Booker Prize Winners and Shortlisted Novels:
Radio Adaptations, part 2
Alistair Wyper
Booker Prize Winners and Shortlisted Novels Adapted for Radio
Part Two: 1997 to 2019 ......................................Back to Part 1
Shortlisted 1997: All Six Novels
An extract from each of the six books on the 1997 shortlist was read as Booker at Bedtime from Monday 14 October to Monday 21 October 1991 before the prize was awarded to Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things on Tuesday 14 October 1997.
Monday
6 October: 1: Quarantine by Jim Crace.
Tuesday
7 October: 2: The Underground Man by Mick Jackson.
Producer
Jocelyn Boxall
Wednesday
8 October: 3: Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty. Producer Lizzie
Hart.
Thursday
9 October: 4: Europa by Tim Parks. Producer Lizzie Davies
Friday
10 October: 5: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Producer
Debbie Waddell.
Monday
13 October: 6: The Essence of The Thing by Madeleine St John.
Producer Louise Grealish.
Tuesday
14 October: A second extract from the winning novel The God of Small
Things by Arundhati Roy.
Winner
1997:
Arundhati Roy The God of Small Things
The
Woman's Hour drama from Monday 12 July to Friday 23 July 2004.
Adapted
in 10 parts by Tanika Gupta, with original music by Nitin Sawhney. A
tale of forbidden cross-caste love and what a community will do to
protect the old ways.
Rahel:
Yasmin Wilde
Shortlisted:
1997: Jim Crace Quarantine
BABT
BBC Radio 4 from Monday 26 January to Friday 6 February 1998.
Read
in ten parts by Sara Kestelman. Producer: Pat McLoughlin
This
novel retells the Biblical story of Christ's forty days in the
desert. In Crace's version, Jesus is one of a handful of
people who have retreated to the Judean wilderness in search of
enlightenment or purification.
Shortlisted:
1997: Bernard
MacLaverty Grace Notes
Drama
on 3 BBC Radio 3 Sunday 16 February 2003
Adapted
by Lou Stein with the author.
Catherine
Anne McKenna: Amanda Burton Winner
1998: Ian McEwan Amsterdam
BBC
Radio 4 The Late Book from Thursday 28 September to Saturday 9
October 1999.
The
plot centres on newspaper revelations about the private life of the
foreign secretary. Read by Michael Kitchen, abridged in ten parts by
Penny Leicester. Producer: Julia Butt.
Shortlisted
1998:
Beryl
Bainbridge Master Georgie
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 8 June to Friday 19 June 1998
The
story is organised as an account of the taking of six photographs.
Abridged
in ten parts by Pauline Wallis. Read by Samantha Morton. Producer:
Chris Wallis.
Shortlisted
1998: Magnus Mills The Restraint of Beasts
BBC Radio 4 The Late Book from Monday 28 December 1998 to Friday 8
January 1999.
A comedy about the world of fence-building. Abridged in ten parts by
Andrew Simpson and read by Gavin Muir. Producer: Duncan Minshull.
BBC Radio 4 BABT from Monday 6 December to 1999.
A tale of two families, two cultures and inescapable destiny. Read by
Sudha Bhudhar. Abridged in ten parts by Elizabeth Bradbury.
Producer: Di Speirs.
BBC
Radio 4 Saturday Drama 19 January 2013
Martin is asked to value some paintings and, though he's no expert, he is
immediately sure one of them is a priceless missing masterpiece.
With over-reaching ambition, he sets about acquiring it without
telling the owner what he thinks he has found and rapidly gets in so
deep that he puts everything at risk - even his marriage, even the
painting itself.
Toby
Jones, Gina McKee, Tim McInnerny and Denise Gough in Robin Brooks'
adaptation of the novel.
Directed
by Clive Brill
Produced
by Ann Scott
A
Greenpoint production for BBC Radio 4.
Shortlisted 2000: Trezza Azzopardi The Hiding Place
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 13 November to Friday 24 November 2000. A
haunting story of daughters and debt. Read by Sian Thomas and
abridged in ten parts by Elizabeth Bradbury.
