Booker Prize Winners and Shortlisted Novels Adapted for Radio

Part One: 1969 to 1996 ...........................................Forward to Part 2

It is not surprising that many of the novels here have simply been read rather than adapted as radio dramas.
The Booker Prize for Fiction was formerly known as the Booker–McConnell Prize (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019).

(I have endeavoured to find all the books adapted for radio which won the awards but if anyone spots any I’ve missed I would welcome further contributions)

The Lost Man Booker Prize (awarded by a public vote in 2010)

Curiously, this begins with an oddity. “The Lost Man Booker Prize”. This was a special edition of the Booker Prize awarded by a public vote in 2010 to a novel from 1970 as the books published in 1970 were not eligible for the Man Booker Prize due to an alteration in the rules. Until 1970 the prize was awarded to books published in the previous year, while from 1971 onwards it was awarded to books published the same year as the award.

The Lost Man Booker Prize 1970 Winner: J G Farrell Troubles

BABT Radio 4 Abridged in 15 parts by Joy Osborne and read by Denys Hawthorne. Producer Maurice Leitch.
From Monday 23 January to Friday 10 February 1978.
Major Brendan Archer travels to Ireland - to the Hotel Majestic to claim his bride. His engagement proves short-lived; but succumbing to the narcotic charms of the Majestic he stays on and prepares to face the impending troubles of a summer in 1919.

The Lost Man Booker Prize 1970 Shortlisted: Muriel Spark The Driver’s Seat

BBC Radio 4 Sunday 14 January 2018 .
A 60 minute play adapted by Beatrice Colin. One of the dramas in the series The Vital Spark, which itself is part of Muriel Spark 100: marking 100 years since the author’s birth in 1918:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05qhpb1
Lise, a young woman travelling alone to a European city in search of "the one". We assume that she is seeking a lover but in fact she is searching for the man who will murder her.
Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.

The following are from the original Booker–McConnell Prize entries:

Shortlisted: 1971: Elizabeth Taylor Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont

On a rainy January afternoon, the recently widowed Laura Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel on the Cromwell Road. Apprehensive but doughty, she settles into her room without a view, and begins to meet the other residents. For the long-term residents of the Claremont Hotel, life revolves around waiting for dinner, the 9 o'clock serial and visitors. Mrs. Palfrey assures her new friends that her grandson will soon be making an appearance...

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont is both tender and sharp in its depiction of old age.

This novel has been adapted or read three times:

Woman’s Hour Radio 2 : A reading in 10 instalments from Wednesday 31 May to Tuesday 13 June 1972 abridged by Sally Skrimshire and read by Lydia Sherwood

SNT 5 January 1974 adapted by James Duckett Producer Anthony Cornish

BABT Radio 4 from Monday 13 August to Friday 17 August 2018, an abridged serialization read in 5 parts by Eleanor Bron. Adapted by Robin Brooks and produced by Nathalie Steed

Winner 1973: J G Farrell The Siege of Krishnapur

1857 - a time of peace and tranquility for the British at Krishnapur. Then suddenly the mutiny erupts and they find themselves fighting for their lives

This novel has been adapted or read twice:

BABT Radio 4 Read by Jonathan Newth in 15 episodes, from Monday 3 March to Friday 21 March 1980. Abridged by Donald Bancroft.
Producer: Christopher Venning
The Classic Serial Sunday 10 May and Sunday 17 May 2009 Dramatized in two parts by Shelagh Stephenson.
Director: Eoin O'Callaghan

Shortlisted 1974: Beryl Bainbridge The Bottle Factory Outing

Saturday Drama 28 May 2011
Freda and Brenda share a bedsit in London and work in the local Bottle Factory, run by a family of Italians. On the day of the annual factory outing, the van Freda's booked fails to turn up and things rapidly go from bad to worse...
Adapted by Jane Rogers
Directed in Manchester by Susan Roberts

Winner 1975: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Heat and Dust

BBC Radio 4 15 Minute Drama from Monday 7 December to Friday 11 December 2015. Dramatized by Shelley Silas.
Director: Gaynor Macfarlane
A beguiling story of two English women living in India more than fifty years apart. In 1923, Olivia is unhappily married to a civil servant. Her step-granddaughter travels to the subcontinent years later to investigate Olivia's life, which her family regarded as 'something dark and terrible'.

