1981 BBC Radio 4 Drama

Release Date: 1981
Reader: Full Cast
Language: English
Adapted By: Brian Sibley & Michael Bakewell
Organization: BBC Radio 4
Copyright: © 1981 BBC Worldwide
Duration: 12 hours 50 mins
Unabridged: No
Country: UK
Licenced: Yes
Formats: Cassette, CD, Digital

Contents

• Development History
• Version History
• Artwork
• Release History
• Cast
• Crew
• Episode Details
  • 1981 Original Edit
  • 1982 Thirteen Episode Edit
  • 2001 Trilogy Edit

Development History

The 1978 release of the Ralph Bakshi animated film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings gave Richard Imison, head of the BBC’s Script Unit, impetus to bring the book to radio and initiated talks with Jane Morgan, an experienced producer of long running-time radio adaptations. Meanwhile, the BBC mistakenly negotiated with Saul Zaentz, believing that he held the rights (due to the films), and then discovered that they had to recover the money and deal with the Tolkien estate, which actually still held the original radio broadcast rights.

A young and relatively inexperienced writer, Brian Sibley, had made a number of suggestions of books that he would like to adapt into radio plays and included a particular plea for The Lord of the Rings. This came at such an auspicious moment that Richard Imison wondered if Sibley had been tipped off that they were negotiating the rights. Once all of the legal issues were resolved, Imison gave the go ahead for Sibley to work on the writing of the show, alongside an experienced radio writer, Michael Bakewell.

The two of them spent a lot of time in Morgan’s kitchen drawing up story plans and dividing episodes up, thirteen each, with Bakewell tending to take those involving battles and big set pieces. Crucially, they decided not to follow the structure of the book, but to interweave Frodo and Sam’s journey around and into Mordor with the events in Rohan and Gondor. Also, the three ‘Tom Bombadil’ chapters were skipped to create more room for the rest of the story. Christopher Tolkien had consultation and approval rights over the scripts and read over each one, leading to significant rewrites until all were happy.

There was a strong desire to maintain as many of the songs as possible and so Stephen Oliver was approached to provide arrangements – composing and conducting. Jane Morgan was (thankfully) against using electronic adjustments to the actor’s voices and wanted to cast people who had just the right qualities for each character. Two actors reprised their roles from the Bakshi film – Michael Graham Cox as Boromir and Peter Woodthorpe who had given a definitive performance as Sméagol (arguably the template for all following interpretations). Many major names from British stage and film were secured alongside a number of relative newcomers to radio. Many of the performances were critically lauded as well as Gerard Murphy‘s narrator, who along with Bill Nighy and Ian Holm, were the only cast members to appear in all 26 episodes.

Recording was completed between November 1980 and February 1981, broken into blocks of 2-3 episodes with a few days off in between. Given the time of year, coughs and colds became an issue affecting the recording schedule. Christopher Tolkien provided a pronunciation guide for the cast and particular help with some of the Elvish passages. Despite this, some did inevitably struggle but given the tight time schedule and budget, Morgan was unwilling to re-record a scene if there was only a minor pronunciation error and the performances were otherwise good. Brian Sibley admits that he did make a “bit of a nuance” of himself in the studio “fussing over pronunciations”.

For the finale, Sibley had wanted to use the poem Bilbo’s Last Song, the rights of which are held separately by Joy Hill, Tolkien’s secretary. She was initially unwilling for it to be incorporated into The Lord of the Rings, given that it had been written years later. She was persuaded, as it is clearly written from the perspective of Bilbo at the Grey Havens, but was adamant that it not be arranged and sung, so John Le Mesurier would have to recite it. However a demo recording of the sung version was later discovered on a cassette in Jane Morgan’s collection. This was included as a bonus track on the digitally remastered soundtrack.

Version History

1981

Recorded from November 1980 to February 1981 and broadcast in 26 weekly 30 minute episodes from 8^th March to 30^th August.

1982

Re-edited into 13 60 minute episodes which required some minor editing, and re-recording of narration. Broadcast weekly from 17^th July to 9^th October.

2001

Further edited into a ‘trilogy’ format of 4, 4, & 3 CDs with new frame-narrative prologues and epilogues for each ‘volume’ (The Return of the King only had a prologue) recorded by Ian Holm as Frodo reflecting back on the events of the story whilst documenting it in the Red Book of Westmarch, before departing to the Grey Havens. Also, further alterations to narration and episodes were required including some additional music cues which the BBC were forced to take from the soundtrack album after they had disposed of the music’s original master tapes.

