His dark materials

With a cast including Terence Stamp, Bill Paterson and Kenneth Cranham, these BBC Radio 4 full-cast adaptations of the award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy span a multitude of worlds.

The opening instalment Northern Lights is set in a parallel world like, yet very unlike, our own.

Twelve-year-old Lyra, whose daemon Pantalaimon is part of her very self, is growing up in an ancient, ritual-haunted Oxford.

She becomes involved in a quest to find her father and rescue her friend Roger from evil kidnappers, aided by armoured bears, Gyptians and a witch-queen.

The second instalment, The Subtle Knife, introduces us to Will Parry - a young boy with a dangerous mission to fulfil.

When he and Lyra cross paths, they decide to help each other, but the world of Cittagazze is a strange and unsettling place, where deadly soul-eating Spectres roam...The concluding instalment, The Amber Spyglass, brings the saga to a thrilling close.

Lyra and Will are aided by friends old and new as they continue their perilous journey.

As childhood slips away, they face further dangers - including a terrifying voyage to the world of the dead. Mixing science, theology and magic to fantastic and exciting effect, Pullman's gripping trilogy was an international bestseller, and these thrilling full-cast dramatisations bring Philip Pullman's masterpiece to vivid life. 6 CDs. 7 hrs 30 mins approx.