
Nazis: The Road to Power
The story of how in just 13 years, Hitler led a fringe sect with less than a hundred members and outlandish ideas to be the dominant force in German politics.
Latest episodes

Mar 1, 2023 • 27min
16. Make Germany Great Again
Hitler is now Chancellor but what matters is that Hermann Goring is Minister of the Interior with 50,000 policemen at his disposal. They immediately crack down on all Communists, placing their Members of Parliament into ‘protective custody’ – detention for their own safety – in a new camp near a Bavarian village called Dachau. But when the Reichstag, the Parliament Building, catches fire, Hitler decides this Red Uprising must be nipped in the bud. But who started the fire?Starring Tom Mothersdale as Adolf Hitler, Aditomiwa Edun as Sefton Delmer, Scott Karim as Hermann Göring and featuring Oscar Batterham as Rudolf Diels, Head of the Prussian Political Police.The company:
Ernst Röhm & Gregor Strasser - JOSEPH ALESSI
Emil Maurice & Rudolf Diels - OSCAR BATTERHAM
Gottfried Feder & Otto Meissner - EDWARD BENNETT
Helene Bechstein - NANCY CARROLL
King Ludwig & Franz von Papen - WILLIAM CHUBB
Dorothy Thompson - LAURA DONNELLY
Sefton Delmer - ADITOMIWA EDUN
Kaiser Wilhelm & Karl Alexander von Müller - NICHOLAS FARRELL
Leni Hanfstaengl & Anni Winter - MELODY GROVE
President Hindenburg - DEREK JACOBI
Putzi Hanfastaengl - COREY JOHNSON
Hermann Göring - SCOTT KARIM
Rudolf Hess - GEORGE KEMP
Else Janke & Mimi Reiter - SORCHA KENNEDY
Oskar von Hindenburg - JACK LASKEY
Sinclair Lewis - FORBES MASSON
Kurt Eisner & Joachim von Ribbentrop - MICHAEL MALONEY
Hermine Hoffman - LYNNE MILLER
Adolf Hitler - TOM MOTHERSDALE
Magda Goebbels - SHANAYA RAFAAT
Captain Mayr - TOBY STEPHENS
Geli Raubal - TANVI VIRMANI
Joseph Goebbels - ALEXANDER VLAHOS
General Ludendorff and Kurt von Schleicher - ANDREW WOODALL
The Narrator is JULIET STEVENSONSound designer – ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager – MARK SMITH
Casting Director – GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score – METAPHOR MUSIC
Executive Producer – EDWARD CROZIER
Writer and Director – JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer – NICHOLAS NEWTONA Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Feb 27, 2023 • 25min
15. Forwards with God
With Franz von Papen now willing to act as Vice Chancellor, alongside Hitler as Chancellor, can he convince Alfred Hugenberg to bring his 51 Nationalist MPs into coalition with the Nazi Party? Von Papen believes that together they will box Hitler in, that they will be “hiring him” – in fact, the Nazis demand is for merely two cabinet seats. But suddenly there’s talk of a military coup to forestall this - will President Hindenburg finally agree to appoint Hitler as Chancellor?Starring Derek Jacobi as President Hindenburg, Tom Mothersdale as Adolf Hitler, Aditomiwa Edun as Sefton Delmer, and featuring Forbes Masson as Alfred Hugenberg and Edward Bennett as Otto von Meissner, the President’s Chief of Staff.Cast:
President Hindenburg - DEREK JACOBI
Adolf Hitler - TOM MOTHERSDALE
Sefton Delmer - ADITOMIWA EDUN
Gregor Strasser - JOSEPH ALESSI
Heinrich Himmler - OSCAR BATTERHAM
Otto Meissner - EDWARD BENNETT
Franz von Papen - WILLIAM CHUBB
Putzi Hanfastaengl - COREY JOHNSON
Herman Göring - SCOTT KARIM
Oskar von Hindenburg & Theodor Duesterberg - JACK LASKEY
Joachim von Ribbentrop - MICHAEL MALONEY
Alfred Hugenberg – FORBES MASSON
Magda Goebbels - SHANAYA RAFAAT
Joseph Goebbels - ALEXANDER VLAHOS
Kurt von Schleicher - ANDREW WOODALL
The Narrator is JULIET STEVENSONSound designer – ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager – MARK SMITH
Casting Director – GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score – METAPHOR MUSIC
Writer and Director – JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer – NICHOLAS NEWTONA Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Feb 22, 2023 • 24min
