
The Read
Creative performance readings of iconic British novels.
Seasons

1. The Lonely Londoners
Air Date: 2022-04-10
A creative performance reading of The Lonely Londoners that juxtaposes modern imagery and fascinating archive footage to reflect on how Sam Selvon's novel shaped the London of today.

2. On the Black Hill
Air Date: 2022-06-05
A performance reading of the abridged novel On the Black Hill, by Bruce Chatwin. Identical twin brothers grow up on a farm in rural Wales and never leave home.

3. The Day of the Sardine
Air Date: 2022-11-06
A creative performance reading of a powerful novel of disaffection that charts a young man's uneasy passage into adulthood.

4. A Vision of Loveliness
Air Date: 2023-04-02
Performance reading of A Vision of Loveliness by Louise Levene. A darkly comic novel that reveals the seedy underbelly of London in the 1960s, rich with period detail.

1. A Kestrel for a Knave
Air Date: 2023-09-17
Christopher Eccleston narrates Barry Hines’s heartbreaking coming-of-age tale in this fresh take on a classic British novel.

2. Shakespeare Sonnets: A Modern Love Story
Air Date: 2023-10-29
Some of the best-known love poems are weaved together to create a fresh contemporary story told by four lovers.

3. Frankenstein
Air Date: 2024-03-03
Alex Kingston breathes life into Mary Shelley’s timeless gothic horror story. Young, gifted scientist Victor Frankenstein unwittingly creates a monster. Written more than 200 years ago, the classic masterpiece still resonates today as a tragic romance that examines the battle between ambition and morality.

4. The Remains of the Day: The Read with Steve Pemberton
Air Date: 2024-05-12
Heartbreak and longing are centre stage as BAFTA-winning actor Steve Pemberton narrates Kazuo Ishiguro’s contemporary classic.

1. 1984
Air Date: 2024-11-17
A bleak dystopian future plays out before us as Royal Television Society award-winning actor Sacha Dhawan narrates George Orwell’s profoundly impactful and thought-provoking classic.

2. A Christmas Carol
Air Date: 2024-12-22
Anne-Marie Duff performs an intimate reading of Charles Dickens’s timeless classic. Can the ghostly interventions salvage Scrooge’s soul?

3. Wuthering Heights
Air Date: 2025-01-05
Emily Brontë’s timeless classic set against the haunting backdrop of the Yorkshire Moors and narrated by award-winning actor Vinette Robinson.

4. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde with Reece Shearsmith
Air Date: 2025-02-02
Who is the real monster? Robert Louis Stevenson’s defining gothic horror explores alter egos in this captivating narration that reimagines the 19th-century classic.
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Rating
0.0/10
Release Date
2022-04-10
Episodes
8 (3 seasons)
Status
Returning Series
Cast
Production Companies
Rural Studios