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by Wilkie Collins
Air Dates |
Synopsis by Episode |
About the Author
About the Book |
About the Reader
An Eight Part Reading for
BBC Radio 2
by Ladbroke Radio
Read by Dougray Scott
Produced by Neil Gardner
Abridged by Paul Kent
Dougray reading "The
Women in White" |
Dougray Scott reads Wilkie Collins'
celebrated novel “The Woman In White", in this newly-
abridged eight part version for BBC Radio 2.
The life of art teacher Walter Hartright changes forever
following his midnight encounter with the spectral ‘Woman
In White’ on a lonely moonlit road. The meeting unleashes
a chain of startling events that encompasses espionage,
fraud, |
| conflagration, body-swapping, drugs, forgery and murder -
quite a heady cocktail of vices for its mid-Victorian
audience. |
Described as the first detective novel in the
English language, the book was a bestseller from the moment of
its publication in 1860 - a popularity which continues to the
present day in the form of the recent Andrew Lloyd Webber
musical adaptation which opened in London with Michael
Crawford taking the role of the corpulent villain, Count Fosco.
"The Woman In White" has lost none of its power to shock,
startle and entertain after almost 150 years.
Air Dates
Episode 1: December 10, 2004
2115 GMT; 4:15 EST
Episode 2: December 17, 2004
2115 GMT; 4:15 EST
Episode 3: January 7, 2005
2115 GMT; 4:15 EST
Episode 4: January 14, 2005
2115 GMT; 4:15 EST
Episode 5: January 21, 2005
2115 GMT; 4:15 EST
Episode 6: January 28, 2005
2115 GMT; 4:15 EST
Episode 7: February 4, 2005
2115 GMT; 4:15 EST
Episode 8: February 11, 2005
2115 GMT; 4:15 EST
Synopsis by Episode
Episode One – 15 minutes
December 10, 2004
Walter Hartright, a drawing instructor, is down on his luck
and looking for a change. However, his life is turned
completely upside down when he encounters the Woman In White,
wandering forlornly on a deserted midnight street. Click
here to listen to the broadcast
in mp3 file format.
Episode Two - 15 minutes
December 17, 2004
Walter Hartright has taken up a new job in Cumberland,
teaching two well-born young ladies to draw. The elder, Marian
is fun but frumpy; while the younger, Laura, bears a startling
resemblance to - the Woman In White.
Click
here to listen to the broadcast
in mp3 file format.
Episode Three
- 15 minutes .
Walter Hartright and Laura Fairlie have fallen in love with
one another, but Laura is already engaged to Sir Percival
Glyde, a much older aristocrat. Walter abandons England to try
and forget her - yet he cannot, and returns to find her dead.
Or is she?
Click
here to listen to the broadcast
in mp3 file format.
Episode Four
- 15 minutes
Laura Glyde has been freed by her sister Marian from an
asylum, into which she was admitted under the name of Anne
Catherick, who we now know to be The Woman In White. Now at
liberty she helps Walter Hartright in his quest to
re-establish her identity, and to retrieve her considerable
fortune, which has passed to her husband, Sir Percival Glyde,
and his oily accomplice, the corpulent Count Fosco. Click
here to listen to the broadcast
in mp3 file format.
Episode Five - 15 minutes
Walter Hartright continues to investigate why Lady Laura Glyde
was shut up in an asylum, and where Anne Catherick, The Woman
In White, has disappeared to. His search takes him to a small
village in Hampshire, where there have clearly been some
questionable goings-on. Click
here to listen to the broadcast
in mp3 file format.
Episode Six -
15 minutes
Walter Hartright, hot on the trail of the villainous Count
Fosco and his accomplice Sir Percival Glyde, discovers
compelling evidence why the latter shut up both Anne Catherick,
The Woman In White and his own wife Laura in an asylum. But
Sir Percy is onto Hartright, and the race to acquire the
necessary proof is joined - with tragic consequences. Click
here to listen to the broadcast
in mp3 file format.
Episode Seven
- 15 minutes
Sir Percival Glyde, Laura's husband, has been burned to death
while destroying key evidence that would disinherit him. Now
his accomplice, the corpulent Count Fosco comes out of the
woodwork, and proves a much more chilling adversary for our
Hero, Walter Hartright.Click
here to listen to the broadcast
in mp3 file format.
Episode Eight
- 15 minutes
Walter Hartright, now married to Laura Glyde, has discovered
that Count Fosco, who has swindled Laura out of her
considerable wealth, is marked for death by an Italian secret
society of which he has long been a member. Fosco is sure to
flee the country, but can Hartright get to him first, extract
a confession and re-establish his wife's true identity. And
just what has been the fate of the Woman In White? Click
here to listen to the broadcast
in mp3 file format.
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About The Author |
 |
Wilkie (William) Collins, the inventor of
"Make 'em cry, make 'em laugh, make 'em wait" books, was
born in London. His father (also called William) was a
landscape painter, but it seems his father had ambitions
for his son outside the arts. Wilkie was first found a
place in the tea trade, but displayed no aptitude for
commerce. He then studied law at Lincoln's Inn; he was
admitted to the bar in 1851 but didn't prosper there
either. It was only when he started writing that he seemed
to find his vacation. His first published work was
written in memory of his father, who died in 1847. Memoirs
of the Life of |
| William Collins, Esq., R.A.
was published in 1848. He started writing fiction shortly
afterwards. Antonina was published in 1850 and Basil in
1852. In April 1852 Wilkie wrote a piece for Charles
Dickens' weekly, Household Words. This marked the start of
a professional relationship which was to last for ten
years, during which time they also became firm friends.
