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The Complete Chronicles of Narnia
C.S. Lewis's acclaimed and universally loved novels spring to life in these spellbinding full-cast BBC dramatisations.
Anyone who's visited Narnia wants to go back again, and these radio dramas make for a hugely entertaining first-time or return journey, with a cast including Bernard Cribbins, Maurice Denham, Richard Griffiths, Martin Jarvis, Sylvester McCoy, John Sessions, Fiona Shaw and Timothy Spall.
The Magician's Nephew: When Polly and Digory discover some magic rings, they begin the most exciting and dangerous journey of their lives - and encounter the mighty lion Aslan...
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Lucy, Peter, Edmund and Susan enter a magical world of talking fauns and flying horses, where the evil White Witch has cast Narnia in perpetual winter.
The Horse and His Boy: Shasta and his talking horse Bree flee from a life of slavery and head for the freedom of Narnia, facing many perils along the way.
Prince Caspian: Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund are called upon to help Caspian free Narnia of his evil uncle's regime and reclaim freedom and happiness.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Edmund, Lucy and Eustace join King Caspian on a perilous mission to find his friends, the seven lost Lords of Narnia.
The Silver Chair: Jill and Eustace set out to find King Caspian's lost son, and in the grim land of the Earthmen they encounter the wicked Green Lady.
The Last Battle: The King is in danger, and Narnia faces its darkest hour. Eustace and Jill must help its people fight for the future of the once-glorious kingdom.
Anyone who's visited Narnia wants to go back again, and these radio dramas make for a hugely entertaining first-time or return journey, with a cast including Bernard Cribbins, Maurice Denham, Richard Griffiths, Martin Jarvis, Sylvester McCoy, John Sessions, Fiona Shaw and Timothy Spall.
The Magician's Nephew: When Polly and Digory discover some magic rings, they begin the most exciting and dangerous journey of their lives - and encounter the mighty lion Aslan...
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Lucy, Peter, Edmund and Susan enter a magical world of talking fauns and flying horses, where the evil White Witch has cast Narnia in perpetual winter.
The Horse and His Boy: Shasta and his talking horse Bree flee from a life of slavery and head for the freedom of Narnia, facing many perils along the way.
Prince Caspian: Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund are called upon to help Caspian free Narnia of his evil uncle's regime and reclaim freedom and happiness.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Edmund, Lucy and Eustace join King Caspian on a perilous mission to find his friends, the seven lost Lords of Narnia.
The Silver Chair: Jill and Eustace set out to find King Caspian's lost son, and in the grim land of the Earthmen they encounter the wicked Green Lady.
The Last Battle: The King is in danger, and Narnia faces its darkest hour. Eustace and Jill must help its people fight for the future of the once-glorious kingdom.
15 pages, Audio Cassette
Published November 30, 2000
7 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Brian Sibley
102 books100 followersBrian Sibley is an English writer, broadcaster, and award-winning dramatist.
The author of over 100 hours of radio drama and hundreds of documentaries and features for the BBC, he is best known for his acclaimed 1981 radio adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, co-written with Michael Bakewell, as well as dramatizations of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast novels, and Richard Adams’s Watership Down.
Sibley has also written numerous original plays for radio, presented popular BBC programmes including Kaleidoscope and Talking Pictures, and produced documentaries on figures ranging from Lewis Carroll and Ray Bradbury to Julie Andrews and Walt Disney.
His contributions to broadcasting have earned him accolades such as the Sony Radio Award and the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Adaptation.
In print, Sibley is the author of many acclaimed film “making of” books, including Harry Potter: Film Wizardry, The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy, and Peter Jackson: A Filmmaker’s Journey, as well as companion volumes for The Hobbit films, The Golden Compass, and Disney classics. His literary works range from Shadowlands to children’s books like The Frightful Food Feud and Osric the Extraordinary Owl, with stories appearing in official Winnie-the-Pooh collections.
A noted Disney historian, Sibley has contributed essays to The Walt Disney Film Archives and recorded DVD commentaries for classic films. He is the editor of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Númenor, winner of the Tolkien Society’s Best Book award in 2023.
Sibley has served as President and Chair of The Lewis Carroll Society and is an honorary member of The Magic Circle, the Tolkien Society, and The Children’s Books History Society.
The author of over 100 hours of radio drama and hundreds of documentaries and features for the BBC, he is best known for his acclaimed 1981 radio adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, co-written with Michael Bakewell, as well as dramatizations of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast novels, and Richard Adams’s Watership Down.
