The M.R. James BBC Radio Collection

by M.R. James, Anton Lesser (Narrator), Derek Jacobi (Narrator)

Spine-tingling stories by M. R. James, plus a chilling original drama and two bonus programmes about his life and work

M. R. James was the master of the uncanny. His classic supernatural stories have haunted readers for over a century, and been adapted countless times for radio, TV and film.

This collection features dramatisations of twelve of his most popular stories – The Mezzotint; Casting the Runes; The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral; A Warning to the Curious; Rats; Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come To You, My Lad; The Tractate Middoth; Lost Hearts; The Rose Garden; Number 13; Martin’s Close and Count Magnus. Among the star-studded casts are Mark Gatiss, Derek Jacobi, James D’Arcy, Anton Lesser, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Donald Wolfit.

Also included are a trio of readings by Benjamin Whitrow: Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook; A School Story and The Haunted Dolls’ House.

Neil Brand’s disturbing drama The Haunting of M. R. James, starring Mark Gatiss and Fenella Woolgar, sees horrific events from James’s own stories echoed in reality.

The life of M. R. James is discussed by Muriel Gray and Christopher Frayling in an episode of biography series Great Lives, presented by Humphrey Carpenter. Finally, in a fascinating documentary – The Ghosts of M.R. James – Michell Raper examines the author’s life and work, with readings from several of his stories.

Genres: Audiobook, Classics, Short Stories, Gothic

6 pages, Audio CD

First published March 5, 2020

About the author

Montague Rhodes James, who used the publication name M.R. James, was a noted English mediaeval scholar & provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–18) & of Eton College (1918–36). He's best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal Gothic trappings of his predecessors, replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

M.R.^James

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a poor collection of dramatizations of MR James' short stories. Just clumsily done with all the charm of the stories removed.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read my print edition of M.R. James' Ghost Stories so many times, it has taken on a distinctly battered appearance. Well loved, if you will.
I was quite keen to listen to an audio version, and this is the one my library had to offer.
It didn't thrill as much as the print version did. I think I would've preferred just one narrator, the wonderful Derek Jacobi for instance, rather than multiple actors. That's just my personal preference mind, and is in no way a reflection on the other performers.
This audiobook contains 12 of M.R.James ghost stories, including my two favorites; Canon Albric's Scrapbook, and Casting the Runes.
Perfect listening for a dark, winter's night. 👻🎧

[Amy H. Sturgis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The drama “The Haunting of M. R. James,” starring Mark Gatiss and Fenella Woolgar, alone makes this a “must listen,” but these adaptations and readings are of consistent quality and perfect for the season.

[Ursula Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this release. It includes 12 of James’ stories dramatized, 3 read a new original audio drama and two examinations of his work. It turned out to be disappointing. The 12 stories were far too short. Only partially dramatized and heavily narrated, they are too short to make an impact. You are better off finding readings of the stories in their entirety. The 3 readings are better, the original audio drama is excellent. The two explorations are good. For me, the best adaptation is the Conception of Terror which updated his stories for the modern age and were dramatized in their entirety.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do yourself a favor and track down the actual stories. The dramatizations lack much of the charm of the source material.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first James novel, as I’ve been told time and again that he was one of the originators and most influential writers of supernatural fiction. My library had this audiobook in stock, so I thought I’d give it a try. And it wasn’t bad, overall.

“This collection features dramatizations of twelve of his most popular stories - The Mezzotint; Casting the Runes; The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral; A Warning to the Curious; Rats; Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come To You, My Lad; The Tractate Middoth; Lost Hearts; The Rose Garden; Number 13; Martin's Close and Count Magnus.
Among the star-studded casts are Mark Gatiss, Derek Jacobi, James D'Arcy, Anton Lesser, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Donald Wolfit.
Also included are a trio of readings by Benjamin Whitrow- Canon Alberic's Scrapbook; A School Story and The Haunted Dolls' House.
Neil Brand's disturbing drama The Haunting of M. R. James, starring Mark Gatiss and Fenella Woolgar, sees horrific events from James's own stories echoed in reality.
The life of M. R. James is discussed by Muriel Gray and Christopher Frayling in an episode of biography series Great Lives, presented by Humphrey Carpenter.
Finally, in a fascinating documentary - The Ghosts of M.R. James - Michell Raper examines the author's life and work, with readings from several of his stories.”

Some of them were pretty good, some of them were just ok, and some of them weren’t that good. One of the stories literally had me scratching my head, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. 🤷🏽‍♀️. I’m glad I took the chance on an author like James, and if I run across more of his work in the future, I might just read it.

3 stars, and this was a nice way to spend the evening, passing the time while sick.

[Charlie Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first experience of M R James. Keen to read some of these in printed form but the audio drama adaptations seemed to do a decent job. The Mezzotint and A Warning to the Curious I particularly enjoyed. Don't quite understand the fuss over Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You. Bit of a silly premise.

I can definitely see areas where he's influenced Lovecraft. Particularly The Tractate Middoth, which seems to be an equivalent of the eerie books by "that mad Arab" in Lovecraftian parlance. However, some of the stories have definitely dated. While something can be said for a minimalist horror aesthetic, especially in a genre typically so focused on extremes, I don't feel like bookish Etonian dons make particularly likeable protagonists. Also, in my personal opinion, none of the stories are particularly scary. Eerie perhaps, in places. Scary? Definitely not.

[Chris Millington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done to whoever at the BBC or Audible came up with the idea of bringing together recordings of works by celebrated authors. They are an excellent mixture of well known pieces coupled with less well know works, plus a few extra gems from the extensive BBC archives. In this collection there are dramatisations of such stories as Mezzotint, Casting The Runes, A Warning to the Curious, Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad and Lost Hearts with Derek Jacobi and Mark Gatiss as James. Of the works, perhaps best are three stories brilliantly read by Benjamin Whitrow. Also in the collection is a very atmospheric play The Haunting of M.R. James by Neil Brand with Gatiss again playing James, an episode of Great Lives, and an examination of some of the stories in an archive programme from 1977 The Ghosts of M.R. James.

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I probably should have read these first, the way things are condensed makes things slightly hard to follow on occassion. Still love the two main prongs of Jake's approach to horror - the fact that many of these stories are presented second or even third hand, (as if you are hearing about a friend's co-worker's cousin being in a car accident that may have been their fault) and the sense that most of the hauntings are unfairly arbitrary.

Sometimes this comes from the causes of the supernatural event also being pointless and cruel and sometimes the ghost is just a dickhead. Combined with the way things are framed, it presents Edwardian Britain as this psychic minefield that everyone is politely trying to manurvere their way around, refusing to acknowledge that at some point they will break some old yet extant rule and get got.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Haunting of M.R. James' is the best one in this collection, a few spine tingles with the first few stories, but radio sound effects don't convey his creeping sense of horror very well, I feel. If you're going to enjoy his stories fully, read them.

Having said that, there was a very frightening version of 'Whistle and I'll come to you' on the BBC at Christmas several years ago, starring John Hurt. It had me crying in fear.

[Kylie Westaway · Rating 4 out of 5]

MR James’ ghost stories are fantastic, but this collection is only half his ghost stories. The other half is podcasts about his life, which I wasn’t particularly interested in.