The Chronicles of Barset - Six BBC radio dramas - Anthony Trollope

Written by Anthony Trollope
Read by Brenda Blethyn, Eleanor Bron, Kenneth Cranham, Anna Massey, Leo McKern, Simon Russell Beale, Amanda Root
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Dramatization

The Chronicles of Barset was broadcast between 1993 and 1998 on BBC Radio 4

All six Barsetshire novels were dramatised for radio by Martin Wade, and directed by Cherry Cookson.

The first novel to receive the Wade/Cookson treatment was The Small House at Allington. Adapted in four parts for Radio 4 in 1993, the programme was so successful that Radio 4 went on to commission the remaining five Barset novels, which were broadcast between December 1995 and March 1998.

The first in the series, The Warden, finds Rev. Harding forced to question the moral basis of the life he is leading.

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 with a star cast including Brenda Blethyn, Eleanor Bron, Kenneth Cranham, Anna Massey, Leo McKern, Simon Russell Beale and Amanda Root, it is guaranteed to appeal to all fans of Trollope’s comic masterpieces.