[Mithalwen]

I meant to say before I ran out of lunchtime yesterday that whatever sterophonic magic they did on John McAndrew it was great and certainly hasn't dated.

One of the things that struck me about this episode is just how good Michael Hordern is as Gandalf - even if he didn't understand what was going on!!! I have to say I am not a huge fan of Ian McKellen in the role and perhaps the reasons are similar to why I am not so keen on Robert Stephens ..it all seems a bit too "actorly", bit too Stratford... it just seems a little less natural. Overall though it is a wonderful ensemble cast who you can completely believe in as their characters, and though there are household names and names only the hardcore Radio 4 listener will find familiar it is usually quite seamless.

It is strange that even though I have listened ot these tapes so often, it never struck me before how close Frodo's threat to command Gollum to throw himself in to the fire was to realisation at the Cracks of Doom. Slightly chilling.