A Christmas Carol Audiobook: Every Version Compared

The best-loved A Christmas Carol audiobook is Patrick Stewart's, a recording of his one-man stage show in which he plays every part, though it is abridged at about 2 hours. For the full book in one voice, Tim Curry, Hugh Grant and Jim Dale are the favorites. Want it free? LibriVox has volunteer readings, and LeVar Burton's reading is free on Apple Books.

There are more than a dozen English audiobooks of A Christmas Carol, and they range from a 55-minute radio play to full-cast productions over three and a half hours. This guide compares the major editions, who each one suits, and where our own edition fits, so you can pick one before December.

A Christmas Carol audiobook versions at a glance

Which A Christmas Carol audiobook should you listen to?

• You want the famous one: Patrick Stewart. Just know it's his stage adaptation, not every word of the book.
• You want every word in one great voice: Tim Curry for drama, Hugh Grant for warmth and pace, Jim Dale for listening with kids.
• You want it to sound like a play: the 2018 full cast with Derek Jacobi.
• You want it free: LibriVox, or LeVar Burton on Apple Books.
• You want to buy it once and keep it: our edition, read by Phil Thames, with no subscription or credits.

The big-name single-narrator editions

Patrick Stewart (Simon & Schuster)

Patrick Stewart performed A Christmas Carol on stage for years as a one-man show, playing Scrooge, the ghosts, the Cratchits and everyone else. This studio recording of that show is the version most often called the best. Book Riot called it the gold standard. It is abridged, so some of Dickens' description is gone, and it runs about two hours. Listen to it for the performance, not for the complete text.

Tim Curry (Audible Studios, 2010)

Tim Curry's reading was one of the first in Audible's line of star-read classics. At 3 hours 32 minutes it's unabridged and unhurried, and Curry leans into the ghost story. It's sold on Audible and Apple Books.

Hugh Grant (Audible Studios, 2020)

The shortest of the big-name full readings at 2 hours 44 minutes, without cutting a word. Grant keeps a quick, light pace that lets Dickens' humor come through. It's one of the best-rated editions on Audible.

Jim Dale (Listening Library, 2003)

Jim Dale is best known for the Harry Potter audiobooks, and he brings the same range of voices here. His reading won an AudioFile Earphones Award, and Libro.fm picks it as its holiday favorite. It's a great choice for listening with children. It isn't on Audible, but you can buy it from Libro.fm.

Simon Prebble, Tom Baker, Anton Lesser and Jason Isaacs

Four more strong unabridged readings. Simon Prebble's (Blackstone, 2007) is a classic British reading, highly rated by listeners. Tom Baker's (BBC, 2012) has the voice Doctor Who fans will know at once. Anton Lesser's (Naxos, 2006) is part of his long series reading Dickens. Jason Isaacs' (2024) is the newest big-name reading, at 2 hours 52 minutes.

Our edition: read by Phil Thames

Our A Christmas Carol is the complete book, read by narrator Phil Thames, 3 hours and 13 minutes long. You buy it once in our store and it's yours, with no subscription and no credits, and you can play it on your phone or computer. There's a free sample on the book's page.

Full-cast and dramatized versions

Audible Originals (2018): Derek Jacobi and cast

Derek Jacobi plays Dickens himself, telling the story, while Kenneth Cranham plays Scrooge and Miriam Margolyes, Jenna Coleman and others play the rest. Because Jacobi narrates Dickens' own words around the drama, it keeps much more of the book than most radio plays. Book Riot called it the best of both worlds. It runs 3 hours 31 minutes and is on Audible.

Focus on the Family Radio Theatre (2008)

A full-cast radio drama of about an hour and a half, with an original score and cinema-style sound. It's an adaptation rather than the full text, and it's sold on CD and as a download from Tyndale and Focus on the Family.

Old radio broadcasts

If you love classic radio, the 1939 Campbell Playhouse broadcast with Orson Welles and Lionel Barrymore is still sold as a 55-minute recording. It's a piece of history more than a full telling of the story.

