The Dark Is Rising - Binaural BBC Drama - Susan Cooper

Written by Susan Cooper
Read by Full Cast
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 320 Kbps
Dramatization

The Dark Is Rising is a 1973 children’s fantasy novel by Susan Cooper.

It has been described as a “folkloric tale of an English boy caught in a battle between light and dark”

This is a direct download of the highest bitrate available.

A World Service drama first broadcast in 2022.

320kbps chaptered M4B.

This eerie drama is best experienced on headphones for a unique, immersive binaural experience.

The Dark Is Rising -

This night will be bad. Tomorrow will be beyond all imagining. December 20, the day before Will’s 11th birthday, and all he wants is snow. But something is not right. On his way to Dawson’s Farm, a hunched old man scuttles into trees, the animals are disturbed. And then Will receives a present. It is a Sign.

Narrator: Simon McBurney
Will Stanton: Noah Alexander
John Smith/Paul Stanton/Mr Beaumont: Thomas Arnold
Bus Conductor/Jamaican Old One/James Stanton: Danny Bailey
Stephen Stanton: Simon Bubb
Mrs Stanton/Mrs Pettigrew/Dr Armstrong: Amanda Hadingue
The Walker/Hawkin: Toby Jones
The Rider/Mr Mithothin/Mr Stanton/Farmer Dawson: Tim McMullan
Merriman: Paul Rhys
Maggie Barnes/Mary Stanton: Natasha Stone
The Lady/Miss Greythorne: Harriet Walter
Herne: Miles Yekinni
The chorister: Vinay Singh
Radio announcer: Samuel West

Soundscape design: Gareth Fry
Music: Josh Sneesby
Original songs by Johnny Flynn, Luisa Gerstein and Héloïse Tunstall-Behrens

Adapted for audio by Robert Macfarlane and Simon McBurney
Dramaturg: James Yeatman

Director: Simon McBurney
Producers: Catherine Bailey and Tim Bell

A Complicité and Catherine Bailey Production for BBC World Service
Commissioned by Simon Pitts