Have you ever listened to any of the old radio dramas?

[rusty_shackleford]

Sadly about half the episodes are missing. The scripts for most of them exist, would be excellent if they someday get reproduced in an authentic fashion.

[Griffin]

I have listened to some, Orson Welles' shows were very good, and some of the radio drama adaptations of the movies are very good too, even though they are usually shortened. Many of them had the big movie stars reprising their roles, such as Humphrey Bogart were in some of those.

[Gregz]

The best version of Dracula I've ever experienced was OTR format:

[Acrux]

I love audio dramas. The past few years I've been listening to them more than most other types of entertainment. Radio 4 obviously has a lot of excellent examples. The LoTR linked belowis the best adaptation ever made. Definitely better than PJs movies. The Stars Wars at the end are really good, too.

Archive, YouTube, and Dimsdale Podcast all have a lot of options. You might need an account on Dimsdale to access some of these. Here's several I like:

Lord of the Rings Radio Drama


The Hobbit


Day of the Triffids


Count of Monte Cristo (there's a version from 2012 that's not as good)


Pilgrim - a man from the middle ages is cursed with immortality and is living in modern times. Good gothic/urban fantasy.
https://archive.org/details/pilgrim-01- ... -his-might

What Ho Jeeves!
https://www.dimsdale.co.uk/what-ho-jeeves/

Poirot (I think there's a version that has even more, but all of these are good)
https://archive.org/details/BBCR4Poirot

John le Carre's Smiley stories (i.e. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold)
https://archive.org/details/BBCR4Smiley_201810

Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries - ignore the Librovox option. The rest are BBC audio.
https://archive.org/search.php?query=su ... ype:"audio"

The Prisoner (Big Finish)
https://archive.org/details/s01e04thepr ... & Ar 1.mp3

Lord Dracula (not Dracula, it's a horror fantasy about how Vlad Tepes became Dracula)


Ghost Train


Star Wars Radio Drama:

[Acrux]

The best version of Dracula I've ever experienced was OTR format:

Man, do I love Welles.

There's a collection of Harry Lime (his character from The Third Man) audio stories:


Not an audio drama, but here's audio of the only time Orson Welles and HG Wells met and were interviewed together, which I find fascinating. HG's comments on the not-yet-released Citizen Kane are really interesting.

[Emphyrio]

I think that a "Netflix for audio dramas" could do pretty well. People like podcasts, and people pay out the nose for Audible books.

[rusty_shackleford]

genuinely had no idea we have archive.org embed support until this thread

[Acrux]

Did you know there's a BBC Radio production called the Heart of Hark'un based on The Fabled Lands? (Fighting Fantasy)