Bernardine Evaristo: A BBC Radio Collection

Including original writing for radio, plus full-cast adaptations of The Emperor’s Babe and Hello Mum

Length: 4 hours 47 minutes

Full-cast dramatizations and original plays and stories from the award-winning author.

Bernardine Evaristo won the Booker Prize 2019 with her novel, Girl, Woman, Other and the one-off Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award in 2025. The author of ten books, her 2013 novel Mr Loverman was adapted into a BBC 1 drama series in 2024, winning two BAFTAS. She has received over 90 awards and honors and is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University of London. Featured here are some of her most innovative works, as well as an illuminating documentary about her life and career.

Included Works

The Emperor’s Babe

Set in AD 211, this drama adaptation of Evaristo’s 2001 verse novel, follows Zuleika, of Nubian heritage, who grows up wild and adventurous in Roman London and has a dangerous affair with the Roman emperor, Septimius Severus.

Hello Mum

Fourteen-year-old Jerome grows up on a rough housing estate and makes a mistake that has disastrous consequences. Now he needs his mother to understand why—and what the world looks like through his eyes. A powerfully moving tale adapted from Evaristo’s 2010 novella.

Madam Bitterfly and the Stockwell Diva

Feisty South Londoner, Charmayne, is determined to make it big in Hollywood—no matter what it takes… A wickedly comical take on the hierarchy of color, told in verse.

Medea — Mapping the Edge

Three writers: Amanda Dalton, Alison Fell and Evaristo, wrote three versions of the Medea myth featuring characters from Greece, Yemen and Yorkshire, which were integrated into a stunning and unique single drama. Originally staged as a promenade theater production by Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, with WilsonWilson Company. Dalton adapted it for radio.

On Top of the World

A woman’s feelings of alienation and isolation lead her to the frozen landscape of the beautiful Arctic.

London Choral Celestial Jazz

Bernardine Evaristo reads her own experimental verse short story, inspired by Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, and featuring four very different Black women who navigate the high-octane, adrenaline-charged streets of contemporary London.

Profile: Bernardine Evaristo

Bernardine Evaristo is the subject of this radio documentary about her life.

Original Text copyright © Bernardine Evaristo 2001 (The Emperor’s Babe), 2003 (Madam Bitterfly and the Stockwell Diva), 2005 (On Top of the World), 2010 (Hello Mum), 2014 (London Choral Celestial Jazz), 2003 (Medea — Mapping the Edge) text copyright © Amanda Dalton, Alison Fell and Bernardine Evaristo.

Content Warning: contains strong language and deals with themes of racism.

Cast and Credits

Written by Bernardine Evaristo

The Emperor’s Babe

• Zuleika – Michelle Asante
• Felix – Paul Chahidi
• Alba – Alex Tregear
• Valeria – Hannah Wood
• Tranio – Rick Warden
• Severus – Terence Anderson

Adapted by Jonathan Holloway

Hello Mum

• Kimisi – Nadine Marshall
• Keith – Jude Akuwudike
• Dexter – Alex Lanipekun

Madam Bitterfly and the Stockwell Diva

• Charmayne – Petra Letang
• Sonia – Sharon Duncan-Brewster
• Hortense – Dona Croll
• Rhona – Stephanie Turner
• Keisha – Clare Perkins
• Principal – Martin Hyder

Medea — Mapping the Edge

• Mildred – June Broughton
• Young Mildred – Tassia Messimeris
• Jamal – Sushil Chudasama
• Gerald – Martin Pirongs
• Nadia – Sara Powell
• Jason – Danny Seward
• Maddy – Lexi Strauss
• Texan – Deka Walmsley
• Narrator – David Fleeshman

On Top of the World

Read by Adjoa Andoh

London Choral Celestial Jazz

Read by Bernardine Evaristo

Profile: Bernardine Evaristo

Presented by Mark Coles