ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL
Before anyone knew what the Shire, Gandalf, Gollum, or Mordor were supposed to look like, listeners had to imagine them.
In 1955, barely a year after The Fellowship of the Ring appeared, the BBC attempted the first radio dramatization of Tolkien’s epic—with Tolkien himself listening, corresponding with the producer, and offering his opinions. Today, that historic production is almost entirely lost.
But Middle-earth returned to the airwaves.
From the wonderfully atmospheric 1968 BBC Hobbit, through the American Mind’s Eye production, to the magnificent 1981 BBC Lord of the Rings starring Ian…
The skinny
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