David Threlfall has narrated 9 audiobooks on Listento.it by 15 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 118 ratings. The most-rated is The Return of the Native.
The Return of the Native
Summary
Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine) Exclusively from Audible Set on Egdon Heath, a fictional barren moor in Wessex, Eustacia Vye longs for the excitement of city life but is cut off from the world in her grandfather's lonely cottage. Clym Yeobright who has returned to the area to become a schoolmaster seems to offer everything she dreams of: passion, excitement and the opportunity to escape. However, Clym's ambitions are quite different from hers, and marriage only increases Eustacia's destructive restlessness, drawing others into a tangled web of deceit and unhappiness. Considered a truly modern story due to its sexual politics and hindered desires it still holds relevance to audiences today. There is a tension between the symbolic setting of the heath and the modernity of the characters that makes the listener question our freedom to shape our lives as we wish. Are we always able to live our dreams? Like George Eliot, Hardy was a Victorian realist whose novels and poetry were greatly influenced by Romanticism, especially the poet William Wordsworth. His critical thoughts on Victorian society can be seen throughout much of his work. Narrator Biography Multi-award winning actor and director Alan Rickman, famous for roles such as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films and the Sherriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), had a varied career that included performing on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company in modern and classical theatre productions. In America, he gained recognition for his Broadway appearance in Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1985) and later his role in Die Hard (1988) made him internationally famous. Other notable performances included his 2001 return to the West End and Broadway in Noël Coward's Private Lives and Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman in 2010. Rickman is most remembered for his roles in films such as Love Actually (2003) and Sweeney Todd (2007) as well as voicing Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), and Absalom the Caterpillar in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010).
Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
Father Paolo Baldi Mysteries
Summary
The complete series 1-5 of the thrilling mystery series. On sabbatical from the Franciscan order, Father Paolo Baldi is working as a philosophy lecturer in Dublin when his life takes an unexpected turn and he finds himself helping the police to solve crimes. Along with Tina, Paolo uncovers the truth behind the killings of several rockabilly band members and a high-profile case of a police officer’s murder as well as delving into the highly competitive world of celebrity chefs. He also exposes a rift in a community of environmental activists, enters the world of romantic poetry to solve a suspected suicide, investigates the killing of a politically incorrect figurehead and finds that the death of a homeless man is not as simple as it appears. Follow the priest-cum-sleuth’s thrilling adventures as he solves mysteries throughout Ireland. David Threlfall, Tina Kellegher and T. P. McKenna star in this exciting series written by Simon Brett, Bill Murphy, Andrew Martin, Martin Meenan, John Murphy and Francis Turnly in the series created by Barry Devlin.
©2019 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2019 BBC Worldwide Ltd
Othello
Summary
This great tragedy confronts the mystery at the heart of evil and contains some of Shakespeare's most magnificent dramatic verse. Othello, a Moorish general in the service of Venice, has married Desdemona, beautiful daughter of a Venetian senator. But Iago, Othello's malignant ensign, is determined to destroy their happiness. Cunningly bending Othello to his own purposes, Iago persuades the Moor that Desdemona is unfaithful to him. Tormented in a hell of jealousy, Othello moves inexorably toward the destruction of his innocent wife and himself. Othello is played by Don Warrington, David Threlfall is Iago, Anne-Marie Duff is Desdemona, and Jasper Britton plays Cassio.
Public Domain (P)2014 Blackstone Audio
Cal
Summary
For Cal, some of the choices are devastatingly simple.... He can work in an abattoir that nauseates him or join the dole queue; he can brood on his past or plan a future with Marcella. Springing out of the fear and violence of Ulster, Cal is a haunting love story in a land were tenderness and innocence can only flicker briefly in the dark.
©2011 Bernard MacLaverty (P)2011 Random House Audio Go
Tsar
Summary
Eleven compelling BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas telling the stories of the Russian tsars. Broadcast to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, this extraordinary drama cycle by Mike Walker comprises 11 ambitious plays spanning over 400 years, exploring the lives of Russia’s key rulers from Ivan the Terrible to Vladimir Putin. Ivan the Terrible: Absolute Power - the rise and fearsome reign of the first Tsar of All Russia. Starring David Threlfall as Ivan IV. Boris Godunov: Ghosts - did Boris Godunov have Ivan the Terrible's son killed? And what happened when the murdered boy came back from the dead - leading an army? Starring Shaun Dooley as Boris Godunov. Peter the Great: The Gamblers - Moscow, 1682 and two joint tsars rule: one, Ivan, is feeble-minded and the other is Peter, a child of 10 years old. Starring Will Howard as Peter. Peter the Great: Queen of Spades - distracted by his new capital, St Petersburg, and wife Catherine, Peter ignores his opponents: until his own son Alexei declares his colours. Starring Elliot Cowan as Peter. Catherine the Great: Husbands, Lovers and Sons - did Catherine foresee the consequences of staging a coup d'état against her husband the Tsar? Or did she want him dead from the start? Starring Samantha Spiro as Catherine II. Alexander I: Into the Woods - the story of the reluctant Tsar who took on the greatest threat Russia had ever faced - Napoleon Bonaparte - and won. Starring Joel MacCormack as Alexander I. Alexander II: The People’s Will - revolutionary terrorist cell The People’s Will is determined to assassinate the Tsar. But in the struggle between autocracy and socialism, there can be only one winner. Starring Joseph Millson as Alexander. Nikolai II: Three Hundred Years - in 1913, the Romanov dynasty celebrated 300 years on the Russian throne. But a mere four years later, Tsar Nikolai II was forced to abdicate. Starring Raymond Coulthard as Nikolai II. Lenin: Tears - as the Soviet era begins, Lenin joins the provisional government, but soon becomes set on seizing complete power for his Bolsheviks. Starring Paul Ritter as Lenin. Joseph Stalin: The Last Bolshevik - in 1941, the Soviet Union was invaded by the Nazis - and Joseph Stalin retired to his dacha, seemingly defeated.... Starring Brian McCardie as Stalin. The Shield and the Sword - thirteen interconnected stories about the enigmatic Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Starring Nicholas Murchie as VV. Written by Mike Walker. Produced and directed by Sasha Yevtushenko and Alison Hindell.
