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BBC Radio 4 Bond adaptations starring Toby Stephens - Casino Royale 20th April 2025

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  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    Posts: 4,150
    Excellent. I thought I'd heard something about one coming on soon, but wasn't sure if I'd dreamt it or not. Cheers.
  • MrcogginsMrcoggins Following in the footsteps of Quentin Quigley.
    Posts: 3,144
    My pleasure .
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    Posts: 4,150
    Just been looking on YouTube and it appears that there are some on there; the ones that were on the BBC radio, which is good news. Will have to be listening to them.
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    All the Bond dramas are on You Tube. I downloaded them all using a little free programme called 'You Tube Downloader'.

    They are all about 90 minutes long and well worth listening to.
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    Posts: 4,150
    Cheers @stag, I'll be on with that later. Be great for the boring days at work.
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    @Shark_0f_Largo just for clarities sake I did mean the BBC dramas. I don't know if any other radio plays exist. I was a bit dubious when I first sat down to listen but was pleasantly surprised. My only gripe was the awful Chinese accent of David Suchet in Dr No.
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    Posts: 4,150
    Yeah, I've found the BBC ones and they are now on my phone, with Dr No currently playing. All good so far.
  • vzokvzok
    Posts: 4,046
    The plays with Toby Stephens as Bond are entertaining.

    There was a BBC audio drama of YOLT from a long time ago. I think Michael Jayston was 007 that time.
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    Posts: 4,150
    Great stuff. I've got the most recent ones downloaded. Enjoying Dr No.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,385
    Nice to hear another one is on the cards, I too really enjoyed them.
  • Escalus5Escalus5
    edited October 2016 Posts: 634
    Jason Haigh-Ellery, Chairman of Big Finish Productions, revealed at a Doctor Who convention that he has attempted to get the rights to produce James Bond audio dramas for many years but with no success.

    I would love to hear original stories about Bond (preferably produced by Big Finish and their awesome group of writers) starring Timothy Dalton.
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    edited October 2016 Posts: 4,150
    Listened to the Dr No play at work today. Very enjoyable. Toby Stephens sounds lik a decent Bond, although I found it difficult to get Gustav Graves out of my head.

    Have to agree with @stag that David Suchet's chinese/American accent was very poor. He was the low point of this I thought. He sounded like a cartoon villain rather than a Bond villain.
    Escalus5 wrote: »
    Jason Haigh-Ellery, Chairman of Big Finish Productions, revealed at a Doctor Who convention that he has attempted to get the rights to produce James Bond audio dramas for many years but with no success.

    I would love to hear original stories about Bond (preferably produced by Big Finish and their awesome group of writers) starring Timothy Dalton.

    It's a shame Big Finish have never got anywhere near Bond. Their Doctor Who audio dramas are top notch and I'm sure they'd be a success
  • vzokvzok
    Posts: 4,046
    Shark_0f_Largo wrote: »

    It's a shame Big Finish have never got anywhere near Bond. Their Doctor Who audio dramas are top notch and I'm sure they'd be a success

    Yes, some good audio dramas would fill in the gaps between the movies nicely.
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    edited October 2016 Posts: 4,150
    Escalus5 wrote: »

    I would love to hear original stories about Bond (preferably produced by Big Finish and their awesome group of writers) starring Timothy Dalton.

    Meant to reply to this part of your post in particular. This would be such a great idea, more stories from Timothy Dalton would be great, don't think we saw enough of his Bond. Plus, we still have all 007 actors here, there's got to be a market for more from them it hasn't there?

    I've always wanted to know about the mission that occurs before Dr No and this could be a super way of getting round it. Alas, it seems like it will never happen, however, I will enjoy listening to the BBC Radio plays for now.

  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    Yes, great ideas. I guess the only actor who would say 'never again' would be SC.

    @vzok I didn't know about the Michael Jayston Bond drama. I'd like to hear that one.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,385
    Do you mean FRWL ? Or a new original story ?
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    edited October 2016 Posts: 4,150
    I'd like to hear new, original stories myself. I think the actor who'd be most open to it would be Timothy Dalton. Don't know why but I could see him doing these. I agree that Connery wouldn't go anywhere near but I'm sure the others possibly could.

    As for the story I'd most like to hear, well that'd have to be the one where Bonds' Beretta hammed and he spent 6 months in hospital.
  • vzokvzok
    Posts: 4,046
    stag wrote: »
    Yes, great ideas. I guess the only actor who would say 'never again' would be SC.