Winner 1977: Iris Murdoch The Sea, The Sea

BBC Radio 4 The Classic Serial Sunday 20 June to Sunday 11 July 1993
Dramatized in four parts by Richard Crane, with John Wood as Charles and Joyce Redman as Hartley.Charles Arrowby, celebrated actor, writer and director, has retired from his London world and come to the sea to become a hermit and draft his memoirs. But the past will not let him rest...
Director: Faynia Williams

Shortlisted 1978: Penelope Lively The Bookshop

BABT BBC Radio 4 Read by Maggie Steed in 10 episodes, from Monday 27 May to Friday 7 June 1996. Florence plans to open her bookshop in the face of local opposition
Abridged and produced by David Hunter

Winner 1979: Penelope Lively Offshore

BBC Radio 4 Saturday Drama 6 Jan 2018
Michael Butt's dramatisation of Penelope Fitzgerald's 1979 Booker Prize-winning novel is set amongst a small community of eccentric barge-dwellers on the River Thames. Nenna and her two daughters have tricky decisions to make.
Director: David Hunter.

Winner 1980: William Golding Rites of Passage

BBC Radio 4 The Classic Serial Sunday 23 August to Sunday 6 September 1998
Dramatized in three parts and directed by by Don Taylor. In the cramped cabins of an 1812 man-of war on the long haul to Australia, young aristocrat Edmund Talbot begins a journal.

Shortlisted 1980: Anthony Burgess Earthly Powers

BBC Radio 4 The Classic Serial Sunday 27 June to Sunday 18 July 2004 Burgess’ hero, Kenneth, a popular novelist, drifts blithely through the great events that shaped the 20th century.
Adapted in four parts by Michael Hastings.
Director Peter Kavanagh

Winner 1981: Salman Rushdie Midnight’s Children

This novel has been adapted or read twice:

Radio 4 BABT from Monday 11 August to Friday 29 August 1997
Roshan Seth reads Salman Rushdie 's novel, abridged in 15 parts by Pat McLoughlin. Saleem Sinai tells the story of his life and lineage.
Producer Sheila Fox

BBC Radio 4 From Sunday 20 August to Sunday 17 September 2017
A dramatization of a novel about love, history and magic. Dramatized in 7 parts by Ayeesha Menon and broadcast on the 70th anniversary of Indian independence

Shortlisted 1981: Molly Keane Good Behaviour
The chronicle of a thoroughbred Anglo-Irish family whose financial and sexual indiscretions are shrouded in a cloak of Good Behaviour.

This novel has been adapted or read three times:
BBC Radio 4 BABT from Monday 2 August to Tuesday 17 August 1982
Abridged in 12 parts by Doreen Mah
Read by Kate Blnchy.
Producer: Robert Cooper
BBC Radio 4 Saturday Playhouse 27 July 1996
Dramatized by Shelagh Stephenson.
Director Eoin O'Callaghan.

BBC R4 The Classic Serial Sunday 13 June and Sunday 20 June 2004< br>Adapted by Clare Boylan.
Directed by Gemma McMullan.

Shortlisted 1981: Ian McEwan The Comfort of Strangers

BBC R4 The Late Book from Tuesday 25 June to Wednesday 3 July 1996
Abridged in seven parts by Penny Leicester.
Two tourists in Venice are helped by a stranger. Read by Paul McGann. Producer Julia Butt

Shortlisted 1981: D M Thomas The White Hotel

BBC R4 Saturday Drama 8 September 2018
An adaptation of Dennis Potter's unproduced screenplay of DM Thomas's novel.

Circus performer Lisa visits Dr Probst, a celebrated Berlin psychoanalyst, to discover the cause of the mysterious pains she is experiencing in her left breast and pelvis. As Probst attempts to unravel the true cause of her pains, he is sure that the answer to Lisa's condition lies in her past and her realization, after her mother and uncle are killed in a hotel fire, that the two of them were having an affair.
Original Screenplay by Denis Potter under licence from Briarpatch Limited L.P
Directed by Jon Amiel
Producers: Laurence Bowen and Peter Ettedgui
A Dancing Ledge production for BBC Radio 4.

Shortlisted 1981: J L Carr A Month in the Country

BBC Radio 4 Saturday Drama 20 November 2010
Dramatized by Dave Sheasby and was the last piece of work by this award-winning playwright, who died in 2010.
WW1 survivor Tom Birkin spends a summer uncovering a medieval mural in the Yorkshire village of Oxgodby. Here he discovers treasures, riches he thought the war had blown away for ever. Produced by David Hunter

Shortlisted 1982: William Boyd An Ice-Cream War

This novel has been adapted or read twice:
BBC Radio 4 BABT from Monday 3 January to Tuesday 18 January 1983

Abridged in 12 parts by Doreen Mahon and read by Ronald Pickup. William Boyd 's second novel, is set against the background of Africa in the First World War. Producer: Michael Heffernan.

