Agatha Christie's Hound of Death

1st Broadcast 11th February 2002 BBC Radio 4

Director

Dirk Maggs

Dramatised By

Bill Morrison

Written By

Agatha Christie

Producer

Bruce Hyman

Produced By

Above The Title Productions Ltd for BBC Radio 4

Synopsis

It is 1920. Britain is still recovering from the loss of virtually an entire generation in the Great War, and those who survive have physical and mental scars from which they may never recover.

One such is a nun, apparently traumatised by scenes of horror she has witnessed at the front. But what precisely did she see?

An ambitious doctor and a pioneering psychologist try to restore the woman's sanity, but in the process, they uncover something much more sinister.

or

A brand-new radio adaptation of a classic Agatha Christie short story by Bill Morrison. A nun is apparently traumatised by scenes of horror she witnessed at the Front.

But what precisely did she see? An ambitious doctor and a pioneering woman psychologist try to restore the woman’s sanity, but in the process, they uncover something much more sinister.

Cast

Alice Julia McKenzie

Dr Rose Michael Kitchen

Tom Hayden Simon Treves

Sister Marie Marianne Borgo

Kitty Alexis Zegerman

Production Crew

Not known at this time

Recorded at

Not known at this time

Music composed & Arranged

Not known at this time

Comment by Dirk Maggs

When I tell people what I do, I say my job is to ‘bypass the optic nerve and sneak through the side door to create visual images in sound’ ... the opening sequence of this Above the Title Production is an example of what I think I mean....

The idea I had was for a tracking shot moving back from the front-line trenches of a World War 1 battlefield to a bombed-out town in Belgium. A squad of German troops are marching into the local church, where a nun tries to get them to leave before they are destroyed by a mysterious power...

Originally the script only depicted the scene inside the church. But I wanted to set the scene in a larger, historical context. I arrived at the final sequence by visualizing in a sort of formulaic way. What do I see in my mind’s eye as I fly over the scene? What sounds will these things I see make? In what order will I encounter them?

The actress was French, but the lines were originally to be spoken in English. After a few rehearsals it hit me that it would add so much more if she delivered them in her own language ...

The tricky part was that Mozart’s Requiem was to be the underscore. It was a challenge to get Mozart to comment on the action instead of overpowering it!

Running Time

1 episode of 30 minutes 30 minutes in total