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A new adaptation of Philip Pullman’s award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy as a spoken word collection starring Terence Stamp and Emma Fielding.

BBC Spoken Word have released Philip Pullman’s award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy as a spoken word collection of CDs and cassettes, with Terence Stamp and Emma Fielding heading the cast.

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman's bestselling trilogy comprises the three novels: Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass (the first children's/adult book to win the Whitbread Book of the Year, as well as being long-listed for the Booker Prize).

Young newcomers Lulu Popplewell - playing Lyra - and Dan Anthony – who plays Will - join the acclaimed and award-laden Terence Stamp – as Lord Asriel - and Emma Fielding - who performs the role of Mrs. Coulter.

Fans of the author and his myriad characters will be able to hear their exploits in the complete trilogy: The Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, adapted especially for the BBC by Lavinia Murray.

"I’ve always loved radio drama"

This dramatisation offers listeners an escape into the thrilling world of His Dark Materials. Philip Pullman says of the adaptation of his work: “I’ve always loved radio drama – it can move from the epic to the intimate in a moment. I think the two youngsters who play Lyra and Will are terrific."

Born in Norwich in 1946, the man behind the trilogy of books, Philip Pullman grew up in Zimbabwe and Wales. He won the New English Library first novel competition a year after graduating following which he worked as a teacher for many years.

The Ruby Smoke

His first children’s novel The Ruby in the Smoke, the first of a trilogy of Victorian thrillers, was published in 1992. He has won a number of awards for his children’s books - including the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Award, the Smarties Prize - and, most recently, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award for his work The Amber Spyglass.

This acclaimed fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials (released by Random House, and by Scholastic Books in the UK and Knopf in the US), which comprises the three books: Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, has now been published in more than twenty languages.

Human Consciousness

The Amber Spyglass - The acclaimed first two novels in the His Dark Materials trilogy – Northern Lights (jacketed as The Golden Compass in America) and The Subtle Knife - established this epic fantasy as a classic of imaginative fiction. In this eagerly awaited final novel Lyra and Will, lost in their separate worlds, are swept up in the cataclysmic struggle for control of the fabled dust of human consciousness.

On the one hand lie the forces of divine oppression, led by the usurper Metatron; on the other the forces of authority led by the rebellious Lord Asriel and the angel Promethiel, once known as Lucifer. This is a spellbinding cosmic adventure story, a profound moral fable and a heart-rending story of love and survival.

Motion picture/television rights to the trilogy have been bought outright by Scholastic Productions.

Praise for the His Dark Materials:

"Philip Pullman. Is he the best storyteller ever?" - The Observer

"Move over, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Philip Pullman has completed his extraordinary cosmological tour de force...an astonishing imaginative feat." - The Telegraph.

"As well as giving his readers stories that tick with the precision, accuracy and grace of an eighteenth century clock, he also writes like an angel…he gives his readers precisely the satisfaction they look for in a novel: well made, absorbing characters, supreme elegance of style and tone, a richly inventive landscape, and finally some very big ideas fearlessly explored." - The Observer

"Philip Pullman, capable of lighting up the dullest day or greyest spirit with the incandescence of his imagination." - The Independent

"This is remarkable writing: courageous and dangerous as the best art should be." - The Times

"Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is one of the great imaginative works in the English language." - Ex-Monty Python, Terry Jones.

His other books for children and young adults include Clockwork; I Was A Rat!; Count Karlstein; and another trilogy featuring Sally Lockhart: The Ruby In The Smoke; The Shadow In The North; and The Tiger In The Well. Philip Pullman lives in Oxford with his wife and two children, one a professional musician and the other studying at Cambridge.

His other works include: I Was A Rat, Count Karlstein, The White Mercedes, The Tin Princess (Featuring characters from The Sally Lockhart Trilogy), The Broken Bridge, The Tiger in the Well (The Sally Lockhart Trilogy Book III), The Shadow in the North (The Sally Lockhart Trilogy Book II), The Ruby in the Smoke (The Sally Lockhart Trilogy Book I).

BBC Audio Books release the dramatisation of all 3 books in the His Dark Materials trilogy on CD and cassette, as either individual titles or as a gift boxed set. The trilogy of His Dark Materials has now been produced as a single volume, available from Random House.

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