1955 Fellowship of the Ring: BBC Third Programme

Date: 1955.11.14
Language: English
Organization: BBC Third Programme
Duration: 6 x 30 minute episodes
Unabridged: No
Country: UK
Licenced: Yes
Followed by: 1956 The Lord of the Rings

This was the first of two Lord of the Ring’s radio series created and produced by Terence Tiller, a poet and writer who had worked at the BBC since the 1940s on dramatisations and documentaries. Tiller wrote to Tolkien on 25^th January 1955 (just over 2 months after the publication of The Two Towers) suggesting a radio production with Tolkien’s permission and feedback.

Over the summer of 1955, Tolkien had reviewed the first 3 episode’s script and on September 10^th he wrote Tiller a letter concerning the different types of accents the actors should use, particularly the hobbits. By September 21^th, all 6 scripts had been completed but the allotted episode time slot had been reduced from 45 minutes to just 30, which has to also include the continuity announcers, intro and credits etc. Tolkien’s response, on September 27^th, complained about seeing his work reduced to a “fairy tale” and pointed out the weaknesses of theatre as a literary genre.

The publication of The Return of the King came in October 1955 and was closely followed by the broadcast of the first episode on November 14^th. On the same day, another BBC radio programme, The Critics, reviewed The Lord of the Rings and moved Tolkien to write to Tiller, saying that the programme’s critics “were unbearable, with an air of superiority that only ignorance can maintain.” He also complains about Bilbo and Glóin’s accents and asks for an explanation for the (“appalling“) treatment of Bombadil and his daughter Goldberry, not to mention Old Man Willow who had been described as an ally of Mordor!

Two days later, W.H. Auden, a former student and admirer of Tolkien’s work, appeared on the program History, Feigned and Real, giving firm endorsement and praise for the book.

This series had been intended to be the first of three, mirroring the published volumes, But on January 20^th 1956, Tiller received a letter from The Deputy Head of the Third Programme, Christopher Holme, informing him that the decision had been made to only make one more series. This forced Tiller to compress volumes two and three into a final run of six, thirty minute episodes and was thus entitled The Lord of the Rings.

These two productions and the BBC’s For the Schools adaptation were the only ones made and released during Tolkien’s lifetime. All of which are now lost as the BBC did not usually retain recordings at this time and no off-air recordings are known to exist. However, in 2022 a copy of the scripts was recovered by Oxford academic, Stuart Lee, in the BBC archives and contained hand-written notes and comments by Tolkien himself (in red).

There is an excellent and much more detailed account of this given by Stuart Lee, in the book The Great Tales Never End: Essays in Memory of Christopher Tolkien and is also available online.

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