Kidnapped

BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

By: Robert Louis Stevenson

Narrated by: Owen Whitelaw, Michael Nardone, David Hayman

A gripping BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of the classic adventure story by Robert Louis Stevenson.

It is 1751, and 17-year-old David Balfour is all alone in the world. Recently orphaned, he receives a letter instructing him to seek out his sole remaining relative at the House of Shaws. But on meeting his uncle Ebenezer, David soon realises that he is a shifty, miserly man with designs on his inheritance.

After an attempt on David's life fails, Ebenezer tricks him into boarding the brig Covenant, where he is knocked unconscious, kidnapped and taken to sea. His fate seems sealed - he is to be transported to a plantation in the Carolinas and sold into slavery.

But David's adventures are only just beginning, for when he meets charismatic Jacobite Alan Breck, he soon finds himself shipwrecked, wanted for murder and fleeing for his life across the Scottish Highlands.

This action-packed adaptation by Bruce Young, based on Robert Louis Stevenson's enthralling tale of danger, intrigue, betrayal and friendship, stars Owen Whitelaw, Michael Nardone and David Hayman.

Duration: two hours approx.

©2017 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2017 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

It was a good story but I could feel parts missing

It was a good story and great performance but it was so abridged that it was hardly worth listening to.

A difficult story to dramatise.

This dramatisation struggles from the outset and was compounded by thick Scottish accents which were often difficult to understand. Compared to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, the production is left floundering on the rocks.