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Tales from the Perilous Realm

Four BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations

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Tales from the Perilous Realm

By: Brian Sibley - adaptation, J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: full cast
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About this listen

Four BBC radio dramatisations starring Michael Hordern as Tolkien - plus a special archive compilation exploring Tolkien's life and work.

The tales in this collection all reflect an aspect of what Tolkien himself called 'the perilous realm of Faerie'. Adapted for radio by Brian Sibley, co-writer of the acclaimed BBC radio production of The Lord of the Rings, they are rich in myth, magic and adventure. Among the supporting cast are Brian Blessed, Nigel Planer, Sorcha Cusack, Paul Copley and James Grout.

In 'Farmer Giles of Ham', having accidentally shot a giant, Farmer Giles' brave reputation is tested by Chrysophylax the dragon. In 'Smith of Wootton Major', a young boy eats a piece of cake containing a silver star, and is granted access to the magical land of Fäerie. 'Leaf by Niggle' is a thought-provoking allegory of the creative process, and 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil' features Tom and the Hobbits in scenes from The Lord of the Rings which were not included in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisation.

Also included is 'J R R Tolkien: An Audio Portrait', in which Brian Sibley draws together interviews from radio and television programmes featuring the author himself, his original publisher Rayner Unwin, his biographer Humphrey Carpenter and many others, to relate the story of both Tolkien the man and the worlds he created.

©2017 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2017 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Dramatisations Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction

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A mixed bag

There was some wonderful voice acting ( Brian Blessed was brilliant, as ever, as were the voices of Tom and Goldbery). However there were also some very odd choices made when it came to adapting Tolkien's stories into dialogue, and often the voicing/characterisation felt 'off',
; what they chose to leave vs what they left out felt arbitrary, and the conveying of visual information through ordinary media was generally clunky and awkward. The action scenes were particularly badly handled. Those problems pertained primarily to the Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wotton Major and Life by Niggle stories. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (which is actually the Hobbits stay in the House of Bombadil from the Lord of the Rings) and the audio documentary on Tolkien , on the other hand, were excellent (incorporating snippets from the BBC Lord of the Rings radio play) were by far the best parts, well worth it for that alone.

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