1st Broadcast 11th February 2002 BBC Radio 4
Dirk Maggs
Bill Morrison
Agatha Christie
Bruce Hyman
Above The Title Productions Ltd for BBC Radio 4
It is 1920. Britain is still recovering from the loss of virtually an entire generation in the Great War, and those who survive have physical and mental scars from which they may never recover.
One such is a nun, apparently traumatised by scenes of horror she has witnessed at the front. But what precisely did she see?
An ambitious doctor and a pioneering psychologist try to restore the woman's sanity, but in the process they uncover something much more sinister.
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A brand new radio adaptation of a classic Agatha Christie short story by Bill Morrison. A nun is apparently traumatised by scenes of horror she witnessed at the Front.
But what precisely did she see? An ambitious doctor and a pioneering woman psychologist try to restore the woman’s sanity,
but in the process they uncover something much more sinister.
| Character |
Actor |
| Alice | Julia McKenzie |
| Dr Rose | Michael Kitchen |
| Tom Hayden | Simon Treves |
| Sister Marie | Marianne Borgo |
| Kitty | Alexis Zegerman |
Not known at this time
Not known at this time
Not known at this time
When I tell people what I do, I say my job is to ‘bypass the optic nerve and sneak through the side door to create visual images in sound’ ... the opening sequence of this Above The Title Production is an example of what I think I mean....
The idea I had was for a tracking shot moving back from the front line trenches of a World War 1 battlefield to a bombed out town in Belgium. A squad of German troops are marching into the local church, where a nun tries to get them to leave before they are destroyed by a mysterious power...
Originally the script only depicted the scene inside the church. But I wanted to set the scene in a larger, historical context. I arrived at the final sequence by visualizing in a sort of formulaic way. What do I see in my mind’s eye as I fly over the scene? What sounds will these things I see make? In what order will I encounter them?
The actress was French but the lines were originally to be spoken in English. After a few rehearsals it hit me that it would add so much more if she delivered them in her own language ...
The tricky part was that Mozart’s Requiem was to be the underscore. It was a challenge to get Mozart to comment on the action instead of overpowering it!
1 episode of 30 minutes 30 minutes in total
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Michael Kitchen & Dirk Maggs |
Julia McKenzie |
The Icelandic Agatha Christie Page