Performance audiobooks

Atching Tan

By: Dan Allum

Narrated by: Dean Loveridge, Maryanne Loveridge & Sharon Lov...

Length: 44 minutes

Abridged: No

A BBC Radio 4 drama by Dan Allum, ‘Atching Tan’ was recorded on location on a Traveller site, with all Traveller parts cast from the Traveller community. Originally broadcast as the ‘Afternoon Play’ on 23 November 2010. Lovvie Arkley is torn. Does she marry childhood sweetheart Nelius and live a traditional yet isolated Traveller life? Or does... Read more

On The Ceiling (BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play)

By: Nigel Planer

Narrated by: Full Cast & Phil Daniels

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

High up on the wooden scaffolding tower of the Sistine Chapel, two fresco plasterers get on with the day’s work preparing the ceiling for their boss Michelangelo who has not bothered to turn up for work again. As they do so, they bemoan the uselessness of the great master. Pope Julius and Cardinal Alidosi visit the chapel to inspect the... Read more

The Gospel of Luke

By: Various

Narrated by: Sheila Hancock

Length: 2 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

'The Gospel of Luke': Sheila Hancock reads St Luke's account of the life and teachings of Jesus. Specially composed music is included. The readings were part of BBC Radio 4's series of 341 daily episodes of the Bible, broadcast in 1991 and 1992. Abridged by Hugh Hayes. 'The New Testament': These abridged readings of the New Testament are... Read more

Perpetual Light (BBC Radio 3 Drama On 3)

By: Melissa Murray

Narrated by: Claire Price & Sian Thomas

Length: 1 hour 28 minutes

Abridged: No

A BBC Radio 3 Sci-Fi drama by Melissa Murray set in the very-near future. When William Hellier dies, his wife creates an avatar of him and has it uploaded onto a cyberspace memorial site. But is he software? Or is his soul trapped in the machine? ‘Perpetual Light’ was originally broadcast in the ‘Drama on 3’ slot on 5 December 2010. A new way... Read more

Cabin Pressure: Molokai

By: John Finnemore

Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch, Full Cast, John Finnemore...

Length: 27 minutes

Abridged: No

Stephanie Cole, Benedict Cumberbatch, Roger Allam and John Finnemore star in the hit sitcom about the tiny charter airline for whom no job is too small, but many, many jobs are too difficult.

In this festive special, it's Christmas morning on board MJN Air, so get dressed, you merry gentlemen! But when Carolyn decides to schedule an extra... Read more

The Gospel of Mark

By: Various

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson

Length: 1 hour 9 minutes

Abridged: No

'The Gospel of Mark': Juliet Stevenson reads St Mark's account of the life and teachings of Jesus. Specially composed music is included. The readings were part of BBC Radio 4's series of 341 daily episodes of the Bible, broadcast in 1991 and 1992. Abridged by Michael Jones. 'The New Testament': These abridged readings of the New Testament are... Read more

The Gospel of Matthew

By: Various

Narrated by: Derek Jacobi

Length: 1 hour 33 minutes

Abridged: No

'The Gospel of Matthew': Derek Jacobi reads St Matthew's account of the life and teachings of Jesus. Specially composed music is included. The readings were part of BBC Radio 4's series of 341 daily episodes of the Bible, broadcast in 1991 and 1992. Abridged by Catherine Czerkawska. 'The New Testament': These abridged readings of the New... Read more

NPR American Chronicles: The Civil War

By: NPR

Narrated by: Neal Conan

Length: 2 hours 59 minutes

Abridged: No

NPR captures the battlefield action, the personal struggles, and the moral dilemmas of the war that pitted brother against brother (and sometimes sister) and friend against friend. This revealing collection of Civil War stories features gripping history, expert commentary, and unforgettable voices:

Shelby Foote reflects on the southern... Read more

Captain Blood

By: Rafael Sabatini & Jerry Robbins

Narrated by: Jerry Robbins & The Colonial Radio Players

Length: 6 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

Captain Blood is the story of Dr. Peter Blood, an Irish physician who was once a sailor and a soldier. In the aftermath of the Monmouth rebellion, Dr. Blood is arrested for treason. While he did not actually participate in the rebellion, rather he aids a wounded rebel, he is tried and convicted nonetheless. The sentence for treason is death, but... Read more

Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper

By: Mark Twain & M. J. Elliott

Narrated by: Jerry Robbins, Anastas Varinos, Isaac Bean & Th...

Length: 1 hour 43 minutes

Abridged: No

In this faithful adaptation of Mark Twain's immortal classic, two boys, one a pauper and the other a prince, discover that they share an incredible likeness and accidentally find their roles in life reversed. The young prince must now contend with London's criminals, vagabonds and lunatics, while the pauper finds that he has a country to run,... Read more

Henceforward...

By: Alan Ayckbourn

Narrated by: Jack Davenport, Jared Harris, Anne Heche, Paula...

Length: 2 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

Starring Anne Heche and Jared Harris, the hilarious Henceforward... is one of Alan Ayckbourn’s most unusual works. In the near-future, a composer with creative block tries to re-unite with his estranged wife and daughter, hoping their reconciliation will free his mind to create his greatest musical masterpiece. But his own erratic impulses... Read more

The Bungler

By: Molière

Narrated by: Richard Easton, Adam Godley, Alan Mandell, Daki...

Length: 2 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

In 17th Century Sicily, a clever valet named Mascarille tries to help his boss Lélie win the girl of his dreams -- only to find that Lélie is a monumental dunce who ruins every one of his intricate schemes. Undaunted, Mascarille invents progressively wilder plots, only to see his best-laid plans go very awry in Molière's The Bungler. Translated... Read more

Torchwood Department X

By: James Goss

Narrated by: Kai Owen

Length: 2 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

G.R. Owen is the last of Cardiff’s old department stores. Times are hard and the ancient firm has gone into administration. But who are the Administrators? What goes on behind the shutters at night? And why are customers disappearing? Torchwood are already investigating; G.R. Owen is the site of their oldest unsolved cases, and Jack is... Read more

Torchwood Ghost Train

By: James Goss

Narrated by: Kai Owen

Length: 2 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

It’s not easy being Rhys Williams. You’re married to the sexiest woman in Torchwood. She saves the world for a living, you move lorries round in a timely fashion. Suddenly, you’ve got a mystery of your own. Oh, it starts off being about missing fridges. But it leads to a midnight train pulling into an abandoned platform at Cardiff Station.... Read more

The Marvelous Land of Oz

By: L. Frank Baum & Jerry Robbins

Narrated by: Jerry Robbins & The Colonial Radio Players

Length: 2 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

Tip, a young Gillikin boy, runs away from his cruel guardian, the wicked witch Mombi. He meets up with the Scarecrow, now ruler of the Emerald City, the Tin Woodman, many new friends, and an army of girls who want to overthrow the Scarecrow. Before it's over, Tip finds out that he is part of a dark secret from Oz's past. Read more

The Far Pavilions

By: M.M. Kaye

Narrated by: Blake Ritson & Full Cast

Length: 4 hours 33 minutes

Abridged: No

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of M.M. Kaye’s epic novel of love and war. M.M. Kaye’s masterwork is a vast, rich and vibrant tapestry of love and war that spans over twenty years, moving from the foothills of the Himalayas, to the burning plains, to the besieged British Mission in Kabul. It begins in 1857 when, following the Indian... Read more

The Day That Lehman Died

By: Matthew Solon

Narrated by: John Shea, John Rothman, Rob Campbell & Mark La...

Length: 56 minutes

Abridged: No

A BBC World Play written by Matthew Solon and directed by John Dryden. On 15 September 2008, Lehman Brothers, one of the oldest and largest investment banks in the world, with its headquarters in New York, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It was the largest bankruptcy filed in US history and sent the already unstable global financial... Read more

We Happened to Be Passing

By: David Nobbs

Narrated by: Hugo Chandor, James Nickerson, Kerry Shale, Mag...

Length: 43 minutes

Abridged: No

A wonderfully perceptive BBC Radio 4 comedy of manners and international relations written by David Nobbs (writer of 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin' and 'A Bit of a Do'). Originally broadcast as the ‘Afternoon Play’ on 24 September 2010. It is a quiet Saturday morning in the Hinchcliffe home. Tony and Sal, tired after a week of work,... Read more

Hay Fever (Classic Radio Theatre)

By: Noël Coward

Narrated by: Full Cast, Peggy Ashcroft & Tony Britton

Length: 1 hour 27 minutes

Abridged: No

Judith Bliss is a famous actress who, after a string of successful roles, has retired to her country retreat. Missing the adulation of her public, she has has invited a fan over for a weekend of uninterrupted adoration - unaware that the rest of her family has company arriving too. Hoping for a delightful weekend, the four unwitting visitors... Read more

The Greengrocer's Apostrophe

By: Anneliese Mackintosh, Diana Hendry & Ronald Frame

Narrated by: James Anthony Pearson

Length: 40 minutes

Abridged: No

A collection of three comic tales from BBC Radio 4, ‘The Greengrocer’s Apostrophe’, inspired by those hand-written signs offering ‘Apple's and Banana's’ which can be found in every town in Britain. Originally broadcast in the ‘Afternoon Reading’ slots from 28-30 September 2010. ‘Penny's from Heaven’ by Anneliese Mackintosh: James Anthony... Read more

Philip and Sydney

By: Alan Pollock

Narrated by: Gunnar Cauthrey, John Rowe, Melody Grove, Pip C...

Length: 43 minutes

Abridged: No

In 'This be the Verse', the poet Philip Larkin famously bemoans the impact parents have on their children. In ‘Philip and Sydney’, playwright, translator and screenwriter Alan Pollock uncovers some of the reasons why Larkin may have had such a profound sense of anguish. In 1937, Philip Larkin's father, Sydney, took him on holiday to Germany.... Read more

Walter Now (BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play)

By: David Cook

Narrated by: Ian McKellen

Length: 56 minutes

Abridged: No

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation starring Sir Ian McKellen, written by David Cook as follow-up to his 1982 Channel 4 social commentary drama, ‘Walter’, about a man with learning difficulties. ‘Walter Now’ was originally broadcast as the ‘Saturday Play’ on 10 January 2009 and repeated on 25 September 2010. In November 1982, Channel 4... Read more

Caesar Price Our Lord

By: Fin Kennedy

Narrated by: Aidan Parsons, Emma Cunniffe & Lee Ingleby

Length: 43 minutes

Abridged: No

A BBC Radio 4 drama by Fin Kennedy, set in London in the near future, about Caesar Price, an illusionist who has reproduced nearly all of the miracles of Jesus and built a massive cult following. Is he prepared for what will happen when he decides to stage the Crucifixion? Originally transmitted on 26 September 2008, and re-broadcast as the... Read more

Mark Twain's Niagara (BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Reading)

By: Mark Twain

Narrated by: Stuart Milligan

Length: 13 minutes

Abridged: No

In ‘Niagara’, the McWilliamses plan a day trip to those intrepid Falls to tramp exciting trails and meet some friendly Red Indians. But the best laid plans... Read by Stuart Milligan and produced by Duncan Minshull. Originally broadcast in the ‘Afternoon Reading’ slot on BBC Radio 4 on 9 November 2010, to accompany the 'Autobiography of Mark... Read more