Producer:
Di Speirs.
Shortlisted 2000: Kazuo Ishiguro When We Were Orphans
BBC
Radio 4 The Late Book from Tuesday 4 April to Saturday 14 April 2000
Read
by Anton Lesser. Abridged in ten parts by Chris Wallis. It is 1930
and Christopher Banks is the country's most celebrated detective. But
one unsolved crime still haunts him -the disappearance of his parents
in Shanghai when he
was a small boy. Producer Jill Waters.
Shortlisted 2001: Ian McEwan Atonement
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 18 February to Friday 8 March 2002.
On
the hottest day of the summer in 1935, 13-year-old Briony witnesses a
moment by a fountain - and the lives of three people are changed for
ever. Sian Thomas reads the first part of Ian McEwan 's Booker
short-listed novel about love, truth and the difficulty of
absolution. Abridged in 15 parts by Sally Marmion. Producer Di
Speirs.
Shortlisted 2001: Andrew
Miller Oxygen
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 19 August to Friday 30 August 2002.
David
Rintoul reads Andrew Miller 's contemporary novel, shortlisted for
last year's
Booker Prize, about a group of characters in the West Country, Paris
and San Francisco who reach a crossroads in their lives. Shortlisted 2002:
Carol Shields Unless
The Woman's Hour drama from Monday 28 June to Friday 23 July 2004
Adapted by Deborah Levy. "I am supposed to be that sunny woman, Reta
Winters , but something happened when my back was turned." When
19-year-old Norah drops out to sit on a Toronto sidewalk, her mother
learns that happiness is not what she thought. Producer Di Speirs.
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 4 November to Friday 15 November 2002.
When
during the summer of 1921 three men come to fire the Big House in
County Cork, they ignite a chain of events which has tragic
consequences for the mother, father and child who live there. Dermot
Crowley reads William Trevor 's haunting new masterpiece. Abridged in
ten parts by Sally Marmion.
Shortlisted
2003: Damon
Galgut The Good Doctor
BBC
World Service World Drama Saturday 27 November 2010
The
story of an idealistic medical graduate who arrives at an isolated
South African hospital to take up a year's community service.
Cast:
Graham Weir, Andrew Laubscher, Faniswa Yisa, Chi Mhende, Cindy Mkaza,
Mdu Kweyama, Erica Wessels, Wiseman Sithole, Deon Lotz.
Recorded
on location in Cape Town and directed by Marion Nancarrow.
Shortlisted
2003: Zoë Heller Notes on a Scandal
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 13 June to 24 June 2005.
When
Sheba first arrives at St George's, her colleague Barbara senses a
bond with her. But Sheba crosses a line when she becomes involved in
a friendship with 15-year-old student Steven. Abridged by Lauris
Morgan-Griffiths . Read by Barbara Flynn. Producer Mary Ward Lowery.
Winner
2005: John Banville The Sea
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 30 January to Friday 3 February 2006.
Art
historian Max Morden returns to the seaside village where he spent a
memorable childhood holiday, both to escape a recent loss and to
confront a distant trauma. Read by Jim Norton Abridged by Tamsin
Collison. Producer Joanna Green.
Shortlisted
2005: Julian Barnes Arthur and George
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 30 January to Friday 3 February 2006.
The
true story of how Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of one of
literature's most enduring detectives, became the champion of a young
solicitor, George Edalji , who was the victim of a miscarriage of
justice. Read by Clive Merrison and abridged by Katrin Williams.
Producer Jill Waters.
Shortlisted
2005: Kazuo Ishiguro Never Let Me Go
BBC
Radio 4 BABT (under the rubric “Dangerous Visions”) from
Monday 30 May to Friday 10 June 2016.
A
dystopian tale of love, friendship and loss.
Reader Rachel
Shelley
Abridger Lauris
Morgan-Griffiths
Producer Mair
Bosworth.
Winner
2006: Kiran Desai The Inheritance of Loss
BBC
World Service Drama Sat 12 Dec 2009 and Sat 19 Dec 2009.
