The Read

All Episodes 2022 - 2024

  • 2018-01-07T20:00:00Zs at 2018-01-07T20:00:00Z on BBC Four
  • 2022-04-10T19:00:00Z
  • 42m
  • 7h 50m (8 episodes)
  • United Kingdom
  • English
Creative performance readings of iconic British novels.

8 episodes

Series Premiere

2022-04-10T19:00:00Z

1x01 The Lonely Londoners

Series Premiere

1x01 The Lonely Londoners

  • 2022-04-10T19:00:00Z58m

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.

2022-06-05T19:00:00Z

1x02 On the Black Hill

1x02 On the Black Hill

  • 2022-06-05T19:00:00Z59m

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.

2022-11-06T20:00:00Z

1x03 The Day of the Sardine

1x03 The Day of the Sardine

  • 2022-11-06T20:00:00Z1h 4m

A creative performance reading of a powerful novel of disaffection that charts a young man's uneasy passage into adulthood.

2023-04-02T19:00:00Z

1x04 A Vision of Loveliness

1x04 A Vision of Loveliness

  • 2023-04-02T19:00:00Z57m

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.

Season Premiere

2023-09-17T19:00:00Z

2x01 A Kestrel for a Knave

Season Premiere

2x01 A Kestrel for a Knave

  • 2023-09-17T19:00:00Z1h 4m

Christopher Eccleston narrates Barry Hines’s heartbreaking coming-of-age tale in this fresh take on a classic British novel.

Some of the best-known love poems are weaved together to create a fresh contemporary story told by four lovers.

2024-03-03T20:00:00Z

2x03 Frankenstein

2x03 Frankenstein

  • 2024-03-03T20:00:00Z1h 4m

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.

Heartbreak and longing are centre stage as BAFTA-winning actor Steve Pemberton narrates Kazuo Ishiguro’s contemporary classic.

Loading...