Which Fellowship of the Ring recording should you buy?
Two complete readings nearly three hours apart in length, plus the BBC dramatisation. This is the one genuine coin-toss in these comparisons: both full recordings are good, and people are unusually partisan about it.
J.R.R. Tolkien · 3 recordings on Audible UK
Short answer
Andy Serkis if you are new to it — the 2021 recording, better produced, and he does far more with the voices than a straight reading normally allows. Rob Inglis if you want the traditional one: he sings the songs properly rather than reading them, which a lot of listeners consider the whole point. Neither is a wrong answer. The 4-hour BBC version is a dramatisation and about a fifth of the length.
Every recording, compared
| Narrator | Length | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Serkis Our pick | 22 hrs 38 mins | Complete novel | Released 2021. Gollum in the films, and the most performed of the three by some distance. |
| Rob Inglis | 19 hrs 53 mins | Complete novel | The long-standing recording and still widely preferred. Sings the songs rather than speaking them. |
| Ian Holm, Peter Woodthorpe and a full cast | 4 hrs 35 mins | BBC full-cast dramatisation | The 1981 radio adaptation, with Holm as Frodo years before he played Bilbo on film. Bill Nighy appears later in the same series. |
