The Hobbit Audiobook Guide

[Jonathon]

BBC Radio Drama (3h34m)
A full cast 1968 rendition of the Hobbit. A very cartoonish take on The Hobbit, which continually reminded me of the 1977 film. The most stylistic and shortest adaption; But it is not without faults with many mispronounced names and a rather confusing on the first listen second narrator. My favorite of the abridged versions, if you want to listen to a shortened version, it might as well be short and uniquely styled.

NPR Radio Drama (4h14m)
The second and final full cast abridged adaption. Released in 1980 it is a solid if unspectacular take on the story. It is also notable as being the only abridged adaption with a direct sequel using many of the same actors; If you are looking for abridged versions of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, this is not a bad choice.

Read by Martin Shaw (5h57m)
For being the longest abridged rendition at over half the length of a unabridged version, the 1993 Martin Shaw adaption is by far the worst abridged adaption of the Hobbit available, with Martin Shaw completely phoning in his performance IMHO.

Read by Nicol Williamson (3h40m)
The rendition by the great British actor Nicol Williamson released in 1974, and is probably the hardest to get your hands on. Nicol Williamson is simply my favorite narrator of this lot, putting his all into the role and giving us many great character voices. A solid choice, and possibly my favorite if not for some poor editing choices that leave unexplained elements of the story that will confuse people not already familiar with The Hobbit.

Read by Andy Serkis (10h25m)
Voiced by the actor who played Gollum and released in 2020, this is by far the most recent adaptation with Serkis currently working on a sequel in an unabridged adaptation of Lord of the Rings. Andy Serkis puts his all into this role, and pulls off the best Goblin voices to date. He did an absolutely amazing job, and makes this my overall favourite version, but it is clear that he lacks the vocal range to pull off elves very well.

Theatrical Audiobook by Bluefax (10h12m)
The one and only fan audiobook. Crafted over a 5 year period from about 2015 to 2020, the Theatrical Audiobook is an unofficial one man adaptation that manages to be the most immersive and complex dramatization to date. Bluefax combined sound and music from the Hobbit and LotR films with voicework from himself creating an audiobook that sounds more like a film. The only unabridged dramatization and a great adaptation.

Read By Rob Inglish (11h5m)
You can tell immediately why this has been the default version of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings for generations. Released in 1991, Rob Inglish had been performing one man plays of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings for decades at this point, and as such is perhaps the most experienced man who ever lived for this particular role.