Where to Start with Benedict Cumberbatch
- New to Benedict Cumberbatch? Start here → Letters of Note: Art
- What fans keep coming back to → Letters of Note: Love
- Highest rated by listeners → More Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience
- 1
My Dear Bessie: A Love Story in Letters
by Chris Barker, Bessie Moore, Simon Garfield
Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, Jane Slavin, Louise Brealey
★ 3.98 ABR Score (563 ratings)★ 3.96 Goodreads (343) ★ 4.8 Audible (220)The dual narration by Cumberbatch and Slavin transforms intimate wartime letters into a conversation that feels like eavesdropping on something profoundly real and alive.
- 2
Letters of Note: Art
by Shaun Usher
Narrated by Sanjeev Bhaskar, Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Crystal Clarke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman, Toby Jones, Ferdinand Kingsley, Jude Law, Helen McCrory, Stephen Mangan, Clarke Peters, Various
★ 3.93 ABR Score (6.3K ratings)★ 4.31 Goodreads (6.2K) ★ 4.4 Audible (5)2h 43m listening time • Released 2021A star-studded ensemble cast brings intimacy to letters from history's greatest artists—each narrator perfectly matched to their subject's voice, making this feel less like a collection and more like eavesdropping on genius.
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Letters of Note: Love
by Shaun Usher
Narrated by Sanjeev Bhaskar, Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Crystal Clarke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Danny Huston, Toby Jones, Jude Law, Natascha McElhone, Stephen Mangan, Miriam Margolyes, Clarke Peters, Various
★ 3.91 ABR Score (6.2K ratings)★ 4.31 Goodreads (6.2K) ★ 5 Audible (2)2h 56m listening time • Released 2020A all-star cast of actors—Cumberbatch, Jude Law, Miriam Margolyes, and more—each voicing a different love letter transforms these 30 intimate missives into something closer to theater than audiobook. The performances elevate already-moving words into genuinely affecting moments.
- 4
More Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience
by Shaun Usher
Narrated by Alan Cumming, Juliet Stevenson, Kerry Shale, Stephen Fry, Shaun Usher, Louise Brealey, Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Jones, Gillian Anderson, Mark Strong, Noma Dumezweni, Crystal Clarke
★ 3.88 ABR Score (696 ratings)★ 4.22 Goodreads (665) ★ 4.77 Audible (31)11h 31m listening time • Released 2021An all-star cast transforms intimate letters into a masterclass in performance, where Stephen Fry's gravitas and Olivia Colman's vulnerability make strangers' words feel like confessions meant for you.
- 5
Letters of Note: Music
by Shaun Usher
Narrated by Sanjeev Bhaskar, Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Nick Cave, Crystal Clarke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Stephen Fry, Danny Huston, Toby Jones, Jude Law, Stephen Mangan, Miriam Margolyes, Various
★ 3.69 ABR Score (234 ratings)★ 3.9 Goodreads (230) ★ 5 Audible (4)2h 29m listening time • Released 2020A stellar ensemble cast reads intimate letters from music's greatest minds, turning private confessions into something almost like eavesdropping on genius at their most candid and human.
- 6
Letters of Note: Mothers
by Shaun Usher
Narrated by Sanjeev Bhaskar, Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Neil Gaiman, Danny Huston, Toby Jones, Ferdinand Kingsley, Jude Law, Helen McCrory, Natascha McElhone, Miriam Margolyes, Various
★ 3.64 ABR Score (279 ratings)★ 3.87 Goodreads (278) ★ 5 Audible (1)3h 41m listening time • Released 2021A stellar ensemble cast—Cumberbatch, Gaiman, Jude Law, Miriam Margolyes—transforms intimate letters about motherhood into a moving audiobook that feels like overhearing conversations you needed to hear.
- 7
Letters of Note: War
by Shaun Usher
Narrated by Sanjeev Bhaskar, Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman, Danny Huston, Toby Jones, Ferdinand Kingsley, Jude Law, Natascha McElhone, Miriam Margolyes, Various
★ 3.63 ABR Score (178 ratings)★ 4.01 Goodreads (175) ★ 5 Audible (3)2h 49m listening time • Released 2020An all-star cast of British actors breathing life into thirty devastating wartime letters, each one a raw firsthand account that hits harder read aloud than on the page.
- 8
Letters of Note: Cats
by Shaun Usher
Narrated by Sanjeev Bhaskar, Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman, Danny Huston, Toby Jones, Ferdinand Kingsley, Helen McCrory, Natascha McElhone, Stephen Mangan, Various
★ 3.56 ABR Score (397 ratings)★ 3.55 Goodreads (392) ★ 3.6 Audible (5)2h 56m listening time • Released 2020A stellar ensemble cast—Cumberbatch, Fry, Gaiman, and more—elevates these delightful letters about cats into pure theatrical joy. Each narrator brings their own wit to correspondence from Dickens, Eliot, and Kerouac's mother.
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