I got the okay on this one on Twitter but mods please let me know if it doesn’t count. I didn’t listen to the audiobook of Neverwhere but rather the BBC’s radio play adaptation – the one with McAvoy and Dormer? It’s basically the greatest.
So the gist of Neverwhere is: everyman Richard Mayhew accidentally stumbles into London Below, a society made up of the people London Above forgot, with danger at every turn. He is sucked into a mission to protect the Lady Door from assassins and betrayal and the things that lurk in the dark.
The story is like 3% of the reason you dig into this adaptation though, because the magic is in the telling. McAvoy is pitch perfect as Richard, completely blindsided by everything that comes his way and stumbling between tenuous success and abject failure. Dormer’s voice somehow has the same deliciously tilted quality as her mouth, everything she says she says with that lopsided smile and you understand immediately how she’s made her own way this far and why Richard falls so quickly under her spell. Harewood I only mostly know from Selfie (I’m only a little bit sorry) but I could listen to his clever, teasing de Carabas for hours. Bernard Cribbins and sad old man voice are so wonderfully sweet as Old Bailey and of course Cumberbatch is the perfect match for the oily Angel Islington.
And dear god, Anthony Stewart Head as Mr. Croup. My lions, y’all.
The sound editing on this is glorious. The echos and descents and hasty retreats and adventure! I cannot express how much I adore this. I was going to call this my Throwback Thursday because I’ve listened to it before and loved it (and read the book) but I think this is clearly a Brain Candy.
Bingo Square: Brain Candy
I downloaded this and never listened to it. Thanks for the reminder!
I listened to this version before I ever read the book and the voice casting is so perfect that I heard the book in their voices when I read it later.