Radio Batman

Spurred on by a visit to see The Dark Knight (yes Heath Ledger’s excellent, yes it’s a bit too long, yes, it’s still pretty damn good), I went web-searching for a memory from my youth: a serial of Batman radio plays broadcast on Radio 1 in 5 minute installments.

The plays I remember were a dramatisation of Batman: Knightfall produced by Dirk Maggs in 1994.  Turns out Maggs is a bit of a radio legend.  He produced the original series of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as well as Spider-Man and Superman serials.

I couldn’t find Knightfall anywhere online, although it is available for sale on CD.  However, I did find Batman: The Lazarus Syndrome a ’docu-drama’ that Maggs produced in 1989 for Radio 4 to celebrate the 50th aniversary of the Dark Knight.  It’s got a great cast, including Michael Gough as Alfred, and a structure a bit reminiscent of Citizen Kane.  All in all it’s pretty quirky, and after Chris Nolan’s brooding verisimilitude, it feels verycomic booky -but it’s also great fun, so enjoy.