BBC Radio Drama Collection - James Hilton

Written by James Hilton
Read by Derek Jacobi, John Church, Katherine Parr, Carol Marsh, full cast
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Dramatization

Lost Horizon & Goodbye Mr Chips
Two BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramatisations
By: James Hilton
Narrated by: Derek Jacobi, John Church, Katherine Parr, Carol Marsh, full cast
Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
Radio/TV Program
Release date: 02-01-2025
Language: English
Publisher: BBC Audio

Full-cast adaptations of James Hilton’s two most famous novels

English author and screenwriter James Hilton is best remembered for his hugely successful novels Lost Horizon – which gave the world the term ‘Shangri-La’ – and Goodbye, Mr Chips. The books made him a household name, and were both adapted as Oscar-winning films. Now, those two classic stories have been brought together on audio, dramatised with full casts including Derek Jacobi, Carol Marsh and John Church.

Lost Horizon – May, 1931. Evacuated from war-torn Baskul, four passengers are plunged into adventure when their plane is hijacked and subsequently crash-lands in the Himalayan mountains. Out of the Tibetan wilderness, a man approaches, and leads British consul Hugh Conway and his fellow travellers to the hidden lamasery of Shangri-La. There, they find an idyllic haven, lost to the outside world – but this mystical utopia is hiding an astonishing secret…

Goodbye Mr Chips – Ensconced in comfortable retirement at Mrs Wickett’s, gentle old headmaster Mr Chipping has a thousand tangled memories of his long tenure at his beloved Brookfield School. Looking back, he recalls his arrival as a shy, nervous novice; how he won the respect and adoration of his pupils; and how he found – and lost – his one great love, the beautiful, kind-hearted Kathie. Spanning over 60 years, from the Franco-Prussian War to the rise of Hitler, this is a touching, nostalgic tale of a life well-lived.

Text copyright James Hilton 1933 (Lost Horizon), 1934 (Goodbye, Mr Chips)