The Russia House

By: John le Carré

Narrated by: Full Cast, Tom Baker

In the third year of perestroika, London publisher Barley Blair is sent a manuscript from Moscow. Exposing Russian nuclear threats as a sham, the information - if it’s genuine - could shatter East-West relations. Jazz-loving, hard-drinking Blair is hardly the spymasters’ idea of the perfect agent, yet they are forced to send him to Moscow to make contact. But the Cold War thaws when Barley meets Katya, the beautiful Russian intermediary who is equally sceptical of state ideology. Mere pawns in a deadly game of international espionage, they nevertheless represent the breakdown of hostilities and a future which poses a huge threat to the entrenched professionals on both sides... Both a gripping spy saga and a poignant love story, The Russia House delivers all the excitement and tension expected from the master of espionage fiction. This BBC Radio 4 adaptation was dramatised by René Basilico.

Just okay--No substitute for a narrated book

As a Le Carre fan I've exhausted Audible's selection of his books. So I turned to the dramatised production of Russia House in hopes of getting more. I have ot say it's a bit of a letdown, with a lot of over-acting and irritating sound effects that I found distracting. Although Russia House was made into a pretty bad movie (starring Sean Connery), some of Le Carre's books have been successfully adapted to film and television (Smiley's People with Alec Guinness is simply superb). It's not an impossible task to capture Le Carre's distinctive prose style and nuanced characters in a medium other than the printed word. This dramatised version of Russia House falls far short of excellence. I hope that Audible will add the book to its offerings at some point.

Dr. Who as Spy boozes up dynamite as small press publisher

Not one of Le Carre's masterpieces but this lesser story is well done in an audio adaptation feature Dr. Who's Tom Baker playing Barley Blair a drunken small time publisher and big time failure who finds love and purpose being a reluctant spy.

Top notch dramatic adaptation

This is an excellent traumatize Asian of the novel. Running time is three hours which is great for a car drive, bike ride etc. Very high-quality.

Tom Baker takes this drama to the next level

I first bought this drama in Vienna on audio cassette in the mid 1990s and thought it was top notch. When I saw Audible had it i immediately snapped it up. I love the story; the adaptation is very well done. I love the cast, starting with the incomparable Tom Baker. He’s even better than Sean Connery in the role of Barley Blaire.

When I begin to write another audio drama THIS is my go to for inspiration. I’ve listened to it dozens of times and always enjoyed it. Some colloquialisms assigned to the Americans are foreign, but whatever. It’s still a great show. The show has even changed from time to time- not in content, but how I perceive it. There’s a strong romance element that makes it quite good.

I know Audible has the Complete George Smiley done in the early 2000s, but I wish they’d sell the two shows adapted by this same writer starring Bernard Hepton. They’re better in virtually every way. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold with Colin Blakely is great too.

BBC 4 never disappoints,

An excellent dramatized, near radio program, version of John le Carré’s The Russia House.

Follow boozy Bartholomew “Barley” Scott Blair, a 60 something, nearly bankrupt, head of a British family-owned publishing firm as he is plunged into the world of tradecraft as he recruited to contact code name "Goethe". A brilliant Soviet scientist who is attempting to expose that the Soviet military is decrepit.

Is this a disinformation ploy by the by the Soviets?

BBC 4 never disappoints.

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