Art audiobooks

Ken Dodd's Palace Of Laughter

By: Ken Dodd

Narrated by: Guests & Ken Dodd

Length: 1 hour 35 minutes

Abridged: No

Ken Dodd and a supporting cast give us Ken's unique look behind the scenes and the show at his fictional theatre, the Palace Of Laughter. Enjoy more hilarity from the Squire of Notty Ash in these four classic radio shows, recorded in 1986 and 1987 at the Wigan Little Theatre, the Southport Little Theatre, Crewe's Lyceum Theatre and the Garrick... Read more

Liver Birds - Anybody Here Seen Thingy

By: Carla Lane & Myra Taylor

Narrated by: Full Cast, Nerys Hughes & Polly James

Length: 1 hour 46 minutes

Abridged: No

These adaptations of four 1974 episodes of the BBC1 comedy series The Liver Birds feature two incompatible Liverpudlian girls, Beryl and Sandra. What they have in common are a tiny flat, boyfriend problems, and a passion for the latest fashion. In the title episode, it's Beryl's birthday, and Sandra is planning a surprise party for her. Among... Read more

Toby Tyler

By: James Otis

Narrated by: Amon Purinton

Length: 4 hours 36 minutes

Abridged: No

Who hasn’t dreamed of running away to a more exciting life? Toby Tyler is one boy who did just that, spending ten weeks working for the circus as it toured New England in the 1870s. But was this great adventure everything he dreamed it would be?Toby Tyler: Or, Ten Weeks with a Circus is a classic story beloved by generation after generation of... Read more

Lyrical Ballads

By: Samuel Taylor Coleridge & William Wordsworth

Narrated by: Full Cast & Mark Meadows

Length: 40 minutes

Abridged: No

A selection of poems from Wordsworth and Coleridge's 1798 collaboration, which marked the beginning of the English Romantic poetry movement. In Episode One, we hear Coleridge's 'Lewti' and Wordsworth's 'The Thorn', while in Episode Two the verses showcased are Coleridge's 'The Nightingale' and Wordsworth's 'Lucy' poems. In the final episode, we... Read more

Rapture Frequency

By: Abbie Spallen

Narrated by: Full Cast & Richard Dormer

Length: 58 minutes

Abridged: No

The Wire is BBC Radio 3's showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative. In Rapture Frequency, analyst Michael Shorthall is listening to the black box recording of an ill-fated transatlantic flight when he stumbles across an unexpected sound. Interference, white noise, or could it possibly be proof of something more... Read more

Rock Of Eye

By: Anita Sullivan

Narrated by: Allan Corduner, Catrin Stewart, Claire Cage, Li...

Length: 43 minutes

Abridged: No

Three elderly tailors - a trouser-maker, a coat-maker and a waistcoat-maker - have been commissioned to make a bespoke suit for an up-and-coming politician. They have worked together for decades but have only met very rarely, although increasingly, these days, at their colleagues' funerals. The suit has been designed by Mrs White, a mysterious... Read more

Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think of You

By: Molly Naylor

Narrated by: Bryan Dick, James Lailey, Jonathan Forbes, Sam ...

Length: 43 minutes

Abridged: No

How does it feel to have your world blown apart? Molly moves to London full of naive dreams, high hopes and on a quest to make her life just like the movies. Then on 7/7/2005 she finds herself on a tube train blown up by terrorists and her life is forced to take a different direction. Funny, frank and poetic; this is the true story of what... Read more

Dewey Eyed

By: Sarah Naomi Lee

Narrated by: Caroline Guthrie, Olivia Colman, Paul Rider & S...

Length: 43 minutes

Abridged: No

Philippa is a librarian from a long line of librarians. When her father dies and her mother loses her wits, Philippa tries the only language Vera understands, that of the Dewey cataloguing system, to guide her back to sanity. Starring Olivia Colman as Philippa, Sheila Reid as Vera, Caroline Guthrie as Sheila and Paul Rider as Alistair. Written... Read more

But If You Try Sometimes

By: Sarah Daniels

Narrated by: Alex Tregear, Amy Golden, Jelena Budimir & Lesl...

Length: 44 minutes

Abridged: No

Chloe has cerebral palsy and is certain she will lose her adored carer Rose, when Rose falls for an apparently perfect man. First broadcast in BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Drama slot. Starring Lesley Manville as Rose, Amy Golden as Chloe, Alex Tregear as Chloe's voice and Jelena Budimir as Alex. Written by Sarah Daniels. Director: Sally Avens. Read more

The Admirable Crichton

By: J.M. Barrie

Narrated by: Full Cast & Russell Tovey

Length: 56 minutes

Abridged: No

A BBC Radio adaptation of J. M. Barrie's classic satire about the changing fortunes of Crichton, the perfect butler. Liberal aristocrat Lord Loam favours a return to nature, with masters and servants living together as equals, but Crichton is the perfect butler and the perfect snob who adores the intricacies of the class system. He cannot help... Read more

The Nation's Favourite Lakeland Poems

By: Various

Narrated by: Full Cast

Length: 2 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

Enjoy the best of Lakeland poets Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey in this specially selected anthology, including The Two-Part Prelude, Wordsworth's own shortened version of his great autobiographical work The Prelude, and Coleridge's celebrated Kubla Khan. John Rowe, Alex Jennings and Stephen Critchlow read these perfect evocations of majestic... Read more