A 12^th CD was also added containing the digitally remastered soundtrack with an additional bonus track of John Le Mesurier singing Bilbo’s Last Song, which had been replaced by Matthew Vine’s performance in the series.

Some releases, notably the Collector’s Edition “Ring Tin” release contained a bonus CD holding “Microphones in Middle-earth” a behind the scenes documentary made by Brian Sibley, interviewing a great many of the cast and crew.

Artwork

Eric Fraser created a colour painting that was used for the Radio Times cover and promotional posters, albums and cards. He also created small black & white episode specific images used in the entries within the Radio Times for that episode. One such image, actually a detail from the main painting, was used on the cassette box sets.

Rough drawing of Radio Times cover

Postcard advertising 2002 R4 repeat

Double-sided promotional poster

LP of the music

Cassette Gold Box Set

Rough drawing of Radio Times cover

Postcard advertising 2002 R4 repeat

Double-sided promotional poster

LP of the music

Cassette Gold Box Set

Cassette Inlay Card Gold

Original drawing (Sothebys)

Ep 1 The Long-awaited Party

Ep 2 The Shadow of the Past

Ep 3 The Black Riders

Ep 4 Trouble at the Prancing Pony

EP 5 The Knife in the Dark

Ep 6 The Council of Elrond

Ep 7 The Fellowship of the Ring

Ep 8 The Mines of Moria

Ep 9 The Mirror of Galadriel

EP 10 The Breaking of the Fellowship

Ep 11 The Riders of Rohan

Ep 12 Treebeard of Fangorn

Ep 13 The King of the Golden Hall

Ep 14 Helm’s Deep

Ep 15 The Voice of Saruman

Ep 16 The Black Gate Is Closed

Ep 17 The Window on the West

Ep 18 Minas Tirith

Ep 19 Shelob’s Lair

Ep 20 The Siege of Gondor

Ep 21 The Battle of Pelennor Fields

Ep 22 The Houses of Healing

Ep 23 Mount Doom

Ep 24 The Return of the King

Ep 25 Homeward Bound

Ep 26 The Grey Havens

Release History

Warning! The list below is (very) incomplete, however it is an active work in progress…

Original boxed release – no printed serial numbers. Episode 8 correctly titled (tbc).

Black inlay card. Episode 8 The Voice of Saruman is incorrectly titled The Voice of Sauron

White inlay card and each cassette has YA151 printed. Episode 8 The Voice of Saruman is incorrectly titled The Voice of Sauron

Identical to first 1987 release except has a printed serial number

Release identical to the previous Gold version except that now Silver is used instead and a printed catalogue number and ISBN is on the rear of the box.

Episode 8 The Voice of Saruman incorrectly titled The Voice of Sauron.

First attempt to repackage in a trilogy format, long before the BBC trilogy re-edit. White and black plastic clamshell cases, each containing 4 cassettes. The first box holds episodes 1-5, the second has episodes 6-9 and the third holds episodes 10-13.

Available in two versions (see gallery below); white panels with a band of Union Flags along the top and bottom, darker coloured panels with multiple colours and no flags.

Produced by The Mind’s Eye, who had previously produced their own versions of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, alongside the name AVC Corporation. It’s possible that The Mind’s Eye (and also Jabberwocky) are brand names used by AVC.

Episode 8 is correctly titled The Voice of Saruman.

Special Centenary Limited Edition. Essentially the same as previous UK boxed releases but this includes an additional booklet, The Recording of the Rings by Brian Sibley.

This box has a sticker and special centenary circular logo printed on the right end (see images) but no catalogue number. Each tape is individually numbered RINGS 001 to RINGS 013 respectively. Numbering indicates that 10,000 were made.

Episode 8 The Voice of Saruman incorrectly titled The Voice of Sauron.

Bantom Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing release. Barcode: 9780553456530 ISBN-10: 0553456539 Other: 56995. Original artwork (c) Hildebrandt.

Episode 8 The Voice of Saruman incorrectly titled The Voice of Sauron

Limited Edition (exact number unknown but at least 2,600). Held in a ‘book style’ binder within a thin cardboard box.

Also including a 21 Page Booklet, Map and bonus CD of the music and songs from the series by the cast and scored by The New Chamber Soloists.

Barcode: 5 011755 105020 ISBN: 0563388129

This has also been released in an almost identical form, tho without the Limited Edition numbering in a box set that also includes the BBC 1968 Hobbit.

Episode 8 is correctly titled The Voice of Saruman.

Includes a map of Middle-earth and the inlay cards from each double cassette box put together made a special frieze (see image gallery below). Also includes the soundtrack music and songs as well as additional notes and information about Tolkien’s world and the production process.

