Keeping the Wolf Out: A BBC Radio full-cast crime series

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

Budapest, 1964. 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 eight episodes, Bertalan prepares to fight a turf war as he tries to find a child killer, investigates a seemingly straightforward case of GBH that leads him to a rogue cop, and enters the uncharted territory of Budapest's underground drugs scene after a rock musician is found dead.

His life is further complicated by the return of his old nemesis, Tibor Farkas, and soon both he and Franciska find themselves in the firing line as the corrupt cop turns his sights on them...

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.


The episodes in this collection are:
Gellert Hill
Spider's Web
Carnaby Street
Gypsy Dancers
Grandmother's Footsteps
Mad Dog
The Light of Dawn
The Great Society

Produced and directed by Toby Swift and Sasha Yevtushenko

Cast
Bertalan Lázár - Leo Bill
Franciska Lázár - Clare Corbett
József Szabados - Joseph Ayre
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
Tibor Farkas - Andy Linden
PuŠomori Žiga - Debbie Korley
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