A BBC Christmas Collection

Jan 9, 2026 1:22 AM

Author:Alexander McCall-Smith,Rachel Joyce,Charles Dickens,Anton Chekhov,Leo Tolstoy,Elizabeth Gaskell,Various,Jeremy Front,Niamh Cusack,Robert Lindsay,James Fleet,Nina Sosanya,Nikesh Patel,Meera Syal,Stephen Fry,Rebecca Front,Stephanie Cole,Tamsin Grieg,Michel

A sparkling seasonal anthology of BBC dramas and readings

Christmas is the perfect time to curl up with a good story, and this cracking collection brings you 30 wonderfully diverse tales inspired by this most special of seasons. From Santa Claus, gift-giving and family gatherings, to an unexpected encounter in a snowstorm and an alternative take on the Nativity, they're sure to get you in the festive mood.

Here are modern readings of classics such as Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Tree', Anton Chekhov's 'At Christmas Time', Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Fir Tree', O Henry's 'The Gift of the Magi', Elizabeth Gaskell's 'Christmas Storms and Sunshine' and Leo Tolstoy's 'Papa Panov's Special Christmas'. Alongside them is some superb short fiction by contemporary authors, including Stella Duffy ('South'), Paul McVeigh ('Daddy Christmas'), Laura Barnett ('Survivors'), and nine delightful stories by Alexander McCall Smith. Among the stellar narrators are Don Gilet, Nina Sosanya, Hannah Gordon, Stephanie Cole and Meera Syal.

Interspersed with these are a range of spellbinding plays, including Rachel Joyce's poignant Christmas by the Lake; festive action comedy Lena Marsh, Live and Schticking! by Jeremy Front; a very unusual and very dangerous Santa in The Morpeth Carol by Timothy X Atack; and Robert Hudson and Marie Phillips' epistolary animal tale, Some Hay in a Manger, introduced by Stephen Fry. All feature star casts including Niamh Cusack, Robert Lindsay, Sam Troughton, Clare Corbett, Tamsin Greig and Joel Fry.

Heartwarming and heartfelt, comic and bittersweet, moving and magical, these fantastic, evocative stories are a real Christmas treat.

Note: Chapter metadata updated in January 2023.

Contents

Christmas by the Lake by Rachel Joyce

Christmas Short Stories by Alexander McCall Smith:

· 'Motordrome'

· 'The Revenge, or Otherwise, of Herbie Bontemps'

· 'How to Escape in Gaelic'

· 'The Colourful Life of Cousin Grace'

· 'Good President Wenceslas'

The Christmas Present by Ben Crompton

Christmas Compass: Series 1:

· 'North' by Malachy Tallack

· 'South' by Stella Duffy

· 'East' by Ruth Thomas

· 'West' by Mike McCormack

A Time to Dance by Lucy Gannon

Christmas Compass: Series 2by Alexander McCall Smith

· 'Winter Journey'

· 'In the DRC'

· 'Primatologist'

· 'On The Island'

Midnight at Christmas by Elliott Kerrigan

'The Fir Tree' by Hans Christian Andersen

'At Christmas Time'by Anton Chekhov

'Papa Panov's Special Christmas' by Leo Tolstoy

Some Hay in a Manger by Robert Hudson and Marie Phillips

'Daddy Christmas'by Paul McVeigh

'Christmas Storms and Sunshine'by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Morpeth Carol by Timothy X Atack

'Survivors' by Laura Barnett

Lena Marsh, Live and Shticking!by Jeremy Front

'A Christmas Tree' by Charles Dickens

'The Gift of the Magi'by O Henry

Get Santaby Peter Gibbs

'Home' by Christine Dwyer Hickey

Reviews

Every creative person should read this short book. No rules are laid down, but for those with an open mind there are hints galore and the occasional precept.

—— Literary Review

A fascinating glimpse of the peculiar writerly life

—— Sunday Times *Books of the Year*

One of the most read authors around the world... You end this collection of beautiful essays vowing to never let life, or writing, get so complicated again.

—— Guardian, *Book of the Day*

A quirky, chatty collection of essays by the award-winning Japanese novelist... this charming collection opens up much of the Japanese master's thinking on a life of luck, hard work, and joy in his long vocation as a novelist.

—— Irish Independent

Intriguing glimpses inside the singular mind of Murakami

—— Sean O’Hagan , Observer

Some of [Murakami's] best books are non-fiction: Underground, about the Tokyo sarin gas attack, and this year's Novelist as a Vocation, a book of essays about his life, writing method and the wellsprings of his extravagant imagination.

—— Richard Lloyd Parry, Books of the Year , New Statesman

At any moment on our planet there are at most a few dozen novelists working with great power, for a broad audience, with the material of consciousness, which is what the novel is so uniquely good at handling, how it feels to be inside us, what it means, the devastations and beauties it brings. Murakami is one of them.

—— New York Times Book Review

It's safe to say there is no one like Murakami

—— Literary Review

A true original

—— The Times

A master storyteller

—— Sunday Times

Murakami is like a magician who explains what he's doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers

—— New York Times Book Review

One of the most influential novelists of his generation.

—— Observer

Murakami is one of the best writers around

—— Time Out, on Norwegian Wood

'The world's most popular cult novelist'

—— Guardian

Murakami's... latest offering, Novelist As A Vocation... offers a rare glimpse into his thoughts on writing... There's something magnetic that draws you into the narrative, so by the time the last page is turned, you're invested more than you realised

—— UK Press Syndication

The Raptures is perfect and generous and beautifully crafted and everything I demand from a book. And Hannah, brave and brilliant Hannah -- I've made up a room for her in my heart forever. I'll be putting it in every hand this Christmas.

—— KARL GEARY

An instantly compelling and novel take on a fractured society, The Raptures is a captivating, clever book by a truly original writer

—— Sarah Gilmartin

A compelling page-turner rendered in exquisite prose

—— Shelley Harris

Whip-smart and thoughtful with a dark vein of humour. Compulsively readable. I loved it

—— Christina Sweeney-Baird

An important novel . . . Jo Harkin does a masterful job . . . this mind-bending debut will certainly make you think

—— Book Reporter

A terrific read - I enjoyed it tremendously

—— The Ryan Tubridy Show, RTÉ Radio 1

Jo Harkin has created a speculative novel which digs into our instinctual curiosity and our need to know everything

—— Irish Examiner

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