Barcode: 9780563553090 ISBN-10: 056355309X

Episode 8 is correctly titled The Voice of Saruman.

2002	UK	BBC Radio Collection	CD x 11+1 (Music)	ISBN 9780563528883
	℗ BBC Worldwide Ltd 2001, 2002. © BBC Worldwide Ltd 2002. Individual titles previously released in: 2001, 2002 The original Radio 4 broadcast version of these recordings was previously released in: 1987, 1995, 2000 The new ‘Prologue’ and ‘Epilogue’ were recorded at Joe and Co, London W1 on 20 August 2001 ISBN numbers for each part: The Fellowship of the Ring – 0563 536551, The Two Towers – 0563 536578, The Return of The King – 0563 536594 Track #7-8 incorrectly spells “Minas Tirith” as “Minas Tirilth” in the sleeve notes.
2002	USA	BBC Audiobooks America	CDx11+1 Black/Silver
	BBC Radio Collection release
2003	UK	BBC	‘Ring tin’ CD x 13 CE	0-563-49485-9
	Presented in an embossed round tin within a square box. Tin contains 13 CDs: each of the three books on 4 CDs each plus a thirteenth CD entitled “Microphones on Middle Earth” – a documentary featuring interviews with the cast. Each CD is in a round card cover Tin includes: an eight-page booklet for each volume – booklets are CD shape and size; folded map of “The West of Middle-Earth At The End of the Third Age” Barcode: 9780563494850 Other: ISBN 0563494859

Cast

Crew

Broadcast History

1981 Original Broadcast

Originally broadcast from 8 March to 30 August 1981 in 26 weekly episodes of ~30 minutes each (repeated mid-week). For use in the Radio Times, artist Eric Fraser created an original illustration, for each episode.

#	Broadcast	Repeat	Title	Eric Fraser RT Art
01	1981.03.08 12:00	1981.03.11 22:30	The Long Awaited Party
02	1981.03.15 12:00	1981.03.18 22:30	The Shadow of the Past
03	1981.03.22 12:00	1981.03.25 22:30	The Black Riders
04	1981.03.29 12:00	1981.04.01 22:30	Trouble at the Prancing Pony
05	1981.04.05 12:00	1981.04.08 22:30	The Knife in the Dark
06	1981.04.12 12:00	1981.04.15 22:30	The Council of Elrond
07	1981.04.19 12:00	1981.04.22 22:30	The Fellowship of the Ring
08	1981.04.26 12:00	1981.04.29 22:30	The Mines of Moria
09	1981.05.03 12:00	1981.05.06 22:30	The Mirror of Galadriel
10	1981.05.10 12:00	1981.05.13 22:30	The Breaking of the Fellowship
11	1981.05.17 12:00	1981.05.20 22:30	The Riders of Rohan
12	1981.05.24 12:00	1981.05.27 22:30	Treebeard of Fangorn
13	1981.05.31 12:00	1981.06.03 22:30	The King of the Golden Hall
14	1981.06.07 12:00	1981.06.10 22:30	Helm’s Deep
15	1981.06.14 12:00	1981.06.17 22:30	The Voice of Saruman
16	1981.06.21 12:00	1981.06.24 22:30	The Black Gate is Closed
17	1981.06.28 12:00	1981.07.01 22:30	The Window on the West
18	1981.07.05 12:00	1981.07.08 22:30	Minas Tirith
19	1981.07.12 12:00	1981.07.15 22:30	Shelob’s Lair
20	1981.07.19 12:00	1981.07.22 22:30	The Siege of Gondor
21	1981.07.26 12:00	1981.07.29 22:30	The Battle of Pelennor Fields
22	1981.08.02 12:00	1981.08.05 22:30	The Houses of Healing
23	1981.08.09 12:00	1981.08.12 22:30	Mount Doom
24	1981.08.16 12:00	1981.08.19 22:30	The Return of the King
25	1981.08.23 12:00	1981.08.26 22:30	Homeward Bound
26	1981.08.30 12:00	1981.09.02 22:30	The Grey Havens

1982 ’13 Episode’ Edit

Re-edited into 13 60 minute episodes which required some minor editing, and re-recording of narration. Broadcast weekly from 17^th July to 9^th October.

2001 ‘Trilogy’ Edit

Further edited into a ‘trilogy’ format of 4, 4, & 3 CDs with new frame-narrative prologues and epilogues for each ‘volume’ (The Return of the King only had a prologue) recorded by Ian Holm as Frodo.

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