Sibley has also written numerous original plays for radio, presented popular BBC programmes including Kaleidoscope and Talking Pictures, and produced documentaries on figures ranging from Lewis Carroll and Ray Bradbury to Julie Andrews and Walt Disney.
His contributions to broadcasting have earned him accolades such as the Sony Radio Award and the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Adaptation.
In print, Sibley is the author of many acclaimed film “making of” books, including Harry Potter: Film Wizardry, The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy, and Peter Jackson: A Filmmaker’s Journey, as well as companion volumes for The Hobbit films, The Golden Compass, and Disney classics. His literary works range from Shadowlands to children’s books like The Frightful Food Feud and Osric the Extraordinary Owl, with stories appearing in official Winnie-the-Pooh collections.
A noted Disney historian, Sibley has contributed essays to The Walt Disney Film Archives and recorded DVD commentaries for classic films. He is the editor of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Númenor, winner of the Tolkien Society’s Best Book award in 2023.
Sibley has served as President and Chair of The Lewis Carroll Society and is an honorary member of The Magic Circle, the Tolkien Society, and The Children’s Books History Society.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 20, 2025
Story Enjoyment Rating: 9/10 Christian Faith Rating: 3/3
The dramatised version of the Chronicles of Narnia was fresh and engaging, a great way to enjoy the stories that I already knew well. This complete collection takes you through all seven books in chronological order, from The Magician's Nephew to The Last Battle. The format felt like a hybrid between a traditional audiobook and listening to a film. You get the dialogue, sound effects, and music, which, although a little, of-its-time, I still enjoyed. The way they dramatised the books was well done — opting for the characters to describe what they were seeing instead of using a narrator. I also noticed they tweaked the plot order slightly, using techniques like cutting back and forth between different timelines to keep the narrative dramatic and engaging, which I thought worked effectively.
Each book was around two to two and a quarter hours, about the length of a film. As an adult listener, I found the whole thing entertaining, exciting, and even a bit creepy at times – The Silver Chair, in particular, had an eerie atmosphere, while The Last Battle was action-packed and dramatic. This did make me wonder if some parts might be a bit too intense or scary for very young children — especially the vivid voice acting for the enemies and witches, which was great for emotional engagement but unsettling at times. Interestingly, the dramatisation made The Silver Chair, which can feel a bit slow in the book, much more exciting.
The faith content is strong throughout (although I always have a few minor personal quibbles with some theological points, possibly due to the allegorical nature of the stories).
This experience has made me keen to explore other dramatised novels, perhaps some of the Jane Austen adaptations I've seen on Audible.
The dramatised version of the Chronicles of Narnia was fresh and engaging, a great way to enjoy the stories that I already knew well. This complete collection takes you through all seven books in chronological order, from The Magician's Nephew to The Last Battle. The format felt like a hybrid between a traditional audiobook and listening to a film. You get the dialogue, sound effects, and music, which, although a little, of-its-time, I still enjoyed. The way they dramatised the books was well done — opting for the characters to describe what they were seeing instead of using a narrator. I also noticed they tweaked the plot order slightly, using techniques like cutting back and forth between different timelines to keep the narrative dramatic and engaging, which I thought worked effectively.
Each book was around two to two and a quarter hours, about the length of a film. As an adult listener, I found the whole thing entertaining, exciting, and even a bit creepy at times – The Silver Chair, in particular, had an eerie atmosphere, while The Last Battle was action-packed and dramatic. This did make me wonder if some parts might be a bit too intense or scary for very young children — especially the vivid voice acting for the enemies and witches, which was great for emotional engagement but unsettling at times. Interestingly, the dramatisation made The Silver Chair, which can feel a bit slow in the book, much more exciting.
The faith content is strong throughout (although I always have a few minor personal quibbles with some theological points, possibly due to the allegorical nature of the stories).
This experience has made me keen to explore other dramatised novels, perhaps some of the Jane Austen adaptations I've seen on Audible.
February 6, 2024
Awesome production by the BBC, and available on audible. Sometimes it's good listening to a kids novel cause it takes you away and you just don't want to grow up.
