Audiobooks narrated by James Frain

The Georgette Heyer BBC Radio Drama Collection: Four full-cast dramatisations

BBC Radio adaptations of three of Georgette Heyer’s sparkling Regency romances and a classic comedy thriller The acknowledged ‘queen of Regency romance’, bestselling author Georgette Heyer, also penned a dozen delightful mystery novels. Included here are dramatisations of four of her finest stories from both genres, full of her characteristic wit, charm and period detail. Regency Buck Pretty but shrewd Judith Taverner gallops in from the provinces and daringly defies the gaming, drinking and brawling world of Regency London to claim her rights, her fortune – and who knows, perhaps her happiness? Starring Elizabeth Proud as Judith Taverner and Simon Shepherd as Peregrine Taverner. Friday’s Child ‘I’m going back to London! And I’m going to marry the first woman I see!’ is the cry of young Lord Sheringham when his proposal of marriage is rejected by Isabella, the Incomparable. True to his word, he takes the even younger Hero Wantage as his bride… Starring James Frain as Viscount Anthony Sheringham and Elli Garnett as Hero Wantage, with Simon Russell Beale as Jasper Tarleton. Faro’s Daughter Deborah Grantham’s position in a gaming house makes her utterly unsuitable as a wife for a nobleman, so Max Ravenscar determines to rescue his cousin from her clutches. But the bribe he offers does not go down well, and a battle of wits commences... Starring Sylvestre Le Touzel as Deborah Grantham and Nathaniel Parker as Max Ravenscar, with Anna Massey as Lady Bellingham. Envious Casca An English country Christmas in the 1930s, a Tudor manor house decked with holly, a family gathered for seasonal cheer – and a murder. Inspector Hemingway is on the case, but can he shake off amateur sleuths Toby and Jane French? Starring Peter Kelly as Inspector Hemingway, James Fleet as Toby and Helen Baxendale as Jane.

Georgette Heyer (Author), Anna Massey, Elizabeth Proud, Elli Garnett, Helen Baxendale, James Fleet, James Frain, Nathaniel Parker, Simon Russell Beale, Simon Shepherd (Narrator)

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Gallows Thief

1820s Britain: after the wars with France, when unemployment was high and soldiers could be paid off, when the government was desperately afraid of social unrest, any crime was drastically punished and thousands were hung. But one could petition the King and an investigation might ensue...The man in the dark cell in Newgate Prison was due to hang in a week. He had been found guilty of murdering the aristocrat whose portrait he was painting. He claimed to be innocent - but then the hangman had never hung a guilty man, he said. But even in 1820, the Home Secretary could occasionally use his powers to grant mercy if his investigator found cause and Captain Hawke, once of the First Foot Guards, is given the job, since justice must be seen to be done as the accused man's mother is seamstress to the Queen.Robert Hawke, a hero of Waterloo, has family debts to repay but when his first steps in the investigations produce a sizeable bribe to look the other way, this only arouses his smouldering anger over the condition of England, a country which he and others in Wellington's army had fought to preserve. Stepping between gentlemen's clubs and taverns, talking to aristocrats, fashionable painters, their models, and their mistresses, dodging professional cut-throats and deceptive swordsmen, Hawke uncovers a conspiracy of silence, a group whose proudest boast was that they would do anything for any one of them.Hawke is a wonderful character, as yet undaunted by the sleazy streets, dank jails or the looming scaffold, and uncorrupted by politicians, sneering gentlemen or frightening bruisers, an investigator in the making and a brilliant, but very different hero for all Bernard Cornwell fans.

Bernard Cornwell (Author), James Frain (Narrator)

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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

An American frigate, tracking down a ship-sinking monster, faces not a living creature but an incredible invention -- a fantastic submarine commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo. Suddenly a devastating explosion leaves just three survivors, who find themselves prisoners inside Nemo's death ship on an underwater odyssey around the world from the pearl-laden waters of Ceylon to the icy dangers of the South Pole . . .as Captain Nemo, one of the greatest villians ever created, takes his revenge on all society. More than a marvelously thrilling drama, this classic novel, written in 1870, foretells with uncanny accuracy the inventions and advanced technology of the twentieth century and has become a literary stepping-stone for generations of science fiction writers.

Jules Verne (Author), James Frain (Narrator)

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Moon

The nightmare begins before you sleep . . . James Herbert's Moon follows Jonathan, who fled from the terrors of his past, finding refuge in the quietness of the island. And for a time he lived in peace. Until the 'sightings' began, visions of horror seeping into his mind like poisonous tendrils, violent acts that were hideously macabre, the thoughts becoming intense. He witnessed the grotesque acts of another thing, a thing that glorified in murder and mutilation, a monster that soon became aware of the observer within its own mind. And relished contact. A creature that would eventually come to the island to seek him out . . .

James Herbert (Author), James Frain (Narrator)

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Man and Wife

Harry Silver returns to face life in the "blended family." A wonderful new novel about modern times, which can be read as a sequel to the million selling Man and Boy, or completely on its ownMan and Wife is a novel about love and marriage - about why we fall in love and why we marry; about why we stay and why we go.Harry Silver is a man coming to terms with a divorce and a new marriage. He has to juggle with time and relationships, with his wife and his ex-wife, his son and his stepdaughter, his own work and his wife's fast-growing career.Meanwhile his mother, who stood so steadfastly by his father until he died, is not getting any younger or stronger herself.In fact, everything in Harry's life seems complicated. And when he meets a woman in a million, it gets even more so...Man and Wife stands on its own as a brilliant novel about families in the new century, written with all the humour, passion and superb storytelling that have made Tony Parsons a favourite author in over thirty countries.

Tony Parsons (Author), James Frain (Narrator)

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Othello (BBC Radio Shakespeare)

BBC Radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of making Shakespeare to be heard. 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 play's inevitably tragic conclusion. Revitalised, original, and comprehensive, this is Shakespeare for the new millennium.

William Shakespeare (Author), Anastasia Hille, Cal Macaninch, James Frain, Ray Fearon (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by James Frain