• Episode 8: Chapter 12: Alice’s Evidence
    Dec 21 2022

    Alice jumps to her feet, knocking over the jury box in her hurry. Hastily, she replaces all the creatures who have fallen out onto the floor. The King tells her that "Rule Forty-two" bans from court anyone more than a mile high, but Alice refuses to leave.
     
     The King subjects the Knave to a meaningless grilling and then sums up the evidence with hilarious ineptness. The Queen announces that the Knave should be sentenced before the verdict is reached. Alice blares out, "Stuff and nonsense!" Shocked, the Queen shouts, "Off with her head!" Alice, now her full size, says, "You're nothing but a pack of cards!" Immediately, the whole pack soars into the air and rains down on her head.
     
     Alice wakes to find herself back on the riverbank, with her older sister brushing fallen leaves off Alice's face.
     
     Chapter 12 was wonderfully read by:
     
    Phyllis Logan
    Martin Delaney
    Harriet Walter
    Henry Goodman
    Christopher Biggins
    David Menkin
    Andrew Zadrejko
    Della Phillips
    Patricia Hodge
    Stephen McCarthy
    Brad Shaw 

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    15 mins
  • Episode 11: Chapter 11: Who stole the Tarts?
    Dec 20 2022

    Back on the croquet lawn, Alice and the Gryphon learn that the Knave of Hearts has been charged with stealing a plate of tarts. The bewigged King of Hearts is serving as judge in the trial, and 12 creatures make up the jury. The White Rabbit is acting as herald.
     
     "Consider your verdict," the King tells the jury before the trial even begins. It's clear the whole proceeding will be a shambles. In the midst of the confusion, Alice realizes that she's starting to grow again. The next witness is the Duchess's Cook, who refuses to give evidence and slips away in the confusion. Alice is startled to hear her own name being called as the third witness.
     
     Chapter 11 is wonderfully read by:
     
    Mark Fernandes
    Elizabeth jobling
    Rebecca Courtney
    Janine Cooper-Marshall
    Will Harrison-Wallace
    Jane Perry
    John Challis
    Ruth Jones
    Jo Ashe (Narrator of the year)
    Rosie Ashe 

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    12 mins
  • Episode 8: Chapter 10: The Lobster Quadrille
    Dec 19 2022

    Though the Mock Turtle is crying almost too hard to talk, it manages to sob out that Alice has probably never heard of a Lobster Quadrille. When she agrees that she has not, the Mock Turtle becomes a vortex of energy. He and the Gryphon scream out instructions while "capering wildly about." With equal suddenness, they collapse and look mournfully at Alice. Then they dance solemnly around her, singing.
     
     The dancing over, they ask Alice to recite some lessons for them. She obediently does so, getting the words wrong. Then the Mock Turtle begins to weep out a song about turtle soup. In mid-song, someone calls, "The trial is starting!" The Gryphon takes Alice's hand and rushes her away.
     
     Chapter 10 is wonderfully read by:
     
      Elizabeth Bloom
      Ben Norris
      Jared Zeus
      Alexandra Metaxa
      Margaret Ashley
      Natalie Chisholm
      Eilidh Beaton
      Philip Labey
      Griff Rhys Jones
      Matthew Gravelle
      Michael Lumsden
      Cathy Smith
     Julia Winwood 

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    15 mins
  • Episode 5: Chapter 9: The Mock Turtle’s Story
    Dec 18 2022

    Alice and the Duchess (who's been reprieved from execution) stroll around the garden together until the Queen commands Alice to return to the game. When the game dissolves because the Queen has put all the players under sentence of death, the Queen takes Alice to meet the Gryphon, who introduces Alice to the Mock Turtle.
     
     The Mock Turtle dolefully tells Alice a long, sad story about his education until the Gryphon interrupts and says, "Tell her something about the games."
     
     Chapter 9 is wonderfully read by:
     
    Anna Bentinck
    Mali Harries
    Rory Barnett
    T.Anthony Quinn
    Malk Williams
    Ewan Bailey
    Andrew Pepper
    Mitch Jenkins
    Christina Kowalchuk
    Arthur Darvill
    Richard Wells
    Philip Banks
    Ian Pringle 

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    16 mins
  • Episode 4: Chapter 8: The Queen’s Croquet-Ground
    Dec 15 2022

    At the garden entrance, Alice sees three gardeners painting some white roses red. Before they can finish, a royal procession begins filing in. Last to arrive are the most important: the King and Queen of Hearts and their court. All of these characters take the form of animated playing cards.
     
