Which Last Battle recording should you buy?
Patrick Stewart reads the whole of the last Narnia book. An abridged reading sits beside it, and the BBC radio play is on sale too, though a plain search for the title did not return it when we looked.
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C.S. Lewis · 3 Audible UK recordings compared
Short answer
Patrick Stewart for the book: complete and solo, titled "The Last Battle: Unabridged". Sir Michael Hordern's edition has "Abridged" in its title and is a cut text. The BBC Radio 4 production with Maurice Denham, Timothy Spall and John Sessions is a play, listed as "The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Last Battle" — search for it under that name, because on 11 October 2026 a search for "The Last Battle C. S. Lewis" did not show it. Whichever you choose, this is the book to hear last.
The recordings, compared
| Narrator | Length | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patrick Stewart Our pick | 4 hrs 51 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. Listed as "The Last Battle: Unabridged". |
| Sir Michael Hordern | 2 hrs 25 mins | Abridged | Abridged, and labelled so in the title: 50% of the length of the shortest complete reading here. |
| Maurice Denham, Timothy Spall, John Sessions, Paul Rhys and a full cast | 2 hrs 23 mins | BBC full-cast dramatisation | A radio play, not a reading. Listed as "The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Last Battle"; a plain search for the book's title did not return it on 11 October 2026. |
