Miguel de Cervantes

Full Cast

Bernard Cribbins

Ronald Baddiley

Bob Grant

A BBC Radio full-cast dramatisation

A captivating BBC Radio adaptation of Cervantes' masterpiece, chronicling the adventures of an intrepid knight errant and his faithful squire 
 
Locked up in jail, Miguel de Cervantes is attempting to start a novel when he is visited by a priest, who tells him about an old man driven insane by chivalric romances and a vision of glory. Inspired, Cervantes takes up his pen, and begins to write... 
 
His story begins in La Mancha, where an elderly country gentleman decides to emulate his knightly heroes, Sir Lancelot and El Cid, and embark on a quest to prove his valour. Renaming himself Don Quixote, he puts on his rusty armour, takes up his broadsword, saddles his broken-down horse, Rocinante, and rides out with his loyal squire Sancho Panza to put the world to rights. 
 
Spurred on by thoughts of his lady, the beautiful Dulcinea, he travels the Spanish countryside, charging at giants disguised as windmills, battling evil enchanters dressed as friars and bravely offering to fight a lion. But as his colourful fantasies come up against mundane reality, will the valiant knight be vanquished? 
 
Adapted by award-winning playwright John Arden and narrated by Ronald Baddiley as Cervantes, with Bob Grant as Don Quixote and Bernard Cribbins as Sancho Panza, this magical, metafictional tale, full of comic incidents and stories-within-stories, is at once farcical and heart-breaking. 
 
First published over 400 years ago, Cervantes' classic has been described as the first modern novel. One of the bestselling books of all time, it has been translated into over 100 languages and influenced countless authors including Flaubert, Dostoevsky, Kafka and Borges. Included here is a 2-part bonus programme, Masterpiece: Don Quixote, exploring its importance and enduring popularity. Among the contributors are Carlos Fuentes, Ben Okri and Doris Lessing, who voted the book 'the greatest literary work ever written' in a 2002 survey of 100 authors worldwide. 
 
Cast and credits 
 
Don Quixote 
Don Quixote - Bob Grant 
Sancho Panza - Bernard Cribbins 
Cervantes - Ronald Baddiley 
Father Perez - David Sumner 
Barber-Surgeon - Peter Wheeler 
Housekeeper - Kathleen Helme 
Antonia - Kate Lee 
Moor - Geoffrey Banks 
Innkeeper - Kenneth Alan Taylor 
Dorothea - Linda Gardner 
Market boy - Alan Parnaby 
Sergeant - Alan Meadows 
Don Fernando - Simon Molloy 
Aldonza - Meg Johnson 
Duke - Russell Dixon 
Samson - Stephen Boxer 
Teresa Panza - Paula Tilbrook 
Altisidora - Harriet Walter 
Scholar - Malcolm Hebden 
Puppet Master - Ken Campbell 
Duchess - Judith Arthy 
Veiled Lady - Anne Reid 
Steward - John McGregor 
Other parts played by members of the cast 
Written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 
Adapted by John Arden 
Directed by Alfred Bradley 
Music composed by Stephen Boxer and played by Ian Gammie, Bill Nixon, Jane Ryan, Roderick Skeaping, John Turner and Stephen Boxer 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 5-6 October 1980 
 
Masterpiece: Don Quixote 
With contributions from: Geoff West, Jeremy Lawrance, Julian Weiss, Francisco Rico, Andrew Sachs, Francisco Sesto, Adrienne Martin, Anne Cruz, Orson Welles, Edith Grossman, Carlos Fuentes, Ben Okri and Doris Lessing 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 15-22 August 2005 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Miguel de Cervantes

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