     Furious at everyone and everything, the Queen of Hearts constantly orders beheadings. Fortunately, the Queen is distractible, and Alice—along with the Duchess—joins the croquet game everyone has come to play. The game is thoroughly confusing; no one is following the rules. Alice complains about this to the Cheshire Cat when its head shows up in the sky above her. The Queen orders that this head also be cut off, but the Cheshire Cat disappears before anyone can decide how to carry out the order.
     
     Chapter 8 is wonderfully read by:
     
    Joshua Manning
    Laurel Lefkow
    Mark Desebrock
    Matthew Wycliffe
    Angus Imrie
    Antonia Beamish
    Kevin McNally
    Matt Beauman Jones
    Annette Rizzo
    Charlotte Sanderson
    Rachael Beresford
    Ben Stock
    Emma Stannard
    Charlie Brunton
    Duncan Smith
    Pearl Hewitt 

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    16 mins
  • Episode 7: Chapter 7: A Mad Tea-Party
    Dec 12 2022

    In front of the Hatter's house, a long tea table is set under a tree. The March Hare, the Hatter, and a sleepy Dormouse are sitting at one end. They shout, "No room!"—but Alice indignantly sits down, and they have a conversation about meaning and time. The Dormouse tells Alice a story and then falls asleep at the table. Alice is so disgusted by the rudeness of the three that she leaves.
     
     Alice reenters the long hall, takes up the golden key, and walks into the garden she's been waiting so long to visit.
     
     Chapter 7 is wonderfully read by:
     
    Tania Rodrigues

    Chris Nelson

    Peter Kenny

    Katherine Fenton

    Jennifer Woodward

    Claire Morgan

    Ian Porter

    Gareth Pierce

    Jane Collingwood

    Siobbhan Shaw

    Emma Wheeler

    Amy Shindler

    Sarah Belcher

    Patrick Lamb

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    17 mins
  • Episode 6: Chapter 6: Pig and Pepper
    Dec 7 2022

    Alice reaches a strange house and hears terrible howling and screaming inside. She enters to find a kitchen, where the Cook is stirring a very peppery soup. In the middle of the room, the Duchess is holding (and occasionally shaking) a screaming baby boy, who is also sneezing nonstop because of the pepper.
     
    The Duchess hands the baby over to Alice, who takes him outside. Gradually, the baby turns into a pig, which Alice turns loose. She then spots the Cheshire Cat in a tree, who gives her directions to the Hatter's. When Alice remarks that she doesn't want to "go among mad people," the Cheshire Cat says, "We're all mad here." 
     
    Chapter 6 is wonderfully read by:
     

    Harley Viveash
    Emerald O'Hanrahan
    Charlotte Martin
    Susie Riddell
    Sam Devereaux
    Clare Corbett
    Christopher Ragland
    Rachael Louise Miller
    Alex Wingfield
    Katie Redford
    Timothy Bentinck MBE
    Ben Elliot
    Jenny Bryce
    Harriet Kershaw
    Kate Rawson
    Steven Kynman

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    18 mins
  • Episode 2: Chapter 5: Advice from a Caterpillar
    Dec 2 2022

    The Caterpillar stares at Alice before asking her who she is. They have a confusing and roundabout conversation. Before he crawls away, the Caterpillar tells Alice that eating one side of the mushroom will make her tall and eating the other will make her short. Alice tries a bit of mushroom edge and shrinks until her chin hits her foot. She tries a piece from the other side and grows until she's taller than the trees and has a long, snakelike neck.
     
     The Pigeon begins flying frantically around Alice's head, accusing her of being a serpent hunting for bird eggs. Unable to persuade the Pigeon that she's a little girl, Alice takes alternating bites of the mushroom pieces until she's nine inches tall, seemingly the perfect height for Wonderland.
     
     Chapter 5 is wonderfully read by:
     
    Beth Chalmers
    Ramesh Mahtani
    Michelle O'Callaghan
    Danielle Cohen
    Gyles Brandreth
    Raj Ghatak
    Samantha Boffin
    Tom Sterling
    Benet Brandreth
    Toby Laurence
    Kosha Engler
    Tara Ward
    Juliet Stevenson
    Clare Louise Connolly

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    15 mins