Art audiobooks

The Archers

By: Joanna Toye

Narrated by: Stella Gonet

Length: 5 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

For over fifty years, Britain's most popular radio drama has captured the imagination of listeners throughout the country. Ambridge and its residents have been constant companions to millions throughout the highs and lows of five successive decades. Covering the years 1968 to 1986, Joanna Toye's novel follows the fortunes of Dan and Doris's... Read more

As Time Goes By

By: Bob Larbey

Narrated by: Full Cast, Geoffrey Palmer & Judi Dench

Length: 2 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

Dame Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer star as old flames Jean Pargetter and Lionel Hardcastle. Their love story was all set for a happy ending in the 1950s when Jean was a student nurse and Lionel, a young army officer. But he was posted abroad and they lost touch. Thirty-eight years later, Lionel has returned to London to publish his... Read more

The Comedy Greats

By: Russell Davis & Clive Coleman

Narrated by: Russell Davis & Full Cast

Length: 2 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

A celebration of one hundred years of outstanding comic performers from music hall, radio and television. Researched, compiled and presented by Russell Davies, the collection includes a wide range of personalities, from the Crazy Gang to John Cleese and from Tallulah Bankhead to Victoria Wood. Read more

The Glums

By: Frank Muir

Narrated by: Dick Bently, Jimmy Edwards & June Whitfield

Length: 1 hour 40 minutes

Abridged: No

Eight 'Take It From Here' radio episodes from the 1950s, featuring Ron and Eth Glum. Jimmy Edwards stars as the beer-swilling head of the Glum household, with Dick Bentley as Ron and June Whitfield as Eth. Read more

Great Expectations

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Douglas Hodge, Full Cast & Geraldine McEwan

Length: 5 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

When orphan Pip meets the escaped convict Magwitch in an overgrown churchyard on the Kent marshes, little does he know that the incident will change his life forever. Some years later, now apprenticed to his blacksmith brother-in-law, Pip falls in love with the beautiful Estella. Her half-crazed and bitter guardian Miss Havisham, however, exerts... Read more

June Whitfield At The Beeb

By: June Whitfield

Narrated by: June Whitfield, Various & Chris Emmett

Length: 2 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

A compilation covering June Whitfield's radio career of over half a century, incorporating comedy series such as Take It From Here, The Navy Lark, Round the Horne, Hancock's Half Hour, The Frankie Howerd Show and The News Huddlines, and appearances as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. Read more

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

Last Of The Summer Wine Volume 1

By: Roy Clarke

Narrated by: Bill Owen, Peter Sallis, Brian Wilde & Full Cast

Length: 1 hour 53 minutes

Abridged: No

Compo, Foggy and Clegg wreak havoc in four vintage episodes from the world's longest-running comedy series. Only a man with a ferret down his trousers could love Nora Batty. So lock up your ferrets (and Nora Batty!), here come Yorkshire's hilarious adventurers - three pensioners in four classic capers from the BBC television series which kept... 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

Man & Superman

By: Bernard Shaw

Narrated by: Full Cast, Judi Dench, Juliet Stevenson & Ralph...

Length: 4 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

Man and Superman was the first drama to be broadcast on the BBC's Third Programme on October 1st, 1946. To celebrate Radio 3's 50th anniversary, the play was directed by Sir Peter Hall, and preserved for all time in this lush audio dramatisation. 'A comedy and a philosophy', Man and Superman is based on the Don Juan theme and, using all the... Read more

Mark Radcliffe Show

By: Mark Radcliffe

Narrated by: Full Cast & Mark Radcliffe

Length: 1 hour 1 minute

Abridged: No

When Radio One chief Matthew Bannister popped into 'A Lite Bite' in Altrincham for his favourite gherkin roll, little did he expect to find the two northern chancers who would bring so much sophistication to his beloved station. For there in the corner, playing a DLT Give Us A Break trivia game, stood Mark Radcliffe and his mate, known not... Read more

People Like Us

By: John Morton

Narrated by: Chris Langham & Full Cast

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

Intrepid broadcaster Roy Mallard sets out to give us an insight into the lives of ordinary people in these two episodes form the original BBC Radio 4 series: 'The Headmaster' and 'The Solicitor'. Roy tackles the burning educational issues of the day with comprehensive school headmaster Nigel Peacock, and Nicola and Graham Broadbent are... Read more

Quote... Unquote

By: Nigel Rees

Narrated by: Nigel Rees, Various, Alan Bennett, Judi Dench, ...