©2018 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2018 BBC Worldwide Ltd
Look Who's Back
Summary
Berlin, Summer 2011. Adolf Hitler wakes up on a patch of open ground, alive and well. Things have changed - no Eva Braun, no Nazi party, no war. Hitler barely recognises his beloved Fatherland, filled with immigrants and run by a woman. People certainly recognise him, albeit as a flawless impersonator who refuses to break character. The unthinkable, the inevitable happens, and the ranting Hitler goes viral, becomes a YouTube star, gets his own T.V. show, and people begin to listen. But the Führer has another programme with even greater ambition - to set the country he finds a shambles back to rights. "Look Who's Back" stunned and then thrilled 1.5 million German readers with its fearless approach to the most taboo of subjects. Naive yet insightful, repellent yet strangely sympathetic, the revived Hitler unquestionably has a spring in his step.
©2017 Bastei Lübbe (Lübbe Audio) (P)2017 Lübbe Audio
A Sight for Sore Eyes
Summary
Two damaged children: Teddy Brex, whom no-one loved, and so found it easier to relate to objects or things which never let him down; and Francine Hill, who was discovered sitting by the body of her mother, her skirt red with blood. She couldn’t tell the police or her father anything to help track down the killer.... Children grow up in different ways. Teddy became a handsome young man, Francine was beautiful - a sight for sore eyes. But it was death that brought them together.
©2010 Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
Henrik Ibsen
Summary
Often described as ‘the father of realism’, Henrik Ibsen was a pioneer of modernist drama. He influenced playwrights as diverse as George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde and is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare. Included in this collection are adaptations of his tragicomic masterpiece The Wild Duck, his complex and compelling play Rosmersholm, the epic drama Brand and the tragedy John Gabriel Borkman. Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is relocated to 1879 India in Tanika Gupta’s Audio Drama Award-winning dramatisation, while the provocative and scandalous Ghosts is adapted by Richard Eyre, with the cast of his Olivier Award-winning Almeida Theatre production. Also featured are vibrant dramatisations of Hedda Gabler, whose desperate heroine is trapped in a suffocating marriage; The Lady from the Sea, about a woman torn between security and passion; and An Enemy of the People, in which a whistleblower reveals an inconvenient truth and is vilified for it. The casts of these stunning dramas include David Threlfall, Nicholas Farrell, Helen Baxendale, Indira Varma, Lesley Manville and Harriet Walter.
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Nineteen Ninety Four & Nineteen Ninety-Eight
Summary
The complete first and second series of the Orwellian sitcom starring Robert Lindsay and David Threlfall.
In this parody of George Orwell’s dystopian classic, everyman Edward Wilson finds his life taking a sinister turn when he becomes embroiled in mysterious government machinations.
Nineteen Ninety-Four sees our hero hired by the Ministry of the Environment. Probing a strange incident in Cumbria, he learns more about Sellingfield - a new town watched over by the guardians of consumerism. As his knack for blunt honesty gets him noticed (though not in a good way), he is put up for promotion (without really knowing why), and before long Edward is in charge of the environment - but for how long?
Nineteen Ninety-Eight finds Edward trying to hang on to his girlfriend and dodging explosions. Forced to go on the run, he meets the Leopard, and soon his quest for truth becomes the Movement. But as Edward's allies are absorbed by Am Jap, he and Tabitha must finally face their foe, Colonel Brad. Is this the end of the line for the daring duo?
This funny, futuristic sitcom stars Robert Lindsay and David Threlfall as Edward, with a cast including Pam Ferris, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Mike Myers.
Written by Richard Turner and William Osborne
Produced by Nick Symons
Archive BA: Kevin Gordon
Starring Robert Lindsay (Nineteen Ninety-Four) and David Threlfall (Nineteen Ninety-Eight) as Edward. With Christopher Barr, Pam Ferris, Stephen Fry, David Goodland, Mark Knox, Hugh Laurie, Jenny Luckraft, Mike Myers, Siobhan Redmond, Paul Shearer, Steve Steen, Rebecca Stevens, Emma Thompson and Richard Turner
First broadcast BBC Radio 4: 23 March-27 April 1985 (Nineteen Ninety-Four), 28 March-9 May 1987 (Nineteen Ninety-Eight)
©2020 Richard Turner and William Osborne (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd