Keeping the Wolf Out: The Complete BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Crime Series

A gritty thriller set behind the Iron Curtain in 1960s Hungary.

Budapest, 1963. Special Investigator Bertalan Lázár and his wife, spymaster Franciska Lázár, face formidable challenges as they try to navigate a path through the dangerous underworld of Cold War-era Hungary. Catching the criminals is difficult enough, but there are other more threatening battles raging in higher places.

In these 16 episodes, Bertalan must investigate the murder of a former member of the secret police, fight a turf war as he tries to find a child killer, probe a seemingly straightforward case of GBH that leads him to a rogue cop and enter the uncharted territory of Budapest's underground drugs scene after a rock musician is found dead.

Written by Philip Palmer, this gripping, atmospheric drama expertly conjures up the tense, paranoid world of communist Hungary, where dissidence was dangerous, the truth was hard to find and pursuing justice could get you killed. Leo Bill stars as Bertalan and Clare Corbett as Franciska, with Andy Linden as Tibor Farkas and Joseph Ayre as József Szabados.

The episodes in this collection

'The Wolf' 'The Old Days' 'Behind the Wall' 'Waiting by the River' 'Heroes' 'Gellert Hill' 'Spider's Web' 'Carnaby Street' 'Gypsy Dancers' 'Grandmother's Footsteps' 'Mad Dog' 'The Light of Dawn' 'The Great Society' 'Red Pen' 'The Great Tree Gang' 'The Magical Magyars' Produced and directed by Toby Swift and Sasha Yevtushenko

Sound design by Caleb Knightley

Cast

Bertalan Lázár - Leo Bill

Franciska Lázár - Clare Corbett

Tibor Farkas - Andy Linden

József Szabados - Joseph Ayre

Gizella - Nicola Ferguson

Bela Fekete - Sargon Yelda

Mr Papp - Nick Underwood

Kitchen Porter - Richard Pepple

Police Officer/Csaba - Sam Rix

Lilien Racz - Adie Allen

Milton Szilard - Philip Fox

Kristof Szep - Samuel James

Mr Kiraly - Robert Blythe

Waiter/Peterke - Tom Forrister

Mrs Tolnay - Sanchia MacCormack

Stenographer - Kerry Gooderson

Dmitri Dragunov - Simon Scardifield

Márk Mészáros - Michael Bertenshaw

András Vásáry - David Hounslow

Priest/Copper - Christopher Harper

Gyuri Varg/Fabenyi/Police officer/Partygoer - Kenny Blyth

Dorina Varga - Helen Clapp

Ministry official/Police officer/Drug dealer/Partygoer - Chris Pavlo

Hanna Krivosik - Franchi Webb

Zsófia/Nurse 1 - Sarah Ovens

PuŠomori Žiga - Debbie Korley

Mrs Kovacs/Nurse 2/Receptionist - Susan Jameson

Gyozo Novak - Carl Prekopp

Florian Hevesi - Luke Nunn

Sandor Boros - Stephen Greif

Pathologist - Jane Whittenshaw

Cop/Detective - Stefan Adegbola

Mother - Emma Handy

Kulcsar - Roger Ringrose

Draskovic - Ewan Bailey

Billiards player/Prison officer - Ian Dunnett Jnr

Hadik - Hasan Dixon

Richard Miklos/Károly Miklós/Laska - Shaun Mason

Violinist/Márton Kozma/Police Officer/Priest - Simon Ludders

Réka Kozma/Pathologist - Jane Slavin

Archivist/Ioveanu - Tony Turner

Orsolya - Ria Marshall

Receptionist - David Sturzaker