Classic Adaptation

A collection of thrilling tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, including six full-cast dramas and a short story read by Benedict Cumberbatch In the first half of the 20th century, the detective story exploded in popularity. Innovative authors penned whodunits, whydunits and...

Twelve dramatisations of the best love stories ever written, performed by star casts Treat yourself to this stunning collection of classic stories of love, loss, obstacles overcome and desperate attraction. This is a beautiful, moving and at times thrilling listen which takes you on a journey...

Terry Jones introduces ten dramatisations of choice Florentine Fancies, adapted from Giovanni Boccaccio's classic human comedy by the BBC Monty Python star and medieval historian Terry Jones presents ten BBC Radio dramatisations of tales from Giovanni Boccaccio's humane and comic masterpiece...

Four full-cast dramatisations of classic Gothic novels, plus documentaries exploring the genre’s rise and enduring appeal Dark deeds, dastardly villains, innocent victims and supernatural happenings – these are the terrifying tropes that make up Gothic fiction, a genre that has captured our...

Choderlos de Laclos’s scandalous 18th-century novel of seduction, manipulation and revenge, featuring a star cast led by Diana Rigg, Roger Allam, Juliet Stevenson and Samuel West. Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s 1782 epistolary novel remains one of the most influential explorations of power...

Drift off to the epic story of Odysseus, adapted by Alexandra Turney to help you fall asleep. In Get Sleepy's adaptation of The Odyssey, follow the Greek hero Odysseus on his long journey home after the Trojan War. The retelling stays faithful to the original while keeping a light touch, so you can enjoy the story without it keeping you awake. Narrated by the soft, steady voice of Get Sleepy's Thomas Jones, this adaptation is designed to help you release the worries of the day and settle in for the night.

Sara Crewe is a very rich little girl. She first comes to England when she is seven, and her father takes her to Miss Minchin’s school in London. Then he goes back to his work in India. Sara is very sad at first, but she soon makes friends at school. But on her 11th birthday, something terrible happens, and now Sara has no family, no home, and not a penny in the world.

Following Sterling's spectacularly successful launch of its children's classic novels (240,000 books in print to date),comes a dazzling new series: Classic Starts. The stories are unabridged and have been rewritten for younger audiences. Classic Starts treats the world's beloved tales (and...

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic fiction read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly abridged and remastered stories are now available to download for the first...

Seven legendary unproduced screenplays, resurrected and reinvented for BBC Radio 4 The annals of movie history are full of lost treasures – spectacular scripts from world-renowned writers that could have been classics, had they only been made. Now, for the first time, some of these forgotten...

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic fiction read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly abridged and remastered stories are now available to download for the first...

"The moment I first met you, I noticed your pride, your sense of superiority, and your selfish disdain for the feelings of others. You are the last man in the world whom I could ever be persuaded to marry," said Elizabeth Bennet. And so Elizabeth rejects the proud Mr Darcy. Can nothing overcome her prejudice against him? This famous novel by Jane Austen is full of wise and humorous observation of the people and manners of her times.

Tom Sawyer does not like school. He does not like work, and he never wants to get out of bed in the morning. But he likes swimming and fishing, and having adventures with his friends. And he has a lot of adventures. One night, he and his friend Huck Finn go to the graveyard to look for ghosts.They don’t see any ghosts that night. They see something worse than a ghost – much, much worse.

Bloomsbury presents The Odyssey: A Graphic Adaptation of Homer's Epic Tale by Seymour Chwast, read by Brian Bowles, Joe Eyre and Harriet Carmichael. Design legend Seymour Chwast lends his "diabolically witty, devilishly expressive" style to Homer's ancient classic, now brought to life in Graphic...

Jane Eyre is alone in the world. Disliked by her aunt’s family, she is sent away to school. Here she learns that a young girl, with neither money nor family to support her, can expect little from the world. She survives, but she wants more from life than simply to survive: she wants respect, and love. When she goes to work for Mr Rochester, she hopes she has found both at once. But the sound of strange laughter, late at night, behind a locked door, warns her that her troubles are only beginning.

This is a modern adaptation of The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. The story and characters remain the same; the text has been completely rewritten in modern language.

It is hay-making time on the Wookey farm. Two brothers are building the haystack, but thinking about other things – about young women, and love. There are angry words, and then a fight between the brothers. But the work goes on, visitors come and go, and the long hot summer day slowly turns to evening. Then the sun goes down, covering the world with a carpet of darkness. From the hedges around the hayfield comes the rich, sweet smell of wild flowers, and the hay will make a fine, soft bed.

In the mountains of Transylvania there stands a castle. It is the home of Count Dracula – a dark, lonely place, and at night the wolves howl around the walls. In the year 1875 Jonathan Harker comes from England to do business with the Count. But Jonathan does not feel comfortable at Castle Dracula. Strange things happen at night, and very soon, he begins to feel afraid. And he is right to be afraid, because Count Dracula is one of the Un-Dead – a vampire that drinks the blood of living people.

This beautiful book offers 17 of the best-loved fairy tales belonging to French, Danish, German, and Polish cultures. Written in beautiful and lively language, this new edition of timeless classics has been carefully adapted to meet the expectations and needs of today's younger readers. Indeed, small children will welcome it with keen interest, readily making it their favorite first book of fairy tales.

The room was on the fourth floor, and the door was locked - with the key on the inside. The windows were closed and fastened - on the inside. The chimney was too narrow for a cat to get through. So how did the murderer escape? And whose were the two angry voices heard by the neighbours as they ran up the stairs? Nobody in Paris could find any answers to this mystery.Except Auguste Dupin, who could see further and think more clearly than other people.