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The first episode of Nutshell by the acclaimed author Ian McEwan and read by the actor Tim McInnerny.

Ian McEwan's latest novel updates the story of Hamlet to a townhouse in modern day London. As at Elsinore - betrayal and murder are rife. Trudy plans to poison her husband John and elope with her lover Claude. There is however a witness to the plot - Trudy's as yet unborn child.

'Bounded in the nutshell' of Trudy's womb, the foetus is forced to eavesdrop on his mother Ger(Trudy) and her lover, property-developer Claude, as they plan to murder his father, a hapless poet called John Cairncross. The ambitious but deeply banal Claude is of course brother to John and, consequently, villainous uncle to our unborn narrator. Claude and Trudy devise an elaborate facade involving anti-freeze and a great many props to cover their tracks and suggest that John's death was suicide.

As witness to all these goings-ons, the nine-month old resident of Trudy's womb keeps up a running commentary as he muses on his own future and decides how he can subvert their plan and avenge the murder. Nutshell's Denmark is an elegant Georgian terraced house in London St. John's Wood that has become shabby and dilapidated, but Claude has designs on it.

Tim McInnerny is known for his many roles on stage and screen appearing in films such Johnny English and TV such as Sherlock and the recent National Treasure. Early in his career he featured as Lord Percy Percy and Captain Darling in the Blackadder series.

Ian McEwan is a critically acclaimed author. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year, The Cement Garden, Enduring Love, Amsterdam which won the 1998 Booker Prize, Atonement, Saturday, On Chesil Beach, Solar and The Children Act.