It’s Dr. No on the radio!

The BBC iPlayer

This past Saturday, 6 August, the British Broadcasting Company reran a 2008 audio dramatization of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel Dr. No.

Directed by Martin Jarvis (who also provides the “voice of Ian Fleming,”) and written by by Hugh Whitmore, the production stars erstwhile Bond villain Toby Stephens as 007 and David Suchet as the titular bad ol’ doctor.

Thanks to the miracle of the interwebs, those of us not lucky enough to live on the Sceptered Isle can take a listen through our computing machines — even those made by Apple. So, set aside an hour-and-a-half and get yourself over to BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play: Dr. No

But hurry, it’ll only be available until next Saturday, the 13th, at 4:02 PM GMT. (Why the extra two minutes, we’re not sure. It might have something to do with Lucas electrical systems.) Tell’ em HMSS sent ya!

James Bond is back… on the radio!

Toby Stephens

Actors Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayres are re-teaming with BBC Radio 4 to bring James Bond back to the radio.

As part of last year’s Ian Fleming centenary, the Jarvis and Ayres production company adapted Doctor No for the beeb, having been given special “one-off” permission by Eon Productions for the event. Toby Stephens (Gustav Graves in Die Another Day,) starred as 007, and David Suchet portrayed the titular character. Apparently, Eon was so impressed by the results that they approached the producers with an offer to do another. Goldfinger
has been chosen for this go-round, and Jarvis and Ayres are looking to bring back Stephens to the Bond role.

James Bond has been on the radio only twice before that — South African radio featured Moonraker in the 1950s, and Radio 4 did a production of You Only Live Twice in 1990.

Matthew Hemley’s complete story at The Stage News website, James Bond to return to radio as Goldfinger is adapted for BBC, has all the details.