The Complete Barchester Chronicles

A Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisation

By: Anthony Trollope

Narrated by: Alex Jennings, Amanda Root, Anna Massey, Brenda Blethyn, David Haig, Eleanor Bron, Emma Fielding, full cast, Kenneth Cranham, Leo McKern, Rosemary Leach, Simon Russell Beale

Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

The acclaimed BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Anthony Trollope's gently satirical tales of provincial life

One of the most respected, successful chroniclers of nineteenth-century life, Anthony Trollope is still widely read and much-loved today. The Barchester Chronicles - witty moral comedies with a wonderful range of characters - are among his most popular tales.

The first in the series, The Warden, finds Rev. Harding forced to question the moral basis of the life he is leading; and in the sequel, Barchester Towers, the Reverend is now plain Mr Harding, bound up in a tale of intrigue, hypocrisy and ambition that will delight the listener.

Dr Thorne is a gripping drama of wealth and wedlock; while Framley Parsonage tells the story of a naive, ambitious young clergyman whose unwise associations bring him to the brink of ruin. The Small House at Allington explores the power of devotion, in the form of Lily Dale’s love for self-seeking Adolphus Crosbie.

Finally, The Last Chronicle of Barset sees the most popular characters from Trollope’s earlier novels, including the Proudies, Lily, Mr Harding and Archdeacon Grantly, reunited in a moving tale of honesty triumphing over hypocrisy.

Nearly twenty hours of ironic, witty and wonderfully written drama is contained in this collection. With a star cast including Brenda Blethyn, Eleanor Bron, Kenneth Cranham, Anna Massey, Leo McKern, Simon Russell Beale, Amanda Root, Alex Jennings, David Haig, Rosemary Leach and Emma Fielding, it is guaranteed to appeal to all fans of Trollope’s comic masterpieces.

©2008 BBC Audiobooks Ltd (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks Ltd

Great!

Would you listen to The Complete Barchester Chronicles (Dramatisation) again? Why?

I loved this! The characters really came to life with this dramatisation. I could tell them apart, which is very often an issue with an audiobook or a dramatisation. There also weren't a lot of annoying sound effects. I've never read the books, but now I plan to do so.

Excellent performance of a wonderful classic

the actors did a marvelous job interpreting their roles. If you like Trollope, you'll love this audio book

Well dramatized

Witty, sweet, bucolic British dramatization of all 5 of Trollope's Barchester books. Easy listening but without the detail and nuances of the full books. An excellent and lovely, although severe, abridgment.

Best ever!

Just wonderful on every level. Faithful to the books, yet creative and engrossing. BRAVO! Episodes are seamless and flow well.

Wonderful

I listened daily to and from work, making my commute most enjoyable. making it at times difficult to get out of the car. Some of the characters were portrayed at times to boisterously and others to lacking but overall a wonderful work. If you are a fan of BBC this must not be missed. I have seen some of the works done for TV but this gave more depth to the characters as though I was reading the book. Bravo.

Wonderful! But Problem with Chapters

This is a BBC Radio dramatization of “The Barchester Chronicles”, a collection of six books by Anthony Trollope.
“The Warden”
“Barchester Towers”
“Doctor Thorne”
“Framley Parsonage”
“The Small House at Allington”
“The Last Chronicle of Barset”
“Doctor Thorne” is listed as “The Thorne” for some reason and “Framley Parsonage” isn’t listed at all (it starts 2:46:15). Other than that, this is a wonderful collection of stories.
The full cast, music and sound effects makes it easy to follow and enjoy. Characters range from the best to the worst, but most are everywhere in between, as human beings actually are. Part Dickens, part Austen and something all its own, these stories are still as relevant and entertaining today as when they were first published!
If you want to listen an unabridged version, I recommend the narrator David Shaw-Parker.

It’s all right

I was looking for an unabridged series of Trollope’s chronicles. This is a dramatization. Some hokiness

I failed to note an important word: Dramatisation

Trollope is a favorite and I was all ready to delve into the COMPLETE Barchester Chronicles. Although the performances were good, I was thinking I would get a reading of the text, not just dialogue. The more I listened, the more annoying the sound effects and stilted efforts to orient the listener became, to say nothing of the difficulty of figuring out which lady is fussing about what. It's my own fault for failing to note that it's a dramatisation; I've had this problem with other such presentations.

I was listening to an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel while driving and thought there was something seriously wrong with my car…till I realized the disturbing sound was a ticking clock. The tinkle of teacups was the real clue indicating that the scene was in a drawing room. Silly me :-) From now on I will pay more attention to telling words like "adaptation" or "dramatisation." Others may find the effects enhance the story but I guess I'm just too literal to enjoy musical interludes, bird songs and the sound of feet crunching on gravel.

Soap Opera

If you are fond of soap operas, you might enjoy this series. It is very over-the-top with its dramatization and I have to suspect that that's a form of satire. the names given to the people can be quite amusing and the social commentary is entertaining but if you're looking for a serious treatment of the time look elsewhere.

To each his own...

While I am sure others find this a treasure [see other reviews], I did not. It was neither ironic, witty, funny, nor engaging. It was just plain boring. It put me to sleep every time I turned it on.I found the characters very dull and unimaginative.The pace drags so that it takes 15 min to get thru a scene that could be done in 5... and I still have no idea what happened to John Bold. Aaaah - where's good ole Jeeves when you need him???