Books turned into films and television

When the actor reads the book

The overlap between screen casting and audiobook narration is much commoner than you would guess, and where it happens it is usually the recording to choose — the performer already knows the part.

• The Lord of the Rings and Middle-earth — Andy Serkis played Gollum and later recorded the whole of Middle-earth as an audiobook narrator.
• Hercule Poirot — The strongest case on the site: David Suchet played Poirot for twenty-four years and reads him; Kenneth Branagh directs and stars in the films and reads him too; Hugh Fraser played Hastings and narrates the largest share of the novels.
• The Wheel of Time — Rosamund Pike plays Moiraine and narrates the novels.
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — Martin Freeman played Arthur Dent in the film and reads the later books in the series.
• Bridgerton — Adjoa Andoh plays Lady Danbury and is one of the busiest narrators in British audio, though not of these books.
• Wolf Hall — Ben Miles played Cromwell on stage and narrates the whole trilogy.

All 23 celebrity narrators →

Two things worth knowing before you start

The screen version often diverges, and sometimes overtakes. Shetland ran out of Ann Cleeves novels years ago and kept going. Game of Thrones finished a story its books have not. Reading order and viewing order stop matching, so a listening order is worth having.

A famous adaptation does not mean a good audiobook. Where a screen tie-in exists there is often more than one recording of the book competing under similar listings — abridgements, dramatisations and, for Christie, retellings for language learners. Check which one you are buying before you spend a credit.