May 8, 2025
Idk what it was about this dramatised audiobook, but it really wasn't it. I felt that BBC ruined it and I'm glad for the actual books and the fantasy of it all, which makes it all up for how bad this was. C.S. Lewis would be so ashamed. The Voice Actors weren't good, the music made it feel inauthentic to a book and the sound effects were hilariously awful! Aslan's Roar actually made me how. Like how dare they do Aslan dirty like that…. it's probably why it took me LITERALLY A MONTH+ to finish icl. I'm gonna listen to one last book and then give audiobooks a break as this experience was srsly sensory overload 💀
January 20, 2025
Some stories better than others but overall really enjoyed
May 6, 2022
The BBC Radio 4 Dramatisations of the Chronicles of Narnia use a host of actors known from many British TV series and productions and parts in fantasy films (Doctor Who, The Hobbit, Agatha Christie series, etc.), and a clutch of child actors hitherto unknown to provide the core parts of all the novels, all of which supply character to the plays. Stephen Thorne, of many Radio 4 productions and audiobooks as well as Doctor Who, delivers the voice of Aslan, and Maurice Denham, of a 100 films and TV series from 1937-97, voices the introductory Professor Digory Kirke - he of the pair, with Polly, who first found their way into Narnia, and who brought back a magic apple which cured his mother's illness, and planted the seeds at the foot of their garden, which grew into the tree from which the Wardrobe was made, that wardrobe through which Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter found their way into Narnia some years later (many many, in Narnia). So, a lot of British cultural history is inhered in these radio productions.
The total of 7 books is played in the Narnian historical chronology of reading, from The Magician's Nephew (1955) to The Last Battle (1956), some 15 hours of plays in 18 tracks of (typically) approximately one-hour two-parters, with 4 brief interludes, thus 14 tracks devoted to the novels. While the narratives stick to each of the novels' storylines, Brian Sibley's adaptation (obviously) uses vocal parts plus sound effects to portray the descriptive passages, with which Lewis was anyway often terse. Character and event are therefore to the fore, while surroundings are depicted by various sound effects (crowd scenes, the sea, and so on) very effectively, creating credible atmosphere. Music is limited to the introductions of each novel dramatised, plus chapter/scene transitions, and a cast list of major parts is given with each ending.
The result is an active retelling of the books in a quasi-filmic manner, as though listening to film soundtracks, leaving the listener to create or re-create the imagery from memory of the books (and occasionally form the films made of the series) which were not only so precious in our childhoods, but sustained themselves, and us, over the decades of our lives. Much of this imagery is directly down to Pauline Baynes's beautiful illustrations from the original novels, which most of us read in the fantastic Puffin series that sported her covers - and which have been propagated through several box sets (of which my favourite is the Puffin one of 1970s) to the excellent modern HarperCollins Children's hardback series. Thus, aside from the substantive sound effects which help bring these radio productions to life, we have a brilliant fund of our own images to supplement the tales. I wonder what it must be like to listen to these dramatisations as a child without having even seen those powerfully influential books and drawings? Surely an impossible scenario?
Some of the introductions to each book use transposed dialogue to set the scene - such as the introduction of the Queen of Underland at the beginning of The Silver Chair, and the oath of Rishtar Tarkaan to conquer Narnia, with the arrival of the children at Professor Kirke's, in The Last Battle - and supplemental dialogue for the descriptive passages, which clearly deviates from the text of Lewis's novels diachronically, but not from the overall narrative. The radio plays and the books are clearly different avenues into Narnia, and while the purists among us would be adamant that the books really should be read beforehand, these radio plays are a lively introduction to the wonderful classic chronicles. Having just read the books, which take about 6 hours each, this is a quick way to get the feel of the seven different narratives that make up the Narnian fables, but the books are too intrinsically precious for any substitute.
The total of 7 books is played in the Narnian historical chronology of reading, from The Magician's Nephew (1955) to The Last Battle (1956), some 15 hours of plays in 18 tracks of (typically) approximately one-hour two-parters, with 4 brief interludes, thus 14 tracks devoted to the novels. While the narratives stick to each of the novels' storylines, Brian Sibley's adaptation (obviously) uses vocal parts plus sound effects to portray the descriptive passages, with which Lewis was anyway often terse. Character and event are therefore to the fore, while surroundings are depicted by various sound effects (crowd scenes, the sea, and so on) very effectively, creating credible atmosphere. Music is limited to the introductions of each novel dramatised, plus chapter/scene transitions, and a cast list of major parts is given with each ending.
The result is an active retelling of the books in a quasi-filmic manner, as though listening to film soundtracks, leaving the listener to create or re-create the imagery from memory of the books (and occasionally form the films made of the series) which were not only so precious in our childhoods, but sustained themselves, and us, over the decades of our lives. Much of this imagery is directly down to Pauline Baynes's beautiful illustrations from the original novels, which most of us read in the fantastic Puffin series that sported her covers - and which have been propagated through several box sets (of which my favourite is the Puffin one of 1970s) to the excellent modern HarperCollins Children's hardback series. Thus, aside from the substantive sound effects which help bring these radio productions to life, we have a brilliant fund of our own images to supplement the tales. I wonder what it must be like to listen to these dramatisations as a child without having even seen those powerfully influential books and drawings? Surely an impossible scenario?
