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Vanity Fair: BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation
Stephen Fry narrates this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of the famous Victorian comic novel.
Orphan Becky Sharp and wealthy Amelia Sedley are best friends at Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies. On leaving school, ambitious, social-climbing Becky looks for a rich man to support her, while the sweet-natured Amelia meets her old friend Dobbin, who is instantly captivated.
Becky takes a job in the service of Sir Pitt Crawley, and uses her charm to hook his dashing son. However, marriage to Captain Rawdon of the Guards does not provide the fortune she seeks. Meanwhile, Amelia rejects the faithful Dobbin and becomes engaged to the handsome George Osborne – but destiny has some shocks in store for her, too.
As time goes by, the girls' fortunes rise and fall. War, financial disaster and the ruin of her reputation leave the resourceful Becky undaunted, but Amelia finds it harder to bear fate's blows. It will be many years before their story is played out, and their futures finally decided....
William Makepeace Thackeray's classic satire of passion and ambition, first published in 1847 and 1848, is a deliciously ironic portrait of English society and its mores. This engaging 2004 radio production, published for the first time on audio, features a distinguished cast including Emma Fielding as Becky Sharp, Katy Cavanagh as Amelia and Toby Jones as Jos Sedley.
Orphan Becky Sharp and wealthy Amelia Sedley are best friends at Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies. On leaving school, ambitious, social-climbing Becky looks for a rich man to support her, while the sweet-natured Amelia meets her old friend Dobbin, who is instantly captivated.
Becky takes a job in the service of Sir Pitt Crawley, and uses her charm to hook his dashing son. However, marriage to Captain Rawdon of the Guards does not provide the fortune she seeks. Meanwhile, Amelia rejects the faithful Dobbin and becomes engaged to the handsome George Osborne – but destiny has some shocks in store for her, too.
As time goes by, the girls' fortunes rise and fall. War, financial disaster and the ruin of her reputation leave the resourceful Becky undaunted, but Amelia finds it harder to bear fate's blows. It will be many years before their story is played out, and their futures finally decided....
William Makepeace Thackeray's classic satire of passion and ambition, first published in 1847 and 1848, is a deliciously ironic portrait of English society and its mores. This engaging 2004 radio production, published for the first time on audio, features a distinguished cast including Emma Fielding as Becky Sharp, Katy Cavanagh as Amelia and Toby Jones as Jos Sedley.
Audible Audio
Published November 3, 2016
About the author
William Makepeace Thackeray
4,619 books1,367 followersWilliam Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist, satirist, and journalist, best known for his keen social commentary and his novel Vanity Fair (1847–1848). His works often explored themes of ambition, hypocrisy, and the moral failings of British society, making him one of the most significant literary figures of the Victorian era.
Born in Calcutta, British India, he was sent to England for his education after his father’s death. He attended Charterhouse School, where he developed a distaste for the rigid school system, and later enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge. However, he left without earning a degree, instead traveling in Europe and pursuing artistic ambitions.
After losing much of his inheritance due to bad investments, Thackeray turned to writing for a living. He contributed satirical sketches, essays, and stories to periodicals such as Fraser’s Magazine and Punch, gradually building a reputation for his sharp wit and keen observational skills. His breakthrough came with Vanity Fair, a panoramic satire of English society that introduced the enduring character of Becky Sharp, a resourceful and amoral social climber.
Thackeray’s later novels, including Pendennis (1848–1850), The History of Henry Esmond (1852), and The Newcomes (1853–1855), continued to explore the lives of the English upper and middle classes, often focusing on the contrast between personal virtue and social ambition. His historical novel Henry Esmond was particularly praised for its detailed 18th-century setting and complex characterization.
In addition to his fiction, Thackeray was a noted public speaker and essayist, delivering lectures on the English humorists of the 18th century and on The Four Georges, a critical look at the British monarchy.
Despite his literary success, he lived with personal struggles, including the mental illness of his wife, Isabella, which deeply affected him. He remained devoted to his two daughters and was known for his kindness and generosity among his friends and colleagues.
His works remain widely read, appreciated for their incisive humor, rich characterizations, and unflinching critique of social pretensions.
Born in Calcutta, British India, he was sent to England for his education after his father’s death. He attended Charterhouse School, where he developed a distaste for the rigid school system, and later enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge. However, he left without earning a degree, instead traveling in Europe and pursuing artistic ambitions.
After losing much of his inheritance due to bad investments, Thackeray turned to writing for a living. He contributed satirical sketches, essays, and stories to periodicals such as Fraser’s Magazine and Punch, gradually building a reputation for his sharp wit and keen observational skills. His breakthrough came with Vanity Fair, a panoramic satire of English society that introduced the enduring character of Becky Sharp, a resourceful and amoral social climber.
