The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings BBC 1981

Concerning The Lord of the Rings BBC 1981

The BBC's second radio adaption of The Lord of the Rings (the first was produced in the 1950s immediately after publication of the book), the 1981 production is hailed by many people as being one of the most faithful dramatic adaptations of the book ever attempted. Brian Sibley's script compressed a number of details, and it has been roundly criticized for encapsulating too much of Tolkien's detailed narrative description in second-rate dialogue which doesn't fit well with Tolkien's own dialogue.

Sibley himself provides an insider's point of view on how the production came about and why some decisions were made. But he points out that, when provided with an opportunity to work with Christopher Tolkien a few years later, "I made restitution for the assassination of Tom Bombadil when I dramatised the omitted chapters from the book in the radio series Tales from the Perilous Realm.

Sibley actually served as junior writing partner on the BBC project. Michael Bakewell shared writing duties, and both men wrote 13 half-hour episodes. The original broadcast schedule called for 26 episodes, each broadcast twice a week across the course of six months. Only Tom Bombadil and Ghan-Buri-Ghan were omitted from the significant characters in the book. Bombadil's role is more important to the story in that he prepositions a number of key elements (the most widely recognized of which are the swords he provides the hobbits).

Although this production does follow Tolkien's story in many respects, Sibley himself points out that he was "briefly burdened by the knowledge that ... Tolkien had been adamant that the two main threads to this tale (that of the Ring-bearer and that of the other members of the Fellowship) should not be interwoven, but should follow their own individual chronology, as they do in the book. I concluded -- as did filmmaker Peter Jackson -- that there is no way in which such an approach could successfully be applied to a dramatic presentation of this story."

Well, that argument need not be redressed here, but clearly this adaptation did not follow the book any more faithfully than have others -- in that substitutions, compressions, omissions, and chronological redirections have occurred. One would have to listen to an unabridged Books-on-Tape audio adaptation to hear a fully faithful retelling of Tolkien's story, but that would not be a dramatization (unless different speakers took the various roles -- a rather expensive approach for an audio-book production).

The primary story is nonetheless present. Bilbo leaves the Ring to Frodo, Frodo leaves the Shire, he meets Aragorn, Aragorn takes Frodo to Rivendell, Frodo is wounded by the Nazgul, Elrond heals Frodo, a council is convened in Rivendell at which it is decided to destroy the Ring, and the Fellowship of the Ring is formed to carry out the quest. The remainder of the story is provided in the details of travels, battles, adventures, losses, gains, and suffering and sacrifice.

Somewhere in all that, you'll occasionally hear Tolkien's dialogue. But the performances of the actors selected for this presentation are the standout feature which people most often (and most highly) praise. The casting was eloquent and well-balanced.

Cast for The Lord of the Rings BBC 1981
Narrator	Gerard Murphy
Frodo Baggins	Ian Holm
Gandalf the Grey/Gandalf the White	Michael Hordern
Aragorn (Strider)	Robert Stephens
Sam Gamgee	William Nighy
Farmer Maggot	John Bott
Barliman Butterbur	James Grout
Galadriel	Marian Diamond
Celeborn	Simon Cadell
Boromir	Michael Graham Cox
Arwen Evenstar	Sonia Fraser
Gimli son of Gloin (a Dwarf)	Douglas Livingstone
Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry)	Richard O'Callaghan
Peregrin Took (Pippin)	John McAndrew
Legolas	David Collings
Saruman the White	Peter Howell
Elrond	Hugh Dickson
Bilbo Baggins	John Le Mesurier
Gollum/Sméagol	Peter Woodthorpe
Théoden	Jack May
Gríma Wormtongue	Paul Brooke
Éowyn	Elin Jenkins
Éomer	Anthony Hyde
Faramir	Andrew Seear
Treebeard	Stephen Thorne
Denethor	Peter Vaughan
Lord of the Nazgûl	Philip Voss
The Mouth of Sauron	John Rye

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