BBC Radio 4 A five-part adaptation, in 30 minute episodes, from Thursday 19 May to 16 June 1994. With Thomas Dawes and Simon Desborough. Dramatized by John Peacock. Director: Eoin O'Callaghan

Shortlisted 1982: Alice Thomas Ellis The 27th Kingdom

BBC Radio 4 Story Time from Monday 28 January to Tuesday 5 February 1985: abridged and read in seven parts by Elizabeth Proud.
Aunt Berthe's dispatch of a young postulant to Aunt Irene 's bohemian residence in Chelsea is an odd decision for a Reverend Mother to take. For Valentine, a fully practising dramaturge, will be living under the same roof as Aunt Irene 's nephew Kyril, whose decadence is exceeded only by his beauty.
Producer: Robert Cooper BBC Manchester

Shortlisted 1982: Timothy Mo Sour Sweet
BBC Radio 4 BABT from Monday 14 November to Tuesday 29 November1983
Abridged in 12 parts by Keith Darvill.
Read by David Suchet. A highly acclaimed novel about the Chinese community in 60s London. Pitched into an alien society, the Chen family prospers, but no private family lives beyond the reach of the largest and most powerful Chinese' family ' of all, the Triads.
Producer: Maurice Leitch.

Shortlisted 1983: Graham Swift Waterland

BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play. Dramatized in three parts by Steve Chambers from 10 March to 24 March 1997.
Starring Roy Marsden as Tom Crick.
One summer's day in 1943, lock-keeper Henry Crick finds a drowned body. Forty years later, his son Tom, a history teacher, begins to tell the strange story of his Fenland family.

Winner 1984: Anita Brookner Hotel du Lac

BBC Radio 4 Saturday Playhouse 3 August 1996
Dramatized by Ayshe Raif.
The Hotel Du Lac is an unlikely setting for a romance.
With Siddiqua Akhtar. Lynne Verrall. Ian Masters
Shirley Dixon , Ioan Meredith . Colleen Prendergast and Robert Harper. Director Claire Grove

Shortlisted 1984: J G Ballard The Empire of the Sun

BBC Radio 4 BABT abridged in 15 episodes by John Scotney from Monday 31 December 1984 to Friday 18 January 1985.
Read by Kenneth Haigh.
In the horrifying and often bizarre world of his Shanghai internment camp, 11-year-old Jim is a cool and unsentimental observer of the adults around him. Unlike most of them he discovers within himself a ruthless instinct for survival.
Producer Maurice Leitch.

Shortlisted 1984: Anita Desai In Custody

BBC Radio 4 BABT abridged in 10 episodes by Elizabeth Bradbury from Monday 17 August to Friday 28 August 1987.
Read by Zia Mohyeddin.
Deven, an impoverished college lecturer, is asked to interview
India's greatest Urdu poet, Nur, for his friend Murad's literary journal. He sees the opportunity as a means of escape from his drab existence, but fate has other ideas.
Producer Pat Trueman.

Shortlisted 1984: Penelope Lively According to Mark

BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour Serial from Monday 16 March to Tuesday 31 March 1992
12 episodes read by Ronald Pickup. Mark Lamming is a biographer. One spring morning he leaves London for Dorset to research his latest subject: the Victorian writer Gilbert Strong. There he meets Strong's granddaughter, and as the year progresses he comes to question not only his own and Strong's life, but biography itself. Abridged by Monica Grey

Shortlisted 1985: J. L. Carr The Battle of Pollock's Crossing

BBC Radio 4 BABT abridged in 10 episodes by Donald Bancroft from Monday 7 April to Friday 18 April 1986.
Read by Keith Drinkel.
It is 1929 and young George Gidner is desperate to exchange the toils of teaching in Bradford for a job in the land of his heroes. But Palisades, South Dakota, turns out to be a mere fly-speck on the map of a baffling, and at times savage, continent.
Producer Maurice Leitch.

Shortlisted 1985: Doris Lessing The Good Terrorist

BBC Radio 4 15 Minute Drama in 10 episodes from to 19 February to 2 March 2018.
A satire about a band of incompetent, bourgeois revolutionaries living in a London squat. Starring Olivia Vinall, Joe Armstrong and Sian Thomas. Dramatized by Sarah Daniels.
Alice and Jasper move into a new squat with other members of the Communist Centre Union. While Alice puts her energies into making the house habitable, the other revolutionaries are busy trying to court the IRA.
Directed by Emma Harding.

Shortlisted 1986: Margaret Atwood The Handmaid’s Tale

This novel has been adapted or read twice by the BBC and once by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation:

BBC Radio 4 The Late Book from October to Saturday 4 November 1995 read by Buffy Davis. Abridged in ten parts by Katie Campbell. Producer Sally Avens.

BBC Radio 4 The Classic Serial Sunday 9 January to Sunday 23 January 2000.
Margaret Atwood's chilling vision of 21st-century America is dramatized in three parts by John Dryden. With Dermot Crowley, Marsha Dietlein and Leslie Hendrix.

