{
  "title": "AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON",
  "category": "[MOTION-PICTURE; RADIO-SERIAL]",
  "article": "“Despite evidence to the contrary,” comments British radio drama producer Dirk Maggs, “I try to\navoid doing work with a direct filmic equivalent, but I could not refuse the opportunity to rework\na classic by one of my favourite movie directors. The fact that John Landis was also enthusiastic\nto have An American Werewolf in London reworked for radio was the key. He was kindness\npersonified and got personally involved to see that we got permission to make this.”\n“Due to the horror content and some bad language, An American Werewolf in London was first\nbroadcast in three-minute segments in a late night BBC Radio 1 slot, again mixed by Paul Deeley\nin superb Dolby Surround Sound. To create the guttural wolf sounds, a pig and English badger\nnoises were used in the mix. Eric Meyers was recorded using a stereo capsule on a boom so that\nthere would be the feeling of frantic movement.”\n“We recorded Eric Meyers using a stereo capsule on a boom so he could throw himself around\nthe studio and we could follow - he had no voice and a lot of bruises afterwards.\n“This one had nothing to do with the cinematic release of An American Werewolf in Paris, that\nwas pure coincidence. Eric Meyers suggested the idea to me very early on, about 1995, but it took\ntwo years to clear. The concession to the nature of the beast was that it aired in the Mary Ann\nEvans (? apologies to the DJ, I can't remember the name) show, late nights weekdays. I do\nremember I sensed we were coming to the end of our Radio 1 heyday; the people at the show\ndidn't seem crazy about having to play a three-minute episode every night. Later on they warmed\nup a bit when they heard it. But Matthew Bannister was leaving the network and I had a feeling -\nwhich turned out to be correct - that the new regime was going to dump us. Which was a pity\nbecause we were one of the good things they had at that time... we were going places, then they\nstiffed us.\n“Of the original cast I only ever went for Jenny Agutter, Brian Glover and John Woodvine; they\nwere the important characters and they were accessible. I knew that Eric Meyers and Bill Dufris\nwould play David and Jack really well. Jenny told me she did it only because John Landis told her\nI was a good bloke, which was sort of reassuring! Jenny was delightful - obviously she's still dead\nsexy and all that, but she has a great sense of humour and was enormous fun to have around,\nwhich isn't true of all actresses who are also big stars. John Woodvine had a very dry sense of\nhumour. One time I apologised for a slightly clumsy line I had written for him and he said, 'Don't\nworry Dirk, I'm sure I can improve it somehow!' Of course it was Brian Glover's last ever acting\njob (I believe), he died a couple of months later. He was terrific, sick as he was; he came to the\nstudio on the bus, refusing a car, said he needed the exercise. And he turned in a very powerful\nperformance. I dedicated the Talkie Award we won to him. A lovely man and a truly great actor.\n“For the additional scenes I was looking for a backstory for the werewolf. Who was he before he\nwas killed on the Moors? Why were the villagers in The Slaughtered Lamb protecting him? Brian's\ncharacter was so vehement about protecting the secret. I reasoned he must have a family\nconnection. But at the same time I thought that Dr Hirsch must have some kind of secret\nknowledge of the situation. He is such an establishment figure, yet believes in werewolves. How\ncould I reconcile those elements? I though maybe he too came from the area, and I wondered if\nmaybe there could be some kind of Eastern European settlement there - in the style of\nTransylvanians coming here ... not exactly relatives of Count Dracula, but from the village! And\nblow me down, as I was starting to write the scripts, on the Today programme there was a piece\nabout Eastern European migrants to the North of England in the 18th Century - perfect! So that\ngave me a link, which I followed up. It was fun to try and tie these element up a bit.