I first saw Katy Darby at the Betsey Trotwood pub, helping launch of the Overheard story collection early in the year. In between filming the event, she found time to read a story of her own – in plausible Peckham accent and dialect – called ‘The Door In The Wall’. Inspiration and profound disappointment collide in this tale, set in a classroom and in a secretish passage beneath. It’s a London story, and equally, Katy’s brace of historical tales for Radio 4, the first of which on Sunday at 7.45 pm, are both as London as yellow clay.

Some of you will know Katy as the driving force behind the monthly live reading event Liars’ League. Or as the author of The Unpierced Heart (originally published as The Whores’ Asylum) which came out last year. But Cries Of London is her radio debut.

The first story, ‘The Tyburn Jig’, is set in 1774, and follows a young groom Fred’s journey from Newgate Prison to his terminal destination at the gallows, as seen through the eyes of Sarah, his soon-to-be widow. Beyond that, I shan’t give anything away. Reader Hattie Morahan doesn’t give too much away, either, until the time is right, keeping the narrative ‘above the surface’ while betrayal, sex and murder flow underground like the River Fleet.

Matthew Hathersedge, the character in the second tale, aspires to something more elevated than Sarah. ‘On Apollonian Shores’ has a Regency flavour. Hathersedge – not-very-good poet and even worse suicide – is disappointed by life. He longs for the critical acclaim – and doubtless the house – once accorded to “that Cockney upstart Keats” but finds neither forthcoming. Will fate take a hand? You’ll have to listen as David Bamber steers you through the mess of Hathersedge’s life.

Production is always a ‘horse for courses’ affair, and for Cries Of London we’ve gone for a traditional ‘unplugged’ approach. Nothing between the listener and Katy’s energetic and witty storytelling and Hattie and David’s classy interpretations. Although the stories are introduced with the help of a familiar tune from the church bells of St Clement Danes …

And you can read Katy’s much livelier account of the process here.