14. How Was the Venison?
The current Chancellor, General Kurt von Schleicher, and the previous, Franz von Papen, are both determined to unseat each other – once allies, they are now sworn enemies, plotting in corridors. President Hindenburg would rather see von Papen restored to the post but, like von Schleicher, he cannot form a governing majority. Meanwhile the President’s son, Oskar, once a close friend of von Schleicher, starts to see a way through...and it involves the Nazi Party.Starring Derek Jacobi as President Hindenburg, Jack Laskey as Oskar von Hindenburg, Tom Mothersdale as Adolf Hitler and featuring Aditomiwa Edun as Sefton Delmer.Cast:
President Hindenburg - DEREK JACOBI
Oskar von Hindenburg - JACK LASKEY
Adolf Hitler - TOM MOTHERSDALE
Sefton Delmer - ADITOMIWA EDUN
Gregor Strasser - JOSEPH ALESSI
Heinrich Himmler - OSCAR BATTERHAM
Otto Meissner - EDWARD BENNETT
Franz von Papen - WILLIAM CHUBB
Putzi Hanfastaengl - COREY JOHNSON
Herman Göring - SCOTT KARIM
Rudolf Hess - GEORGE KEMP
Joachim von Ribbentrop - MICHAEL MALONEY
Magda Goebbels - SHANAYA RAFAAT
Joseph Goebbels - ALEXANDER VLAHOS
Kurt von Schleicher - ANDREW WOODALL
The Narrator is JULIET STEVENSONSound designer – ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager – MARK SMITH
Casting Director – GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score – METAPHOR MUSIC
Writer and Director – JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer – NICHOLAS NEWTONA Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Feb 20, 2023 • 25min
13. Hitler? Whatever Happened To Him?
By 1932, the Nazis have 230 Members of Parliament, the largest single group but no-one will invite them into coalition and President Hindenburg refuses to even contemplate appointing Hitler as Chancellor. Yet Hitler flatly refuses any arrangement where he is not Chancellor – Vice-Chancellor will not suffice. But so many of his party members, his stormtroopers have been waiting for government jobs, government salaries – they’re pushing hard for the compromise. Can Hitler hold them off for long enough to secure total power?Starring Derek Jacobi as President Hindenburg, Scott Karim as Hermann Goring, Andrew Woodall as von Schleicher, Tom Mothersdale as Adolf Hitler and featuring Aditomiwa Edun as the Daily Express Berlin Correspondent, Sefton Delmer.Cast:
President Hindenberg - DEREK JACOBI
Sefton Delmer - ADITOMIWA EDUN
Adolf Hitler - TOM MOTHERSDALE
Gregor Strasser - JOSEPH ALESSI
Heinrich Himmler - OSCAR BATTERHAM
Otto Meissner - EDWARD BENNETT
Franz von Papen - WILLIAM CHUBB
Putzi Hanfastaengl - COREY JOHNSON
Herman Göring - SCOTT KARIM
Rudolf Hess - GEORGE KEMP
Oskar von Hindenberg - JACK LASKEY
Joachim von Ribbentrop - MICHAEL MALONEY
Magda Goebbels - SHANAYA RAFAAT
Joseph Goebbels - ALEXANDER VLAHOS
Kurt von Schleicher - ANDREW WOODALL
The Narrator is JULIET STEVENSONSound designer – ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager – MARK SMITH
Casting Director – GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score – METAPHOR MUSIC
Writer and Director – JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer – NICHOLAS NEWTONA Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Feb 15, 2023 • 22min
12. Hitler Over Germany
When Hitler encounters an elegant, divorced woman at his Berlin hotel, he finds that he is unexpectedly drawn to her. Unfortunately, what he doesn’t know is that Magda Quandt is already involved with his Head of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. But that isn’t Goebbels’ only headache: the first great love of Magda’s life was Chaim Arlosoroff, fervent Zionist. Nevertheless Hitler’s Deputy, Rudolf Hess, can see a perfect compromise: if Joseph and Magda marry, she will thus become the perfect companion for a Führer who is ‘married to Germany’.Starring Shanaya Rafaat as Magda Goebbels, Alexander Vlahos as Joseph Goebbels, Tom Mothersdale as Adolf Hitler and featuring George Kemp as Rudolf Hess.Cast:
Geli Raubal - TANVI VIRMANI
Magda Goebbels - SHANAYA RAFAAT
Adolf Hitler - TOM MOTHERSDALE
Emil Maurice - OSCAR BATTERHAM
Otto Meissner - EDWARD BENNETT
Sefton Delmer - ADITOMIWA EDUN
Anni Winter - MELODY GROVE
Putzi Hanfastaengl - COREY JOHNSON
Herman Göring - SCOTT KARIM
Rudolf Hess - GEORGE KEMP
Mimi Reiter - SORCHA KENNEDY
Joseph Goebbels - ALEXANDER VLAHOS
Other parts were played by: JOSEPH ALESSI, WILLIAM CHUBB, JACK LASKEY, MICHAEL MALONEY, LYNNE MILLER and ANDREW WOODALL
The Narrator is JULIET STEVENSONSound designer – ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager – MARK SMITH
Casting Director – GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score – METAPHOR MUSIC
Writer and Director – JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer – NICHOLAS NEWTONA Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Feb 13, 2023 • 23min
11. Germany is My Wife
Hitler’s strange dealings with the opposite sex come into sharp focus when his niece, aged 23, living in Hitler’s apartment, shoots herself. Geli first moved in when she was 18 but from that moment on, Hitler refuses to let her go out on her own, even chaperoned. He nurtures hopes that she will become an opera singer and, enraged by the very idea, refuses her permission to marry. Was it suicide? Was it murder? Was it an accident?Starring Melody Grove as Anni Winter, Hitler’s housekeeper, Alexander Vlahos as Joseph Goebbels, Tom Mothersdale as Adolf Hitler and featuring Tanvi Virmani as Geli Raubal.Cast:
Geli Raubal - TANVI VIRMANI
Magda Goebbels - SHANAYA RAFAAT
Adolf Hitler - TOM MOTHERSDALE
Emil Maurice - OSCAR BATTERHAM
Otto Meissner - EDWARD BENNETT
Sefton Delmer - ADITOMIWA EDUN
Anni Winter - MELODY GROVE
Putzi Hanfastaengl - COREY JOHNSON
Herman Göring - SCOTT KARIM
Rudolf Hess - GEORGE KEMP
Mimi Reiter - SORCHA KENNEDY
Joseph Goebbels - ALEXANDER VLAHOS
Other parts were played by: JOSEPH ALESSI, WILLIAM CHUBB, JACK LASKEY, MICHAEL MALONEY, LYNNE MILLER and ANDREW WOODALL
The Narrator is JULIET STEVENSONSound designer – ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager – MARK SMITH
Casting Director – GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score – METAPHOR MUSIC
Writer and Director – JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer – NICHOLAS NEWTONA Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Feb 8, 2023 • 25min
10. The Little Man
On the first sitting of the new Reichstag, the 107 Nazi Members of Parliament deliberately create chaos. But with the Nazis now the second largest group in Parliament, foreign newspapers have to start taking Hitler seriously – even if he can be hard to pin down. Rarely rising before 11am, and not often in his office, he’s more usually to be found in a nearby café, cramming his face with cream cakes. One way or another, Dorothy must land an interview with him.Starring Laura Donnelly as Dorothy Thompson, Alexander Vlahos as Joseph Goebbels, Tom Mothersdale as Adolf Hitler and Corey Johnson as Putzi Hanfstaengl.Cast:
Dorothy Thompson - LAURA DONNELLY
Adolf Hitler - TOM MOTHERSDALE
Gregor Strasser - JOSEPH ALESSI
Heinrich Himmler - OSCAR BATTERHAM
Sefton Delmer - ADITOMIWA EDUN
Putzi Hanfastaengl - COREY JOHNSON
Herman Göring - SCOTT KARIM
Rudolf Hess - GEORGE KEMP
Sinclair Lewis - FORBES MASSON
Joseph Goebbels - ALEXANDER VLAHOS
Other parts were played by: EDWARD BENNETT, WILLIAM CHUBB, MELODY GROVE, SORCHA KENNEDY, JACK LASKEY, MICHAEL MALONEY, LYNNE MILLER and ANDREW WOODALL
The Narrator is JULIET STEVENSONSound designer – ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager – MARK SMITH
Casting Director – GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score – METAPHOR MUSIC
Writer and Director – JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer – NICHOLAS NEWTONA Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Feb 6, 2023 • 26min