\n“His updated version of John Landis's An American Werewolf in London for BBC Radio 1 won\nthe 1997 Talkie Award for Best TV/Film Adaptation. This was the third year in succession that\nDirk won a Talkie; in 1996 his Independence Day UK won the 1996 Talkie for Best Production,\nand his productions of BBC Radio 1’s 80-episode (honest!) Judge Dredd won the 1995 Talkie for\nBest Production.”\n“Like Dirk Maggs’ previous Radio 1 dramatisations, the pace and production values are simply\nterrific.” (KEN GARNER, The Express, 7 April 1997)\n“The beast was brought triumphantly back to life ... thanks to expert direction from Dirk Maggs\n...” (STEPHANIE BILLEN, The Observer, 13 April 1997)\n“The hip language, vivid sound effects, insistent music and Dolby Surround bear witness to Dirk\nMaggs.” (PAUL DONOVAN, Sunday Times, 7 April 1997)\n“... Dirk Maggs adds new twists and grizzly sounds to John Landis’s movie ... Recommended.”\n(RADIO CHOICE, Daily Mail, 7 April 1997)\n“... an excellent job - congratulations!” (JOHN LANDIS (An American Werewolf In London, The\nBlues Brothers) April 1997)\n[Review by Ty Power] “Eric Meyers (Sargeant Bullock in Batman: Knightfall, The Human Torch\nin The Amazing Spider-Man, and David here) went to college in the US with the brother of John\nLandis (the director of the original 1981 film). He thought it might be a good idea for Dirk Maggs\nto do the story for radio. Dirk met with John Landis to talk about the project; he was emerging\nfrom the Abbey Road studios after recording music and a voice-over for his film The Stupids.\nWith him was veteran actor Christopher Lee, and Dirk got to meet them both for the first time.\nInitially, Dirk was reluctant to take on what was essentially a recycled movie; it wasn't what he\nconsidered his Audio Movies to be all about (people still approach him and say, \"You do radio\nversions of films.\" which is not the case. There has only been one: this one.). A successful meeting\nchanged Dirk's mind, however. Landis was keen for this to go ahead and gave Dirk permission to\nflesh-out and extend the story with original material, which eventually ran to more than fifteen\npercent of the running time. Landis also did everything he could topush through clearances.\n“The acting talents of Jenny Agutter, Brian Glover and John Woodvine (Woodvine's rich voice\nwould be perfect for audio book narratives, if he hasn't already added that to his repertoire) were\nsecured to reprise their film roles and bring continuity to the project. Also turning in sterling\nperformances as David and Jack, the American backpackers, are Eric Meyers and William Dufris\n(Judge Caligula in Judge Dredd - The Day The Law Died, and the title character in The Amazing\nSpider-Man) respectively. William Dufris has made it known that this project is one of his career\nworks he's most proud of.\n“As in the film, the best humour comes courtesy of the conversations between David and his\ndead friend Jack. For example: \"It looks like I'll have to get used to entertaining corpses. Take a\nseat.\" \"I'd better stand. I seem to leave bits of myself behind when I sit.\" Another example is: \"I\ncame to see you.\" \"You've seen me, now go away and decompose somewhere else. I will not be\nthreatened by a walking meatloaf!\" In the brand new opening sequence there is a clever exchange\nbetween a Inspector Villiers and his subordinates: \"There's enough blood. Where's the body?\"\n\"Over here. And over there.\" \"Another bit over here, sir.\" Another powerful moment, particularly\nbecause there are no other actors to play off of, is the scene when David is left alone in Alex's flat\non the night of his first transformation. He tries out the TV: \"ITV - soccer match, BBC1 - insipid\ndocumentary, BBC 2 - insipid documentary, Channel 4 - insipid documentary presented by\nmidget transvestites...\" And he checks his appearance: \"Everything looks the same in the mirror.