Episode 3

Tensions mount for the terrified New York's hostages aboard a busy commuter train, as the demands of the heavily-armed hijackers reach the Mayor.

Read by William Hope.

John Godey's thriller abridged in 5-parts by Neville Teller.

A best-seller in 1973, 'The Taking of Pelham 123' was made into the 1974 film starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, a 1998 TV-movie remake of the same title, and a 2009 film starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. The novel's impact - and that of the subsequent 1974 film - apparently resulted in New York's City Transit Authority banning any scheduling of a train departing Pelham station at 1:23 for many years.

Using the pen name John Godey, Brooklyn-born author Morton Freedgood's crime novels include 'A Thrill a Minute With Jack Albany', 'Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Kill Today' and 'The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome'.

Producer: Heather Larmour

Made for BBC Radio Extra by BBC Northern Ireland.

First broadcast in 2012.