"John Banks is one of the UK's most prolific audiobook narrators, working for the likes of Big Finish, Audible, Random House and Games Workshop.

He is a true multi-voice, creating everything from monsters to marauding aliens.

He is also an accomplished stage and TV actor."

audible.co.uk 2018

Hello...

...I'm John Banks - welcome to my website.

The majority of my working life has been spent in the theatre with companies including
York Theatre Royal, Cheltenham Everyman, Sheffield Crucible, Bristol Old Vic, Manchester Royal Exchange and the National Theatre in London.

Television work includes Emmerdale, Coronation Street, and 'Allo, Allo!'. I have also worked on a number of radio drama and comedy productions with the BBC.

Since March 2009, I have enjoyed playing a huge variety of characters in more than 270* audio-drama stories with Big Finish Productions, together with The Black Library/Games Workshop, details of which can be found in the postings below.


There are also details listed here of the 214* audio books & stories I've recorded since March 2013,
including the unabridged New Revised Standard Version of The Bible, for companies including audible.co.uk, Hachette, Audible Studios, Podium Audio Publishing, HarperCollins, RNIB, W.F. Howes, Little Brown Group, Penguin Random House, Games Workshop, Orion, Fantom Films & Ladbroke Audio.

(*figures at April 2021)

I hope you find something of interest here and come back soon for further updates.


For all posts, reviews and audio samples, please scroll down...

The Runewar Saga: Book 2

The Runewar Saga: Book 2
The Crown of Fire & Fury

The Botanist

The Botanist
Washington Poe Series: Book 5

Skaven Deathmaster

The Babel Books

The Babel Books
The Fall of Babel - click image above for link to audible

Doctor Who: Back To Earth

Throne of Light: Dawn of Fire Book 4

Throne of Light: Dawn of Fire Book 4
Release Date: 13th November 2021

Soul Wars

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Saturday 24 November 2012

Port

The last couple of weeks have been quite busy and so I thought a quick update would be timely on this wet and windy Saturday afternoon.

I've just completed work on a hugely enjoyable Big Finish story with a fabulous company of actors; we really did have great fun and our time together flashed by all too quickly. Over the next two weeks, I'm looking forward to being back in the recording studio to work on other stories, each quite different from the other and offering unique challenges. For the time being, all must remain teasingly secret but of course, I'll be posting updates just as soon as details are made available.

In addition to having a very festive time in the recording studio, this last week has also been deeply pleasing because of some other work which has come my way. On Monday, I auditioned for a production of Port, a play written by Simon Stephens and directed by Marianne Elliott. Having convinced myself that I hadn't got it, to my great surprise, the job was offered on Thursday and the read-through is on Monday. The play opens at the Lyttleton Theatre (image below) in late January and runs until late March with the possibility of a short extension into April.



It's amazing how quickly things can happen sometimes. In this instance, from audition to read-through in eight days! Equally amazing is that rehearsals and prior BF commitments fit together perfectly. Anyway, the National Theatre have published the following details:

Port

Stockport, 1988. It’s midnight. Rachel, eleven, and Billy, six, wait in the car in agitated excitement. Their mother is at her wits’ end with all their chatter and fighting and dreams of Disneyland. She is about to leave them for good. Their father, drunk in the flat above, has locked the door. It’s a pivotal moment, the beginning of a thirteen-year odyssey for two kids, largely abandoned and growing up in the deprived suburban shadows of Manchester, a city that felt itself to be the most exciting in the world.


I see you in the morning, on the first morning I stayed over at your house. Waking up. Watching you lying asleep next to me. You looked, you looked. It was like. I think about that more than you probably think I do.

A richly colourful portrait of a town with the everyday writ large, Simon Stephens’ Port is a celebration of the human spirit as Rachel, through sheer courage and despite an economic and political climate that pushes her into the very margins, looks to the future and opts for love and life and for something better.

He don’t do drugs. Nowt like that. He just. He really tries. I hope… This is a very big chance for him. I hope he doesn’t fuck things up this time. I hope he’ll be alright.




             There are some long anticipated audio releases next month and much more to come...
                                                  

Monday 12 November 2012

Dark Eyes - Synopses


In a further update on this month's Eighth Doctor Box Set release, Dark Eyes, here's a synopsis of each story, illustrated by Alex Mallinson's quite stunning artwork:


‘I really hoped it would be a wonderful view... to look back from the end of everything... to see how things finally turned out.’

The Doctor is looking for hope. But instead, he finds himself on a mission. The Time Lords have uncovered terrifying fragments of an insane plot to destroy the universe. And somehow, at the centre of that plot is one, random female in Earth’s history, Molly O’Sullivan.

Soon, the Doctor and Molly find themselves thrown headlong into a series of dangerous and terrifying adventures, with the dreaded Daleks never far behind them.



 Part One. The Great War

Voluntary Aid Detachment nursing assistant Molly O’Sullivan spends her days facing the horrors of the Great War. Little does she know that a man from another world has arrived, looking for her.

But what are the strange sounds coming from the battlefield at night? Where is the glowing gas coming from? And is everyone who they claim to be?







Part Two. Fugitives

With the first objective of his mission reached, almost nothing is going to plan for the Doctor. He finds he cannot contact or return to the Time Lord’s home planet, Gallifrey. And just when Molly O’Sullivan thinks she’s escaped one conflict, she finds herself in the thick of another one.

What is it that connects the Doctor, the Daleks and the mysterious Ides Scientific Institute?









Part Three. Tangled Web

Something happened when Molly O’Sullivan was just two years old, and the Doctor thinks it’s high time they found out exactly what it was.

Meanwhile, the Daleks are fully activating their Temporal Chamber. And while the Doctor and Molly get closer and closer to the terrible truth, the nature of reality itself seems to be in question.





Part Four.
'X' and the Daleks

‘Subject is called Molly O’Sullivan. An inhabitant of Earth. Born Earth year 1891. Has travelled in space and time with Time Lord known as the Doctor.’

With Straxus and his TARDIS destroyed, the Doctor and Molly have tracked the mysterious ‘X’ to the planet Srangor. It is here that the truth of the threat to the universe will finally be revealed.

What is the Dalek Time Controller’s ultimate plan? What exactly is the space-time projector? Who will survive this epic battle for survival?


The company of actors for the whole series*  includes:


Paul McGann The Doctor             Ruth Bradley Molly O'Sullivan  
                                     Peter Egan Straxus                         Toby Jones Kotris 
Laura Molyneaux Isabel Stanford   Jonathan Forbes Dr Sturgiss   Natalie Burt Sally Armstrong  
Ian Cullen Nadeyan   Alex Mallinson Private Tucker   Tim Treloar Lord President
Beth Chalmers Matron - Kitty Donaldson - Nurse Harriet  
  John Banks Private Hodgeson - Dunkirk Sergeant - Thelus - Mezcoranis - Srangor Herder
 Nicholas Briggs The Daleks


Written & Directed by
 Nicholas Briggs



* NB: not all cast members feature in all stories.

Monday 5 November 2012

Dr Who: Dark Eyes... coming soon

In a brief update yesterday, I mentioned the release this month of  The Big Finish Companion Volume 2. Unfortunately, the publication date has just been revised to February 2013, so I've deleted the post and will give an update when there's more news.

So, slightly earlier than I'd planned, here's a taster for the first of November's box-set releases: an Eighth Doctor adventure with new companion 'Molly O'Sullivan': Dark Eyes...


The box-set consists of  four linked stories:
                        The Great War, Fugitives, Tangled Web & 'X' and The Daleks 


Written & Directed by Nicholas Briggs 


Remember, remember - there's lots more to come in November!


 

Thursday 1 November 2012

The Shadow Heart

Remember , remember the fifth of November... 
gunpowder, treason and plot!

With a plethora of audio-drama releases from Big Finish this month, I'm fairly sure that there'll be plenty of audio fireworks and lots of plot to get stuck into - and perhaps, even a smattering of treason...

 In the first of this month's postings, the plot centres around the release of Dr Who: The Shadow Heart



One empire has fallen and another has taken its place. The race known as The Wrath are expanding into new territory. Only the Earth Empire stands in their way.

It's been fifty years since the Doctor last visited this sector of space. And one man in particular has been awaiting his return. As the mistakes of his past come back to haunt him, and with a price on his head and bounty hunters on his tail, the Doctor is heading for a last reckoning.


The pieces are finally coming together. Somewhere deep within The Shadow Heart.

Sylvester McCoy The Doctor    James Wilby Tenebris    Chase Masterson Vienna Salvatori               Eve Karpf Talbar             Alex Mallinson Horval  
John Banks Captain Webster - Starbaff -Wrath Emperor           Jaimi Barbakoff Lt Dervish
Kirsty Besterman Aliona


Written By: Jonathan Morris
Directed By: Ken Bentley  

This was such a great story to work on and a fabulous cast to work with - a privilege indeed!












   










                   Chase Masterson                                                                         James Wilby      


                                                        John Banks & Sylvester McCoy
                                                                                                         
Just to remind you that The Shadow Heart is the final episode in a trilogy of stories which begins with  
The Burning Prince, followed by last month's The Acheron Pulse.


Jaimie Barbakoff       Sylvester McCoy      Kirsty Besterman


There's much more to come this month, so do check in again soon for the latest updates...


Dalek Universe 2

Kragnos Broken Realms

Age of Sigmar Dominion

The Moggotkin of Nurgle

Kragnos Broken Realms

Dawn of Fire Book 1: Avenging Son

The Lore of Direchasm

Direchasm

A C'tan Shard Rises 3

Indomitus: Necrons 2

A Lord Among the Stars 1

Angels of Death Preview

Ultramarines

Psychic Awakening

Warcry: Death or Glory

Warhammer 40,000

Flight. Redefined.

Reviews & comments:

The Malazan Empire

Over the course of this 8 book series, the amazing John Banks has had to create and voice 648 distinct characters!

Neil Gardner - producer

The Door In The Wall & War of The Worlds

Not often I buy another version of an audiobook I own, but after hearing John Banks' narration of The Door in the Wall by Ladbroke Audio, I had to buy their version of The War of the Worlds. Banks has a great reading voice.

Andy Frankham-Allen - writer

The Books of Babel: Senlin Ascends, Arm of The Sphinx & The Hod King

Mr. Banks does superb work, and I recommend the audiobooks wholeheartedly!

Josiah Bancroft - writer

Mervyn Stone: The Axeman Cometh

John Banks is a voice genius...

Nev Fountain - writer

Mervyn Stone... played by the note-perfect John Banks.

Matt Hills - Reviews in Time and Space

Dr. Who: The Sleeping City

I also must draw attention to John Banks who is an exceptional voice artist and in this one story performs more characters that I can count. ... it is listening to episodes like this one that really do let his talents shine through.

Tony Jones - Red Rocket Rising

Highlander:

...playing several parts, was the brilliant Big Finish regular John Banks - it was as if there were about 40 different actors in the other booth.

James Moran - writer

I went for the best of the best and brought in voice artiste extraordinaire John Banks.

Paul Spragg - producer

Vienna:

...also features the mind - bogglingly versatile and reliable John Banks

Jonathan Morris - writer

Dead Funny:

The acting is first rate… wonderfully played by John Banks as Richard – his impersonation of Eric Morecambe is worth the admission money alone.

Beverly Greenberg: Bolton Evening News

Mr. Happiness:

This early and unfamiliar play by David Mamet is a character study of a 1930s radio counsellor, dispensing suave advice to his devoted listeners. John Banks brings out the wry comedy of this – comedy quite unappreciated by the character – with a clever range of gesture and vocal tone.

Jeremy Kingston: The Times


All My Sons:

This is a beautifully crafted piece ...and it affords a wonderful opportunity for John Readman* to do his All-American Boy act as Chris Keller. This most polished and well observed performance as the blighted son of a blighted father must rank as one of his finest accomplishments yet. ( * see Profile)

The Stage

The Ordeals of Sherlock Holmes

Kudos should also go to John Banks. Lestrade can be a thankless part, but Banks rose to the challenge, playing a pivotal role in this decades long arc.

Raissa Devereux - SciFiPulse

The Judgement of Sherlock Holmes

John Banks is multi-tasking, both as the superb Lestrade and also the villainous and no doubt moustache twirling Sebastian Moran. They sound completely different and I bow to his talent.

Sue Davies - SFcrowsnest


Further reviews and comments are included with specific postings throughout the site.

The War Doctor

The War Doctor
December 2015