The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series)

The Lord of the Rings

BBC Radio Collection cover
Genre	Radio drama
Running time	30 minutes per episode
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
Home station	BBC Radio 4
Starring	Ian Holm Michael Hordern Robert Stephens Bill Nighy James Grout Simon Cadell John Le Mesurier Jack May Peter Vaughan
Created by	J. R. R. Tolkien
Written by	Brian Sibley[1] Michael Bakewell
Directed by	Jane Morgan Penny Leicester
Narrated by	Gerard Murphy
Original release	8 March – 30 August 1981
No. of episodes	26

In 1981, BBC Radio 4 produced a dramatisation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in 26 half-hour stereo instalments. The novel had previously been adapted as a 12-part BBC Radio adaptation in 1955 and 1956 (of which no recordings are known to have survived), and a 1979 production by The Mind's Eye for National Public Radio in the US.

Like the novel on which it is based, the radio series tells the story of an epic struggle between the Dark Lord Sauron of Mordor, the primary villain of the work, and an alliance of heroes who join forces to save the world from falling under his shadow.