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The Return of the King
A BBC radio full-cast dramatisation of the third book in JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Brian Sibley's famous 1981 adaptation, starring Ian Holm and Michael Hordern, has been divided into three corresponding parts, with newly-recorded beginning and end narration by Ian Holm (who plays Frodo in this and Bilbo in the feature films).
3 pages, Audiobook
Published September 25, 2007
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About the author
Brian Sibley
101 books100 followersBrian Sibley is an English writer, broadcaster, and award-winning dramatist.
The author of over 100 hours of radio drama and hundreds of documentaries and features for the BBC, he is best known for his acclaimed 1981 radio adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, co-written with Michael Bakewell, as well as dramatizations of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast novels, and Richard Adams’s Watership Down.
Sibley has also written numerous original plays for radio, presented popular BBC programmes including Kaleidoscope and Talking Pictures, and produced documentaries on figures ranging from Lewis Carroll and Ray Bradbury to Julie Andrews and Walt Disney.
His contributions to broadcasting have earned him accolades such as the Sony Radio Award and the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Adaptation.
In print, Sibley is the author of many acclaimed film “making of” books, including Harry Potter: Film Wizardry, The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy, and Peter Jackson: A Filmmaker’s Journey, as well as companion volumes for The Hobbit films, The Golden Compass, and Disney classics. His literary works range from Shadowlands to children’s books like The Frightful Food Feud and Osric the Extraordinary Owl, with stories appearing in official Winnie-the-Pooh collections.
A noted Disney historian, Sibley has contributed essays to The Walt Disney Film Archives and recorded DVD commentaries for classic films. He is the editor of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Númenor, winner of the Tolkien Society’s Best Book award in 2023.
Sibley has served as President and Chair of The Lewis Carroll Society and is an honorary member of The Magic Circle, the Tolkien Society, and The Children’s Books History Society.
The author of over 100 hours of radio drama and hundreds of documentaries and features for the BBC, he is best known for his acclaimed 1981 radio adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, co-written with Michael Bakewell, as well as dramatizations of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast novels, and Richard Adams’s Watership Down.
Sibley has also written numerous original plays for radio, presented popular BBC programmes including Kaleidoscope and Talking Pictures, and produced documentaries on figures ranging from Lewis Carroll and Ray Bradbury to Julie Andrews and Walt Disney.
His contributions to broadcasting have earned him accolades such as the Sony Radio Award and the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Adaptation.
In print, Sibley is the author of many acclaimed film “making of” books, including Harry Potter: Film Wizardry, The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy, and Peter Jackson: A Filmmaker’s Journey, as well as companion volumes for The Hobbit films, The Golden Compass, and Disney classics. His literary works range from Shadowlands to children’s books like The Frightful Food Feud and Osric the Extraordinary Owl, with stories appearing in official Winnie-the-Pooh collections.
A noted Disney historian, Sibley has contributed essays to The Walt Disney Film Archives and recorded DVD commentaries for classic films. He is the editor of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Númenor, winner of the Tolkien Society’s Best Book award in 2023.
Sibley has served as President and Chair of The Lewis Carroll Society and is an honorary member of The Magic Circle, the Tolkien Society, and The Children’s Books History Society.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 11, 2025
I listened to the BBC dramatised adaptation. Story enjoyment rating: 9/10 Christian Faith rating:-0.5/3 (clean but some of the magic gets close to being similar to New Age practices today, although that might not have been the case when The Lord of the Rings was originally written)
May 15, 2017
As I listened to this, the conclusion of the epic tale, I solidified my opinion that Sam and Pippin are the best characters in this entire adaptation, followed by Frodo and Merry. Aragorn continues his transformation into a completely different person than he was in the first book (and not as nice or as good of one). Gandalf becomes even more unnecessarily cryptic. Legolas and Gimli barely exist at all. The majority of the background characters are disappointing, with the exception of the Mouth of Sauron and Theoden. Barliman Butterbur was also a welcome reintroduction to the story -- his voice actor is fantastic.
As for the story, it continued the trend started in The Two Towers -- the personal scenes dominated by dialogue are absolutely wonderful (as long as there are hobbits involved) and the action scenes are pretty terrible. In a surprising twist, the songs in this third book were a serious downgrade from the songs composed for the first two books.
Overall, I think I'll stick with listening to only the first book frequently. However, I may relisten to the other two books for the sake of the Sam-Frodo and Merry-Pippin scenes.
As for the story, it continued the trend started in The Two Towers -- the personal scenes dominated by dialogue are absolutely wonderful (as long as there are hobbits involved) and the action scenes are pretty terrible. In a surprising twist, the songs in this third book were a serious downgrade from the songs composed for the first two books.
Overall, I think I'll stick with listening to only the first book frequently. However, I may relisten to the other two books for the sake of the Sam-Frodo and Merry-Pippin scenes.
February 28, 2016
Yes, I cried.
September 19, 2025
My guilty nerd confession is that the LOTR films are some of my absolute favorite films in the world, but I've never been able to make through all 3 books. This BBC radio play dramatization was the perfect middle ground. Because it's a radio play, it's of course a much abridged version, but it still gave me a taste of the books. Bill Nighy as Samwise and Ian Holm as Frodo were a treat.
I do wish it had included more of the books' exposition/scene setting, because if I wasn't already familiar with the story I think I would have had trouble keeping up with what was happening in some of the scenes.
I do wish it had included more of the books' exposition/scene setting, because if I wasn't already familiar with the story I think I would have had trouble keeping up with what was happening in some of the scenes.
December 29, 2016
BBC must have gotten Wagner's Ring Cycle confused with this Tolkien classic, because the addition of operatic pieces to the production was jarring and unnecessary. Not my favorite audio version of one of my all-time favorite books. :(
January 6, 2019
I'd say this particular dramatization has a lot of aggressive speech (obviously, as it's a battle) which some listeners with anxiety should be aware of.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews