Which Animal Farm recording should you buy?
The complete readings of Animal Farm that we list run 3 hrs 10 mins to 3 hrs 58 mins. Beside them are a radio dramatisation, an abridgement that Audible's label and runtime do not agree on, and Stephen Fry, whose reading we found only inside an Orwell collection.
Disclosure: links on this page to Audible are affiliate links — if you sign up or buy through one, we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. More about this
Short answer
Simon Callow: complete and solo. Adam Buxton's Penguin Modern Classics edition, Andy Serkis, Leighton Pugh and the other complete readings in the table run 3 hrs 10 mins to 3 hrs 58 mins; choose on voice. Andy Serkis also appears on a second listing at the same running time, which we take to be the same recording. Stephen Fry's reading appeared in the search we read only as part of an Orwell collection, not on its own. Tamsin Greig's listing is "Animal Farm [Dramatised]", a play, although the listing also says unabridged. And Elizabeth Anne Harris's edition is marked abridged at a length that looks complete; we have not read its description.
The recordings, compared
| Narrator | Length | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Callow Our pick | 3 hrs 11 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Adam Buxton | 3 hrs 23 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo, the Penguin Modern Classics edition. |
| Andy Serkis | 3 hrs 48 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. The same reader and running time appear on a second listing. |
| Leighton Pugh | 3 hrs 24 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Peter Noble | 3 hrs 58 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. Listed as an Illustrated Edition. |
| Nathan Ashcroft | 3 hrs 13 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Benjamin May | 3 hrs 25 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Diogenes Dreamer | 3 hrs 10 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Thomas Whitmore | 3 hrs 29 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Tamsin Greig and a cast | 1 hr 26 mins | Full-cast dramatisation | A play: listed as "Animal Farm [Dramatised]", although the listing also says unabridged. |
| Elizabeth Anne Harris | 3 hrs 20 mins | Abridged | Marked abridged, although its running time looks like a complete reading's. Its description does not say what was cut. |