Shortlisted 1987: Chinua Achebe Anthills of the Savannah

BBC Radio 4 The Monday Play 29 October 1990
Chinua Achebe's story of the betrayals, tensions and passions that emerge when a military dictatorship takes power in the West African state of Kangan. With Maynard Eziashi, Pamela Jikiemi, Amma Asante, Louis Mahoney, Cyril Ni Jeillo Edwards, Wale Ojo, Garard Green, Michael Kilgarriff and Jane Whittenshaw. Dramatized by William Ash. Director Kay Patrick.

Shortlisted 1987: Peter Ackroyd Chatterton

BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play Thursday 1 May 2008This, Chatterton: the Allington Solution, is a re-working of the novel, by its author, as a radio play.
Who or what killed the boy genius Thomas Chatterton? Chatterton - the poster-boy of the Romantics - was a neglected genius who committed suicide in his Holborn attic in 1770. For over two hundred years, everyone thought he committed suicide, a neglected poet driven to despair. Everyone, that is, except Jeremy Allington, a testy, alcohol-guzzling, literary historian, who thinks the prevailing wisdom is nonsense. Only he isn't quite as polite as that ... Dangerously close to losing his job and his partner, Allington is determined to prove that history is not as simple as some historians would have us believe.
Set in both the present day and the 18th century, this is the first play for Radio 4 by Peter Ackroyd. It weaves together the earthy, ribald 18th-century and 21st-century academia.

Shortlisted 1987 Brian Moore The Colour of Blood

BBC Radio 4 BABT From Monday12 March to Friday 23 March 1990
Abridged in ten parts by Robert Forrest.
Reader Patrick Malahide.
Producer Patrick Ravner for BBC Scotland. A political thriller about Stephen Bem, a Cardinal in an unnamed East European country who is in conflict with the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy and finds himself caught in the middle of an escalating revolution.

Winner 1988: Peter Carey Oscar and Lucinda

BBC Radio 4 BABT From Monday10 February to Friday 25 February 1994
Abridged in 12 parts and read by John Turnbull. Oscar is an English innocent with a deep faith in God. Lucinda is an Australian of independent means and spirit. Producer Claire Grove.

Shortlisted 1988: Bruce Chatwin Utz

BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play 4 July 2009
A British academic travels to1960s Prague to research the art collection of Rudolf II, and meets eccentric porcelain collector Kaspar Joachim Utz , who has protected his collection from successive threats of Nazis, Stalinists and Communists. The narrator returns to Prague in the 1980s to learn what became of Utz's collection. Marking the 20th anniversary of Chatwin's death.
Utz/Janitor ..... Jack Klaff
Marta ..... Pam Ferris
Dr Orlik/Curator ..... Sam Kelly
Narrator ..... Daniel Weyman
Oxford Don/Man/ Head Waiter ..... Gregory Norminton
Elena/Teresa Kryl ..... Michaela Stonisova
Ana/Photographer ..... Dolya Gavanski
Dramatized by Gregory Norminton.
Producer Judith Kampfner. Director Marilyn Imrie
A Corporation for Independent Media production for BBC Radio 4.

Shortlisted 1988 Penelope Fitzgerald The Beginning of Spring

BBC Radio 4 15 Minute Drama from Monday 27 September to Friday 1 October 2010
Penelope Fitzgerald's novel of an English family in Moscow, adapted in 5 parts by Penny Leicester. The winter of 1913 finds Frank Reid, owner of a printing company, abandoned by his wife. First Nellie takes their three children with her, then she sends them back to Frank. What is he to do?
Narrator: Clare Higgins; Frank: Richard McCabe; Selwyn: David Bamber; Nellie: Jennifer Lee Jellicorse; Dolly: Charlotte Ellis. Other parts played by Sonia Ritter, Rachel Atkins, Samuel Barnet, Richard Bremmer and David Collins. Producer: Tim Dee.

Winner 1989: Kashuo Ishiguro The Remains of the Day

This novel has been adapted or read twice.

A butler looks back on a lifetime of service in one of the great stately homes of England and, at the end of his career, belatedly puts his life into perspective.
This novel has been adapted or read twice:

BBC Radio 4 BABT from Monday 22 January to Friday 2 February 1990 abridged in ten parts by Catherine Czerkawska. Read by John Moffatt. Producer Marilyn Imrie.

BBC Radio 4 The Classic Serial Sunday 10 August and Sunday 17 August 2003.
Dramatized in two parts by James Friel. Producer/director Marilyn Imrie.

Shortlisted 1989: Sybille Bedford Jigsaw

Dramatized in 4 parts from Friday 18 May to Friday 8 June 2007 by Melissa Murray.
Billi is growing up in Europe between the wars. When her father dies, she goes to live a more cosmopolitan life with her beautiful but unreliable mother.
Producer/Director Celia de Wolff
Contributors
Story By: Sybille Bedford
Dramatized By: Melissa Murrav.
Director: Celia de Wolff
Sybille: Claire Skinner
Alessandro: Tom Goodman-Hill
Mother: Sian Thomas
Rosie: Rachel Atkins
Doris: Tracey Wiles
Susan: Colleen Prenderqast
Jack: Gerard McDermott
Waiter: Anthony Glennon

Winner 1990 :A. S. Byatt Possession

BBC Radio 15 Minute Drama serialised in 15 parts between 19 December 2011 and 6 January 2012.
Roland Michell, an academic research assistant, is completing some work in the London Library, when he comes across two unfinished letters written by the Victorian Poet, Randolph Henry Ash. These letters have obviously not been found by anyone else and they are not to his wife but to an unknown woman. Roland, whose entire academic life has been devoted to studying Ash, decides, recklessly to pocket the letters and try to determine exactly who they were written to.

This is the beginning of a quest that will change literary history and with the help of a feminist literary scholar Maud Bailey, they are determined to find out the truth behind these letters. Certain other characters hear about the letters and are eager to get their hands on them for their own financial gain and will do so, by any means necessary, and so the chase begins.

Dramatized by Timberlake Wertenbaker.

Cast:
Maud ...... Jemma Redgrave
Roland ...... Harry Hadden-Paton
Ash ....... James d'arcy
Lamotte ..... Rachael Stirling
Blackadder ..... Bill Paterson
Cropper ..... Matthew Marsh
George ...... Kenneth Cranham
Joan ....... Joanna David
Beatrice Nest ...... Stella Gonet
Euan ...... Nicholas Boulton
Fergus ...... Jonjo O'Neil
Hildebrand ..... Robert Portal< br>Val ...... Laura Pyper
Leonora .... Lorelei King
Raoul/Toby Byng .... Sam Dale
Mrs Wapshott/Mrs Cammish/Mrs lees ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Beth/PA/Mrs Judge/Librarian ...... Rachel Atkins
Girl ...... Sylvie Goodwin

Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

Shortlisted 1990: Beryl Bainbridge An Awfully Big Adventure

BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour serial from Wednesday 17 October to Friday 26 October 1990.
Beryl Bainbridge reads her own novel The setting is a Liverpool Repertory Company in 1950.
Abridged in 8 parts and produced by Pat McLoughlin.

Shortlisted 1990: Penelope Fitzgerald The Gate of Angels

BBC Radio 4 Saturday Drama 10 December 2011
Dramatized by Yvonne Antrobus
A novel, set in Edwardian London and Cambridge, exploring love, religion, physics and the random nature of chance.
Gillian Reynolds in her Daily Telegraph radio preview writes, of the novel: “It’s a gem”. Review

Fred Fairly Geoffrey Streatfeild
Daisy Saunders Jade Williams
Kelly Carl Prekopp
Venetia Tracy Wiles
Matron Tracy Wiles
Wrayburn James Lailey
Dr Sage James Lailey
Matthews Gerard McDermott
Skippey Simon Bubb
Flowerdew Paul Moriarty
Master Paul Moriarty
Manageress Victoria Inez Hardy
Mrs Saunders Adjoa Andoh
Beazley Rikki Lawton
Solicitor Adam Billington
Constable Adam Billington

Shortlisted 1990: John McGahern Amongst Women

BBC Radio 4 BABT from Monday 6 August to Friday 17 August 1990
Written and abridged in ten parts by the author.
Reader Tony Doyle. Producer Pam Brighton.
Moran, a proud, aloof Leitrim farmer, was in his youth a fighter in the Irish War of Independence. These were the glory days, since then he has become bitter and conservative. But he still holds charisma for his family.

Shortlisted 1990: Brian Moore Lies of Silence

BBC World Service Off the Shelf from Monday 29 August to Friday 9 September 1994.

As I have often found with other World Service programmes there are no further details in BBC Genome about this reading.
(Note: Off the Shelf was axed by the BBC World Service in April 2006)

Shortlisted 1991: All Six Novels

An extract from each of the six books on the 1991shortlist was read as Booker at Bedtime from Monday 14 October to Monday 21 October 1991 before the prize was awarded to Ben Okri’s The Famished Road on Tuesday 22 October 1991.
Monday 14 October: 1: Time's Arrow by Martin Amis.
Read by Alan Barker. Producer David Hunter.

Tuesday 15 October: 2: The Van by Roddy Doyle.
Read by Dermot Crowley.

Wednesday 16 October: 3: Such a Long journey by Rohinton Mistry. Read by Emma Fielding .

Thursday 17 October: 4: The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo. Read by Terence Edmond.

Friday 18 October: 5: The Famished Road by Ben Okri. Read by Ronald Herdman.

Monday 21 October: 6: Reading Turgenev by William Trevor. Read by Joanna Myers. Producer David Hunter.

Shortlisted 1991: Roddy Doyle The Van

BBC Radio Afternoon Drama Sunday 22 December 2013.

Jimmy Rabbitte is unemployed and at an all-time low. Even Ireland qualifying for the 1990 World Cup has not pulled him out of the doldrums, he needs money and fast. So when his best mate Bimbo buys a dilapidated "chipper" van and offers him the chance of a partnership, this might well be the opportunity Jimmy has been waiting for. What could be better than working with your best mate?

Written by Roddy Doyle
Dramatized by Eugene O'Brien
Producer: Gemma McMullan
Director: Eoin O'Callaghan.

Jimmy David Wilmot
Bimbo Simon Delaney
Veronica Angeline Ball
Sharon Aoife Duffin
Maggie Tina Kellegher
Bertie Mark Doherty
Jimmy Jnr Gavin Drea
Darren Cal Kenealy
Des O'Callaghan Mark Lambert
Linda Aisling Franciosi
Tracey Amy McAllister.

Shortlisted 1992: All Six Novels

An extract from each of the six books on the 1992 shortlist was read as Booker at Bedtime from Monday 5 October to Monday 21 October 1992 before the prize was awarded jointly to Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth and Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth on Tuesday 23 October 1992.
Monday 5 October: 1: Serenity House by Christopher Hope, read by Alan Towner. Producer David Hunter

Tuesday 6 October: 2: The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe, read by Brendan Charleson.

Wednesday 7 October: 3: Black Dogs by Ian McEwan, read by David Dooley.
Thursday 8 October: 4: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. Read by Euron Griffith.

Friday 9 October: 5: Daughters of the House by Michele Roberts. Read by Marilyn Le Conte.

Monday 12 October: 6: Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth, read by Dorien Thomas. Producer David Hunter.

Shortlisted 1992: Patrick McCabe The Butcher Boy

BBC Radio 3 Studio 3 Saturday 13 August 1994: Frank Pig Says Hello

A psychological thriller charting the fragmentation of young Frank Brady's mind. In the abattoir where he works, Frank discovers that his life is completely at odds with those around him.
Dramatized from the novel The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe.
Music John Eacott. Director Eoin O'Callaghan.

Frank Brady/Piglet: Adrian Dunbar
Joe/Joe's Da: Robert Patterson
Phillip Nugent: Priest: Peter Kenny
Mrs Nugent: Frances Tomelty
Joe's Ma: Marcella Riordan
Frank's Ma: Maggie Shelvin
Frank's Da: Dermot Crowley
Sergeant/Man with black bike: Denys Hawthorne
Alo/Leddy: Jim Norton.

Shortlisted 1993: All Six Novels

An extract from each of the six books on the 1993 shortlist was read as Booker at Bedtime from Monday 18 October to Monday 25 October 1993 before the prize was awarded to Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle.

Monday 18 October: 1: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle is read by Dermot Crowley. Producer David Hunter.

Tuesday 19 October: 2: Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer is read by Dominic Letts.

Wednesday 20 October: 3: Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff is read by David Jarvis.

Thursday 21 October: 4: Remembering Babylon by David Malouf is read by Barry J Gordon.

Friday 22 October: 5: Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips is read by Rachel Atkins.

Monday 25 October: 6: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields is read by Tina Gray. Producer David Hunter.

Winner 1993: Roddy Doyle Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

BBC Radio 4 BABT from Wednesday 27 October to Friday 5 November 1993.
Adapted and abridged by Chris Fitz-Simon in eight parts, Paddy Clarke is a 10-year-old boy who loves life with all its mystery but just can't understand why people don't like each other.
Read by Mark Lambert. Producer Eoin O'Callaghan

Shortlisted 1993: Caryl Phillips Crossing the River

This is unusual: this novel, or a version of its story, has been adapted as a radio drama twice. The first time for Radio 3 in 1985, some 8 years before the novel was published. I assume this is an earlier version of the same story since, although it shares the main plot the three principal characters have different names.
BBC Radio 3 Saturday 7 September 1985 Crossing the River.

A sister and two brothers stretch across 200 years of black repression. Directed by Richard Wortley.
Sarah: Angela Wynter
Ben: Major Wiley
Will: Trevor Laird

BBC Radio 4 Saturday Drama 3 December 2016 Somewhere in England.

Written and dramatized from his own novel, Crossing the River, by Caryl Phillips Somewhere in England is a story of love and race set in Yorkshire during the Second World War.
When the US Army arrived in Britain during World War Two, it came in still-segregated units. When a platoon of black GIs sets up camp near a quiet Yorkshire village, there are far-reaching consequences both for rebellious GI Travis Johnson and local shopkeeper, Joyce.

All other parts played by members of the cast

Produced/directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.

Joyce Helen Longworth
Travis Rhashan Stone
Len David Seddon
Emile Jason Barnett
Sandra Karen Bartke
Stan Luke MacGregor
Mr Miles John Bowler
Colonel John Bowler
Mother Alison Belbin
Vicar Nicholas Murchie
Girl Keziah Joseph
Director Gaynor Macfarlane
Producer Gaynor Macfarlane.

Shortlisted 1993: Carol Shields The Stone Diaries

This novel has been adapted or read twice.

The story of Daisy Goodwill, "wife, mother, citizen of our century," from her birth in Manitoba in 1905 to her death nearly 90 years later in a Florida nursing home. A tale of overflowing love, an unexpected birth, lingering grief and anger, and the careful construction of a tower.

BBC Radio 4 BABT from Monday 19 September to Friday 30 September 1994
Read in ten parts by Shelley Thompson.
Abridged by Alison Joseph. Producer David Hunter.
BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play from Monday 31 December 2001 to Friday 4 January 2002.

Dramatized in five instalments by Claire Luckham and Briony Glassco. This remarkable fictional biography maps the life of Daisy Goodwill, an ordinary woman from rural Canada.

Director David Hunter
Daisy: Uza Ross
Young Daisy: Barbara Barnes
Mercy: Teresa Gallagher
Cuyler: Peter Marlnker
Young Cuyler: Ryan McCluskey
Clarentine: Briony Glassco
Barker: William Hope
Magnus: Ewan Hooper
Abram: Chris Pavlo
Doctor: Ewan Bailey.

Shortlisted 1994: All Six Novels

An extract from each of the six books on the 1994 shortlist was read as Booker at Bedtime from Monday 3 October to Monday 10 October 1994 before the prize was awarded to James Kelman for How Late It Was, How Late.

Monday 3 October: 1: Reef by Romesh Guneskera is read by Lyndam Gregory. Producer David Hunter.

Tuesday 4 October: 2: Paradise by Abduirazak Gurnah, read by Ben Onwukwe.

Wednesday 5 October: 3: The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst, read by Gavin Muir.

Thursday 6 October: 4: How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman, read by George Parsons.

Friday 7 October: 5: Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown, read by Kristin Milward.

Monday 10 October: 6: Knowledge of Angels by Jill Paton Walsh, read by Natasha Pyne.

Tuesday 11 October: Winner 1994: James Kelman How Late It Was, How Late, a second extract. Producer: David Hunter.

Shortlisted 1994: Romesh Gunesekera Reef

BBC Radio 4 The Late Book from Tuesday 6 February to Wednesday 14 February 1996.

Set in Sri Lanka, this novel reveals a world of love and illusion, seen through the eyes of a young boy. Abridged in seven parts by Brian Miller and read by Shiv Grewal. Producer Rosemary Watts.

Shortlisted 1994: George Mackay Brown Beside the Ocean of Time

BBC Radio 4 The Classic Serial Sunday 6 April and Sunday 13 April 1997.

Dramatized for radio in two parts by Stewart Conn. The author’s last novel is set in Norday, Thorfinn's home in the Northern Isles. Thorfinn's loss of Sophie and his father's remarriage echo other changes in the island's life, while Ragnarson, Thorfinn's imaginary future self, creates his own freedom in imagination. Other parts played by members of the cast. Harpist Charlotte Petersen.
Director Hamish Wilson.
Sergeant: Paul Morrow
Ragnarson: Billy Riddoch
Harcourt-Smithers: Michael MacKenzie
Thorfinn: Tom Smith
Mr Simon: Martyn James
Matthew: Bob Docherty
Tina: Grace Glover
Isa: Wendy Seager
Bella: Eliza Langland
Sigrid: Katherine Connolly
Jock Seatter: Robin Thomson
Ben Hoy: Raymond Short
Greenay: Anthony Donaldson
Howie Ayre: Simon Scott
Sir James: John Buick
Rev Drummond: John Yule
Sophie: Deirdre Davis
Greenay: Anthony Donaldson.

Shortlisted 1994: Jill Paton Walsh Knowledge of Angels

BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour Serial from Tuesday 1 November to Thursday 17 November 1994.
Read in 13 episodes by Trevor Nichols. Abridged by Doreen Estall.
Something in the mountains on a remote medieval island is taking the sheep, something like a wolf, which doesn't kill like a wolf.

Shortlisted 1995: All Five Novels

An extract from each of the five books on the 1995 shortlist was read as Booker at Bedtime from Tuesday 31 October to Tuesday 7 November 1995 before the prize was awarded to The Ghost Road by Pat Barker.

Tuesday 31 October: 1: The Ghost Road by Pat Barker. Producer David Hunter.

Wednesday 1 November: 2: In Every Face I Meet by Justin Cartwright. Producer David Hunter.

Thursday 2 November: 3: The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie. Producer David Hunter.

