BBC R4 - The Pilgrim's Progress

BBC R4 - John Bunyan's 'The Pilgrim's Progress'

Adapted by Brian Sibley

Music by David Chilton.

Directed by Pam Fraser-Solomon

Part 1 Broadcast January 04, 2004 - Escape From The City Of Destruction

Part 2 Broadcast January 11, 2004 - The Journey To Vanity Fair

Part 3 Broadcast January 18, 2004 - The Road To The Celestial City

Coded from tape at 128/44.1



John Bunyan's story of a pilgrim's journey towards the 'Celestial City'.



Bunyan wrote it while in gaol for preaching without a licence. The crowds

he collected caused fear of sedition; and the back end of The Protectorate,

and Restoration England, was no time to challenge authority. He spent twelve

years in prison rather than not preach.



The Pilgrim's Progress is Bunyan's banned preaching buried in a Don Quixote/

allegorical style novel. Whether the form was adopted because it suited Bunyan,

or just because that was what he thought a novel was, is not known.



The BBC's production is a straightforward narrative. Mostly easy on the ear.

Xian or no, it's worth listening to for the light it casts on that period

in English history.



Cast

John Bunyan - Anton Rodgers

Elizabeth - Caroline Lee Johnson

Christian - Neil Dudgeon

Evangelist - Alec McCowen

Beelzebub - Don Warrington

Pliable - Philip Fox

Obstinate - Chris Moran

Help - Jamie Barbakoff

Goodwill - Lydia Leonard

Caged Man - Peter Bowles

The Jailer - Ioan Meredith

The Judge - Derek Waring

The Angel - Cherie Taylor-Battiste

The Children - Sophie and Nayla Levy

Interpreter - Anna Massey

.