(upbeat music)
- What a year.
I'm Holly and I'm here
to take you through the audiobooks and podcasts
that have helped us get through it.
I've picked out a top 10
from Audible's originals and exclusives,
AKA stuff made by Audible this year.
There are audiobooks, podcasts, and dramas
for all occasions.
We've basically covered off all the emojis,
starting with rolling on the floor laughing.
- Hi, I'm Fawn Drench.
- I'm Jennifer Saunders.
This is French and Saunders titting about and.
Not those sorts of tits. (sighs)
- "Titting About" sees the much loved duo
doing them, being them,
chatting about that time Dawn snogged Brad Pitt,
and other such brilliant and hilarious life events.
And also just everyday stuff too,
that we can all relate to and laugh at.
Not saying I can't relate to snogging Brad Pitt, though.
Obviously.
(dramatic music)
In at number two is "The Sandman" by Neil Gaiman.
Actually these are in no particular order
and a countdown doesn't even work like that.
But back to the point, this isn't an audiobook,
it's an audio movie.
It's a blockbuster and it has got the stars to match.
- This is absolutely the perfect medium for "The Sandman".
It's beautiful because it's so poetic and so out there.
It's almost hard to imagine a visual version of it
because we all wanna create it in our heads.
- It's epic, kind of like this next one.
- I'm Alan Partridge, and I want to expose myself.
I want to show you all of me,
my every nook and each of my crannies.
Everything will be exposed, everything.
- It's Partridge time, baby, that's right.
This year saw the return of Alan Partridge in podcast form.
He gets mauled by his dog,
he accidentally trespasses on people's property,
and he has one of the best jingles of all time.
(birds chirping)
- This next one is "Hell Cats", which,
I just realized I don't really understand the title of,
which is both a personal and professional oversight.
I'm also sure it's probably really obvious what it means.
So yeah, tell me in the comments what reference I'm missing.
Anyway, this one is a swashbuckling transatlantic adventure,
which explores the themes
of equality, freedom, love, and survival
through the remarkable true stories
of a couple of extraordinary women, read pirates.
Maybe it's best summed up by Erin Dougherty,
who plays the notorious Mary Reed.
- Put in gay women back in history
where they belong, oh.
- This has been a big year for gaming
with a new PlayStation and a new Xbox.
But before all of that joy kicked off,
we had "Assassin's Creed" in audio as a drama.
This addition is "Assassin's Creed Gold".
It stars Riz Ahmed as the lead,
and Anthony Head of Buffy fame as Isaac Newton.
Yeah, that Isaac Newton.
So this one is sort of niche and mainstream
at the same time, hear me out.
It's a collection of Chekhov short stories,
not what we all immediately reach for maybe,
but it's narrated by Richard Armitage.
There we go, now you get it.
Let's see him doing his thing recorded way back
at the start of lockdown,
when narrators took to their wardrobes to tell you stories.
- I'm all set up in the wardrobe and I'm ready to go.
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
- It's Kurupt FM time.
Unfortunately I've managed to say that
more Partridge than anything else,
but I've gotta roll with it,
know your limitations and all that.
So this podcast is Chabuddy G, MC Grindah,
DJ Steves, DJ Beats discussing nature, politics,
TV and film, the future, history, and travel.
And discussing is used there in the lightest possible way.
We would like to thank our sponsor Chabuddy G Enterprises
for making the podcast possible.
♪ Lions, tigers, polar bears, baby kangaroos ♪
♪ Anything you want ♪
♪ Come to Chabuddy baby ♪
- Next for some twee
in the best way, the best possible way.
Twee in the sense of comforting and whimsical
is the Jane Austen collection.
This is a collection of dramas of Austen's classics.
So they each have a narrator
who guides you through the story.
And then there's also a full cast of characters
who bring it all to life.
Now, please note these are adaptations, brilliant ones,
but if you might be upset with little bits of dialogue
being changed from the original stories,
I will not be held responsible if you choose to listen.
That's it, that's the content warning for this video.
- "Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman,
that his love has an earlier death.
I have loved none but you."
Could you imagine if someone wrote a letter to you
and that's what they said.
- Next up, the audiobook I'm about to tell you about
is one of those things you just have to listen to.
It's so well said, and you learn stuff, lots of stuff,
in a really nice way.
So, the audiobook itself is Tineka Smith and Alex Court.
They're an interracial couple and this is their story
told from each of their perspectives.
They're super honest and open,
a bit like when we had them in to do Mr. And Mrs.
and Tineka asked Alex how their friends reacted
when they got together.
- I wrote screaming in a happy way.
- How are we not really in sync?
Some friends were like,
"Why aren't you, why can't you date a black guy?"
- That's true.
- Yeah. - That's true, yeah.
- Yes and then some friends were also like,
"Were you drunk?" - Oh yeah,
that was really sad.
- "Were you drunk when you decided to get with him?"
- Yeah.
- So that's why I put not thrilled.
- And finally we have "Jon Snow: Making the News".
In this the legend that is Jon Snow,
not "Game of Thrones" Jon Snow, the other legend.
- Good evening.
Hello, good evening.
This is Jon Snow.
- Takes us through some pivotal moments in history
by looking at archive material
and giving us his own unique insight
about what it was like to be there
and reporting on things at the time.
There's also a fair amount
of journalism master class moments thrown in there
for good measure.
As I think of might have mentioned, what a year, eh?
Quite frankly, it's a bit of a miracle
that so many great things have come out this year,
where through half of it narrators had to record
in their bedrooms with duvets over their heads.
I hope that you've made it through 2020
and found some good things to listen to along the way.
I'd love to hear in the comments
what have been your audiobook and podcast highlights
of the year.
And if you've not done much listening,
well, you know where to start.
Hit subscribe for more recommendations in 2021.
Thanks for watching.
(upbeat music)