Anna Karenina

Tolstoy's story of one woman's fate is brought powerfully to life in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation starring Teresa Gallagher and Toby Stephens. Anna Karenina enjoys a privileged and aristrocratic lifestyle as the wife of influential government official Alexy Karenin. Yet their ten-year marriage is devoid of tenderness, and when Anna falls in love with the handsome Count Vronsky they embark upon a deep and passionate affair. Vronsky, meanwhile, has another admirer in the form of Princess Kitty - who herself is desired by the thoughtful Levin. Pregnant by Vronsky, Anna leaves her husband and young son to begin a new life. However, the strictures of 1870s Russia mean she is unable to obtain a divorce. Whilst the Count is still able to move in high social circles, Anna - being a woman - is ostracised from the world in which she was once so elevated. Before long the relationship is under strain, and Anna is beset by jealousy and suspicion... Reflecting the social conditions of the era in which it was written, Anna Karenina is a doomed love story set against a harsh and unforgiving backdrop, and this dramatisation by Ed Thomason retains all the passion and drama of Tolstoy's masterpiece.