Some of the introductions to each book use transposed dialogue to set the scene - such as the introduction of the Queen of Underland at the beginning of The Silver Chair, and the oath of Rishtar Tarkaan to conquer Narnia, with the arrival of the children at Professor Kirke's, in The Last Battle - and supplemental dialogue for the descriptive passages, which clearly deviates from the text of Lewis's novels diachronically, but not from the overall narrative. The radio plays and the books are clearly different avenues into Narnia, and while the purists among us would be adamant that the books really should be read beforehand, these radio plays are a lively introduction to the wonderful classic chronicles. Having just read the books, which take about 6 hours each, this is a quick way to get the feel of the seven different narratives that make up the Narnian fables, but the books are too intrinsically precious for any substitute.
January 24, 2018
The Magicians Nephew is a joyously creepy tale of mad uncles mysterious travel, talking horses, kings and witches.
the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is so well known as to almost be glossed over, but it is a good story and always leaves me craving Turkish delight.
A Horse and his Boy almost reads as a standalone tale, and the Voyage of the Dawntreader, beginning well, turns into a rather religious mishmash of morality and death.
Prince Caspian.. Cute little PatterTwig made me laugh, I'd forgotten him, he is reminiscent of Hammy in Over The Hedge! Focus little squirrel, focus!
I had forgotten how much I hated The Last Battle. The Silver Chair was suitably adventurous, I adore Puddleglum and his miserable take on life, and the underlying message that if we say everything is bad no one will believe us when some thing really is..but the Last battle...ugh, doom and gloom throughout. The horrible destruction of Narnia is only partially saved by the reanimation of it 'further in'. A bit like buying a new kitten that looks the same as one that was run over, it doesn't quite work for me.
The characters are of course brilliant through out - including the incidental ones. But there are many 'leads' and a nice balance of male and female in both hero and villain roles.
As a whole I give the series 4 stars, but individually for me the Magicians Nephew is the strongest, The Last Battle the weakest in the saga.
I always wonder if, when Susan finally died of old age, she went back to Narnia..after all, age can change us both ways, she might have grown away from her beliefs at 18 but would she come back to them at 70?
the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is so well known as to almost be glossed over, but it is a good story and always leaves me craving Turkish delight.
A Horse and his Boy almost reads as a standalone tale, and the Voyage of the Dawntreader, beginning well, turns into a rather religious mishmash of morality and death.
Prince Caspian.. Cute little PatterTwig made me laugh, I'd forgotten him, he is reminiscent of Hammy in Over The Hedge! Focus little squirrel, focus!
I had forgotten how much I hated The Last Battle. The Silver Chair was suitably adventurous, I adore Puddleglum and his miserable take on life, and the underlying message that if we say everything is bad no one will believe us when some thing really is..but the Last battle...ugh, doom and gloom throughout. The horrible destruction of Narnia is only partially saved by the reanimation of it 'further in'. A bit like buying a new kitten that looks the same as one that was run over, it doesn't quite work for me.
The characters are of course brilliant through out - including the incidental ones. But there are many 'leads' and a nice balance of male and female in both hero and villain roles.
As a whole I give the series 4 stars, but individually for me the Magicians Nephew is the strongest, The Last Battle the weakest in the saga.
I always wonder if, when Susan finally died of old age, she went back to Narnia..after all, age can change us both ways, she might have grown away from her beliefs at 18 but would she come back to them at 70?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 11, 2022
Not sure if this should count as a book, because they are actually abridged dramatisations so really like listening to a play, and some of the 'best bits' (in my opinion) are missing. The unabridged books are 5 cds long each, which gives an idea of how much has been cut.
January 20, 2022
I've never read all the Narnia books but The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe has always been a firm favourite.
A wonderful dramatisation of the 7 novels by C. S. Lewis. Loved listening to these - it's made me want to read from the beginning :)
A wonderful dramatisation of the 7 novels by C. S. Lewis. Loved listening to these - it's made me want to read from the beginning :)
September 27, 2010
REALLY LAME!!!!!!
February 17, 2015
It's cute and fun, but if you have not read the actual books, you might be a bit lost.
April 13, 2016
Gotta love BBC....
August 5, 2024
Childhood favorites!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews