poetry collections, two autobiographies and over 40 stage, TV and radio plays. Included here are some of his most popular pieces, beginning with two East End tales of love, loss, friendship and community, Whitechapel Dreams and Harry and the Angels , both featuring Kops himself as the narrator.
An adaptation of his famous stage play, Ezra , about the treacherous, anti-Semitic poet Ezra Pound, is followed by a selection of original radio dramas including Falling in Love Again , the five-part serial Soho Nights and a two-parter featuring the trials and tribulations of a Yiddish theatrical troupe, The Jericho Players and The Jericho Rogues and Vagabonds .
Next up are more plays specially written for The Lost Loves of Phoebe Myers (commissioned to mark Kops’ 80th birthday), Kafe Kropotkin, Trotsky Was My Father, Over the Rainbow, Bournemouth Nights, and The Anarchist Bed and Breakfast . Also featured are Congress in Manchester , centring around an ageing publisher’s attempts to seduce a young poetess; and Simon at Midnight , his 1982 radio drama about an East End factory owner facing bankruptcy which was later adapted for the theatre.
Concluding this collection are a quartet of vintage plays from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s that have not been broadcast since they first The Street Game; I Grow Old, I Grow Old; The Lemmings and The Dark Ages .
Showcasing the range and prodigious output of an extraordinary talent, these 19 dramas star a wealth of leading actors, among them Miriam Margolyes, Ian Holm, Anne-Marie Duff, Maureen Lipman, Timothy West, Amanda Root, Stephanie Cole, Mark Bonnar, Louise Brealey, Alfred Molina, Warren Mitchell, Lesley Joseph, Leo McKern, Derek Fowlds,Tracy-Ann Oberman, Jane Asher, Andrew Sachs and Denis Quilley
With thanks to Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle
Content The themes present in some of these dramas could be distressing for some listeners
Production credits
Written by Bernard Kops
Text copyright 1959 (The Street Game), 1963 (The Lemmings), 1964 (The Dark Ages), 1979 (Bournemouth Nights; I Grow Old, I Grow Old), 1980 (Over the Rainbow), 1981 (Ezra), 1982 (Simon at Midnight), 1984 (Trotsky Was My Father), 1988 (Kafe Kropotkin), 1990 (Congress in Manchester), 1993 (Soho Nights), 1996 (The Jericho Players), 1998 (The Jericho Rogues and Vagabonds), 2000 (Falling in Love Again, The Anarchist Bed and Breakfast), 2006 (The Lost Love of Phoebe Miles), 2008 (Whitechapel Dreams), 2010 (Harry and the Angels)
All rights reserved
Content List
Whitechapel Dreams Harry and the Angels Ezra Falling in Love Again Soho Nights The Jericho Players The Jericho Rogues and Vagabonds The Lost Love of Phoebe Miles Kafe Kropotkin Trotsky Was My Father Over the Rainbow Bournemouth Nights The Anarchist Bed and Breakfast Congress in Manchester Simon at Midnight The Street Game I Grow Old, I Grow Old The Lemmings The Dark Ages
2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Audible Audio
Published December 11, 2025
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About the author
Bernard Kops
49 books1 followerBernard Kops was a British dramatist, memoirist, poet and novelist. His work is often concerned with the East End of London and its Jewish community.
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