Free A Christmas Carol audiobooks

A Christmas Carol has been in the public domain for a long time, so you can listen free and legally.

• LibriVox has more than a dozen volunteer recordings, including a group reading of about 3 hours 14 minutes, a full-cast dramatic reading, and a recording of the shorter version Dickens cut for his own public readings.
• LeVar Burton, the host of Reading Rainbow, reads it free on Apple Books.

Volunteer recordings vary a lot in sound and performance. Listen to a few minutes before you settle in.

Abridged or unabridged: does it matter?

For this book, more than you'd think. A Christmas Carol is short, about 29,000 words, so the full text takes only about three hours to hear. Abridged versions save an hour at most, and what they cut is often the best of Dickens: the food, the weather, the jokes, and the long walk through Christmas present. If you've never heard the whole book, choose an unabridged edition first and keep Patrick Stewart's performance as a second listen.

Dickens himself performed a shortened version. He cut the book down for his public readings in Britain and America, and those readings were famous in their day. The shorter LibriVox recording follows that reading text.

Why A Christmas Carol works so well as an audiobook

Dickens wrote it to be read aloud. Families read it by the fire the year it came out, in 1843, and Dickens toured with it for the rest of his life. The sentences have the rhythm of a storyteller talking to a room, and the book is built in five short staves, like chapters, each one a good stopping point. It's also short enough to finish in one evening, which makes it one of the easiest classics to start a listening tradition with.

It fits a holiday drive, too. Three hours is about the length of a trip to see family, and the whole car can follow it, from kids to grandparents.

Dickens called his chapters staves, like the verses of a carol: Marley's Ghost, The First of the Three Spirits, The Second of the Three Spirits, The Last of the Spirits, and The End of It. Most audiobooks keep those five as separate tracks, so it's easy to stop after one and pick up the next night exactly where you left off.

How to make A Christmas Carol a family tradition

Because the book is split into five staves, it fits neatly into the days before Christmas. A few ways families listen:

• One stave a night. Start on December 20 and finish on Christmas Eve. Each stave runs about 30 to 45 minutes in a full reading, short enough for a bedtime listen.
• The whole thing in one evening. Three hours with the lights low and something warm to drink. Hugh Grant's quicker reading fits a single night best.
• On the road. Put it on for the drive to see family. Most full readings last about as long as a long trip.
• Listen, then watch. Hear the book first, then watch a film version together and talk about what each one left out. Children are often surprised by how much the films change.

Whichever edition you choose, check who is reading it. Some recent editions in the big stores use computer-generated voices. Our guide on how to tell if an audiobook is narrated by a real person shows what to look for on each store. Every edition in this guide is read by real people.

Questions listeners ask about A Christmas Carol audiobooks

How long is the A Christmas Carol audiobook?

Unabridged readings run from about 2 hours 44 minutes (Hugh Grant) to about 3 hours 39 minutes (LeVar Burton). Patrick Stewart's abridged version is about 2 hours.

Who narrated the best version of A Christmas Carol?

Patrick Stewart's one-man performance is the most often recommended, with Tim Curry's full reading close behind. For a full cast, choose the 2018 production with Derek Jacobi.

Is Patrick Stewart's A Christmas Carol abridged?

Yes. It's a recording of his stage adaptation, about two hours long, and it leaves out parts of the book.

Is there a free A Christmas Carol audiobook?

Yes. LibriVox has free volunteer recordings, and LeVar Burton's reading is free on Apple Books.

Is A Christmas Carol good for kids?

Yes, for most children who can sit through a scary bit. Marley's ghost and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come can frighten young listeners. Jim Dale's reading is a favorite for families.

Find your next listen

Looking for more for the season? Try our guide to where to buy classic audiobooks, or browse our catalog of classics, every one read by a real person. Every book has a free sample and names the narrator who performed it.

Lengths and availability are from Audible, Apple Books, Libro.fm, Tyndale and LibriVox as of October 2026. We'll update this post if they change.