Performance audiobooks

The Tempest

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Catrin Rhys, Full Cast, Jasmine Hyde, Nina Wadi...

Length: 2 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production of The Tempest, a magical storm washes some sailors up on a peculiar island, changing the course of their lives forever...

Raging storms and rich beautiful music combine to magical effect in this production of Shakespeare's allegorical last play, where mystical forces work to restore harmony and order to an... Read more

Bob Monkhouse At The Beeb

By: Bob Monkhouse

Narrated by: Bob Monkhouse

Length: 1 hour 29 minutes

Abridged: No

The very best of Bob Monkhouse from the BBC archives, including songs, puns, clips and more. Enjoy Bob's genius as a writer, stand-up comedian, chat-show host, and compere as he looks back on a lifetime of laughs in a selecton from his most famous radio and television shows. Read more

Knowing Me, Knowing You With Alan Partridge TV Series

By: Armando Iannucci & Steve Coogan

Narrated by: Steve Coogan & Various

Length: 58 minutes

Abridged: No

'Knowing me Alan Partridge, knowing you... a-ha!' A lot of people say that, when it comes to drama and comedy, the pictures are so much better on the radio. As Alan Partridge says, 'all those people are wrong'. There's a new chat in town as the hit programme comes live from BBC Television Centre, and Alan ushers on a variety of guests... Read more

Othello

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Ray Fearon, Anastasia Hille, Cal MacAninch & Ja...

Length: 3 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production, Othello is drawn further and further into jealous rage by the manipulative Iago.

In this story of evil cunning perverting a once noble mind, radio captures Iago's sly hints and boasts to the audience with shocking clarity. The listener is led along an emotional path that grips with fascinating horror until the... Read more

Romeo And Juliet

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Andrew Scott, Douglas Henshall, Full Cast, Iwan...

Length: 2 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production of Romeo And Juliet, the two star-crossed lovers fight for each other until their dying breath. Can their two feuding families reconcile?

With the intimacy of radio, the full beauty and meaning of some of the most lyrical lines ever written can be truly heard: tenderness and passion, betrayal and bigotry are... Read more

The Merchant Of Venice

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: David Morrissey, Full Cast, Juliet Aubrey, Mart...

Length: 2 hours 1 minute

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production of The Merchant of Venice, love, bigotry, greed, and justice are entwined.

Shakespeare's classic play explores the eternal themes of love and hate, mercy and justice, with parallel stories centred on the moneylender, Shylock, and the lovers, Portia and Bassanio. Shylock's angry insistence on the repayment of his... Read more

The Taming Of The Shrew

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Full Cast, Burn Gorman, Gerard McSorley, Jutta ...

Length: 1 hour 39 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production of The Taming of the Shrew, the freedom and virility of women is frowned upon. Will Petruchio's quest to 'tame' his new wife succeed?

Layers of assumed identity, elaborate role-playing, and acerbic exchanges of wit reveal the real relationship between men and women in this exuberant production of one of... Read more

Twelfth Night

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Anne-Marie Duff, Michael Maloney, Full Cast & J...

Length: 2 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production of Twelfth Night, Malvolio is looking for trouble - and revenge...

Michael Maloney, Josette Simon and Anne-Marie Duff star in this fast and funny production of Shakespeare's most sparkling and optimistic comedy, when all the world is turned on its head and authority is usurped, when by civil misrule girls become... Read more

Only Fools And Horses 3

By: John Sullivan

Narrated by: Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Lennard Pearce ...

Length: 1 hour 46 minutes

Abridged: No

Four more episodes from the much-loved BBC TV series, starring David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Lennard Pearce and Buster Merryfield. In 'Homesick', Rodney is elected Chairman of the local Housing Committee, and Del Boy persuades him to use his position to get them all ground-floor accommodation. 'Healthy Competition' sees Rodney deciding to... Read more

Two Ronnies, The It's Goodnight From Me

By: Ronnie Barker & Ronnie Corbett

Narrated by: Ronnie Barker & Ronnie Corbett

Length: 2 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

For nearly twenty-five years the two Ronnies were a TV institution, a much loved double-act but each with his own inimitable, individual appeal. Who could forget Ronnie Barker's hilarious pispronounciation, Mr Corbett's witty monologues, the risqué limericks, the puns, the patter and the parody? So enjoy another fun-filled feast of verbal... Read more

Douglas Adams At The BBC Part 1

By: Chris Emmett

Narrated by: Simon Jones & Various

Length: 3 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

Simon Jones, who played Arthur Dent in ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, presents a look back at the life and work of a writer who has captivated the imagination of millions. When Douglas Adams created ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ for BBC Radio 4, it was the genesis of a science fiction comedy legend. Yet his career at the BBC... Read more

Paul Temple And The Jonathan Mystery

By: Francis Durbridge

Narrated by: Full Cast, Marjorie Westbury & Peter Coke

Length: 3 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

From 1938 to 1969 crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC radio’s most popular serials. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, where the women were chic and the men wore cravats – a world where Sir Graham Forbes, of... Read more

Alan Bennett

By: Alan Bennett

Narrated by: Alan Bennett

Length: 2 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

'I tend to think of myself as a man of few words, but looking at this collection it seems to have been gab gab gab for the last thirty years'. Admittedly not all the words are his own - but even the work of other writers can be transformed by Alan Bennett. This unique anthology of Bennett's BBC radio and television work features extracts... Read more

Alice In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass

By: Lewis Carroll

Narrated by: Alan Bennett

Length: 2 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

Tumble down a rabbit hole into the extraordinary world of Lewis Carroll’s childhood classics with these delightful BBC Radio readings.

This classic collection includes two of Alice’s exciting adventures, brought to life by the incomparable Alan Bennett.

Alice in Wonderland
Young Alice leads an ordinary sort of life until, one day, she follows a... Read more

Woman's Hour A Celebration Of Mothers

By: BBC

Narrated by: Jenni Murray

Length: 1 hour 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Woman's Hour: A Celebration of Mothers is an audiobook that looks at the changing role of mothers over the last fifty years; the relationships that they have enjoyed with their children, how they have juggled the work life balance and how they have challenged the stereotypes and tested the boundaries of what being a mother means. For example the... Read more

Ustinov At Eighty

By: Peter Ustinov

Narrated by: John Bird

Length: 1 hour 11 minutes

Abridged: No

In this much-praised interview, octogenarian Peter Ustinov talks to John Bird. The man of many talents has an astonishing range of accomplishments behind him as an Oscar-winning film and theatre actor, author of novels, plays and screenplays. He is also a raconteur, graphic artist, photographer, stage director and designer and the recipient of... Read more

The Smoking Room

By: BBC

Narrated by: Debbie Chazen & Jeremy Swift

Length: 3 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

In the world of work, there is one place where seniority means nothing, where shoptalk is banned, and where the persecuted minority gather regularly to discuss every subject under the sun: the smoking room.Set entirely in the smoking room of a large company, this eight-part comedy series explores the personal foibles and suppressed longings of... Read more

Ross Noble Goes Global

By: Ross Noble

Narrated by: Ross Noble

Length: 1 hour 51 minutes

Abridged: No

A brilliant new BBC Radio 4 series of comedy travelogues presented by award-winning stand-up and ‘Just a Minute’ regular, Ross Noble. Perrier Award nominee Ross Noble has received huge critical acclaim and become known as an exciting and original talent in the UK. Now he takes his show worldwide, to destinations as diverse as Shanghai, South... Read more

The Mel And Sue Thing

By: BBC

Narrated by: Sue Perkins & Mel Giedroyc

Length: 1 hour 50 minutes

Abridged: No

Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins offer you more than your fair share of laughs, songs, and silliness in their imaginatively titled BBC Radio 4 series. Mel and Sue are extremely well established performers on the comedy circuit. They are also familiar as the hosts of Channel 4's Late Lunch and as the stars of a number of TV commercials. Sue Perkins... Read more

Grumpy Old Men The Official Handbook

By: Stuart Prebble

Narrated by: Arthur Smith

Length: 2 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Do you know someone who is incensed by compulsory tipping? Who is infuriated if kept on hold for more than a minute? Who is positively apoplectic if someone answers their phone during dinner? If so, you've probably encountered the phenomenon of the grumpy old man. Following their first massively successful BBC1 series, this autumn will see the... Read more

Life Laundry, The How To De-Junk Your Life

By: Dawna Walters

Narrated by: Dawna Walter & Full Cast

Length: 1 hour 9 minutes

Abridged: No

An inspirational guide to fighting clutter and sorting out your space, based on the bestselling BBC book and TV series. Clutter can be a huge problem for many of us. We yearn to live in a perfectly-ordered home, but more often than not we find ourselves drowning in a sea of 'stuff'. Not only is it depressing to live in a mess, but accumulating... Read more

Richard II

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Full Cast, Joss Ackland, Samuel West, Damian Le...

Length: 2 hours 57 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production of Richard II, the male ego and narcissism of monarchs are hung out to dry...

Written entirely in verse, the rhythms of the language in this epic tragedy encompass its themes of dignity and kingship with fitting grandeur and pathos, as the capricious and narcissistic Richard is brought to his own... Read more

Much Ado About Nothing

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Samantha Spiro, Emilia Fox, Maxine Peake, Chiwe...

Length: 2 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production of Much Ado About Nothing, some handsome soldiers return from battle. Yet one soldier finds himself locked in a merry war of his own...

In Shakespeare's comedy of wit, love and miscommunication, Beatrice and Benedick and Hero and Claudio are pushed into and pulled out of love, their friends playing cupid with... Read more

Macbeth

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Full Cast, Ken Stott, Liam Brennan, Phyllis Log...

Length: 1 hour 49 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production, a trio of witches predicts Macbeth's early demise.

In a tale of fate, fulfilment and ego, Macbeth and his wife desire the Scottish kingship. Macbeth's temptation and descent into evil, his wife's ruthlessness and subsequent madness and the overarching presence of the supernatural charge this gripping production.... Read more