The Georgette Heyer BBC Radio Drama Collection

Four Full-Cast Dramatisations

By: Georgette Heyer

Narrated by: Elizabeth Proud, Simon Shepherd, Simon Russell Beale, Anna Massey, Nathaniel Parker, James Fleet, Helen Baxendale, Full Cast, Elli Garnett, James Frain

Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

BBC Radio adaptations of three of Georgette Heyer’s sparkling Regency romances and a classic comedy thriller.

The acknowledged ‘queen of Regency romance’, best-selling author Georgette Heyer, also penned a dozen delightful mystery novels. Included here are dramatisations of four of her finest stories from both genres, full of her characteristic wit, charm and period detail.

Regency Buck

Pretty but shrewd Judith Taverner gallops in from the provinces and daringly defies the gaming, drinking and brawling world of Regency London to claim her rights, her fortune - and who knows, perhaps her happiness? Starring Elizabeth Proud as Judith Taverner and Simon Shepherd as Peregrine Taverner.

Friday’s Child

‘I’m going back to London! And I’m going to marry the first woman I see!’ is the cry of young Lord Sheringham when his proposal of marriage is rejected by Isabella, the Incomparable. True to his word, he takes the even younger Hero Wantage as his bride.... Starring James Frain as Viscount Anthony Sheringham and Elli Garnett as Hero Wantage, with Simon Russell Beale as Jasper Tarleton.

Faro’s Daughter

Deborah Grantham’s position in a gaming house makes her utterly unsuitable as a wife for a nobleman, so Max Ravenscar determines to rescue his cousin from her clutches. But the bribe he offers does not go down well and a battle of wits commences.... Starring Sylvestre Le Touzel as Deborah Grantham and Nathaniel Parker as Max Ravenscar, with Anna Massey as Lady Bellingham.

Envious Casca

An English country Christmas in the 1930s, a Tudor manor house decked with holly, a family gathered for seasonal cheer - and a murder. Inspector Hemingway is on the case, but can he shake off amateur sleuths Toby and Jane French? Starring Peter Kelly as Inspector Hemingway, James Fleet as Toby and Helen Baxendale as Jane.

©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Nicely narrated but jumps abd skips around.

The voice acting and sound is nice. Some voices are a bit annoying.
If you have never read the book DO NOT bother with this. I have read the book several times and this still jumps and skip so much it is extremely annoying.

Not her best stories

I have read books by her that I enjoyed more than these. The mystery was the best story but it’s presentation was the least enjoyed because it was broken into parts.

very enjoyable

Loved this dramatized version of Georgette Heyers stories. Well done! Always wondered why none of her books became movies.

The narrators were brilliant and engaging.

Great stories are wonderful to listen to. Georgette Heyer was a great author and please listen to this.

Eagerly anticipated, but disappointed

I kind of enjoyed most of added sound effects, and the various narrators. I suppose part of disappointment was there were only four stories. I had just listened to regular Audible performance of two of them, Friday’s Child and Faro’s Daughter. I tried first two and fourth. Having just listened to a Friday’s Child, I was surprised I enjoyed regular one narrator version of Audible over this BBC version. Also I noticed they edited quite liberally, leaving me in
confusion of what was going on, and I knew the story well. The first, Regency Buck, is one of my least favorite of Heyer’s, and the last was one of Heyer’s mystery thrillers set in later era than Regency, and after 15 minutes I couldn’t listen anymore. All were strangely irritating.
So yeah, I was really bummed. I had hoped for more stories and more of my favorites.

Stick to the books or audio books so far...

Regency Buck never one of my favorites but the sneering laugh and mustache twirling they use for Worth is such a disservice!
And so much abridgment on RB that the best scenes after the race and pavilion cut out! I listened to Faros Daughter BBC drama before and hope I still like it and will try the rest but poor poor Regency Buck!!!

Awful

I rarely write reviews, but I had to for this one. I pre-ordered this and waited patiently for it to be released. Such a disappointment! I LOVE these books but the performance in these was not what I was expecting. The female leads sound petulant and just too annoying to listen to. I think I’ll stick with the books!

Too shortened, wrong voice types

It was a huge disappointment.- I love Georgette Heyer and was hopeful about a dramatization with different voices. When I saw that 4 books were all together aboutr 6 hours long I became suspicious. Then I started listening, and oh dear, what a mess. In Regency Buck, Peregrin's voice ought to have been more youthful and less decisive; Worth's felt like sneering all the time when not chuckling evilly. In Friday's Child, I could not determine whivch male character was speaking, the voice types and intonations were so similar. Also, Hero's voice ought to have been more lighthearted, more excitable and express more naivete. And oh, the storylines were so shortened that one could hardly follow the complexities of Regency Buck, let alone Hero and Sherry's story. I did not begin to experiment with the rest, I returned the title to make better use of my credit.

Battered and Beaten Storylines

Stories ripped to pieces, this listens like a audio version of someone's notes on a book read aloud. It kills all the good color of a Heyer novel. The voice acting is sometimes fine but often poor casting choices (such as a 16 year old Hero Wantage played by a 3 pack a day smokey voice). If you have not read these novels, you probably won't follow the stories, or at least, you won't see why you should. If you have read them, you will be appalled.

ruined a great book with edits

the nature of radio means no narration, but this book simply fails without all of the narrative.