Saturday Live, Volume One
by Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie (Redbush, 2015)
A patchy collection of highlights (so-called) from the 1986 TV variety show. Fry and Laurie are first-billed but don’t actually feature that much. Instead, there’s Ben Elton’s high-octane social and political stand-up, protest poems by Craig Charles, and several remarkably unfunny also-rans.
The Stars’ Tennis Balls
by Stephen Fry (Hutchinson, 2000); audiobook read by Stephen Fry (Random House, 2010)
Beginning as a typically loquacious exploration of class and envy, Fry’s fourth novel (‘Revenge’ in reissue) is forged over three acts into a harrowing, tender, bitter Shakespearean tragedy – best performed by Fry himself. Two-facedness reaps what it sows; the cycle starts over.
The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Arthur Conan Doyle (George Newnes, 1902); audiobook read by Stephen Fry (Audible, 2017)
Despite lacking its protagonist for extended periods and being little more complex a mystery than those of Conan Doyle’s short stories, The Hound of the Baskervilles sustains itself quite charmingly at novel length. The unhurried telling affords added solemnity to the narrative.
The Enormous Crocodile
by Roald Dahl (Jonathan Cape, 1978); audiobook read by Stephen Fry (Puffin, 2013)
A classic safe scare for young middle grade readers, the audiobook stripped of Quentin Blake’s illustrations but enhanced in compensation by Stephen Fry’s delivery (albeit that the background soundscape becomes tiresome, especially when signifying the crocodile’s trademark ‘secret plans and clever tricks’).
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (George Newnes, 1893); audiobook ready by Stephen Fry (ABC, 2017)
Despite coming across as increasingly distant from modern times, these tales of Sherlock Holmes retain their appeal. Simply put, Holmes and Watson are great characters, and the mysteries themselves have a charm that rests enduringly in Conan Doyle’s (and Stephen Fry’s) telling.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
by J K Rowling (Bloomsbury, 1997); audiobook read by Stephen Fry (ABC Audio, 1999)
Enid Blyton for the new millennium. After a slow start—and notwithstanding some exaggerated stock characters—Rowling unleashes her fearsome imagination to bring us Hogwarts and Hagrid, Quidditch and quiddities. Stephen Fry’s narration brings welcome verve whenever the text loses its magic.
Mythos
by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, 2017)
Stephen Fry not only retells the myths of Ancient Greece with deftness and a modern appreciation, but manages also to unravel the tangled dramatis personae from creation onwards and make it comprehensible to the uninitiated (which to varying extents we all are).
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (George Newnes, 1905); audiobook read by Stephen Fry (ABC, 2017)
Stephen Fry takes seriously the task of voicing Conan Doyle’s stories, yet with faint echoes of his own comedic characters seeping through (in contrast sufficient to add further gravitas to the great detective). Sherlock Holmes resumes practice post-Reichenbach, as superior as ever.
Stephen Fry In His Own Words
(AudioGo, 2013)
A procession of interviews in which Stephen Fry, articulate as ever, talks about himself and his work. The selection draws heavily on appearances promoting his autobiographies, which, unless Fry is putting on an accent, have tended then rather to supersede the interviews…
Saturday Night Fry, Series 1
by Stephen Fry (BBC Radio 4, 1988)
This radio precursor to A Bit of Fry & Laurie saw Stephen Fry and guests forge ground in the comedic art of playing against expectations. It is fast, clever (if not always funny), and suavely innovative in its manipulation of the medium.