Once Upon a Time...

Available for 29 days

As part of the BBC's 'Once Upon a Time...' week, we're meeting princesses, princes, wicked stepmothers... and a whole host of other characters in this fairy tale inspired edition of Words and Music. We're travelling back in time with readings from some of the earliest written versions of classic stories from fairy tale masters Hans Christian Anderson, The Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault; and we're also bang up to date with modern retellings from Nikita Gill and Jeanette Winterson There's music from Tchaikovsky's ballet Sleeping Beauty and Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. We're visiting Bluebeard's Castle with music from Bartok and Angela Carter, The Land of Nod in Robert Louis Stevenson's poem, and grandma with Little Red Riding Hood. The readers are Pearce Quigley and Lydia Wilson Producer: Jessica Treen Readings: Charles Perrault – Cinderella AE Stallings – Fairy tale Logic Giambattista Basile - How The Tale Came to Be Told Clara Doty Bates – Little Red Riding Hood William Shakespeare – A Midsummer Night’s Dream Ella McLeod – Rapunzella Robert Louis Stevenson- The Land of Nod Hans Christian Anderson – The Little Mermaid Andrew Lang- Rumpelstiltkin Angela Carter – The Bloody Chamber Tom Hood – The Sleeping Beauty Christina Rosetti – The Prince’s Progress Angela Carter – The Frog Maiden Evelyn Sharp – The Princess and the Poet Ben Johnson – The Fairy Beam Upon You Jeanette Winterson – Sexing the Cherry Robert Browning – Pied Piper Nikita Gill – The Miller’s Daughter The BBC’s ‘Once Upon a Time…’ week celebrates fairytales and storytelling in partnership with the British Library. The British Library’s major new exhibition Fairy Tales runs from 27th March – 23rd August 2026.