10 of the best British narrators in audio

Viktor E. Frankl, a world-renowned psychiatrist, survived years in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. These horrific experiences, paired with his years of scientific training, give him a uniquely intimate perspective on life’s most complicated questions. As a psychiatrist, Frankl used this theory to create a new kind of psychotherapy called logotherapy, which he himself used to come to terms with the trials and cruelties he experienced in his own life. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl explains (through Hall of Fame narrator Simon Vance) how listeners can use questions of meaning to process their own lives and arrive at a greater understanding of existence. Vance effortlessly guides listeners through Frankl’s most complex musings, all of which are centered on the author’s main theory: the primary motivating force for human beings is their search for purpose and understanding.

Fiona Hardingham

Fiona Hardingham has narrated everything from nonfiction to YA fantasy, romance to literary fiction. She's an actor and producer in addition to audiobook narrator, with roles in films including Pokémon Detective Pikachu and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. She's received several AudioFile Earphones Awards, an Odyssey Honor, and has been the narrator of one of YALSA's Top 10 Amazing Audiobooks. She often co-narrates YA fantasy with Steve West (The Scorpio Races, An Ember in the Ashes), and has narrated books by Sophie Kinsella, Fiona Barton, and Jojo Moyes.

A.J. Hartley and David Hewson’s novelization of Shakespeare’s Hamlet was chosen as the Best Audiobook on Audible in 2014. Narrated by Richard Armitage (swoon) of the Hobbit films, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark takes Shakespeare’s original play into unexpected realms and reinvents the story we all thought we knew.

Adjoa Andoh

Adjoa Andoh is a stage and screen actor who has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared on British television and in the major motion picture Invictus. She's narrated over 100 audiobooks, most notably Americana by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, and The Power by Naomi Alderman. She's also voiced Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, which won the honor of being named The Guardian’s Best Audiobook of the Year.

John Lee is known for narrating some epic books: Ken Follet's Kingsbridge novels, Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. He's a narrator, actor, and producer who has won multiple Audie Awards, Earphones Awards, and was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine. With over 500 audiobooks under his belt, he has plenty of experience narrating everything from epic fantasy to fascinating nonfiction.

Juliet Stevenson is an actress you may recognize from films such as Emma, Bend It Like Beckham, and Mona Lisa Smile. She's also the narrator of over 100 audiobooks, from Jane Austen classics to contemporary bestsellers such as Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things. She's also a BBC drama voice actor that has been nominated for BAFTA awards four times, received the Laurence Olivier Award, and was honored with a CBE for her contribution to the arts.

Chukwudi Iwuji has only a few audiobook credits to his name, but has already distinguished himself as an excellent narrator. The British-Nigerian actor has worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as film, radio, and television. He narrated Chigozie Obioma's novels The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorites, And After Many Days by Jowhor Ile, and I Will Always Write Back by authors Martin Ganda, Caitlin Alifirenka, and Liz Welch.

Simon Prebble has worked as a stage and screen actor, a television game show host, a voice-over actor, and is now a prolific audiobook narrator. He's narrated classics such as 1984 by George Orwell, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, as well as contemporary works by Charles Todd, Dick Francis, and Peter Robinson. He's recorded over 900 audiobooks, and has been nominated or has received nearly every audiobook award there is—Audies, Earphones, Golden Voice, and Best Narrator of the Year.

Cathleen McCarron is a voice coach with the Royal Shakespeare Company, so you know she has what it takes to be an incredible narrator. In addition to her theater work, she's narrated over 50 audiobooks, most notably Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, which earned her a nomination to the 2018 British Book Award for Best Audiobook, an Audie Award, an Earphones Award, and the Silver Award in the Radio Indies Group’s UK Audio Production Awards 2017. She's also narrated books by Phillipa Greory and many novels by Scottish crime writer Denise Mina.

Moira Quirk is an actor, comedian, and voice-over artist who has extensive experience in TV and animation, and got her start with full-cast audiobooks before turning to solo narrations. She's won an Audie and Earphones Awards, and has since recorded over 80 audiobooks. She has a broad range, and her titles include Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Gail Carriger's Finishing School and Custard Protocol series, and books by Audrey Coulthurst and Elizabeth Hoyt.