Eric Ambler

by Eric Ambler

Genres: Spy Thrillers

Synopsis

Set in the years foreshadowing World War II, Eric Ambler's spy novels introduced a new realism to the classic spy mystery. In this BBC Radio collection some of Ambler's best known novels are dramatised and brought together.

Epitaph for a Spy - Josef Vadassy, a Hungarian language teacher, collects his photographs from the chemist only to discover that the pictures are of military sites. Originally published in 1938, this is a brand-new dramatisation.

Journey into Fear - Also a new dramatisation. It is 1940, and Mr Graham, a quietly spoken engineer and arms expert, has just finished high-level talks with the Turkish government. And now somebody wants him dead.

The Levanter - Michael Howell has rescued his family's firm from nationalisation by cooperating with the new Syrian government. But can he avoid the other political forces that are at work in the Middle East? A dramatisation of Eric Ambler's Gold Dagger-winning story of intrigue, terror and double dealing.

This collection also features a 45-minute autobiographical play about Ambler during the war and Ambler at 80, a profile by Michael Barber of the author, 'the father of the modern spy story' - recorded for his 80th birthday.