The Charles Dickens BBC Radio Drama Collection: The Later Years

Eight BBC Radio full-cast dramatisations

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Geraldine McEwan, Alison Steadman, Andrew Scott, Kenneth Cranham, Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Robert Lindsay, Full Cast, Indira Varma

Enthralling radio dramatisations of eight of Charles Dickens' much-loved novels.

Charles Dickens is one of the most renowned authors of all time, and this second digital volume of the dramatised canon of his work includes eight of his classic novels.

This collection includes the epic masterpiece David Copperfield, described by Dickens as his ‘favourite child’; suspenseful mystery Bleak House; Dickens’ most openly political novel, Hard Times and Little Dorrit, a sweeping tale of imprisonment, poverty and riches. Also included are A Tale of Two Cities, set during the French Revolution; coming-of-age novel Great Expectations; sweeping satire of wealth and corruption Our Mutual Friend and Dickens’ final, unfinished story The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

With a star cast including Robert Glenister, Robert Lindsay, Honeysuckle Weeks, Kenneth Cranham, Sir Ian McKellen, Alison Steadman, Geraldine McEwan, Andrew Scott and Ian Holm, these radio adaptations bring Dickens’ imaginative world to colourful, captivating life.

Track listing:
1-20: David Copperfield
21-25: Bleak House
26-29: Hard Times
30-34: Little Dorrit
35-39: A Tale of Two Cities
40-45: Great Expectations
46-65: Our Mutual Friend
66-70: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Solid performances but abridged

I am new to downloading here, but should have known that radio dramas would be severely edited. Still, one should be able to tell when story ends and another begins. Disheartened at the editing. Very good acting as would be expected.

Only thing lacking is consistent titles

The acting is excellent. The quality is amazing as usual for these BBC programs. The only thing I thought was lacking was that a few of the stories are not introduced well. I am aware that these were produced as dramas and there is different production across titles. For the money, for the over all quality and massively enjoyable 35hrs+ ...a bargain.

Excellent!

About fifteen years ago, after hearing one of his descendants interviewed on a local radio station, I was inspired to read the entire works of Charles Dickens; it took me about five years to read through his vast collection of works, but it was well worth it. Recently I had been considering revisiting at least some of my favorites of his novels but was somewhat reluctant to take time away from discovering new authors and books.

Enter The Charles Dickens BBC Radio Drama Collection: The Later Years, an excellent and entertaining way to refresh my memory of Charles Dickens' last eight novels. Owing to the extreme length and vast cast of characters of his books, changes have been made to accommodate what I am assuming were budget and time constraints: some characters are missing from each adaptation (mostly minor) and storylines are changed accordingly, but for the most part these are beautifully acted faithful adaptations. It would have been nice if each drama had an introduction and its cast listed instead of just about half of the dramas, but that is a minor detraction.

Following are my ratings for the individual dramas included in this collection:

David Copperfield: 5 stars
Bleak House: 4.5 stars
Hard Times: 4.5 stars
Little Dorrit: 5 stars
A Tale of Two Cities: 4 stars
Great Expectations: 4.5 stars
Our Mutual Friend: 5 stars
The Mystery of Edwin Drood: 3 stars

An introduction to each book would be nice.

The performance is good but there is no indication for when the story ends and another book begins.

LOVELY PRESENTATIONS of DICKENS'S CLASSICS.

The stories aren't just read aloud. They are presented with a cast of people and sound effects, much like a radio play. This dynamic presentation kept my attention. There were only a few low/slow points to work through the books. FABULOUS!