The Man Born To Be King - Other Versions

Other Versions

Four other versions were made by the BBC:

1. Directed by Noel Iliff 1947–48, with Raf De La Torre as Jesus
2. Directed by Peter Watts 23 December 1951, with Deryck Guyler as Jesus
3. Directed by William Glen-Doepel l7 February, 1965, with Tom Fleming as Jesus
4. Directed by Raymond Raikes World Service 1967, first aired domestically 19 January 1975

The last version was the first in stereo. It starred John Westbrook as Jesus, Gabriel Woolf, Denys Blakelock, Denise Bryer, Trevor Martin, Norman Shelley and Robert Eddison. This version was repeated from 6–21 December 2007 on BBC 7, after Christmas in 2008–2009 and from 18 April – 3 May 2011 on BBC7's replacement, BBC Radio 4 Extra.

The Raymond Raikes production reduced the episodes from one hour to forty-five minutes, and condensed the casts in various ways — for instance by making The Evangelist, the narrator figure, the same voice as John the disciple (an identification strongly supported by the text of the fifth play).

Heron Carvic, originally suggested by the writer, played Caiaphas in every version of the cycle (as well as in the broadcast of Sayers' Lichfield Passion in 1947). Alan Wheatley played Judas in all but the 1965 production. Similarly John Laurie played his original parts of Gestas in four of the productions, and John the Baptist in three. Many other castings overlapped — Raf De La Torre, a regular in Sayers' religious plays, was Jesus in the first full revival, and then had small parts in both of the 1960s productions.

No copies of the original version are held by the BBC, although recordings do exist elsewhere — only "King of Sorrows" from the original broadcast is completely missing. The 1951/2 version is held on vinyl at the British Library.