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AGAINST THE CURRENT: THE GREAT GATSBY AT 100 (320kbs-m4a/130mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 26th April 2025
Following the publication of 'The Great Gatsby' a hundred years ago, F. Scott Fitzgerald bemoaned the fact that not one of the reviewers, "had the slightest idea what the book was about". They had focused their attention on the book's critique of what would become known as the American Dream, and ever since then the conversation about this most venerated of books has largely remained centred around that same theme. Professor Sarah Churchwell, who has been teaching, thinking and writing about the novel for decades, breaks away from that conversation to explore poetic, aesthetic and philosophical perspectives stemming from Fitzgerald's own ambition to write a serious piece of art rather than merely a one-dimensional slice of social commentary. Sarah also features new cinematic and theatrical discoveries that reveal how most people first came to know the novel through adaptations that differed considerably from the source material. She speaks with academics Anne-Margaret Daniel, Anil Gomes, Nick Gaskill, Martina Mastandrea, Philip McGowan and James West.
Archive includes:
'The Great Gatsby' Dir. Baz Luhrmann 2013 Warner Brothers
'The Great Gatsby' Dir. Elliott Nugent 1949 Paramount
'The Dream Divided' Dir. Fred Burnley 1969
Producer: Geoff Bird
Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno
THE GATSBY FACTOR (320kbs-m4a/64mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 25th September 2021
Recorded on both sides of the Atlantic - Sarah Churchwell explores the enduring popularity of The Great Gatsby as a novel and as a source of inspiration for film and stage adaptations.
Back in 2011, it became a 'major motion picture' for the fourth time in its life - in a version by Baz Luhrmann.
In Britain, academic and broadcaster Sue visits the Northern Ballet and Wilton's Music Hall in London - both with versions of Gatsby
While in New York, she hears about the locations for the novel - the extreme wealth of north shore Long Island where Gatsby has his mansion, and the contrasting 'valley of ashes' where the poorer characters live.
Featuring luminaries at the New York Times who consider why this novel, more than any other, has burned its way into American consciousness.
How was Scott Fitzgerald in this the slimmest of novels, and with Gatsby the vaguest of protagonists, able to crack 'the kernal of the American fable'?
Producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2013.
THE GREAT GATSBY LETTERS (320kbs-m4a/66mb/29mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 25th September 2021
F. Scott Fitzgerald tells his editor Maxwell Perkins about his hopes and fears for his new novel - The Great Gatsby.
A selection of the lively correspondence that describes the story in making, as the author travelled the south Mediterranean at the time, with his wife Zelda.
Read by William Hope.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2011.
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD - TENDER IS THE NIGHT: A ROMANCE (320kbs-m4a/262mb/1hr54mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 18th & 19th September 2019
A beautiful and poignant novel about marriage, glamour and disintegration. Regarded by many as F Scott Fitzgerald’s greatest book - dramatised by Robin Brooks.
Director: Gaynor Macfarlane
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2015.
TENDER IS THE NIGHT: A ROMANCE - 1. EPISODE 1 (320kbs-m4a/131mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 18th September 2019
Between the First World War and the Wall Street Crash the French Riviera was the stylish place for wealthy Americans to visit.
Among the most fashionable are psychoanalyst Dick Diver and his wife Nicole, who hold court at their villa. Into their circle comes Rosemary Hoyt, a young film star, who is instantly attracted to them, but understands little of the dark secrets that hold them together.
Dick Diver ..... Simon Harrison
Nicole Diver ..... Melody Grove
Rosemary ..... Kelly Burke
Tommy ..... Finn den Hertog
Abe North ..... Mark McDonnel
McKisco ...... Laurie Brown
Violet/Baby ..... Anita Vettesse
Mother ..... Anne Lacey
Franz/Warren ...... Nick Underwood
Collis/Buddy ..... Alasdair Hankinson
Narrator ..... Sam Dale
TENDER IS THE NIGHT: A ROMANCE - 2. EPISODE 2 (320kbs-m4a/131mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 19th September 2019
Nicole Diver has had a breakdown and, together with her husband Dick, she flees Paris.
The events of the past are beginning to take a toll on their marriage and only one of them has the strength to survive.
Dick Diver ..... Simon Harrison
Nicole Diver ..... Melody Grove
Rosemary ..... Kelly Burke
Tommy ..... Finn den Hertog
Swanson ...... Laurie Brown
Baby ..... Anita Vettesse
Kathe/Caroline ..... Anne Lacey
Franz/Warren ...... Nick Underwood
Collis ..... Alasdair Hankinson
Narrator ..... Sam Dale
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD - THE GREAT GATSBY (320kbs-m4a/261mb/1hr53mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 26th & 27th September 2019
F. Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel, a portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, is perhaps the greatest book on the fallibility of the American dream.
Dramatised in two-parts by Robert Forrest.
Director: Gaynor Macfarlane
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
THE GREAT GATSBY - 1. EPISODE 1 (320kbs-m4a/130mb/56mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 26th September 2019
Nick Carraway arrives in Long Island and is reacquainted with his distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan. He falls in with her wealthy crowd. His neighbour, the self-made and self-invented millionaire, Gatsby, is the man who has everything - but one thing will always be out of his reach.
Nick ..... Bryan Dick
Gatsby ..... Andrew Scott
Tom ..... Andrew Buchan
Daisy ..... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Jordan ..... Melody Grove
Wolfsheim ..... Karl Johnson
Klipspringer ..... Sam Dale
Wilson ..... Gerard McDermott
Myrtle ..... Susie Riddell
Catherine ..... Tracy Wiles
Chester ..... Patrick Brennan
Lucille ..... Christine Absalom
Alice ..... Amaka Okafor
THE GREAT GATSBY - 2. EPISODE 2 (320kbs-m4a/131mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 27th September 2019
Nick has fallen in with the wealthy crowd on Long Island. His neighbour, Gatsby, asks Nick to engineer a meeting with his lost love, Nick's cousin, Daisy.
Nick ..... Bryan Dick
Gatsby ..... Andrew Scott
Tom ..... Andrew Buchan
Daisy ..... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Jordan ..... Melody Grove
Wolfsheim ..... Karl Johnson
Klipspringer/Michaelis ..... Sam Dale
Wilson/Gatz ..... Gerard McDermott
Myrtle ..... Susie Riddell
Alice ..... Amaka Okafor