Length: 1 hour 52 minutes

Abridged: No

This exclusive compilation was first published to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 'Quote, Unquote'. It takes a fond look a the show in which celebrity guests are quizzed about quotations, famous and obscure, and invited to contribute their own quotes and anecdotes. From identifying Shakespearean dialogue, attributing witty last words and... Read more

Sons And Lovers

By: D.H. Lawrence & Michael Butt

Narrated by: Fiona Clarke & Full Cast

Length: 2 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of D. H. Lawrence's classic story about working class love, loss and hardship. Sensitive, intellectual Gertrude Coppard married miner Walter Morel for his rich, ringing laugh and colourful character. But now, years later, she finds there is little behind the bluster and their marriage has become riddled with... Read more

The Western Front

By: Richard Holmes

Narrated by: Richard Holmes

Length: 3 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

Military historian Richard Holmes turns his attention to the infamous First World War trench line, the Western Front. Of the nine million British and Dominion soldiers who were killed in action in the Great War, most died here. In this thorough examination of the role the Front played in the war, the eminent historian Richard Holmes considers... Read more

Whisky Galore

By: Compton MacKenzie

Narrated by: Stanley Baxter

Length: 1 hour 58 minutes

Abridged: No

Stanley Baxter reads the witty Compton Mackenzie story set in the Scottish Islands. The inhabitants of Great and Little Toddy think they can cope with World War II - but then the whisky runs out. Life becomes intolerable, until fate delivers them a shipwreck with a cargo of whisky. Read more

Archers, The Family Ties 1951-1967

By: Joanna Toye

Narrated by: Miriam Margolyes

Length: 5 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

The first fascinating part of Joanna Toye's delightful trilogy about life in Ambridge. Covering the years 1951-1967, Family Ties introduces the main characters: Dan, Doris, Phil, Christine, Jack and Peggy and their children, Walter Gabriel, the Fairbrothers and Tom Forrest. The early years are action-packed: Phil's courtship and marriage to... 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 Taking Part

By: Tim Franks

Narrated by: Tim Franks

Length: 27 minutes

Abridged: No

BBC Radio 4 tackles the impending 2012 Olympics by going to the heart of the entire festival and celebrating not just the winning, but the taking part in one of the great contests from Olympic history. Presented by Tim Franks. Read more

The Vicar of Dibley

By: Richard Curtis

Narrated by: Dawn French & Full Cast

Length: 2 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Four classic episodes from the original TV series: Arrival, Songs of Praise, Easter Special and The Christmas Lunch Incident. Welcome to Dibley, a perfect village full of some perfectly peculiar people - including Alice Tinker and her underactive brain, Owen Newitt and his overactive bowels, and Letitia Cropley and her orange cake with Branston... Read more

What To Do If You're Not Like Everbody Else

By: Andrew Lawrence

Narrated by: Andrew Lawrence

Length: 56 minutes

Abridged: No

The second four-part mini-series of short comedic monologues on BBC Radio 4. Written and performed by stand-up comedian Andrew Lawrence, it takes a light-hearted look at various aspects of conventional living and the pressure we feel to conform to social norms and ideals. In these four episodes, all recorded in front of a live audience, Andrew... 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 Al Read Show 3

By: Ronnie Taylor

Narrated by: Al Read

Length: 1 hour 41 minutes

Abridged: No

The third 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

Johnners At The Beeb

By: Brian Johnston

Narrated by: Barry Johnston

Length: 2 hours 52 minutes

Abridged: No

Jovial Johnners was the doyen of cricket commentators, as well as a consumer of chocolate cake, a reporter, presenter, quizmaster and much-loved voice at State occasions. For nearly 50 years the ever-affable, always enthusiastic Brian Johnston brought warmth and wit to a wide range of BBC programmes - commentating for Test Match Special and the... Read more