UK PREMIERE: David Tennant Narrates The Great Scott - The Antiquary On Radio 4 This Afternoon



David Tennant returns to BBC Radio 4 this afternoon in the second of three new productions in the Drama series The Great Scott. David plays the celebrated Scottish author Sir Walter Scott, narrating audio adaptations of some of the writer's classic works. 

Today's episode is The Antiquary, based on the 1816 novel by Sir Walter Scott, will be broadcast at 3pm BST

The novel is about an amateur historian, archaeologist and collector of items of dubious antiquity. Although he is the eponymous character, he is not necessarily the hero, as many of the characters around him undergo far more significant journeys or change. Instead, he provides a central figure for other more exciting characters and events - on which he provides a sardonic commentary.

This is Scott's gothic novel, redolent with family secrets, stories of hidden treasure and hopeless love, with a mysterious, handsome, young man, benighted aristocracy and a night-time funeral procession to a ruined abbey. The romance and mystery is counterpoised by some of Scott's more down-to-earth characters, and grittily unromantic events.

Scott wrote in an advertisement to the novel that his purpose in writing it, similar to that of his novels Waverley and Guy Mannering, was to document Scottish life and manners of a certain period - in this case the last decade of the 18th century.


CAST
David Tennant  - Sir Walter Scott
Richard Wilson - Oldbuck
Alexander Morton - Edie
Stuart McGugan  - Sir Arthur      
Melody Grove  - Isabel
Dominic Rye  - Lovel
Christian Rodska  - Geraldin
Charles Davies  - Tafril
John Wark  - Hector
David Haydn  - Caxon/Sweepclean/Lesley
Beth Tuckey  - Macleuchar/Elspeth/Maggie

The Antiquary has been produced and directed by Clive Brill of Brill Productions for BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 can be heard worldwide via this link.

Comments