Wilkie was immensely popular in his time, and wrote 25
novels and over 50 short stories. His most successful
works were The Woman In White, No Name, Armadale and The
Moonstone. He was one of the first writers of mystery
fiction, and has been much imitated over the years. Wilkie
Collins died in London in 1889 and was buried there in the
Kensal Green Cemetery. |
About The Book
"Let me send you my heartiest congratulations on your having
come to the
end of your (as yet) last labour, and having triumphantly
finished your best book."
-Letters, 07/29/1860 Charles Dickens
"To Mr. Collins belongs the credit of having introduced into
fiction those most mysterious of mysteries, the mysteries
which are at our own doors."
—Henry James
Illegitimacy, mistaken identity, insanity, inheritance, drugs,
adultery, crimes of passion—all of these lurid features of
Victorian life were Wilkie Collins's stock in trade. With The
Woman in White Collins created the archetypal sensation novel,
spawning generations of imitators.
The Woman in White was an enormous success, prompting long
lines at the publisher's offices and even inspiring a popular
song, the "Woman in White Waltz." Collins earned a large
advance for his next novel, securing his financial
independence from his mother (who was the model for
Hartright's impulsive, childlike mother in the book, just as
Hartright was modelled in part on Collins's anxious,
conventional brother). Readers were especially intrigued by
the character of Marian Halcombe, whose charm, wit,
independence, and ugliness probably have their roots in
Collins's friendship with fellow novelist George.
The story was filmed in 1948 in an adaptation starring Sydney
Greenstreet, Gig Young and Eleanor Parker.
The narrative starts with Walter Hartright's midnight
encounter on a lonely road with a mysterious and distraught
woman dressed entirely in white, whom he helps escape from her
pursuers. When working as a drawing master in the family of Mr
Fairlie, a selfish hypochondriac, he falls in love with
Fairlie's niece, Laura, who strikingly resembles the woman in
white. She returns his love, but is engaged to Sir Percival
Glyde, whom she marries. It comes to light that Sir Percival,
who is impecunious, married Laura to get at her wealth, and
confined Anne Catherick, the woman in white, in an asylum for
knowing a secret about him whose revelation he is determined
to prevent. Unable to get Laura to part with her money, he has
her confined in the asylum as Anne Catherick, while Anne
Catherick, who has died, is buried as Laura Glyde. In all
this, Glyde is assisted by the corpulent Italian count Fosco,
and the rest of the book describes Hartright's efforts to
prove Glyde and Fosco's wrongdoings, while restoring Laura to
her rightful place at Limmeridge Hall.
"It is a book which made an era in novel-writing, and may be
said to have opened up a whole new view of the art....[T]he
author has been able to combine a very true and noble feeling
with his more compassionate and tragical interests."
-Contemporary Review, April 1888* Harry Quilter
"Think of a whole day in bed, a good novel for a companion. No
cares: no remorse about idleness; no visitors: and 'The Woman
in White'...to tell me stories from dawn to night!"
-Cornhill, August 1862 William Makepeace Thackeray
Musical Success
“The Woman in White” is Andrew Lloyd Webber's eagerly awaited
new musical starring Maria Friedman and Michael Crawford.
Freely adapted from Wilkie Collins's sensational Victorian
thriller, The Woman in White brings to the stage a plot of
terrifying brilliance. A handsome young man is stranded at a
remote railway cutting. Out of the darkness looms a woman, a
mysterious figure dressed in white, who burns to tell a
chilling secret. Two sisters find themselves snared in a web
of betrayal and greed, the victims of a flawless crime.
Unprotected in a man's world, they will need all their
resourcefulness and courage to outwit a villain of
overpowering charisma and ingenuity. But they can also rely on
the guiding hand of love.
Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White is the first and most
influential of the Victorian sensation novels, and quickly
became a phenomenon. Since its publication in 1860, it has
never been out of print and generations of readers have been
thrilled by its suspense and excitement. Now London theatre
audiences can look forward to seeing it brought to life on
stage!
About The Reader
Relaxing on the
Ladbroke couch |
Scottish actor Dougray Scott first reached
American multiplex audiences in the 1998 movie “Ever
After” in which he starred as Drew Barrymore's fairy tale
prince.
Born in Fife on November 25, 1965, Scott was raised in
a family of non-actors. His own interest in acting was
routinely discouraged by various schoolteachers, but after
graduating from the high school he attended in the small town of
Glenrothes, |
| he trained at the Welsh College of Music and
Drama, where he was named "most promising student." After
beginning his professional career on the stage, Scott got
his first significant break in 1995 when he was cast on
the popular TV series “Soldier, Soldier”. He then won a
measure of notoriety for his role as a thoroughly corrupt
Welsh cop in Kevin Allen's “Twin Town” (1997), a black
comedy that was a sleeper hit throughout Britain. Scott's
work in the film also caught the attention of certain
Hollywood casting directors, who chose him for his plum
role in “Ever After”. After returning to
Scotland to portray a corrupt businessman in “Gregory's
Two Girls”, the sequel to Bill Forsyth's “Gregory's Girl”,
the actor appeared as part of a strong ensemble cast in
the low-budget film “This Year's Love”, which cast him as
a womanizing artist.
Having proven himself adept at portraying
morally questionable characters, Scott gave villainy
another go in John Woo's “Mission Impossible 2”, in which
he starred as a former IMF agent gone bad.
Dougray Scott is currently wowing West End
audiences with his portrayal of St Thomas a Becket in Jean
Anouilh's eponymous play. |
Courtesy
Electric Airwaves Ltd / Ladbroke Productions
|
