Showing results by narrator "Huw Parmenter" in All Categories

When Seb is offered a place on a radical retreat designed to solve the national crisis of teenage unhappiness, he is determined to change how people see him and make his parents proud. But as he finds himself drawn to the enigmatic Finn, Seb starts to question the true nature of the challenges they must undergo. The deeper into the programme the boys get, the more disturbing the assessments become, until it’s clear there may be no escape.

Nine men: each of them at a different stage of life, away from home, and striving - in the suburbs of Prague, in a cheap Cypriot hotel - to understand just what it means to be alive here and now. Tracing an arc from the spring of youth to the winter of old age, All That Man Is brings these separate lives together to show us men as they are - ludicrous and inarticulate, shocking and despicable; vital, pitiable, hilarious, and full of heartfelt longing.

The festive season isn't always happy for Tori Spring and her brother, Charlie. And this year's going to be harder than most. I used to think that difficult was better than boring, but I know better now.... I’m not going to think about the past few months, about Charlie and me and all of the sad. I’m going to block it all out just for today. 'Happy Christmas,' I say.

Barry can’t wait to tell his friends that they’ve been invited on his family caravan holiday to Plonkton. But the weekend by the sea doesn’t turn out to be the keelfest Barry was hoping for. It’s all his best mate Bunky’s fault for going and falling in love. Oh. My. Unkeelness!

There’s a new Loser in town, and Barry’s not happy about it. The only thing that’s keeping him going is a superkeel new drink from Feeko’s Supermarket. But then disaster strikes, and Barry has to turn detective to solve the mystery of the century: the case of the crumpled carton!

When Rosie's best friend has an affair with her husband, the consequences reverberate through the lives of two families. Relationships are torn apart, friendships shattered and childish innocence destroyed. Her daughter Daisy's fragile hold on reality begins to unravel when a letter arrives that opens old wounds. Rosie's son, Max, blames himself for everything that happened. And her ex-husband, Nick, has his own version of events.

Barry's class are off on a school trip to see a history of television exhibition, which Barry knows will be comperleeterly rubbish. But then he discovers that Future Ratboy (super-keel superhero TV show) is filmed in the same TV studios! All he has to do is find a way to sneak away and find the set.... Will Barry come up with an amazekeel plan? Will he get to audition for Future Ratboy? Will they get the best seats on the coach?

Barry’s mum has become a bit of celebrity, and now he can’t go anywhere without seeing a poster of her eating a chocolate digestive or wiggling her bum in a pair of jeans. It’s so annoy-embarrassing, and everyone at school is making fun of him. But you can’t keep Barry down for long.... With the help of his napkin collection, new girl Nancy Verkenwerken and a snail called Snailypoos, Barry is determined to prove once and for all that he is not a loser.

Cymbeline Igloo (yes, really!) has never been swimming. Not ever. Not once. But how hard can it be? He’s Googled front crawl, and he’s found his dad’s old pair of trunks. He’s totally ready. What he’s not ready for is the accident at the pool - or how it leads his mum to a sudden breakdown.

There’s a girl in Barry’s class who’s getting more laughs than him! But luckily, Barry immediately thinks up one of his brilliant and amazekeel plans to make sure he’ll have the final chuckle. All he needs is 30 boxes of Beard Flakes.

You know when someone's horrible to you in a dream and you wake up really annoyed with them? That’s what happened to me with my best friend Bunky. Barry has a new problem: Gordon Smugly—who’s got the most perfect name for himself ever in the history of having a name, because he looks like a Gordon and is smug and ugly—has stolen Barry’s best friend. Join Barry as he attempts to get Bunky back, organises a girly-scream voice test and tries to avoid seeing his teacher kissing his gran.

A furry, festive miracle who's there for you with a helping paw. Percy definitely isn't just for Christmas.... Percy is homeless, abandoned by his owner at an animal rescue centre on a cold winter's night. So when he finds a loving new home with Gail and her family, his deepest wish is that this time, it's forever. Gail hopes that Percy will be the little miracle that her family so desperately needs. Her young daughter, Jenny, is in and out of hospital, and she's only just holding things together with her husband, Simon.

Leo dreams about being a hero. In his imagination he is a fearsome gladiator, but he wants to be a hero in real life. When the boys at school dare Leo to do something he knows is wrong, he lets everybody down. How can he make things right again? A little dog called Jack Pepper is missing and it will take a true hero to find him and bring him home…

One stolen baby. Two desperate strangers. One night of terror. When Nina almost dies during a disastrous blind date, her life is saved by a waitress called Angel. But later that evening, Nina is surprised by a knock on the door. It’s Angel - and she’s pointing a gun at her. Minutes later, Angel’s younger brother, Lucas, turns up, covered in blood, shielding a stolen newborn baby in his arms. Nina is about to endure the longest night of her life - a night that will be filled with terror and lead her to take risks she would never have believed herself capable of....

At 16, Sam Macmillan is supposed to be thinking about girls, homework and his upcoming application to music college, not picking up the pieces after the school shooting that his brother Charlie committed. Yet as Sam desperately tries to hang on to the memories he has of his brother, the media storm surrounding their family threatens to destroy everything. And Sam has to question all he thought he knew about life, death, right and wrong.

Following hot on the paws from the best-selling A Pug Like Percy, the nation's favourite pug is back! And this time Percy has puppies.... Percy the pug has found a loving home with Gail, Simon and their daughter, Jenny. But now it's time for Percy's new puppies to fly the dog bed and become companions to someone in need - which turns out to be closer to home than the family first think.... On a visit to Gail's parents', Percy begins to suspect that all is not well with Eric, Gail's father.

When Gemma meets Aaron, she feels truly seen for the first time. Their love story is the intense kind. The written-in-the-stars, excluding-all-others kind. The kind you write songs about. But little by little their relationship takes over Gemma's life. What happens when being seen becomes being watched, and care becomes control? Told in both Gemma's and Aaron's words, this is a raw, moving exploration of gaslighting in teenage relationships that skewers our ideas of what love looks like.

When lost red squirrel Lucky finds himself in Albion Park, the native squirrels all around him are bigger, tougher, and much more... grey. He needs all the luck he can find to fit in, and even more to pass the Squirrel Trial that will give him a permanent place in the park. But when Lucky discovers a plot that threatens their home, he'll need more than just good fortune on his side…

When Nina almost dies during a disastrous blind date, her life is saved by a waitress called Angel. But later that evening, Nina is surprised by a knock on the door. It’s Angel - and she’s pointing a gun at her. Minutes later, Angel’s younger brother Lucas turns up, covered in blood, shielding a stolen newborn baby in his arms. Nina is about to endure the longest night of her life - a night that will be filled with terror and lead her to take risks she would never have believed herself capable of.