Miles Jupp is Literally Unputdownable

Miles Jupp probes mysteries both fictional and autobiographical in these ten radio investigations

Actor and comedian Miles Jupp puts his inquiring mind and talent for comic analysis to work, as he turns his quizzical gaze on the world of fiction.

In these ten entertaining documentaries, he explores why some books, games and binge-watched box sets are, as they say, 'literally unputdownable'; peers into Plotto, an ingenious manual of story devices, to discover whether it really can make writing easy; takes a sideways look at some familiar characters from literature, including James Bond, Dracula, Fu Manchu and Carruthers; delves into the intricacies of the locked-room murder; and revisits his old prep school to find out whether a book of stirring 19th-century verse can work its magic on today's young people. And there's a shock in store for Miles as, researching his Huguenot ancestors, he finds cracks appearing in his family tree...

Included in this collection are:
Miles Jupp is Literally Unputdownable
Miles Jupp and the Plot Device
The Soviet James Bond
The Woman Who Invented James Bond?
The Trainspotter's Guide to Dracula
Miles Jupp in a Locked Room
Fu Manchu in Edinburgh
By Jove, Carruthers!
Miles Jupp's Muscular Lines
Miles Jupp is Insufficiently Belgian


Production credits
Presented by Miles Jupp
Produced by David Stenhouse
Actor: David Jackson Young, with additional contributions from Crawford Logan, David Rintoul and Samantha Bond

Miles Jupp is Literally Unputdownable first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 28 June 2020
Featuring DJ Taylor; Paula Hawkins; Jed Mercurio; Will Storr and Frederick Forsyth

Miles Jupp and the Plot Device first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 December 2015
Featuring Mike Ashley; Professor Paul Collins of the University of Portland Oregon; John Harvey; Jeffrey Marks; Val McDermid and Damon Rochefort

The Soviet James Bond first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 December 2014
Commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and produced by BBC Radio Scotland
Featuring Professor Ian Christie of Birkbeck College; Mark Liederman, Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder; Olga Semyonova; Vitali Vitaliev and Simon Winder

The Woman Who Invented James Bond? first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10 December 2016
Featuring Pam Hirsch; John Pearson; Nigel West and Simon Winder

The Trainspotter's Guide to Dracula first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 October 2017
Featuring Sir Christopher Frayling; Andras Hlavacska; Zita Hummer; Tudor Salajan; Alexandru Simon and Dacre Stoker

Miles Jupp in a Locked Room first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21 May 2012
Featuring Robert Adey; Mike Ashley; Paul Doherty; Jasper Fforde; Christopher Fowler; Paul Halter; Daniel Mallory; Denise Mina; John Pugmire and Soji Shamada

Fu Manchu in Edinburgh first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 April 2010
Featuring Sascha Auerbach; Paul Bailey; Alan Bennell; Grant Buttars; Owen Dudley Edwards; Bill Maynard; Dr Jonathan Murray; Matthew Sweet and Shenxiao Tong
Reader: Crawford Logan

By Jove, Carruthers! first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12 May 2009
Featuring Louis Barfe; Owen Dudley Edwards; Bruce Durie; Roger Johnson; Sam Llewellyn and Celia Mitchell

Miles Jupp's Muscular Lines first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 3 January 2010
Featuring Leslie Barr; Colonel Tim Collins, OBE; Owen Dudley Edwards; Sir Ranulph Fiennes and vox pops with pupils from St George's School, Windsor Castle

Miles Jupp is Insufficiently Belgian first broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 March 2015
Written by Miles Jupp and David Stenhouse with additional material by James Kettle
Featuring Nick Barrett; Bella Jupp, Gillian Jupp, Rob Jupp, Rupert Jupp, Thomas Jupp, Christine Sas and Lieven Schiere