Unmade Movies: Hitchcock's The Blind Man

A BBC Radio 4 Adaptation of the Unproduced Screenplay

By: Alfred Hitchcock, Ernest Lehman, Mark Gatiss

Narrated by: Hugh Laurie, Rebecca Front, Peter Serafinowicz, full cast

Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman's unfinished screenplay, completed by Mark Gatiss.

The annals of movie history are full of lost treasures - spectacular scripts from world-renowned writers that could have been classics, had they only been made. Now, for the first time, some of these forgotten gems have been brought to life, fully realised as vivid, cinematic radio productions. Scripted by major 20th-century writers, including Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, Alfred Hitchcock and Dennis Potter, they star a host of A-list actors and feature richly evocative, atmospheric soundtracks.

One of seven 'unmade movies' available on audio, The Blind Man is set in 1961 and features a famous blind jazz pianist, Larry Keating, who agrees to a pioneering surgical procedure: an eye transplant. The operation is a success, but his new eyes are those of a murdered man - and burned onto their retina is the image of his killer. Can Larry track him down before he strikes again?

The proposed follow-up to North by Northwest, The Blind Man was to be set in Disneyland and star Jimmy Stewart - but Walt Disney refused permission, Stewart pulled out and Lehman dropped the project, leading to a 16-year rift with Hitchcock. Decades later, the unfinished script was rediscovered by producer Laurence Bowen in a research institute in Texas - along with extensive notes and letters between Hitchcock and Lehman. Completed and directed by Mark Gatiss, it stars Hugh Laurie (House) as Larry and Rebecca Front (The Thick of It) as Sylvia, with Peter Serafinowicz (Shaun of the Dead) giving a masterly impression of Hitchcock as the narrator. Prepare to be blown away by this explosive new psychological thriller from the Master of Suspense....

Production credits

Written by Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman

Completed and directed by Mark Gatiss

Adapted for radio by Laurence Bowen

Produced by Laurence Bowen and Peter Ettedgui

Co-producer: Laurent Bouzereau

Original music by Blair Mowat

Sound design: Wilfredo Acosta

A Feelgood Fiction production for BBC Radio 4

Cast

Larry Keating - Hugh Laurie

Sylvia Whitehead - Rebecca Front

Victor Farmer - Nicholas Woodeson

Jenny Stiles - Kelly Burke

Mortie Levitt/Captain Barzoni - Andy Nyman

Linda Whitehead - Hilary Connell

Herman Graubner - John Guerrasio

Dr McGraw - John Light

Autograph Girl - Hollie Burgess

Narrator, Alfred Hitchcock - Peter Serafinowicz

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31st October 2015

©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Critic reviews

"Achingly tense scenes...and a masterpiece of a climax." (Radio Times)