Full-cast adaptations of James Hilton’s two most famous novels

English author and screenwriter James Hilton is best remembered for his hugely successful novels Lost Horizon – which gave the world the term ‘Shangri-La’ – and Goodbye, Mr Chips. The books made him a household name, and were both adapted as Oscar-winning films. Now, those two classic stories have been brought together on audio, dramatised with full casts including Derek Jacobi, Carol Marsh and John Church.

Lost Horizon – May, 1931. Evacuated from war-torn Baskul, four passengers are plunged into adventure when their plane is hijacked and subsequently crash-lands in the Himalayan mountains. Out of the Tibetan wilderness, a man approaches, and leads British consul Hugh Conway and his fellow travellers to the hidden lamasery of Shangri-La. There, they find an idyllic haven, lost to the outside world – but this mystical utopia is hiding an astonishing secret...

Goodbye Mr Chips – Ensconced in comfortable retirement at Mrs Wickett's, gentle old headmaster Mr Chipping has a thousand tangled memories of his long tenure at his beloved Brookfield School. Looking back, he recalls his arrival as a shy, nervous novice; how he won the respect and adoration of his pupils; and how he found – and lost – his one great love, the beautiful, kind-hearted Kathie. Spanning over 60 years, from the Franco-Prussian War to the rise of Hitler, this is a touching, nostalgic tale of a life well-lived.

Text copyright James Hilton 1933 (Lost Horizon), 1934 (Goodbye, Mr Chips)

Cast and credits
Written by James Hilton
Produced by Graham Gauld

Lost Horizon
Hugh Conway – Derek Jacobi
Mallinson – Andrew Branch
Barnard – Alan Tilvern
Miss Brinklow – Carol Marsh
Rutherford – John Livesey
Wyland – Sion Probert
Hilton – Alaric Cotter
Sanders – Gary Cady
Doctor – John Bull
Chang – Garard Green
High Lama – Alan Wheatley
Lo-Tsen – Pik-Sen Lim
American – Crawford Logan
Dramatised by Barry Campbell

Goodbye Mr Chips
Mr Chipping – John Church
Mrs Wickett – Katherine Parr
Kathie – Lolly Cockerell
Dr Merivale – Lewis Stringer
Wetherby – Godfrey Kenton
Lucy – Hilda Schroder
Rowden – Alaric Cotter
Barker – John Bott
Whitby – John McAndrew
Meldrum – John Forbes-Robertson
Bryce – Haydn Wood
Brookfield boys – Adrian Breeze, Matthew Emerson, Ian Land, Adam Bass & Adam Landor
Mission boys – Paul Beardshaw, Colin McDonagh & Stuart Sampson
Sutton – Gordon Reid
Ralston – Nigel Anthony
Chatteris – Walter Hall
Staefel – Graham Faulkner
Williams – Christopher Scott
Wadham – Harold Reese
Deakin – John Gray
Midwife – Sonia Fraser
Linford – Arthur Haycraft
Dramatised by Margaret Simpson

© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Lost Horizon & Goodbye Mr Chips

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