The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series)

Michael Hordern, John Le Mesurier and Ian Holm, as Gandalf, Bilbo and Frodo.
The Lord of the Rings
Publication Information
Released	Original Airing: 8 March – 30 August 1981 Audio CD: 1 December, 1999
Format	Radio broadcast
Running time	13 hours
ISBN	978-0553456530

In 1981 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a dramatisation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in 26 half-hour stereo instalments.

It followed a previous 12-part BBC Radio version from 1955 and 1956, of which no recordings are known to have survived.

Broadcast history

Each of the original 26 episodes received two broadcasts per week - standard practice for many BBC radio serials even today. The first broadcast of Episode 2 was blacked out across a large part of south east England because of a transmitter failure (a very rare occurrence even then).

The 26-part series was subsequently edited into 13 hour-long episodes, restoring some dialogue originally cut for timing (since each hour-long episode is actually around 57 minutes, as opposed to 54 minutes for two half-hour episodes), rearranging some scenes for dramatic impact and adding linking narration and music cues. It was broadcast in 13 episodes in 1982.

The re-edited version was released on both cassette tape and CD sets which also included the soundtrack album (noticeably taken from a vinyl copy).

A soundtrack album featuring a completely re-recorded and in some cases expanded, suite of Stephen Oliver's music was released in 1981.

1981 broadcast

1. "The Long Awaited Party", March 8
2. "The Shadow Of The Past", March 15
3. "The Black Riders", March 22
4. "Trouble At The Prancing Pony", March 29
5. "The Knife In The Dark", April 5
6. "The Council Of Elrond", April 12
7. "The Fellowship Of The Ring", April 19
8. "The Mines Of Moria", April 26
9. "The Mirror Of Galadriel", May 3
10. "The Breaking Of The Fellowship", May 10
11. "The Riders Of Rohan", May 17
12. "Treebeard Of Fangorn", "May 24
13. "The King Of The Golden Hall", May 31
14. "Helm's Deep", June 7
15. "The Voice Of Saruman", June 14
16. "The Black Gate Is Closed", June 21
17. "The Window On The West", June 28
18. "Minas Tirith", July 5
19. "Shelob's Lair", July 12
20. "The Siege Of Gondor", July 19
21. "The Battle Of Pelennor Fields", July 26
22. "The Houses Of Healing", August 2
23. "Mount Doom", August 9
24. "The Return Of The King", August 16
25. "Homeward Bound", August 23
26. "The Grey Havens", August 30

1982 broadcast

1. "The Shadow Of The Past", July 17
2. "The Black Riders", July 24
3. "The Knife In The Dark", July 31
4. "The Ring Goes South", August 7
5. "The Mirror Of Galadriel", August 14
6. "The Breaking Of The Fellowship", August 21
7. "The King Of The Golden Hall", August 28
8. "The Voice Of Saruman", September 4
9. "The Two Towers", September 11
10. "The Choices Of Master Samwise", September 18
11. "The Battle Of Pelennor Fields", September 25
12. "Mount Doom", October 2
13. "The Grey Havens", October 9

Differences from the book

Vinyl with the soundtrack by Stephen Oliver

The script by Brian Sibley and Michael Bakewell attempts to be as faithful as possible to the original books, but there are some errors and alterations. They include:

• Scenes are added at the beginning featuring Gollum's torture in Barad-Dur and adapting the riddle-game from The Hobbit.
• The old miller Sandyman is omitted with his lines given to his son.
• Fredegar Bolger is entirely omitted
• Gandalf's imprisonment at Isengard, escape via Gwaihir, and his visit to Edoras are incorporated into the narrative rather then being related at the Council of Elrond.
• The Nazgûl's visit to Isengard in search of information on the Shire and their encounter with Gríma is adapted from Unfinished Tales.
• Gildor Inglorion does not appear in the story.
• The radio serial omits the sequence in the book in which the hobbits visit with Tom Bombadil. However, in doing so, the Hobbits are never shown to receive their swords from the Barrow-downs, which are enchanted with spells that are proof against the Lord of the Nazgûl. This leaves later references to Frodo having a sword before Sting and where the swords of the other Hobbits came from unexplained. Sibley acknowledges this later, when Merry stabs him during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Instead of being weakened as in the book, he merely says Merry stings like a gnat. However the Mouth of Sauron still describes Sam's blade as a "Sword of the Downfallen West".
• Gloin's appearance at Rivendell is cut.
• Any mention of Dáin Ironfoot is omitted with Gimli stating his father Gloin was the one who met with Sauron's messenger.
• Durin's Bane is mistakenly stated to be a "servant of Sauron"
• Morgoth is oddly referred to by his original name Melkor when Legolas is discussing the origin of Orcs and when Gandalf refers to Durin's Bane as a "Spawn of Melkor".
• Gandalf's physical death is omitted from his account of his battle with Durin's Bane with no mention of his being "sent back back", with the script implying he was merely wounded. Though later when confronting Saruman, Gandalf claims he returned from death.
• Quickbeam the Ent does not appear in the story.

• At one point when Gandalf is listing the locations of the Palantíri, Minas Anor and Minas Tirith are referred to as though they were separate cities; these are merely alternate names for the same city. Later Gandalf does refer correctly to the Palantír of Minas Tirith as the "Stone of Anor."
• Beregond has his role from the book entirely cut and only appears as the anonymous messenger who brings news of the battle to Denethor.

• Part of the Battle of Pelennor Fields sequence is described in song by an opera-style vocalist rather than acted, which may distance some listeners from the action. Others may find the kinship between the sequence and Eddic style of storytelling interesting.

• The journey through Drúadan Forest and the subsequent alliance with Ghân-buri-Ghân's wild men, or "woses" is removed from the radio drama.
• The journey of the army from Minas Tirith to the Morannon is cut including the restoration of the statue at the crossroads and departure of the faint-hearted
• The Battle of the Morannon is almost entirely cut, including Pippin slaying a troll.
• Galadriel and Celeborn do not attend the wedding of Aragorn and Arwen
• Legolas and Gimli's visit to the Glittering Caves is omitted
• The encounter with Saruman and Wormtongue on the way back to Rivendell is omitted.
• The Scouring of the Shire is significantly cut down. The journey from the Brandywine Bridge to Hobbiton is skipped over and the Sheriffs are cut. The Hobbiton and Bywater segments are conflated so the Battle of Bywater takes place in Hobbiton.
• Círdan is omitted

Re-release in 2002

In 2002, to coincide with the release of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (film series), the BBC reissued the series in three sets corresponding to the three original volumes (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King).

This version omitted the original episode divisions, and included a new opening and closing narration for the first two sets, and an opening narration only for the last, recorded by Ian Holm in character as Frodo Baggins - Frodo's narrations deal with his efforts to write his historical account of the War of the Ring in the Red Book, as well as his own personal reflections and musings on the story's events.

The re-edited version also included some additional music cues, which had to be taken from the soundtrack album because the original master tapes for the series music had been lost.

The soundtrack, now digitally remastered, was also included with The Return of the King set, with a demo of John Le Mesurier singing Bilbo's Last Song included as a bonus track.

The 13-episode series was also rerun on Radio 4 in 2002.

External links

• The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series) at Wikipedia
• The Making of BBC Radio's The Lord of the Rings by Brian Sibley
• I Didn’t Know What I Was Getting Into by Christina Scull