Thackeray’s later novels, including Pendennis (1848–1850), The History of Henry Esmond (1852), and The Newcomes (1853–1855), continued to explore the lives of the English upper and middle classes, often focusing on the contrast between personal virtue and social ambition. His historical novel Henry Esmond was particularly praised for its detailed 18th-century setting and complex characterization.
In addition to his fiction, Thackeray was a noted public speaker and essayist, delivering lectures on the English humorists of the 18th century and on The Four Georges, a critical look at the British monarchy.
Despite his literary success, he lived with personal struggles, including the mental illness of his wife, Isabella, which deeply affected him. He remained devoted to his two daughters and was known for his kindness and generosity among his friends and colleagues.
His works remain widely read, appreciated for their incisive humor, rich characterizations, and unflinching critique of social pretensions.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 26, 2024
Too subjective for my taste.
I am not ashamed to say that I love Becky Sharp. I mostly picked up this audio dramatization because of Stephen Fry as I love his audiobook narrations. But I did not like the subjective dramatization of the book this will be and everything will be leaning towards the one side of the story not leaving a lot of room for the reader to make their own conclusion. Everything is painted in this one dimensional paint. Becky is big bad opportunist. Amelia is the soft-hearted victim. Becky's husband is a dumb-dumb being led by his shrewd wife. Amelia's husband is the slightly stubborn but still noble hero to die in the war, also being seduce by Becky…. There is none of the nuances of these characters when everything is told to you point blank and even summed up by the narrator. We don't learn how much of a narcissist Amelia's husband can be and that Becky's husband uses her just as much as she does him mostly for her cleverness and know how to get them out of real life troubles. I was hoping to get a winder picture of these characters than what I got from a recent series but this was not exactly the place to look for that and the series was pretty good and had a better grasp in portraying the varied layers to all of these characters.
I am not ashamed to say that I love Becky Sharp. I mostly picked up this audio dramatization because of Stephen Fry as I love his audiobook narrations. But I did not like the subjective dramatization of the book this will be and everything will be leaning towards the one side of the story not leaving a lot of room for the reader to make their own conclusion. Everything is painted in this one dimensional paint. Becky is big bad opportunist. Amelia is the soft-hearted victim. Becky's husband is a dumb-dumb being led by his shrewd wife. Amelia's husband is the slightly stubborn but still noble hero to die in the war, also being seduce by Becky…. There is none of the nuances of these characters when everything is told to you point blank and even summed up by the narrator. We don't learn how much of a narcissist Amelia's husband can be and that Becky's husband uses her just as much as she does him mostly for her cleverness and know how to get them out of real life troubles. I was hoping to get a winder picture of these characters than what I got from a recent series but this was not exactly the place to look for that and the series was pretty good and had a better grasp in portraying the varied layers to all of these characters.
April 1, 2026
Notes based on full cast adaptation for BBC Radio, issued as an audiobook.
I found this more interesting than enjoyable; I'm not likely to read the full text. It makes a thought-provoking pair with Defoe's Roxana, which I read a few months ago. Separated by about 120 years, they share many themes and tropes--they're both morality adventures skewering then-current affairs as they address sin, poverty, the roles of women, and UK views of continental Europe. Vanity Fair has more engaging prose, but I found it misanthropic in a way Roxana isn't. It's subtitled A Novel without a Hero, with a deliberately unlikable cast, but there is a disdain for Emmy when she is the victim of others' misbehavior that can't be attributed to satire as Becky's antiheroics can. It's just misogyny, and my satisfaction as a reader dwindled.
I found this more interesting than enjoyable; I'm not likely to read the full text. It makes a thought-provoking pair with Defoe's Roxana, which I read a few months ago. Separated by about 120 years, they share many themes and tropes--they're both morality adventures skewering then-current affairs as they address sin, poverty, the roles of women, and UK views of continental Europe. Vanity Fair has more engaging prose, but I found it misanthropic in a way Roxana isn't. It's subtitled A Novel without a Hero, with a deliberately unlikable cast, but there is a disdain for Emmy when she is the victim of others' misbehavior that can't be attributed to satire as Becky's antiheroics can. It's just misogyny, and my satisfaction as a reader dwindled.
August 3, 2022
I like this book. I have the faintest clue about what happens mainly because I cannot differentiate who marries whom and who they’re talking about since each person has about a million names but I enjoyed it nonetheless. “The Book Without A Hero” is basically just vibes. It’s just people being people. I like that.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews