The Chronicles of Narnia (BBC Radio 4 serial)



'''The Chronicles of Narnia aka. Tales of Narnia''' was a radio drama serial produced between 1988 and 1997 by BBC Radio 4. The full-cast series received critical acclaim starring Maurice Denham as Professor Digory Kirke and Stephen Thorne as Aslan.

It was dramatized for radio by Brian Sibley and produced by Geoffrey Marshall-Taylor and John Taylor.

Tales of Narnia Serial Productions
1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1988)

2. The Magician's Nephew (1989)

3. The Horse and His Boy (1994)

4. Prince Caspian (1995)

5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1995)

6. The Silver Chair (1996)

7. The Last Battle (1997)

Early Productions
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, produced in 1988, became the first radio drama of the Tales of Narnia serial, although it was originally envisioned as a single production. Together with The Magician's Nephew, it was primarily conceived as an educational resource for BBC School Radio. Both The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Magician's Nephew were directed by Geoffrey Marshall-Taylor. No radio dramas were produced between 1989 and 1994.

Tales of Narnia Serial
Production of the newly created Tales of Narnia serial, which incorporated both previously developed dramas, began in 1994 with The Horse and His Boy, and continued until the completion of the series. Unlike the previous two productions, the remainder of the serial was directed by John Taylor and produced for BBC Children's Radio.

As a result of the 4 year production gap, the Pevensie children were portrayed by two different sets of voice actors over the course of the series. (High King Peter was portrayed by Neil Jeffrey in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1988) and Tom Piccin in Prince Caspian (1995).)

Releases
The Tales of Narnia series was originally released to audio cassette as separate recordings of each the seven productions. Original cassette cover art was created by Andrew Skilleter. In 2000, the complete serial, including all seven audio dramas, was released to CD by BBC Audiobooks, and later in 2014 to Audible by BBC Worldwide as The Complete Chronicles of Narnia.