\nNo insipient werewolf characteristics. Snarl! Growl! Grr!\"\n“Due to the horror content and some bad language, An American Werewolf in London was first\nbroadcast in three-minute segments in a late night BBC Radio 1 slot, again mixed by Paul Deeley\nin superb Dolby Surround Sound. To create the gutteral wolf sounds a pig and English badger\nnoises were used in the mix. Eric Meyers was recorded using a stereo capsule on a boom so that\nthere would be the feeling of frantic movement.\n“The dramatisation was released in its 110 minute entirety on cassette and CD later in 1997.\nSales were respectable, but feedback was surprisingly quiet. However, the industry obviously\nappreciated the piece as Dirk's script was nominated for the Writers' Guild Award for Best\nDramatisation, and the production won the 1997 Talkie Award for Best TV or Film Adaptation. A\nslightly truncated version of the complete Audio Movie aired on 13th September 2003 on the BBC\nWorld Service as its Play of the Week, during the themed Monster Season. The BBC World Service\nhas a global audience of 150 million.\n[SYNOPSIS, from Ty Power review] “When an attendant checks on a new patient at the lunatic\nasylum, he witnesses the man, Talbot, undergo a horrifying transformation. The attendant is\nbrutally torn apart and Talbot escapes. On the Yorkshire Moors two young American men are\nbackpacking. Hitching a ride to East Proctor, they call at a small pub called The Slaughtered Lamb\nwhere a frosty reception awaits them, especially when they question the pentagram and candles\non the wall. Unwelcome, they are dispatched back out on to the Moors with only a single warning\nto stay on the path. Faced with a seven mile walk to the next town in torrential rain, matters\ndeteriorate further when they hear the sounds of a predatory animal circling them. Jack in\nattacked by a wolf and David is injured before the special constable, George Hackett, one of the\nunsociables at the pub, kills the beast with a shotgun. Before falling unconscious David sees that\nwhat was a wolf is now a naked man.\n“David wakes up in a hospital in London to be told by Doctor Hirsch and Nurse Alex Price that\nhis friend Jack is dead. He is sedated after becoming hysterical, but later contradicts the police\nreport that the attacker was an escaped madman. As far as David is concerned it was definitely a\nwolf. The police learn that Talbot's real name was Hackett, the same as East Proctor's special\nconstable. Meanwhile, David's parents are on board an aircraft approaching Heathrow Airport\nwhen it is taken over by the people's Liberation Front. When his father tries to protest, he is shot.\nThis scene within a scene turns out to be another in a series of nightmares surrounding death\nwhich David experiences in the hospital. To make matters worse his dead friend Jack appears to\nhim in a state of decomposition and tells him they were attacked on the Moors by a lycanthrope, a\nwerewolf. Jack explains that he is cursed to walk the Earth in limbo until the bloodline is broken\nand the last werewolf is destroyed. David is told he is that last werewolf; he must kill himself.\n“When David is discharged from hospital, the attractive and sympathetic Nurse Alex gives him a\nplace to stay, and very soon they are a couple. From limbo Jack watches them make love in the\nshower. He is urged by Larry, one of many undead from the werewolf line, to persuade David to\nkill himself quickly so that they can pass on. Larry, he discovers, is the werewolf that killed him on\nthe Moors (\"I'm really pissed off at you for killing me, Larry!\" \"I've said I'm sorry, haven't I?\").\nThis time when Jack appears to David, he tells his disturbed friend that the next day at the full\nmoon he will become a werewolf. Needless to say, David thinks he is losing his mind. Intrigued by\nhis ex-patient's werewolf delusions, Dr Hirsch pays a visit to The Slaughtered Lamb pub in East\nProctor, where he receives a very cool reception from George Hackett and the other patrons. The\nurgent warnings of a young villager are abruptly cut off by the special constable.