1. Meet Adrian

Sue Townsend's hilarious and heart-breaking chronicle of a teenager growing up in the Midlands in the 1980s.

It's 1981 and Margaret Thatcher is in power; Britain is at war in the Falklands and teenagers are growing up in a world without mobile phones or computer games.

While his parents are downstairs, drinking, smoking and arguing about their failing marriage, Adrian is upstairs in his bedroom listening to ABBA, reading great works of literature, writing poems, and penning letters to the BBC.

Many challenges life throws at him - including regular beatings from the school bully, unrequited love, raging hormones, a severe case of acne and numerous rejection letters.

Yet Adrian soldiers on bravely and wins a place in our hearts with his charming naïveté.

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ is the first book in the Adrian Mole series of comedic-fiction.

Abridged in ten parts by Sara Davies.

Read by Harry McEntire.

Producer: Alexa Moore

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in September 2017.