The
story of a young orphaned girl, Sai, who is sent to live with her
fierce grandfather when her astronaut parents are killed in a car
crash in Russia. A retired Judge, he is living with his dog and cook
in splendid isolation in Kalimpong, near the Himalayas, and has no
need of the uncomfortable memories she stirs up. As Sai grows up –
and falls in love – so the wider backdrop of political unrest
begins to encroach on her future and her happiness.
Directed
by Marion Nancarrow, the cast also includes Harvey Virdi; Pooja Ghai,
Inam Mirza, Ronny Jhutti, Melissa Advani, Stephen Hogan, Kate Layden,
Zubin Varla, Nickul Hathi, Ravi Aujla, Nicholas Khan, Antony Bunsee,
Stephen Hogan, Rehan Sheikh and Badi Uzzaman.
Shortlisted
2006: Kate Grenville The Secret River
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 6 June to Friday 16 June 2006.
A novel about belonging and ownership tells the story of a London
boatman, Will Thornhill, transported to New South Wales in 1806. In
this strange, unfathomable land he carves out a new life for his
family in a place that was once home to another people for thousands
of years.
Read
By: Ron Cook
Shortlisted
2006:
Sara
Waters The Night Watch
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 10 April to Friday 28 April 2006.
The
moving story of three women and their love affairs, set in
1940s
Shortlisted
2007:
Mohsin
Hamid The Reluctant Fundamentalist
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 22 August to Friday 2 September 2011.
At
a cafe table in Lahore a bearded Pakistani accosts an uneasy American
stranger and tells him the story of his life. But as dusk deepens to
night it becomes clear that this is no chance encounter.
Abridged
by Lisa Osborne.
Produced
by Lisa Osborne.
A
Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.
Shortlisted
2007: Lloyd Jones Mister Pip
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 31 March to Friday 11 April 2008.
On
a Pacific island threatened by uprising, Matilda and her classmates
find their lives intertwined with those of Mr Dickens and a boy
called Pip.
On
a South Pacific island threatened by uprising, Matilda and her
classmates find their lives intertwined with those of a boy called
Pip and a man named Mr Dickens. Lloyd Jones's novel is read by Nikki
Amuka-Bird . Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall.
Shortlisted
2007: Ian McEwan On Chesil Beach
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 2 April to Friday 6 April 2007.
The
story of a couple looking forward to the night of their honeymoon on
the Dorset coast.
Reader:
Alex Jennings.
Winner
2008: Aravind Adiga The White Tiger
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 23 February to Friday 6 March 2009
Aravind
Adiga 's A biting satire on contemporary India. Balram Halwai, the
son of a rickshaw puller, escapes the poverty of his village for the
bright lights and corruption of the city. Read by Sagar Arya.
Abridged by Lauris Morgan-Griffiths . Producer Paul Dodgson.
Shortlisted
2008: Sebastian Barry The Secret Scripture
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 28 April to Friday 9 May 2008.
Nearing
her 100th birthday, Roseanne McNulty faces an uncertain future at the
soon to be closed Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital. Her only solace
is her psychiatrist Dr Grene, with whom she has an intense and
increasingly complicated relationship.
Read
by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings. Abridged by Neville Teller.
Producer:
Eoin O'Callaghan.
Shortlisted
2008: Simon Mawer The Glass Room
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 9 November to Friday 20 November 2009.
Greta
Scacchi reads Simon Mawer 's novel about modernism, architecture and
20th-century Europe. At the beginning of the 1930s, Viktor and Liesel
Landauer are honeymooning in Venice. Soon, they will return to newly
created Czechoslovakia, where they will build an extraordinary family
home. Abridged by Jeremy Osborne. Producer Rosalynd Ward.
Winner
2011: Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 8 August to Friday 12 August 2011.
Tony
Webster met Adrian Finn in the 6th form of a boys school in London,
it was the early sixties and the future glowed bright for the small
group of friends, especially for Adrian who was the bright young
academic star of the year. It was Adrian who quoted the crucial
definition of history, and skewered it with an example of the death
of a fellow student who had got his girlfriend pregnant:
Memories of their classroom debates and student friendship are triggered by an
unexpected legacy forty years after Adrian's death. It is only then
that the now retired Tony begins to look back and re-examine events
in the light of new evidence.