\n“Meanwhile, David is left alone while Alex goes to work the nightshift at the hospital. He\neventually undergoes a hideous transformation and disappears into the night. Dr Hirsch and\nAlex, concerned about David's mental state, attempt to contact him without success. That night a\nseries of gristly murders are reported in and around Central London. In East Proctor the patrons\nof The Slaughtered Lamb press George Hackett into taking action, as the dark secret has now\nextended beyond their community. David wakes up the next morning naked and in the wolf\nenclosure at London Zoo. After persuading a little boy to lift a woman's fur coat from a park\nbench, he makes his way back to Alex's flat. He feels fit and invigorated, like a new man.\n“When Dr Hirsch learns that David has returned he instructs Alex to bring him straight to the\nhospital, but when the taxi driver starts to talk about the brutal killings of the night before David\nrealises he was responsible. He separates himself from Alex, telling her he's not safe to be with.\nJack makes a final appearance, beckoning David into a seedy Leicester Square porno cinema.\nDavid is introduced to his victims from the night before. One more time they try to persuade him\nto commit suicide, but the full moon rises causing David to under his metamorphosis. Although\nthe police arrive on the scene, the werewolf David breaks through the barriers created at the\ncinema and causes havoc through the streets around Piccadilly Circus.\n“Dr Hirsch and Alex arrive at the scene half-believing the werewolf story. Apparently, Hirsch's\nancestors from Eastern Europe were very big on legend and superstition. It turns out that 200\nyears before, the people of East Proctor migrated from Eastern Romania. The werewolf David\nenters a theatre, but is then cornered in an alley by the police. Alex manages to slip through\nunseen into the alley, where she attempts to protect the beast. However, George Hackett turns up\nwith a shotgun and puts an end to the curse. With Alex at his side, the werewolf turns back into\nDavid. He is dead... and free.”",
  "origination": "Radio 1, London (BBC).",
  "duration": "April ?-May ??, 1997.",
  "personnel": "Wilfred Acosta (music), Paul Deeley (recording engineer, mixer), Dirk Maggs (adapter,\nscriptwriter, director).\nCAST: Jenny Agutter (Alex Price), David Bannerman (Inspector Villiers), William Dufris (Jack Goodman),\nBrian Glover (George Hacket), Eve Karpf (Nurse Gallagher), Mark Lowin (The Kid), Eric Meyers (David\nKessler), Michael Roberts (Larry Talbot), Mervyn Stutter (Sergeant McManus), John Woodvine (Doctor\nHirsch).",
  "extant_recordings": "All 40 episodes.",
  "chronology": "AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (RADIO 1, LONDON)\n[\nApril ?, 1997\n[1] “The Sanatorium”\n[2] “Beast Hunt”\n[3] “Backpacking”\n[4] “East Proctor”\n[5] “The Slaughtered Lamb”\n[6] “No Room at the Inn”\n[7] “Beware the Moon”\n[8] “Werewolf Attack”\n[9] “Rescue”\n[10] “Embassy Man”\n[11] “The Police”\n[12] “I Killed Bambi”\n[13] “Feeding Time”\n[14] “Visions”\n[15] “Nightmare”\n[16] “The Murder File”\n[17] “Jack’s Back”\n[18] “The Warning”\n[19] “The Flat”\n[20] “Night Talk”\n[21] “Up North”\n[22] “Out You Go”\n[23] “I’m Not Hungry”\n[24] “Metamorphosis”\n[25] “First Victims”\n[26] “Suspicions”\n[27] “First Night”\n[28] “Radio One”\n[29] “Balloon Thief”\n[30] “Mister Nancy Boy”\n[31] “Bad News”\n[32] “Arrest Me!”\n[33] “Phone Me”\n[34] “Blue Movies”\n[35] “Kill Yourself”\n[36] “Cinema Siege”\n[37] “Break Out”\n[38] “Cornered Beast”\n[39] “Farce Slaughter”\n[40] “I Love You, David”\nPLAY OF THE WEEK (WORLD SERVICE, LONDON—BBC)\n[\nSeptember 13, 2003\n“An American Werewolf in London”\n[Ty Power] “A slightly truncated version of the complete Audio Movie\naired on 13th September 2003 on the BBC World Service as its Play of\nthe Week,”",
  "sources": "",
  "gallery": "Dirk Maggs                                Brian Glover, Jenny Agutter and John Woodvine",
  "images": []
}