BBC Classics: Ultimate Story Collection

90 Unmissable Tales

By: Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle, Virginia Woolf, various

Narrated by: Sam Dale, Joseph Ayre, Carolyn Pickles, Don Gilet, Clare Corbett, Ronny Jhutti, Helen Clapp, Susan Jameson, full cast

Length: 26 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

A treasure chest of timeless short stories by some of the world's greatest authors.

Suspense and horror:

1. 'The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire' - Arthur Conan Doyle

2. 'The Signalman' - Charles Dickens

3. 'Lost Hearts' - MR James

4. 'The Sealed Room' - Arthur Conan Doyle

5. 'Mrs Badgery' - Wilkie Collins

6. 'Wailing Well' - MR James

7. 'The Open Window' - Saki

8. 'How It happened' - Arthur Conan Doyle

9. 'The Tell-Tale Heart' - Edgar Allan Poe

10. 'The Cone' - HG Wells

11. 'A Haunted House' - Virginia Woolf

12. 'Rats' - MR James

13. 'The Oval Portrait' - Edgar Allan Poe

14. 'Tarquin of Cheapside' - F. Scott Fitzgerald

15. 'One Crowded Hour' - Arthur Conan Doyle

16. 'The Mezzotint' - MR James

17. 'The Masque of the Red Death' - Edgar Allan Poe

Love:

18. 'The Kiss' - Kate Chopin

19. 'Eleonora' - Edgar Allan Poe

20. 'About Love' - Anton Chekhov

21. 'The Lovers' - Hans Christian Anderson

22. 'Love' - Guy De Maupassant

23. 'The Sphinx Without a Secret' - Oscar Wilde

24. 'A Wedding Gift' - Guy De Maupassant

25. 'Kew Gardens' - Virginia Woolf

26. 'The District Doctor' - Ivan Turgenev

27. 'Happiness' - Guy De Maupassant

28. 'A Blunder' - Anton Chekhov

29. 'The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky' - Stephen Crane

30. 'In a Far-Off World' - Olive Schreiner

31. 'The Cook's Wedding' - Anton Chekhov

32. 'The Recruit' - Honore de Balzac

33. 'The Nightingale and the Rose' - Oscar Wilde

34. 'Pyramus and Thisbe' - Ovid

35. 'Aunt Hetty on Matrimony' - Fanny Fern

36. 'A Country Cottage' - Anton Chekhov

37. 'Marriage a la Mode' - Katherine Mansfield

38. 'The Statue of Limitations' - Ernest Dowson

39. 'The Dilettante' - Edith Wharton

Humorous:

40. 'Tobermory' - Saki

41. 'The Mesmeric Mountain' - Stephen Crane

42. 'The Children's Joke' - Louisa May Alcott

43. 'At the Siren' - Anton Chekhov

44. 'The Garden Party' - Katherine Mansfield

45. 'The Cask of Amontillado' - Edgar Allan Poe

46. 'The New Dress' - Virginia Woolf

47. 'How I Built Myself a House' - Thomas Hardy

48. 'The Model Millionaire' - Oscar Wilde

49. 'A Pair of Silk Stockings' - Kate Chopin

50. 'At the Barbers' - Anton Chekhov

51. 'A Respectable Woman' - Kate Chopin

Folk and fable:

52. 'The Happy Prince' - Oscar Wilde.

53. 'The Elves and the Shoemaker' - The Brothers Grimm

54. 'The Emperor's New Clothes' - Hans Christian Andersen

55. 'The Tongue Cut Sparrow' - Yei Theodora Ozaki

56. 'Finn and the Scottish Giant' - Harold F. Read

57. 'The Postmaster' - Rabindranath Tagore

58. 'The Toys of Peace' - Saki

59. 'The Selfish Giant' - Oscar Wilde

60. 'The Flower Gatherer' - Edward Thomas

61. 'Araby' - James Joyce

62. 'The Interlopers' - Saki

63. 'Tom Thumb' - The Brothers Grimm

64. 'The Kabuliwalah' - Rabindranath Tagore

65. 'The Monkey's Paws' - WW Jacobs

Christmas:

66. 'The Little Match Girl' - Hans Christian Andersen

67. 'Papa Panov's Special Christmas' - Leo Tolstoy

68. 'Christmas Storms and Sunshine' - Elizabeth Gaskell.

69. 'The Gift of the Magi' - O'Henry

70. 'At Christmas Time '- Anton Chekhov

71. 'A Dill Pickle' - Katherine Mansfield

Classic tales:

72. 'The Yellow Wallpaper' - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

73. 'The Fall of Lord Barrymore' - Arthur Conan Doyle

74. 'The Necklace' - Guy De Maupassant

75. 'Holiday Group' - EM Delafield

76. 'Three Questions' - Leo Tolstoy

77. 'The Cop and the Anthem' - O'Henry

78. 'The Fly' - Katherine Mansfield

79. 'The Christening' - DH Lawrence

80. 'After the Race' - James Joyce

81. 'The String Quartet' - Virginia Woolf

82. 'Two Friends' - Guy De Maupassant

83. 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' - Ambrose Bierce

84. 'A Gentleman Friend' - Anthon Chekhov

85. 'Ma'ame Pelagie' - Kate Chopin

86. 'Second Best' - DH Lawrence

87. 'El Verdugo' - Honore de Balzac

88. 'The Story of an Hour' - Kate Chopin

89. 'The Man of No Account' - Bret Hart

90. 'The Piece of String' - Guy De Maupassant

©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Often Excellent Stories

Naturally in 90 stories of different authors and genre, I found some that I couldn't get. but many new ,(to me) and clever. stories. All were read supremely.

amazing collection of authors of a previous age.

really enjoyable stories, pieces of subtle genius. may not be appreciated by the shallowest of jaded modern readers.

Uneven

I'd hoped for consistently excellent stories. But there are a sufficient number here for me to recommend the book.

Wonderful readings of masterpieces

90 stories published between about 1840 and 1930.

Mostly British, with some American, French, and Russian.

An incredible bargain. Readings done for the BBC, so nearly all readers are British.

These are not full cast audio dramas

I was looking forward to what I expected to be full cast radio dramas as the bbc is so well known for. These stories are read by a single person.