1. Welcome to Phraxos

A young British graduate runs away from his monotonous life to take up a teaching post in Greece.

On the small Greek island of Phraxos, Nicholas Urfe meets the enigmatic figure of Maurice Conchis – and he’s slowly drawn into a world full of strange encounters and elaborate tricks on Conchis’s estate at Bourani.

Nicholas is introduced to the enchanting and mysterious Lily Montgomery who bears a striking resemblance to Conchis’s long dead fiancée.

Reality and illusion begin to intertwine, but what strange game is Conchis playing with Nicholas?

Moreover, in this world coloured by artifice and deception, who is really telling him the truth?

First published in 1965, John Fowles’s novel ‘The Magus’ soon achieved cult status, but has only been dramatised once before in a film of 1968.

Starring Tom Burke, Charles Dance and Hayley Atwell.

Dramatised in three parts by Adrian Hodges.

Nick ….. Tom Burke
Conchis ….. Charles Dance
Lily ….. Hayley Atwell
Alison ….. Anna Skellern
Margaret ….. Josie Taylor
Mitford ….. David Seddon
Meli ….. Chris Pavlo
Rowena ….. Lynsey-Anne Moffat

Harpsichordist: Maggie Cole
Recorder player: Martin Feinstein

Producer: Heather Larmour

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2016.

**** Adrian Hodges is an acclaimed dramatist and screenwriter. Including: My Week with Marilyn, The Go-Between, Peter and Wendy, The Musketeers, Survivors and Primeval.