Friday 3 November: 4: Morality Play by Barry Unsworth. Producer David Hunter.

Monday 6 November: 5: The Riders by Tim Winton. Producer David Hunter.

Tuesday 7 November: Winner 1995: The Ghost Road by Pat Barker, a second extract. Producer: David Hunter.

Shortlisted 1996: All Six Novels

An extract from each of the six books on the 1996 shortlist was read as Booker at Bedtime from Monday 3 October to Monday 10 October 1996 before the prize was awarded on Tuesday 29 October to Graham Swift for Last Orders.

Monday 21 October 1: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. Producer Jonquil Panting.

Tuesday 22 October 2: Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge. Producer Debbie Waddell.

Wednesday 23 October 3: Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane. Producer Gemma Jerkins.

Thursday 24 October 4: Orchard of Fire by Sheena McKay. Producer Jackie Nichols.

Friday 24 October 5: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Producer Alex Burrett.

Monday 28 October 6: Last Orders. By Graham Swift. Producer Jocelyn Boxall.

Tuesday 29 October: Graham Swift: Last Orders, a second extract. Producer David Hunter.

Winner 1996: Graham Swift Last Orders

This novel has been read or adapted twice.

BBC Radio 4 The Monday Play 10 February 1997.
Dramatized for radio by Mike Walker. A contemporary Canterbury Tale. It tells the story of four Bermondsey men who take the ashes of an old friend - Jack Dodds - to throw into the sea at Margate. The journey is part pub-crawl and part drive down memory lane as the four stop off at landmarks along the way.
Director Jeremy Mortimer

Jack: Peter Vaughan
Ray: Tom Georgeson
Amy: Ann Mitchell
Lenny: John Hollis
Vic: Norman Bird
Vince: Nicholas Woooeson
Bernie: Sean Baker
Young Ray: Alex Lowe
Young Jack: Kim Wall.

BBC Radio 2 (Yes, Radio 2!) From Friday 11 April to Friday 30 May 1997.
George Cole reads an eight-part adaptation of Graham Swift 's Booker Prize winner.
Jack Dodds' dying wish is for his ashes to be scattered from Margate Pier. But he has reckoned without the people doing the scattering - or how many detours they will make. Abridged by John Hartley.

Shortlisted 1996: Beryl Bainbridge Every Man for Himself

BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour Serial from Monday 17 February to Friday 28 February 1997.

Marcus D'Amico reads Beryl Bainbridge 's Booker-nominated story of the sinking of the Titanic, abridged in ten parts by Pat McLoughlin.

Shortlisted 1996: Seamus Deane Reading in the Dark

BBC Radio 4 BABT from Monday 24 March to Wednesday 2 April1997.

Stephen Rea reads Seamus Deane 's story, which also won the Guardian Fiction Prize, abridged in eight episodes by Pam Brighton. Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in the forties and fifties, is seen through the eyes of a child. Producer Pam Brighton.

Shortlisted 1996: Rohinton Mistry A Fine Balance

BBC Radio 4 Sunday Drama: Sundays 22 March and 29 March and 5 April 2105.

A dramatisation in 3 parts of Rohinton Mistry's acclaimed novel about India's underclass.

Two tailors - uncle and nephew, Ishvar and Om - come to the city to escape from the caste violence in their native village. They are employed by a Parsi woman, Dina Dalal, who runs a sweatshop from her apartment and is struggling to preserve her independence. She has a lodger too - a reluctant student, Maneck, from the mountains.

As their initial suspicion of each other turns to friendship and then love, their lives take dramatic and often shocking turns against a backdrop of India in crisis, during "the Emergency" of the mid-1970s - a period marked by huge political unrest and human rights violations.

A comedy, a tragedy, and a story of the triumph of the human spirit under inhuman conditions.

Music: Sacha Putnam
Sound Design: Steve Bond
Dramatized by Ayeesha Menon and Kewel Karim.
Producer: Nadir Khan
Director: John Dryden

A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4.

Dina Shernaz Patel
Ishvar Kenneth Desai
Om Anand Tiwari
Maneck Neil Bhoopalam
Rustom Zafar Karachiwala
Ibrahim Rajit Kapur
The Thakur Jayant Kripalani
Ashraf Darshan Jariwala
Nusswan Farid Currim
Ruby Anahita Uberoi
Narayan Vivek Madan
Young Dina Tirtha Kotrial
Young Ishvar Eshan Savla
Young Narayan Samar Uraizee
Ensemble Jim Sarbh
Ensemble Abhishek Saha
Ensemble Meherangiz Acharya-Dar
Ensemble Faezeh Jalali
Ensemble Shivani Tanksale
Ensemble Nadir Khan

Compiled by Alistair Wyper November 2019. (.....Many thanks - N.D.)

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