Which Subtle Knife recording should you buy?
The same three choices as Northern Lights: Philip Pullman's own reading with a full cast, Ruth Wilson's solo reading, and the BBC radio play, sold singly and inside a box set of the whole trilogy.
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Philip Pullman · 4 Audible UK recordings compared
Short answer
Philip Pullman with the full cast, if you started the trilogy with it: the author narrates and actors take the voices, and the same production runs through all three books. Ruth Wilson's solo reading is complete too, and newer, and she reads the other books of the trilogy as well, so stay with whichever you began with. Both recordings appear twice in the search results under slightly different listing titles, so choose by narrator rather than by title. The BBC radio edition with Emma Fielding is a play, and The Complete BBC Radio Collection holds the plays of the whole trilogy in one listing, so its running time is no guide to this book.
The recordings, compared
| Narrator | Length | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philip Pullman and a full cast Our pick | 8 hrs 53 mins | Unabridged, full cast | The whole book, with the author narrating and a cast taking the voices. A second listing with the same credits runs a couple of minutes longer. |
| Ruth Wilson | 10 hrs 40 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo; the newer recording. A second listing with the same reader and running time is on sale too. |
| Emma Fielding, Jack Klaff, Peter Marinker, Ray Fearon and a full cast | 2 hrs 26 mins | BBC full-cast dramatisation | A radio play: its listing title says "Radio Full-Cast Dramatisation", although the listing also says unabridged. |
| Terence Stamp, Bill Paterson, Kenneth Cranham, Adrian Scarborough and a full cast | 7 hrs 45 mins | BBC full-cast dramatisation, three-book collection | The BBC radio plays of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass in one listing. One running time covers all of it, so it is no guide to this book. |
