MIDDLE-EARTH TIMELINE
The Hobbit is a 1968 BBC radio adaptation of Tolkien's novel, written by Michael Kilgarriff and produced by John Powell. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in eight half-hour episodes, from 29 September to 17 November 1968.
Paul Daneman plays Bilbo Baggins, Heron Carvic is Gandalf and Wolfe Morris is Gollum, with a narrator called the Tale Bearer whose telling is often interrupted by Bilbo himself. The BBC Radiophonic Workshop created special sounds and voices for the non-human characters. The original tapes were wiped in the 1970s, but the series was recovered from an off-air recording and has since been released on cassette and CD.
The 1968 BBC radio adaptation follows Bilbo Baggins and Thorin's company on their quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug.