Read
by Julian Barnes.
Producer:
Jill Waters.
A
Waters Company production.
Shortlisted
2011:
Esi
Edugyan Half Blood Blues
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 27 June to Friday 8 July 2011.
Shortly
after the fall of Paris in 1940, Hieronymus Falk - a brilliant young
jazz trumpeter who made his name in Berlin - is arrested in a café
and never seen nor heard from again.
Fifty
years later, Sid and Chip return to Berlin - but Chip has received a
mysterious letter which sets the pair of them on a new journey to
uncover the secrets of past. But the heart of the story is set in
those wartime days in Berlin and Paris. It's a jazzman's tale, with a
language and preoccupations that give us a very fresh take on some
well-known historical events.
Abridged
by Jeremy Osborne.
Read
by Ricky Fearon.
Produced
by Rosalynd Ward.
A
Sweet Talk Production .
Shortlisted
2011: Stephen Kelman Pigeon English
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 7 March to Friday 18 March 2011.
A
first novel which tells the story of 11-year-old Harrison Opoku, who
has moved from Ghana to live with his mother and older sister on a
tough North London housing estate.
Shortly
after he arrives he sees a boy he knows slightly, lying stabbed on
the street and he realises he needs to learn the tricks of inner city
survival fast. And as he tries to come to terms with his new
surroundings he befriends a pigeon who visits the balcony of his
ninth floor flat.
Read
by Jojo Baidoo.
Other
voices are provided by Adjoa Andoh, Madeline Appiah, Amelia Donkor,
Daniel Green, David Holt, Osy Ikhile and Robert Sparks.
Produced
and abridged by Jane Marshall.
A
Jane Marshall production .
Shortlisted
2011: A D Miller Snowdrops
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 3 January to Friday 14 January 2011.
An
early-flowering bulbous plant, having a white pendent flower. 2.
Moscow slang. A corpse that lies buried or hidden in the winter
snows, emerging only in the thaw.
Nick
Platt is an English lawyer living in Moscow during the Russian oil
boom. Riding the subway on a September day, he rescues two sisters,
Masha and Katya, from a would-be bag thief. Their world soon becomes
his world too, and as winter envelopes the city, the sisters
introduce him to Tatiana Vladimirovna, their aged aunt, who needs
some help from the English lawyer. Platt is drawn into a complex web
of deception and before the snows melt in spring, he will travel down
to the Black Sea and the Arctic circle, and make disturbing
discoveries about his job, his lover and, most of all, himself.
Snowdrops is a tale of erotic obsession, self-deception and moral
freefall. It is set in a land of hedonism and desperation, corruption
and kindness, magical hideaways and debauched nightclubs; a place
where secrets and corpses come to light when the snows thaw.
"In
Russia there are no business stories. And there are no political
stories. There are no love stories. There are only crime stories."
Reader:
Stephen Mangan.
Abridged
by Jeremy Osborne.
Shortlisted
2012: Deborah Levy Swimming Home
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 27 Feb to Friday 2 March 2012.
'Life
is only worth living because we hope it will get better and we'll all
get home safely"
When
beautiful Kitty Finch lands in the middle of what seems a
conventional holiday set up - two couples, one teenage daughter and a
villa in the south of France - no-one quite knows the effect she will
have, though at once the ground shifts.
In
the fierce heat of July, fissures yawn open, prised apart by Kitty's
unsettling presence. Is she benign? What does she want? Is she an
admiring fan or a darker foe? And who is keeping secrets, most of all
from themselves?
Deborah
Levy's first novel in fifteen years has garnered much praise. Witty
and acute by turn, its deceptively simple setting belies the
fractured relationships and the sense of imminent chaos that
threatens all the characters
Abridged
by Sally Marmion
Produced
by Di Speirs
Directed
by Elizabeth Allard
The
Reader is Juliet Aubrey
Shortlisted
2013: Jhumpa Lahiri The Lowland
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 11 November to Friday 22 November 2013.
