Focus on the Family’s Narnia Radio Dramas Are Available to Stream Online for Free (UPDATED)
UPDATE: As of 5/27/20, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Magician’s Nephew have been removed from Focus on the Family’s streaming catalog, and The Horse and His Boy and Prince Caspian are now available to stream instead.
As a way to help out families staying at home during quarantine, Focus on the Family has made two of their much-beloved Narnia radio dramas free to stream online: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Magician’s Nephew.
Focus on the Family adapted all seven Narnia books to radio theater between 1999 and 2002 with a cast of over a hundred actors, an original orchestral score, and cinema-quality sound design. The dramas were broadcast on the BBC in the mid-2000s. Paul Scofield appears as “The Storyteller” and David Suchet is the voice of Aslan. Douglas Gresham, the stepson of C. S. Lewis, is the host of the series. It is recommended for ages 10 and up.
To access the radio dramas, sign up here to receive an email with a link to the streaming site. The Narnia dramas are found under the Radio Theatre section of Focus@Home and Focus@Home Kids.
Are you a longtime fan of Focus on the Family’s Narnia radio dramas, or is this your first time listening? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
I already own these on MP3, but wanted to just pop in a say how much I LOVE these dramas. They do such a good job recreating all the little moments in the books and doing them very well. Very cinematic-like production.
Never heard any of these all the way through. Didn’t wanna spend money on them. Don’t have a good excuse now. 😉
I have them on mp3 as well, I’m just glad they’re out there for everyone!
I’m so glad they’re releasing them! I’ll be listening to The Magician’s Nephew while I work today. Let’s do this full-time thing more bearable!
Please, Rose-Tree Dryad:
In what order do you recommend listening to these radio dramas?
I’d prefer publication order, but I’ve heard they were actually produced in chronological order.
In what order do they flow better?
Also, should I listen to the BBC radio dramas first, if they were produced first? Thanks. 😀
I first heard Focus on the Family’s LWW back in the fall and thought it was absolutely incredible….and this is the version of Edmund I never knew I needed.
Really well done overall. I will probably tackle the rest of the series to give myself something else to do to help maintain my sanity, since I’m working from home and can’t see friends.
Listen in chronological order 🙂
I’m actually listening to them for the first time as well! 😀 I was planning on starting with LWW after getting burned by HarperCollins’ chronological order as a child, but now I’m curious about arguments in favor of starting with MN, too.
If you’d like to start a discussion thread about the FotF radio dramas in the Narnian Merchandise subforum, be my guest! 🙂
I own the CD set. My favorite of these radio dramas is “The Horse and His Boy.” I really appreciate the voice acting of Shasta, particularly. For the entire series, though, the ambient sounds and sound effects are top notch. With headphones, you can especially feel you’re there, which is great fun for all those who have ever longed for their own, real trip to Narnia.
I have them all on audio CD. They are well worth getting. They are some of the best audiobooks that I have ever heard. The dramas are incredibly accurate to the books and all seven stories were adapted. If you buy the programs on CD or get them for free you won’t be sorry. 🙂
I NEED TO DO THIS!
I am listening to the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre right now. It ‘s the drama of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. It’s wonderful to hear this again! 🙂
The FOTF dramatizations were my first introduction to Narnia. Thankfully, I heard LWW first. I read the books later and liked them, too. However, I have listened to the audio dramas many more times then I have read the books.
I will listen to them because it is Narnia.
Too bad FotF is such a homophobic organization.
In your mp3 version, do they also split each book into 3 mp3s, like they do in this streaming version?
n your mp3 version, do they also split each book into 3 mp3s, like they do in this streaming version?
I’ve got an original way. My order is a mix between chronological and publication order. Although I would start with Magician’s Nephew, I would switch to publication order when I reach Lion Witch Wardrobe. By this I mean that I would save Horse and his Boy for after Silver Chair. It is a better set-up for Last Battle because there are motifs that appear in the later book: Narnia and Calormen at war, the donkey, the ape and Tash. Also, Silver Chair alludes to Horse and his Boy before the parliament of owls.