Ten contemporary reimaginings of Ovid’s iconic tales from Metamorphoses, with star-studded casts including Toby Jones, Shaun Dooley and Robert Glenister

Roman love poet Ovid ranks alongside Virgil and Homer in the canon of Western literature. Like them, he has influenced writers past and present, his witty, sexy tales inspiring authors from Shakespeare to Ezra Pound. Included here are ten scintillating retellings that take a fresh look at his classic works, viewing these ancient stories from a modern perspective.

First up are five dramas from New Metamorphoses, themed around the topics of desire, seduction and transformation:
In Zeus and Semele, by Sebastian Baczkiewicz, paparazzo Harry gets in over his head when he is welcomed into the glamorous world he feeds on.
And in Hattie Naylor’s Echo and Narcissus, Mat joins a gym, while Debbie becomes mesmerised by the boy across the road.
Myrrah by Colin Teevan sees a teenage girl gripped by a terrible passion,
and in Callisto by Nick Warburton, a photographer faces a dilemma when he captures a photo he never intended to take.
Meanwhile, Phaethon by Katie Hims revolves around a family reunion and a promise that cannot be broken…

Continuing the leitmotifs of fluidity, change and the different aspects of love, Transformations features five more adaptations, dramatised by Lucy Catherine with a special introduction by Sir Jonathan Bate:
Ceyx and Alcyone centres on the King of Trachis, who is determined to travel by ship to visit the Oracle. But the winds at sea are capricious and cruel, and a storm is coming…
Pygmalion tells of a sculptor who, alone and broken, becomes enamoured of one of his own statues. Will the goddess of love be kind, and bring her to life?
In Orpheus and Eurydice, when his beloved wife is killed by a snake, Orpheus travels to the realm of the dead in a desperate bid to bring her back.
Byblis and Cannus sees a young girl falling hopelessly in love with her own brother…
And in Baucis and Philemon, an elderly couple find their lives changed when they receive two unexpected guests.

We conclude with two bonus programmes - In Our Time: Ovid finds Melvyn Bragg conversing with a panel of experts to discuss the great writer, and in Ovid: Changing Times, Tom Holland investigates the impact and lasting resonance of Metamorphoses.


Cast and Credits
New Metamorphoses

Zeus and Semele
Starring Toby Jones, Daniel Cerqueira, Robert Glenister, Lyndsey Marshal, Peter Mann

Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Produced and directed by Jessica Drumgoole

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 3 Mar 2008

Echo and Narcissus
Starring Toby Jones, Carl Prekopp, Laura Molyneux, Burn Gorman, Harry Myers, Deborah Findlay, Gbemisola Ikumelo

Written by Hattie Naylor
Produced and directed by Sasha Yevtushenko

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 4 Mar 2008

Myrrha
Starring Toby Jones, Gerard McSorley, Marcella Plunkett, Niall Buggy, Derbhle Crotty, Jonathan Forbes, Ben Crowe, Chris Pavlo, Liz Sutherland, Peter Marinker, Kate Binchy

Written by Colin Teevan
Produced and directed by Jeremy Mortimer

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 5 Mar 2008

Callisto
Starring Shaun Dooley, Joannah Tincey, Rachel Atkins, John Rowe, Anna Bengo, Ben Onwukwe

Written by Nick Warburton
Produced and directed by Tracey Neale

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 Mar 2008

Phaethon
Starring Toby Jones, Rosie Cavaliero, Vincenzo Nicoli, Paul Hilton, Steven Webb, Robert Madge, Liza Sadovy

Written by Katie Hims
Produced and directed by Marc Beeby

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 7 Mar 2008

Transformations
Written by Lucy Catherine
Directed by Marc Beeby

Ceyx and Alcyone
Starring Jim Norton, Clare Corbett, Philip Bretherton, Neil McCaul, Isabella Inchbald, Tayla Kovacevi-Ebong, Abby Andrews

First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 15 Jan 2018

Pygmalion
Starring Jim Norton, Rupert Holliday Evans, Gary Duncan, Abbie Andrews, Isabella Inchbald

First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 16 Jan 2018

Orpheus and Eurydice
Starring Jim Norton, Tom Forrister, Madeline Hatt, Neil McCaul, Philip Bretherton, Isabella Inchbald, Clive Hayward

First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 17 Jan 2018

Byblis and Cannus
Starring Jim Norton, Abbie Andrews, Adam Fitzgerald, Isabella Inchbald, Ellie Darvill, Kath Weare

First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 18 Jan 2018

Baucis and Philemon