Icelandic Viking Sagas at the BBC – Lucy Catherine, Melissa Murray, Hattie Naylor, Neil Gaiman Free Audiobook

Written by Lucy Catherine, Melissa Murray, Hattie Naylor, Neil Gaiman
Read by Full Cast
Format: M4B
Bitrate: Variable
Dramatization

My collection of the BBC’s recent adaptions of some of the Icelandic Sagas. Also included is Neil Gaiman’s ‘Norse Mythology’ and an ‘In Our Time’ episode discussing the sagas.

First written down in the 13th century, the sagas tell the stories of the Norse settlers of Iceland, who began to arrive on the island in the late 9th century.

They contain some of the richest and most extraordinary writing of the Middle Ages, and often depict events known to have happened in the early years of Icelandic history, although there is much debate as to how much of their content is factual and how much imaginative.

Full of heroes, feuds and outlaws, with a smattering of ghosts and trolls, the sagas inspired later writers including Sir Walter Scott, Tolkien and WH Auden.

THE LAST OF THE VOLSUNGS BY MELISSA MURRAY

Drawn from one of the best-known Icelandic sagas, a powerful dramatisation of the tragic story of Sigurd Volsung and Brynhild, the woman he loves.

Introduced by the author.

Sigurd ….. David Sturzaker
Regin ….. David Schofield
Gunnar ….. Carl Prekopp
Hod ….. Gerard McDermott
Gudrun ….. Lyndsey Marshal
Brynhild ….. Abbie Andrews
Sadhbh ….. Isabella Inchbald
Arvid ….. Clive Hayward
Alf ….. Rupert Holliday-Evans
Hjordis ….. Kath Weare
Warriors ….. Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong, Gary Duncan, Philip Bretherton

Directed by Marc Beeby

First broadcast 18 Feb 2018 on BBC Radio 3

THE SAGA OF BURNT NJÁLL BY HATTIE NAYLOR

An adaptation of Iceland’s most famous saga with an introduction by saga specialist, Dr Brynja Thorgeirsdóttir.

Drawing upon the oral storytelling tradition to conjure up the bleak but savage beauty of Medieval Iceland, it tells the epic tale of two rival families, a long-running blood feud and its tragic outcome.

Five storytellers gather. This troupe is made up of renegades, outlaws and outsiders who live on the edges of society. They see this as an opportunity to engage and pass judgement on a world that chooses not to see them.

Teller 1/Hallgerd ….. Lisa Hammond
Teller 2/Gunnar ….. Justice Ritchie
Teller 3/Bergthora ….. Christine Kavanagh
Teller 4/Njáll ….. Justin Salinger
Teller 5/Mord ….. Jasmine Hyde
Voice of the Saga ….. Salomé Gunnarsdóttir

Translations by Benjamin Danielsson
Directed by Gemma Jenkins

First broadcast 24 Oct 2021 on BBC Radio 3

GUDRUN BY LUCY CATHERINE

An 11th-century Viking epic of love, revenge and faith, set in Iceland and starring the original Nordic Noir heroine, Gudrun.

As a young woman growing up in 11th-century Iceland, Gudrun must forge her path through a world of unearthly beauty yet uncompromising harshness.

Written by Lucy Catherine and inspired by the famous Icelandic Laxdæla saga, this epic tale of love, revenge and faith stars Kate Phillips (Peaky Blinders, War and Peace) as Gudrun.

Written by Lucy Catherine.

Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko, Gemma Jenkins and Jessica Dromgoole.

Cast
Gudrun – Kate Phillips
Freija – Samantha Dakin
Dag – Cameron Percival/Joseph Ayres
Sylvia – Carolyn Pickles/Susan Jameson
Volva – Carolyn Pickles
Aoife – Lucy Doyle
Hakon/Guard 2/Priest/King Sweyn – Michael Bertenshaw
Bolli/Guard 1 – Lewis Bray
Aslak – Tony Turner
Sigrid – Rosie Boore/Hollie Burgess
Leif – Don Gilet/Chris Pavlo
Warrior – Don Gilet
Frederick – Simon Scardifield
Heidr – Jeannette Percival/Helen Clapp
Kjartan – Luke MacGregor/Ian Dunnett Jnr
The Virgin – Marilyn Nnadebe
Sailors – Chris Harper and Joseph Ayre
Gorm – David Hounslow
Canute – Aaron Gelkoff
Gunnar – Chris Pavlo
Panuk – Kenny Blyth
Saxon – Joseph Ayre
Vali/Dane – Chris Harper
Tofa – Debbie Korley
Jesus – Paul Hilton
Truda – Charlotte East
Monk/Servant – Ian Dunnett Jnr
Tobias – Hasan Dixon
Abbot Bettega/John Crescentius/Pope – Roger Ringrose
Nun – Emma Handy
Woman/Garvinicus – Jane Whittenshaw
Soldiers – Ian Dunnett Jnr and Hasan Dixon
Jesson at 7 – Harry Clarke

First Broadcast between 28 Nov 2016 and 12 Mar 2021

NORSE MYTHOLOGY BY NEIL GAIMAN

Neil Gaiman invites us into a world of gods and monsters, fiery endings and new beginnings, tricks and trust.

Diana Rigg, Derek Jacobi, Colin Morgan and Natalie Dormer lead a stellar cast, inviting us into these stories of old betrayals – and new hope.

We meet the trickster god Loki and his astonishing children – the giant wolf Fenrir, Jormungundr the snake that encircles the world, and Hel, the little girl who grows up to be Queen of the dead. We meet Odin the all-father, who sacrificed his eye to see the future, and Freya the understandably angry, most beautiful of the gods and always being gambled for by unwanted suitors. And the stories take us to the very end of the world, Ragnarok.

The stellar cast also includes Luke Newberry, Nonso Anozie, Rhashan Stone, Don Gilet, Nathaniel Martello-White, Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong, Lucy Doyle, Michael Bertenshaw, Lewis Bray, Alexandra Constantinidi, Cameron Percival, Saffron Coomber…. And Neil Gaiman himself.

Author …… Neil Gaiman
Adaptor …… Lucy Catherine
Sound Design …… Wilfredo Acosta
Director & Producer …… Allegra McIlroy

Cast:
Teller ….. Diana Rigg
Odin ….. Derek Jacobi
Freya ….. Natalie Dormer
Loki ….. Colin Morgan
Thor ….. Nathaniel Martello-White
Balder ….. Luke Newberry
Thrym ….. Nonso Anozie
Fenrir ….. Rhashan Stone
Heimdall …..Tayla Kovacevic -Ebong
Mimir ….. Don Gilet
Sif ….. Lucy Doyle
The Stranger ….. Lewis Bray
Brokk ….. Michael Bertenshaw
Hel ….. Alexandra Constantinidi
Eitri ….. Cameron Percival
Angrboda ….. Saffron Coomber
Magnus ….. Eviee Lavery
Young Hel ….. Grace Doherty
Radio ….. Neil Gaiman

First Broadcast 26 December 2018

IN OUR TIME – ICELANDIC SAGAS BY MELVYN BRAGG

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Icelandic Sagas.

With: Carolyne Larrington, Fellow and Tutor in Medieval English Literature at St John’s College, Oxford; Elizabeth Ashman Rowe, University Lecturer in Scandinavian History at the University of Cambridge and Emily Lethbridge, Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Árni Magnússon Manuscripts Institute in Reykjavík.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

First Broadcast 9 May 2013

My recordings from BBC Sounds