Lesley Sharp and Toby Jones star in Ursula Le Guin dramas for Radio Four

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Radio Four has announced TX details of three programmes related to SF author Ursula Le Guin.

Documentary Ursula le Guin At 85 includes contributions from the likes of Neil Gaiman and Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell. It will be transmitted on 9 April.

Then there are two dramas.

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The first is an adaptation of Le Guin’s Hugo-winning 1969 novel The Left Hand Of Darkness, set on a planet whose inhabitants can all become both male and female – a world in which everyone can be a mother, and everyone can be a father. The cast includes Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Lesley Sharp (Scott & Bailey, The Full Monty, Naked), and Toby Jones (The Hunger Games, Berberian Sound Studio). It's due to air at 3.00pm on 12 April.

Finally, they’re also airing a dramatisation of Le Guin's Earthsea cycle, which draws on the first three books from the series: A Wizard Of Earthsea, The Tombs Of Atuan and The Farthest Shore. Three different actors play protagonist Ged at different ages: Shaun Dooley (Misfits’ probation officer Greg), James McArdle and child actor Kasper Hilton-Hille. Toby Jones also features in the cast of this adaptation, which will be broadcast on 27 April at 6.00pm.

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Ian Berriman
Ian Berriman
Deputy Editor, SFX

Ian Berriman has been working for SFX – the world's leading sci-fi, fantasy and horror magazine – since March 2002. He's also a regular writer for Electronic Sound. Other publications he's contributed to include Total Film, When Saturday Comes, Retro Pop, Horrorville, and What DVD. A life-long Doctor Who fan, he's also a supporter of Hull City, and live-tweets along to BBC Four's Top Of The Pops repeats from his @TOTPFacts account.