Editor's note: Hear Alice through the Looking Glass on Radio 4 on Saturday 22 December at 2.30pm. Here, the producer Tracey Neale, talks about seeking out an exceptional cast for the drama. PM
Radio 4 Commissioner: "We would like you to dramatise Alice Through The Looking Glass for Christmas”
Me: “Oh how lovely”
Radio 4 Commissioner: “but...”.
There’s often a “but” when you work at the BBC. This Alice was to be a little different. The author of the Alice books, Lewis Carroll, was a terribly clever man, a mathematician who loved science and the wordplay and the books have many layers that don’t always jump out at you at first - in this production they had to.
So with the first class dramatist, Stephen Wyatt, on board we set to work to bring out the intellectual spine of Alice Through The Looking Glass – whilst losing none of the fun.
In our dramatisation Alice duly crashed through the looking glass into a world set out like a giant chess board and discovered science, maths, poetry, riddles and wordplay. However, there was to be another element to this surrealist world – it had to collide with Radio 4 itself. We wanted some of the National Treasures of Radio 4 to appear but how to choose between the wonderful talent that appears on Radio 4? In the end, we decided it had to be seamless, that the chosen voices should be there for a valid reason and not just pop up out of context.
I approached these treasured Radio 4 characters not sure of the response I would get, but to my delight they all jumped on board with enthusiasm. Jim Al-Khalili was to be our guide through the science; Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey to be talking flowers; followed swiftly by Eric Robson and Pippa Greenwood with words of wisdom for Alice. Kirsty Young and Peter Donaldson would join Tweedledum and Tweedledee and Andrew Marr would pop up in the White Sheep’s Shop. Evan Davies and Garry Richardson comment on the fight between the Lion and the Unicorn and Roger McGough reads Jabberwocky. And finally, Melvyn Bragg would make a grand entrance too.
In pursuit of these voices I found myself wandering down corridors I had never walked along before. Hearing the end of their programmes live on air and grabbing them (well not quite grabbing them) before they disappeared. All of them and our lovely cast helped to create the fantastical story that finds its way to Radio 4 this Saturday, 22 December.
