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This adaptation of the famous classic came pretty quickly after a previous version, at least by radio standards - F. Murray Abraham had starred in a three-hour version broadcast in 2000 as part of the Radio 4 Classic Serial strand. This version showed up a decade later, and at two-hours does not actually feel particularly truncated. In fact, I've often heard that even advocates of the novel cite certain of its chapters as pure tedium - and to be frank, I found that three-hour serial to be oddly slow, especially given the compelling narrator.
If anybody is wondering why a drama that might be construed as the 19th century equivalent of a Jeremy Clarkson programme about fishing is on this channel, I ought to remind them that the story has themes of obsession and divine retribution, and a massive great whale going RAAAAAAGGGHHH and eating a ship. Melville's story was inspired by a real-life disaster when a whaling ship lost a fight with a sperm whale, and it doesn't take a particularly close inspection to see elements of the novel resurfacing in Jaws (especially Peter Benchley's book, where Quint's death resembles Ahab's).
MYSTERIOUS MAGPIE is a channel devoted to ghost and horror stories on British radio, and to dark tales of every kind. I have another channel, MYSTICAL MAGPIE, which is all about stories of fantasy, mythology, and adventure: / @mysticalmagpie-wo5fn
If you're interested to know more about the century-long history of ghost and horror stories broadcast at Christmas on British television and radio, you might like to check out HOLLY WRAITHS (and its companion volume HOLLY TERRORS), an A-Z guide available in paperback and ebook from Amazon and Lulu.com.
Holly Wraiths on Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Holly-Wraith...
8 апр 2023