Indira
Varma reads Man Booker-listed new novel, The Lowland, spanning India
and America, and exploring the price of idealism and the enduring
power of love.
It
is the 1960s, and violent revolution has come to India and America.
Two brothers, Subhash and Udayan, born in Calcutta just fifteen
months apart, have been inseparable since birth, but their paths are
diverging. Udayan - charismatic and impulsive - finds himself drawn
to the Communist movement sweeping Bengal. He will risk all for what
he believes. But Subhash, the dutiful son, doesn't share his
brother's political passion, and leaves home to pursue a life of
scientific research in a quiet corner of America. But when Subhash
learns what happened to his brother in the lowland outside their
family's home, he returns to India, hoping to pick up the pieces of a
shattered family, and to heal the wounds Udayan left behind.
Reader:
Indira Varma
Abridger:
Sally Marmion
Producer:
Justine Willett.
Shortlisted
2016:
Deborah
Levy Hot Milk
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 21 Mar to Friday 1 April 2016.
Set
in Southern Spain it explores female rage and sexuality and the
stubborn primal bond that exists between a hypochondriac mother and
her daughter.
Sophia,
a young anthropologist, has 'been sleuthing her mother's symptoms'
for as long as she can remember as Rose, the older woman, is
suffering from a form of paralysis that might or might not be
imagined. Driven to find a cure beyond the realms of conventional
medicine, they have come to Almeria in Southern Spain to visit the
clinic of Dr Gomez. His methods appear to have little to do with
physical medicine and he prompts both women to confront the true
nature of their relationship. Why is Sophia unable to escape her
mother's constant complaints? Are Rose's symptoms psychosomatic?
The oppressive desert heat pushes both to examine the root of Rose's
illness and the cause of Sofia's fractured identity. And Sofia
discovers the sting of desire, and the need to be vital and alive.
Reader Indira
Varma
Abridger Sally
Marmion
Producer Julian
Wilkinson
Shortlisted
2017:
Mohsin
Hamid Exit West
BBC Radio 4 BABT from Monday 2O November to Friday 24 November 2017.
Nadia and Saeed are two ordinary young people falling in love, but their
world is about to be turned upside down. Theirs is a story of a world
in crisis and two humans travelling through it. Read by Nikesh Patel.
Mohsin Hamid is the author of four novels: Moth Smoke, The Reluctant
Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia and now Exit
West.
Reader: Nikesh Patel
Abridger:
Penny Leicester
Producer:
Elizabeth Allard.
Shortlisted
2018:
Esi
Edugyan Washington Black
BBC Radio 4 BABT from Monday 14 January to Friday 25 January 2019.
Set in the 1830s, Washington Black is an epic, historical novel. It
begins on a slave plantation in Barbados and, by the most unexpected
and inventive means, transports its young protagonist, Wash, off the
island and on a journey that takes him around the world - in pursuit
of freedom and the man whose approval he so desperately seeks.
The
novel explores the nature of evil, moral delusion, and the limits of
responsibility. It's also a coming-of-age story where survival marks
the transition from boy to man.
Underpinning
the more sobering aspects of the novel is a glorious celebration of
the creative spirit and the power of the imagination. Despite
everything, Washington’s ability to connect with and inspire
others, and to draw strength from his own inner life, is an
inspiration and a joy that speaks to the contemporary world.
Abridger:
Jeremy Osborne
Reader:
Alex Lanipekun
Producer:
Rosalynd Ward
A
Sweet Talk production .
Joint
Winner 2019: Margaret Atwood The Testaments
BBC Radio 4 BABT from Monday 16 September to Friday 4 October 2019.
In The Testaments, set fifteen years after the events of her dystopian
masterpiece, the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but
there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. Now the
testimonies of three different women bring the story to a dramatic
conclusion.
Readers:
Sara Kestelman, Katherine Press
Abridger:
Katrin Williams
Producer:
Justine Willett
BBC
Radio 4 BABT from Monday 1June to Friday 12 June 2020
'Girl,
Woman, Other’ is a wonderfully vivid portrayal of a group of
interconnecting characters – mostly women, black and British –
that provides a picture of contemporary Britain and looks back at the
impact of Britain’s involvement in the colonial history of
Africa and the Caribbean.
