When were the BBC Radio dramas of Narnia made?   Were they released after the Focus on the Family or about at the same time?  As I remember Focus on the Family’s Narnia began in the 1990’s, which was about ten years after the television series.   I don’t know if two radio versions could have been made at the same time or if doing that could have any legal issues. Since there are fewer audio dramas made today (besides Dr. Who audiobooks) I would think the BBC productions are probably quite old. It’s harder to sell older technology now when today’s audiences are addicted to screens and cell phones.

@narnian78 Going by the dates on the CDs I have (which show when the recordings were originally released, though these editions of the CDs are newer), the BBC Radio adaptations were recorded between 1992 and 1997, and the FOTF ones between 1999 and 2003. That means the BBC Radio plays were produced only a few years after the BBC TV versions, which I think started being made in 1988, but it was 1989 by the time LWW and PC/VDT were shown in Australia, and SC was shown a year or so later. I remember that because I'd recently finished reading the entire series of the books at the time the TV versions first came on, and that was exciting!  

@courtenay  Hello, I'm Christian Minassian from Radio Theatre Wiki.

The Focus on the Family Radio Theatre adaptations were actually recorded in 1998, with only a few actors being recorded post 1998, notably Heather Heyer (credited as Lily Milton) as the voice of the mouse, Paul Ewing as the voice of Ginger, Stash Kirkbride as Rishda, Andrew Sachs as Puzzle, and Victor Spinetti who voiced Shift, all of which were recorded in January 2000. 

I have contacted both Paul McCusker and Dave Arnold, who worked on the series, as well as a couple others involved, and they confirmed that 95% of the audio recordings for the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre versions were done between April 1998 and November 1998. This explains why Betty marsden (who passed in July 1998) and Derek Nimmo (who passed away in February 1999) are in Prince Caspian and the Silver Chair respectively, despite the audio dramas being released in the early 21st century.

If you guys have any more questions about the FotF Radio Theatre series, I can share what I learned. Also https://radiotheatre.fandom.com/wiki/Radio_Theatre_Wiki and https://narnia.fandom.com/wiki/Focus_on_the_Family_Radio_Theatre I was extensively involved in editing these pages due to my contacts I had with Focus on the Family and others involved. 

Also to answer another poster above, Focus on the Family did fund the production, and some of the sound design elements were recorded at Focus studios in Colorado Springs, but a majority of the production was handled in London at the Soundhouse Studios, and the orchestra was recorded in Los Angeles. The C.S. Lewis estate handled a lot of it as well, and Douglas Gresham and Philip Glassborow were entirely responsible for casting. Douglas Gresham was also heavily involved in the adaptations themselves and had the final say for any changes made.

Fun fact, the late Katherine Kellgren is the only American-born actor involved in the production. I know Douglas Gresham was born in America as well, but he was the host.

Hope that helps.

PS if I mess up any formatting, please forgive me. I'm blind and use a screen-reader.

@christianminassian thank you for all that information! I appreciate all the time and work you put into your research.

@christianminassian 

Great job on the post, even for a someone who is blind. That's real interesting trivia you got about the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre adaptation of Narnia. It's probably the closest to accurate we have so far of any Narnia adaptation.

@jasmine_tarkheena 

Thanks. My screen-reader makes it possible. Anyway, this is actually unique for Focus on the Family Radio Theatre productions, as they wanted to try to get all the lines recorded for all 7 books as quick as possible, so that the child actors wouldn't age out of their roles. TBH I do think they could have let Matthew White and Stephen Webb record their lines later, as Eustace is older in The Last Battle, but that's neither here nor there, pluss some teens still have higher voices up until 16, I know I did.

Most of the time, FotF Radio Theatre has their lines recorded for their dramas within 6 months to a year of the dramas' release, but the later narnia dramas were the exception. It's crazy to think that The Silver Chair was recorded more than 3 years before it was released, though that's just the voice tracks. It's also important to remember that around this time, FotF Radio Theatre was in the middle of multiple projects, such as the Luke Reports, Father Gilbert Mysteries, Les miserables, The Secret Garden, and Silas Marner, on top of their demanding Adventures in Odyssey schedule. 

I have yet to hear back if they intended to release all 7 Chronicles of Narnia in 1999 or 2000, or if they always planned on releasing them between 1999 and 2002. 

It'd be interesting to see what they say.