His Dark Materials: BBC Radio Drama Collection: Northern Lights; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass

With a cast including Terence Stamp, Bill Paterson and Kenneth Cranham, these BBC Radio 4 full-cast adaptations of the award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy span a multitude of worlds. The opening instalment Northern Lights is set in a parallel world like, yet very unlike, our own. Twelve-year-old Lyra, whose daemon Pantalaimon is part of her very self, is growing up in an ancient, ritual-haunted Oxford. She becomes involved in a quest to find her father and rescue her friend Roger from evil kidnappers, aided by armoured bears, Gyptians and a witch-queen. The second instalment, The Subtle Knife, introduces us to Will Parry - a young boy with a dangerous mission to fulfil. When he and Lyra cross paths, they decide to help each other, but the world of Cittágazze is a strange and unsettling place, where deadly soul-eating Spectres roam... The concluding instalment, The Amber Spyglass, brings the saga to a thrilling close. Lyra and Will are aided by friends old and new as they continue their perilous journey. As childhood slips away, they face further dangers - including a terrifying voyage to the world of the dead. Mixing science, theology and magic to fantastic and exciting effect, Pullman's gripping trilogy was an international bestseller, and these thrilling full-cast dramatisations bring Philip Pullman's masterpiece to vivid life. 6 CDs. 7 hrs 30 mins approx.

Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer. He is the author of several best-selling books, most notably the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials and the fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. In 2008, The Times named Pullman one of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945". Northern Lights, the first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy, won the 1995 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's outstanding English-language children's book. For the 70th anniversary of the Medal it was named one of the top ten winning works by a panel, composing the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. Northern Lights won the public vote from that shortlist and was thus named the all-time "Carnegie of Carnegies" on 21 June 2007. It has been adapted as a film under its U.S. title, The Golden Compass.