9. National Socialist or Social Nationalist?
By 1929, Berlin may be cross-dressing and dancing to jazz but governments still rise and fall with banana-republican regularity. As Chief Foreign Correspondent for the New York Post, it’s Dorothy Thompson’s job to report on this maelstrom. And in Berlin she meets (and too quickly marries) Sinclair Lewis, novelist, alcoholic and soon-to-be Nobel Laureate. Meanwhile, Joseph Goebbels, now Party District Chief for Berlin is generating daily street disturbances, Jewish-owned department stores are one of his favourite targets. And now forced to choose between Hitler’s Nationalism and Strasser’s Socialism, which way will he jump?Starring Laura Donnelly as Dorothy Thompson, Alexander Vlahos as Joseph Goebbels, Tom Mothersdale as Adolf Hitler and Forbes Masson as Sinclair Lewis.Cast:
Dorothy Thompson - LAURA DONNELLY
Adolf Hitler - TOM MOTHERSDALE
Gregor Strasser - JOSEPH ALESSI
Heinrich Himmler - OSCAR BATTERHAM
Sefton Delmer - ADITOMIWA EDUN
Putzi Hanfastaengl - COREY JOHNSON
Herman Göring - SCOTT KARIM
Rudolf Hess - GEORGE KEMP
Sinclair Lewis - FORBES MASSON
Joseph Goebbels - ALEXANDER VLAHOS
Other parts were played by: EDWARD BENNETT, WILLIAM CHUBB, MELODY GROVE, SORCHA KENNEDY,
JACK LASKEY, MICHAEL MALONEY, LYNNE MILLER and ANDREW WOODALL
The Narrator is JULIET STEVENSONSound designer – ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager – MARK SMITH
Casting Director – GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score – METAPHOR MUSIC
Writer and Director – JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer – NICHOLAS NEWTONA Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Feb 1, 2023 • 26min
8. The Big Lie
Released after just six months in prison, Hitler must now renounce violence and vow that the Nazi Party will seek power through the ballot box. But his speeches are still vitriolic and he is soon banned from public speaking again. Goebbels is drawn deeper into the party faction who advocate the Socialist in ‘National Socialist’ but how will he react when Hitler personally writes to him, seeking to bring him closer to his own standpoint? And will it mean the end of his relationship with Else?Starring Alexander Vlahos as Joseph Goebbels, Tom Mothersdale as Adolf Hitler and featuring Joseph Alessi as Gregor Strasser, leader of the Nazis’ Socialist faction.Cast:
Joseph Goebbels - ALEXANDER VLAHOS
Adolf Hitler - TOM MOTHERSDALE
Gregor Strasser - JOSEPH ALESSI
Emil Maurice & Rudolf Diels - OSCAR BATTERHAM
Helene Bechstein - NANCY CARROLL
Otto von Lossow - NICHOLAS FARRELL
Leni Hanfstaengl - MELODY GROVE
Putzi Hanfastaengl - COREY JOHNSON
Herman Göring - SCOTT KARIM
Rudolf Hess - GEORGE KEMP
Else Janke - SORCHA KENNEDY
Hermine Hoffman - LYNNE MILLER
General Ludendorff - ANDREW WOODALL
Other parts were played by: EDWARD BENNETT, WILLIAM CHUBB, JACK LASKEY,
FORBES MASSON and MICHAEL MALONEY
The Narrator is JULIET STEVENSONSound designer – ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager – MARK SMITH
Casting Director – GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score – METAPHOR MUSIC
Writer and Director – JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer – NICHOLAS NEWTONA Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Jan 30, 2023 • 24min
7. Write the Bitterness Out of Your Soul
The podcast explores Joseph Goebbels' journey toward the Nazi Party, while Hitler defends himself in court after his failed coup. It discusses Hitler's address to the court, controversy surrounding him, his time in prison, and his physical appearance.