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  • Published: 7 September 2017
  • ISBN: 9781785298523
  • Imprint: BBC DL
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 1 hr 30 min
  • Narrators: Julia McKenzie, Simon Carter, Terry Molloy
  • RRP: $9.99

Five Children and It





Julia McKenzie, Simon Carter and Terry Molloy star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation.

Julia McKenzie and Simon Carter star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of E Nesbit’s much-loved children’s novel.

‘an enchanting adaptation’ Independent on Sunday

On a hot, Edwardian summer’s day, five children are playing in a gravel pit when they dig up something very peculiar: a funny, furry, fat litte creature with the feet of a monkey and bat’s ears! The Psammead is a magical sand fairy who has the power to grant wishes: but the children can only have one wish a day, and the wishes only last until sunset. As the children try to get their hearts’ desires, things go hilariously wrong, and they have a series of amazing adventures that will change their lives. But their last wish gets them into terrible trouble, and it will take all the Psammead’s powers to put things right...

This delightfully whimsical drama, adapted by Malcolm McKee, stars Julia McKenzie as the older Jane and Mother, and Simon Carter as the Psammead. The wonder and excitement of much-loved children’s classics lives on in BBC Radio’s acclaimed full-cast dramatisations, complete with evocative music and sound effects.

  • Published: 7 September 2017
  • ISBN: 9781785298523
  • Imprint: BBC DL
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 1 hr 30 min
  • Narrators: Julia McKenzie, Simon Carter, Terry Molloy
  • RRP: $9.99

About the author

E. Nesbit

Edith Nesbit was born in 1858. Her father died when she was only three and so her family moved all over England. Poverty was something she had known first hand, both as a child and as a young married woman with small children. Like the Railway Childrens' Mother, she was forced to try and sell her stories and poems to editors. Her first children's book, The Treasure Seekers, was published in 1899. She also wrote Five Children and It but her most famous story is The Railway Children which was first published in 1905 and it hasn't been out of print since. Edith Nesbit was a lady ahead of her time - she cut her hair short, which was considered a very bold move in Victorian times, and she was a founding member of a group that worked towards improvements in politics and society called The Fabian Society. She died in 1924.

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