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Review by Sue Arnold, The Guardian

Excellent as it was, the recent television dramatisation wasn’t a patch on the real thing. There’s far more to Dickens than costume, plot and spooky atmosphere. The impossibility of transferring books faithfully to film is summed up by Gore Vidal’s observation that the camera cannot capture thought. Nor can it do justice to the humour – savage satire, delicate irony and slapstick – that characterises this Dickens classic. The only real difficulty of transferring books to audio is choosing a reader who can convincingly deliver the author’s voice – more precisely, the author’s opinions. Any competent reader can ratchet up the suspense of, say, Mr Tulkinghorn’s candle guttering and dying as he enters the squalor of the mysterious Nemo’s lodging. Any gifted actor can do oddballs, Miss Flite, poncey Mr Turveydrop, lairy Inspector Bucket. The reason Sean Barrett reads so much audio, Beckett to Beevor, is that he can do everything, especially irony. ‘Sir Leicester receives the gout as a troublesome demon, but still a demon of the patrician order. All the Dedlocks in the direct male line, through a course of time during and beyond which the memory of man goeth not to the contrary, have had the gout. It can be proved, sir. Other men’s fathers may have died of the rheumatism or may have taken base contagion from the tainted blood of the sick vulgar, but the Dedlock family have communicated something exclusive, even to the levelling process of dying, by dying of their own family gout. It has come down through the illustrious line like the plague or the pictures or the place in Lincolnshire.’ That’s the sort of thing you miss on television. Teresa Gallagher provides Esther Summerson’s narrative. Her cool, clear, young tones are the perfect foil to Barrett’s voice of experience. This has to be the definitive talking Dickens.

Review by Christina Hardyment, The Times

My 2007 resolution to get to grips with complete Dickens’ novels rather than abridgements or dramatisations got off to a successful start thanks to [the Naxos unabridged recording of] Bleak House.

It is a tale of the stranglehold on hearts, minds and pockets of the Victorian legal system. It is also a thriller, with murders, lost heirs and heiresses and secrets galore. Heard in full, a larger purpose becomes clear. It is a formidable portrait of society, with the message that character, not wealth, sees you through. Its cavalcade of families of all types reveals that the way you turn out depends partly on how your parents bring you up, partly on your own resources. The Jarndyce wards have different reactions to their plight; Caddy Jellaby survives her mother’s manic philanthropy.

Bleak House lends itself exceptionally well to audio, told as it is in two voices — Sean Barrett, mesmeric as the chilling Mr Tulkinghorne, and Teresa Gallagher, who speaks Esther Summerson with moving grace.

Review by Christina Hardyment, The Times

This has been an exceptionally rich year for audio-listening. Naxos is proceeding apace with its magnificent range of unabridged Austens and Dickens. My favourite remains Bleak House, so much more than the diatribe against the legal system that abridgements can make it. It lends itself well to audio, told as it is in two voices, the narrator (Sean Barrett, mesmeric as chill Mr Tulkinghorne) and Esther Summerson (spoken with freshness and honesty by Teresa Gallagher).