    @vzok I didn't know about the Michael Jayston Bond drama. I'd like to hear that one.

    I think it was from about 20 years ago. I remember hearing it at the time. Here is a link although someone has edited music into this version, so I don't know what it sounds like now.
    [img][/img]https://youtube.com/watch?v=wAczcrAz32w
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    @vzok brilliant! Thanks for that. I've downloaded it and will be listening to it soon. BTW I always thought Michael Jayston had a good voice for such things. He read the Rogue Male audiobook which is well worth a listen also.
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    edited October 2016 Posts: 4,150
    Listened to part of the You Only Live Twice play on my way to work this morning. Michael Jayston has such a recognizable voice. I'll admit the name didn't ring a bell at first, but as soon as I heard him then, yes, it was quite obvious who he was, great actor and, as said above by @stag, a good voice for things such as this. I remember him from one of my favourite Only Fools and Horses episodes when he played Raquels' dad.

    I do enjoy these plays. it's such a shame we don't see them released on cd format. I think they'd be very popular among Bond fans, or any fan of audio dramas/playes etc.
  • AceHoleAceHole Belgium, via Britain
    Posts: 1,738
    Hiddleston was far and away the best vocal storyteller in the series. OP & TLD audiobook stands out for me...
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 14,111
    As a collector of the Big Finish Audios of the 7th Doctor, I would be interested to see Big Finish make Bond audios. Either bring back past Bonds for new stories, or make full cast adaptions of the books with a new Bond, or even write new stories for a new Bond. Big Finish doesn't have to write their stories for a large audience like the show runners do, they're aimed specifically at the fans, so are able to experiment and takes risks more, so I would kill to see this attitude brought to the world of Bond.
  • vzokvzok
    Posts: 4,046
    Shark_0f_Largo wrote: »
    Listened to part of the You Only Live Twice play on my way to work this morning. Michael Jayston has such a recognizable voice. I'll admit the name didn't ring a bell at first, but as soon as I heard him then, yes, it was quite obvious who he was, great actor and, as said above by @stag, a good voice for things such as this. I remember him from one of my favourite Only Fools and Horses episodes when he played Raquels' dad.

    That was when Del found the clock that made him rich wasn't it? Michael Jayston around the same time appeared with David Jason in a comedy series called "A Bit Of A Do".

    His voice is distinctive and very suitable for audio Bond.
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    Posts: 4,150
    vzok wrote: »
    Shark_0f_Largo wrote: »
    Listened to part of the You Only Live Twice play on my way to work this morning. Michael Jayston has such a recognizable voice. I'll admit the name didn't ring a bell at first, but as soon as I heard him then, yes, it was quite obvious who he was, great actor and, as said above by @stag, a good voice for things such as this. I remember him from one of my favourite Only Fools and Horses episodes when he played Raquels' dad.



    That was when Del found the clock that made him rich wasn't it? Michael Jayston around the same time appeared with David Jason in a comedy series called "A Bit Of A Do".

    His voice is distinctive and very suitable for audio Bond.

    That's the one. A brilliant episode. Yes, he really does have a distinctive voice. Very easy to put a face to it.

  • KaijuDirectorOO7KaijuDirectorOO7 Once Upon a Time Somewhere...
    Posts: 189
    Having seen the OHMSS and YOLT plays, I must say I'm impressed...

    then hearing Ian McKellen in Goldfinger was DIVINE.
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    As I said in another post I was dubious when I sat down to listen to my first 007 audio drama but have been a convert ever since. I think they're a great bridge between the films and the books.
  • TorgeirtrapTorgeirtrap
    Posts: 17,898
    Do like the few audio dramas I've heard of the BBC one's. Never been much of an audiobook guy. Are the Bond audiobooks worth checking out? If so, which one's stand out?
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    @Torgeirtrap yes, most definitely. They are unabridged narrated versions of the books so while it might not be convenient to read (whilst commuting for example) you can listen. I haven't listened to them for a while and from memory they are each between seven and eight hours long.
    As for which one is the best I guess it depends on your personal book preferences.
  • TorgeirtrapTorgeirtrap
    Posts: 17,898
    @stag Good to hear! I was thinking about which audiobooks that has the best narrators. For example if Bill Nighy gives a great narration in Moonraker etc.
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    @Torgeirtrap I have the ones narrated by David Rintoul

    This collection of narrators looks interesting:

    http://www.audible.co.uk/series?asin=B00HS4TWXC

    There are samples from them here:

    https://audioboom.com/posts/1109161-live-and-let-die-audiobook-sample
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