Amma
is a playwright, now in her fifties, whose new play ‘The Last
Amazon of Dahomey’ is being premiered at The National Theatre
in London. In attendance are her daughter Yazz and her old friends
the rebellious Dominique and Shirley, a jaded teacher who has
struggled for decades working in a funding-deprived London school.
Carole is one of Shirley’s past students who almost threw away
a bright future by mixing with wayward friends. Carole’s mother
Bummi is a cleaner for a wealthy Camberwell lady and worries about
her daughter’s lack of identity despite her obvious
achievements. Penelope is a colleague of Shirley’s and Winsome
is Shirley’s mother. La Tisha is a supermarket supervisor and
Megan, who identifies as gender free, has changed their name to
Morgan. Morgan is very close with their great grandmother Hattie. Her
mother Grace was raised in a home for girls before going to work as a
maid. She eventually met and married Joseph Ryendale and became the
mistress of his family farm, which their daughter Hattie eventually
inherits.
Writer
….. Bernardine Evaristo
Abridger
….. Patricia Cumper
Reader
….. Pippa Bennett-Warner
Producer
….. Celia de Wolff.
Footnote:
P H Newby whose novel Something to Answer For won the first Booker
Prize in 1969, began
his career as a radio producer. He went on to become successively:
Controller of the Third Programme and Radio 3, Director of Programmes
(Radio), and finally Managing Director BBC Radio.
Compiled by Alistair Wyper, July 2020 (.....Many thanks - N.D.)
Reader: Rachel Atkins
Producer: Sara Benaim
When Rahel returns to Kerala to be reunited
with her twin brother Estha, painful memories of the past come
flooding back.
Music by Nitin Sawhney. Producer Nadia Molinari.
Estha: Richard Sumttro
Young Rahel: Jatlnder
Purewal
Young Estha: Shakeel Ahmed
Ammu: Thushanl
Weerasekera
Velutha: Paul Bhattacharjee
Sophie Mol: Poppy
Rush
Chacko: Vincent Ebrahim
Baby Kochamma: Josephine
Welcome
Mammachi: Shaheen Khan
Insp: Matthew Raadrawl
Vellya:
Badi Uzzaman
Kochu: Adlyn Ross
Margaret: Slobhan Finneran.
The story of a young Northern Irish
composer who returns home to an embattled Northern Ireland for her
father's funeral, after creating two of her life's masterpieces: her
first major orchestral work and her first child.
With music by
real-life Belfast composer Deirdre Gribbin.
Director Lou Stein
Narrator: Bernard MacLaverty
Father:
James Greene
Father Ferry: James Greene
Kirkpatrick: James
Greene
Mother/Granny Boyd: Eileen Pollock
Miss Bingham: Brid
Brennan
Dave/Wang Shao Gang: David Yip
Olga/Midwife/Liz:
Maureen Beattie
Shortlisted 1999: Anita Desai Fasting, Feasting
Shortlisted 1999: Michael Frayn Headlong
Abridged
in ten parts by Brian McCabe. Producer Bruce Young.
Reta:
Barbara Bames
Norah: Laurel Lefkow
Natalie: Vicki
Simon
Danielle: Sara Kestelman
Tom: Rick Bland
Chris/Sylvia:
Teresa Gallagher
Gwen/Lois: Liza Ross
Young Norah: Josephine
Kook-Clark
Shortlisted 2002: William Trevor The Story of Lucy Gault
Producer Di Speirs.
Abridged By: Sally Marmion.
Producer: Di Speirs
London. The war has ended but its aftershocks linger.
A
riveting mystery story that unravels backwards from 1947 to 1944, and
finally to 1941. Read by Rosalind Ayres. Abridger/Producer Martin
Jarvis
Abridged By: Sally Marmion.
Producer: Di Speirs.
Joint
Winner 2019: Bernardine Evaristo 'Girl, Woman, Other’