Bert Coules

A Wizard of Earthsea   From the novel by Ursula le Guin. On a distant world, a headstrong young boy must come to terms with his awesome powers as a wizard. With Judi Dench, Michael Maloney and Emma Fielding. Music by David Chilton and Nick Russell-Pavier. Produced and directed by Janet Whitaker. Two hours.

This had rather a convoluted history. It was first commissioned as a five-part serial for BBC Schools Radio back in the distant days when that department still existed, but there were some problems over the rights and by the time they were resolved the original producer had retired and no-one else wanted to take it on. Some years later I was asked to rewrite it as an unusually long single play for Radio 4 and, later still, Radio 4 Extra broadcast it re-edited into a two-part serial. The splendid cast included a twelve year old actor named Tom Felton who was to go on to even greater heights as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies.