Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Wilkie Collins BBC Radio Collection

By: Wilkie Collins
Narrated by: Harry Lloyd, John Sharp, full cast, Abigail Docherty, Sophie Thompson, Toby Stephens, David Suchet, Marcia Warren, Ronald Pickup
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

BBC radio productions of the finest works of Wilkie Collins: sensation novelist, early master of the mystery story and pioneer of detective fiction.

Wilkie Collins was one of Victorian England's best-loved and best-selling authors, and a crime-fiction pioneer. His enthralling 'sensation novels' such as The Woman in White paved the way for today's thrillers and his tour de force The Moonstone is one of the first, and greatest, modern-detective stories.

This collection features dramatisations of these two masterpieces, with star casts including Toby Stephens (The Woman in White) and John Sharp (The Moonstone). Also included are adaptations of three of Collins' other major novels: No Name, The Law and the Lady and The Haunted Hotel, starring Sophie Thompson, Abigail Docherty and Henry Lloyd respectively.

Collins was a prolific short story writer, and included here are a number of his shorter tales, such as a full-cast dramatisation of the ghost story 'Mad Monkton', starring Gary Bond, and readings of five tales of suspense: 'The Dream Woman' (read by David Suchet), 'The Biter Bit' (read by John Rowe), 'A Terribly Strange Bed' (read by Paul Daneman), 'The Stolen Letter' (read by Garard Green) and 'The Dead Hand' (read by Peter Marinker). Plus, the darkly comic 'Mrs Badgery' is read by Christopher Harper, while Ronald Pickup reads the murder mystery 'Who Killed Zebedee?', taken from the 1887 short story collection Little Novels. There are also dramatisations of five additional Little Novels tales: 'Miss Jeromette and the Clergyman', 'Mr Marmaduke and the Minister', 'Miss Bertha and the Yankee', 'Miss Morris and the Stranger' and 'Mr Percy and the Prophet', all starring Ronald Pickup as Wilkie Collins.

A lifelong friend of Charles Dickens, Collins collaborated with him on several works including 'A House to Let', which was co-written by Collins, Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell and Adelaide Anne Proctor. Marcia Warren stars in an adaptation of this exciting tale of secrets and intrigue.

Finally, in Night Waves: The Woman in White, Matthew Sweet joins Simon Callow, Kate Summerscale, Paul Lewis and Lisa Appignanesi to discuss the groundbreaking novel that catapulted Collins to literary stardom, exploring its lasting influence and asking how it stands up today.

Contents

  1. The Woman in White
  2. No Name
  3. The Moonstone
  4. The Law and the Lady
  5. The Haunted Hotel
  6. 'Mad Monkton'
  7. 'The Dream Woman'
  8. 'The Biter Bit'
  9. 'A Terribly Strange Bed'
  10. 'The Stolen Letter'
  11. 'The Dead Hand'
  12. 'Mrs Badgery'
  13. 'A House to Let'
  14. 'Who Killed Zebedee?'
  15. 'Miss Jeromette and the Clergyman'
  16. 'Mr Marmaduke and the Minister'
  17. 'Miss Bertha and the Yankee'
  18. 'Miss Morris and the Stranger'
  19. 'Mr Percy and the Prophet'
  20. 'Night Waves: The Woman in White'
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
activate_samplebutton_t1

Listeners also enjoyed...

The 39 Steps and Other Richard Hannay Adventures cover art
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete BBC Collection cover art
The Elizabeth Gaskell Collection cover art
The George Eliot BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
Patrick Hamilton: Rope, Gaslight, Hangover Square and More cover art
The Thomas Hardy BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
BBC Classics: Ultimate Story Collection cover art
Sergeant Cribb cover art
Dr Gideon Fell: The Complete BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
The H G Wells BBC Radio Collection cover art
P. D. James BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
W.M. Thackeray: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
The Fyodor Dostoevsky BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
A Case for Dr Morelle cover art
Inspector Purbright cover art
The Rivals: Tales of Sherlock Holmes’ Rival Detectives cover art

What listeners say about The Wilkie Collins BBC Radio Collection

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    27
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    25
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    24
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

wonderful stories from a master

loved these full cast plays. please do more of them. highly entertaining and very easy to listen to. fantastic stories by a master story teller.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Tremendous value for money

Full cast dramatisations of his major novels plus readings and a Night Waves episode on the Woman in White thrown in as a bonus. All well performed. A real treat that I'll keep going back to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I Love ❤️ This Collection of 160 Year Old Classics

This is an excellent production of 24 hours and 36 minutes of writings published from the years 1843 to Wilkie Collins death in 1889, amazing that these are over 160 years old yet still very enjoyable in 2021 A good selection of top actor’s brings these plays and readings to life with my only humph being; Please sir; I want some more …. An excellent amount for only one credit.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant.

What a fantastic collection of stories from Wilkie Collins. He somehow seems to have the voice of today in stories that are over a century and a half old and has a way of writing that seems to really know how people feel and think. The stories are with a full cast which also really helps the stories to come alive.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Giro Sparrow Loves Wilkie Collins.

Wow. A big thank you, BBC radio,for this joyous audio book. Thank You Again. X

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Get rid of the horrible flute music!!!!

These timeless classics are performed beautifully but there is one thing marring the whole experience. The horrible flute interlude every five minutes! It’s unbearable!!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very enjoyable. Highly recommend.

Prepare for the long haul because, once started, you won't be able to stop listening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Period drama with a bit of a twist.

These mysteries are first and foremost period dramas which no one does better than the BBC, but they are of a time and that time probably never existed.
I think they were probably as unusual and curious to their readers of the day as they are to us.
Did women really ever fall into a faint and take to their beds for three days upon hearing bad news?
Did everyone in those days fall in love hopelessly on first sight and imagine their entire eternal happiness would be dependent on that person?
Did everyone really live in a big house, have a title or spend their lives angling for an inheritance- or swindling someone out of their inheritance?
Did everyone get addressed as, ‘My Dearest, sweet Emilia’ or ‘Dearest Papa’ to their face?
After 3 or 4 they become very repetitive : a big house, a title, people that fall in love at first sight and get separated, a woman in need of a husband, a dowry a will or an inheritance, a ball, excitement over a new gown, a secret, skulduggery in the shrubbery, women fainting and dying when they hear bad news, or committing suicide for unrequited love, patronising arrogant men, and so many plots that rely on lost letters.
Some people absolutely love this sort of thing so if that sounds appealing to you you will love it because it’s very well done but if you think it might grate after a while, then be warned.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

zzzzzz

bored me to tears , narrators voice not right for this book , struggled to get started let alone finish , .. ease take this as no baring on the writer ! but actually sent me to sleep , great if you failed mathematics and can't count sheep .. had to give 1 star for story as it was incredibly difficult to get any gist of the story line as I was bored by the narrator's voice

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Awful awful awful

The only thing I can say is that this will send you to sleep zzzzzzzzzzzzxzz and you’ll listen to it and never remember what you have heard

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful