Which Christmas Carol recording should you buy?
The complete text runs about three hours. There are editions here at 37 minutes, 55 minutes, 1 hour 11 and 1 hour 18 — and they are not all marked abridged.
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Charles Dickens · 16 Audible UK recordings compared
Short answer
Miriam Margolyes or Steve King. The complete text of A Christmas Carol runs around three hours, so the recordings between 2h44 and 3h25 are the book and the rest are not, whatever the label says. A few things to watch here. First, the David Jason edition is marked Unabridged and runs 1 hour 18: its description says only that he reads the story, and we cannot tell you whether the runtime or the label is the error. Second, the Glenn Schadt edition is also marked Unabridged but describes itself as "Adapted for Modern Readers" — adapted and unabridged cannot both be true of the same recording. Third, two short listings are not readings of the book at all: Bernard Miles' 37-minute edition is a cast production with a choir and orchestra that its description calls an abridged version, though Audible's listing data marks it unabridged; and Roy Macready's is described as an adaptation that concentrates on Scrooge and the three spirits. (Until 11 September 2026 this page called the Miles listing an unexplained unabridged reading.) (The Charles Collingwood listing at 1h45, marked Adaptation, is an Oxford Bookworms reader for learners of English.) Treat runtime as the only reliable signal on this page.
The recordings, compared
| Narrator | Length | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miriam Margolyes Our pick | 3 hrs 15 mins | Unabridged | A BBC radio reading, complete and solo, and among the longest here — which on this page is the evidence that nothing has been cut. |
| Steve King | 3 hrs 25 mins | Unabridged | The longest straight reading listed. Complete. |
| Simon Prebble | 3 hrs 9 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Jeffrey Ito | 3 hrs 2 mins | Unabridged | Complete, and specifically the original 1843 text. |
| Tom Baker | 3 hrs | Unabridged | A BBC radio reading. Complete. |
| Hugh Grant | 2 hrs 44 mins | Unabridged | Complete. A famous name, and unusually for this site that is not a warning — it really is the whole text. |
| Simon Vance | 2 hrs 54 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| AI Voice Arthur Lane | 2 hrs 59 mins | AI narration (Virtual Voice) | The complete text read by a synthetic voice. |
| Glenn Schadt | 2 hrs 26 mins | Unabridged, but described as adapted | Marked Unabridged while the listing says "Adapted for Modern Readers". Those two claims contradict each other; we have not established which is right. |
| Patrick Stewart | 1 hr 47 mins | Abridged | ABRIDGED, to a little over half the length of the Miriam Margolyes reading. A celebrated performance — Stewart toured a one-man version for years — but it is not the full text. |
| David Jason | 1 hr 18 mins | Unabridged | Marked Unabridged at 1h18, against a complete-text cluster of about three hours. The label and the runtime disagree. |
| Roy Macready | 1 hr 11 mins | Adaptation (Scrooge and the Three Spirits) | An adaptation rather than a shortened reading: its own description says it is subtitled Scrooge and the Three Spirits and concentrates on Scrooge's dealings with the spirits. Audible's listing data marks it abridged. |
| Jonathan Winters and Mimi Kennedy | 55 mins | Abridged | ABRIDGED — by Dickens himself: its description says Winters reads "a special performing edition prepared by Dickens for his own presentations". An NPR Christmas favourite, and a shorter text than the complete readings above. |
| Bernard Miles and cast | 37 mins | Dramatisation with cast and music, described as abridged | Not a reading of the book: its own description says Bernard Miles "leads a cast in this abridged version", with music from the Bach Choir and Jacques Orchestra. Audible's listing data marks it unabridged all the same. Until 11 September 2026 this page listed it as an unabridged reading whose runtime we could not explain. |
| Charles Collingwood | 1 hr 45 mins | Oxford Bookworms graded reader | Not the book: "An Oxford Bookworms Library reader for learners of English", in Audible's own description. The title carries (Adaptation), so this one is labelled. |
| Derek Jacobi, Kenneth Cranham, Miriam Margolyes and a full cast | 3 hrs 31 mins | Full-cast dramatisation | An audio drama rather than a reading, and the longest thing on the page. |
The recording we recommend is also on Audiobooks.com — the same Miriam Margolyes reading, listed at 3 hrs 15 mins when we checked on 11 September 2026. Their one-credit plan is listed at £7.99 a month before applicable taxes, and its credits expire after three months — the two models compared. We earn a commission on that link.