Which Bleak House recording should you buy?
A long book with a long shelf of recordings: the complete readings we list run 32 hrs 57 mins to 43 hrs 12 mins. Next to them are abridgements, an AI voice, a BBC dramatisation and an Audible Original with a star cast, and readers whose names appear on more than one kind of listing.
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Short answer
Miriam Margolyes: complete and solo, part of The Audible Dickens Collection. Hugh Dickson, Simon Vance and the other complete readings in the table run 32 hrs 57 mins to 43 hrs 12 mins, and some share the book between two readers (Sean Barrett with Teresa Gallagher, Miranda Raison with Pearl Mackie, Michael Page with Nicola Barber). Names need care on this title. Margolyes is also in the cast of the Audible Original, an adaptation led by Thandiwe Newton and Mark Strong that is a drama, not the novel. Sean Barrett is on a complete Naxos reading with Teresa Gallagher and on a Naxos abridgement on his own. The BBC listing has "(Dramatised)" in its title, although the catalogue marks it unabridged. And the AI Voice Bob edition is a synthetic voice.
The recordings, compared
| Narrator | Length | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miriam Margolyes Our pick | 43 hrs 12 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. Part of The Audible Dickens Collection. |
| Hugh Dickson | 37 hrs 11 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Sean Barrett and Teresa Gallagher | 35 hrs 14 mins | Unabridged | Complete, with two readers, from Naxos. Barrett also has a Naxos abridgement on his own, below. |
| Simon Vance | 32 hrs 57 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Miranda Raison and Pearl Mackie | 38 hrs 13 mins | Unabridged | Complete, with two readers. |
| Michael Page and Nicola Barber | 38 hrs 1 min | Unabridged | Complete, with two readers. Listed as the AmazonClassics Edition. |
| Maurice Turner | 35 hrs 51 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Peter Cable | 33 hrs 47 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| AI Voice Bob | 47 hrs 19 mins | AI narration (Virtual Voice) | The text read by a synthetic voice: Audible's catalogue flags it as a Virtual Voice title. |
| Thandiwe Newton, Mark Strong, Mackenzie Crook, Miriam Margolyes and a full cast | 7 hrs 41 mins | Audible Original, full cast | An Audible Original performed by a cast: a drama, not the novel. Miriam Margolyes, who reads the complete pick, is in the cast. |
| BBC full cast | 5 hrs 6 mins | BBC full-cast dramatisation | A dramatisation: the listing title says "(Dramatised)", although Audible's catalogue marks it unabridged. |
| Sean Barrett | 11 hrs 15 mins | Abridged | ABRIDGED. A long abridgement, and the reader is also on the complete Naxos reading above. |
| Beatie Edney and Ronald Pickup | 6 hrs 25 mins | Abridged | Abridged, with two readers. |
| Paul Scofield | 3 hrs 2 mins | Abridged | Abridged. |
| Sir John Gielgud | 2 hrs 47 mins | Abridged | Abridged, an Argo Classics recording. |