Beasts On The Lawn

By: Saki

Narrated by: Full Cast & Pippa Haywood

Length: 1 hour 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Beasts on the Lawn is a collection of Edwardian short stories by Saki (H. H. Munro) recycled and restaged in a modern day gated community for the far too wealthy for their own good. The tales are woven together by the character of Clovis, a security guard. She recalls the events of strange days and long nights. The five stories are: Tobermory,... Read more

Mark Watson's Live Address To The Nation (Complete)

By: Mark Watson

Narrated by: Mark Watson, Tim Key & Tom Basden

Length: 2 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

Following on from his hugely successful show Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better, Mark Watson's new series reignites his quest to improve the world, nimbly assisted by Tim Key and Tom Basden and with the additional help of the listening audience. Mark asks the big questions that are crucial to our understanding of ourselves and... Read more

The Chess Girls

By: Lavinia Greenlaw

Narrated by: Kerry Shale & Sally Orrock

Length: 43 minutes

Abridged: No

The emergence of the Polgar sisters in the 1970s and 80s rocked the chess world. In a heavily male dominated game, the three Hungarian girls broke record after record. The youngest, Judit, was talked of as a potential world champion. The Chess Girls is the story of their parents, Laszlo and Klara Polgar, and how they defied the Communist... Read more

The Art Of Monarchy

By: Will Gompertz

Narrated by: Will Gompertz

Length: 3 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

The Royal Collection is one of the most wide-ranging collections of art and artefacts in the world and provides an intriguing insight into the minds of the monarchs who have assembled it. In this series, BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz examines dozens of these unique objects, in a quest to 'use the Collection as a prism through which to better... Read more

Cecil Beaton In His Own Words

By: BBC & Cecil Beaton

Narrated by: Cecil Beaton

Length: 1 hour 21 minutes

Abridged: No

Cecil Beaton was a portrait and fashion photographer, as well as a diarist and Oscar-winning designer. Here he discusses his life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive:

At Home: Cecil Beaton, broadcast on BBC Radio, 7th May 1957 (featuring Hywel Davies)
Face To Face, broadcast on BBC Television, 18th February... Read more

Gorilla Beach

By: Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi

Narrated by: Emma Galvin

Length: 8 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: No

New York Times bestselling author and America’s favorite guidette, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi's latest novel set on the famed and fun-filled Jersey Shore!

Jersey Shore’s breakout star Snooki became a New York Times bestseller with her debut novel, A Shore Thing. Now she’s back for more in this fun follow-up novel. In Gorilla Beach, Gia and Bella... Read more

Torchwood Red Skies

By: Joseph Lidster

Narrated by: John Telfer

Length: 1 hour 18 minutes

Abridged: No

Jack Harness is in need of a holiday. He wants to get away from Torchwood, away from the human race - and where better to get completely away from it all than Cotter Paluni's World, a planet surrounded by deadly scarlet lightning and cut off from the entire universe? But there are some shocks in store for Jack: the 'Devil's World' might be... Read more

Leap Year Tales

By: Laura Marney, Ruth Thomas & Alan Spence

Narrated by: Gabriel Quigley, John Buick & Melody Grove

Length: 40 minutes

Abridged: No

A collection of three stories to mark the Leap Year by Laura Marney, Ruth Thomas and Alan Spence.

The Leap Year Tales are:

'Aw Wrong' by Laura Marney
Facing the imminent birth of their first child, a couple take steps to try to influence the course of nature.
Read by Gabriel Quigley.

'February Alone' by Ruth Thomas
An intended romantic lunch goes... Read more

The History Plays

By: Nigel Smith

Narrated by: Blake Harrison, Daniel Rigby, Fiona Allen, Imel...

Length: 2 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

The History Plays is a series of five two-hander plays by Vent author Nigel Smith, which are imagined conversations at key moments in recent history, moments that have permanently changed the British psyche.

Starting with Mick Jagger's conviction for drug possession; through the fragmented morality of John Stonehouse; the Indian summer of... Read more

O. Henry Stories

By: O. Henry

Narrated by: John Gerrasio

Length: 40 minutes

Abridged: No

A collection of three Christmas classics by a cherished American writer, to warm the soul and intrigue the listener with satisfyingly unexpected plot twists.

Episode 1: The Gift Of The Magi
A young couple struggle to find the money for a really special Christmas present for each other.

Episode 2: Mammon And The Archer
A young man is encouraged to... Read more

The Al Read Show 2

By: Ronnie Taylor

Narrated by: Al Read

Length: 1 hour 36 minutes

Abridged: No

The second collection of classic sketches from a star of the golden age of radio comedy. With his well-known catchphrases 'Right Monkey' and 'You'll be lucky, I say, you'll be lucky', the immortal Al Read drew on a rich vein of Northern humour to bring us the Johnny know-all, the nagging wife in the kitchen and the horrible little boy in the... Read more

The Sound Of Fear

By: Sean Street

Narrated by: Sean Street

Length: 27 minutes

Abridged: No

A door creaks, footsteps echo, someone's breathing - and we are terrified. But why? Sean Street investigates the psychology of fear, so potently sensitive to sound. Talking to musicians, writers, film-makers, neuro-scientists and sound researchers, he investigates how sounds trigger fear. He discovers the importance of context, asks whether... Read more

Both of Us

By: Ryan O'Neal, Jodee Blanco & Kent Carroll

Narrated by: Ryan O'Neal

Length: 6 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

RYAN O’NEAL AND FARRAH FAWCETT.
One of the most storied love affairs in Hollywood history, their romance has captivated fans and media alike for more than three decades. Fans of each other from afar, Ryan and Farrah met through her husband, Lee Majors, and fell passionately in love. Soon, however, reality threatened their happiness and they... Read more