A Taste for Death BBC Radio Play: All the News to Date

For those who haven’t read the previous posts, here is all the news to date on the Radio 4 production of A Taste for Death.
Note: all new information will be updated in this post; scroll to the bottom for updates. 

Scroll to the bottom for the episode guide.

The brand-new dramatisation of Peter O'Donnell's fourth Modesty Blaise novel will be broadcast on the Radio 4 "15 Minute Drama" slot over the five weekdays of the week before Christmas, 17–21 December. The episodes will be available online as they are broadcast, and for up to a week afterwards.

The script has been written by bestselling crime author Stef Penney (author of ‘The Tenderness of Wolves’). The music was composed specially for the programme by Will Gregory, and has been recorded by the National Orchestra of Wales.

Stef Penney's adaptation has to fit the time available for the broadcasts, which means that some things have had to be cut and others handled in a different way. However, the production is in good hands: Stef has been a devoted fan of Peter O’Donnell's work for many years, and Kate McAll, the BBC Executive Producer who is handling the production, is one of the most respected producers in radio drama.  They have worked together on other literary dramatisations.

CAST LIST
Modesty Blaise: Daphne Alexander
Willie Garvin: Carl Prekopp
Sir Gerald Tarrant:  Alun Armstrong
Steve Collier: Geoffrey Streatfeild
Dinah Pilgrim: Samantha Dakin
McWhirter: Alex Ferns
Delicata:  Sam Dale
Sir Harold Presteign: Nigel Anthony
Skeet: Jeff Mash

Daphne Alexander as Modesty Blaise	Carl Prekopp as Willie Garvin	Alun Armstrong as Sir Gerald Tarrant
Geoffrey Streatfield as Steven Collier	Samantha Dakin as Dinah Pilgrim	Alex Ferns as McWhirter
Sam Dale as Delicata	Nigel Anthony as Presteign	Jeff Mash as Skeet

NEW: Daphne Alexander was on BBC Radio London today (December 11), on the Robert Elms show. You can listen to the program on the BBC iplayer (fast forward to 2:35.35 for the interview).

Also, the BBC website now has some promotional videos for the radio play:

Stef Penney will be doing a live interview on Woman's Hour on the first day of the broadcasts, 17 December. Woman's Hour is immediately before the 15 Minute Drama slot, 10 - 10.45am London time

EPISODES
Go to the Radio 4 iPlayer schedule, or follow the links below to access the episodes:

• Episode 1: Monday December 17
• Episode 2: Tuesday December 18
• Episode 3: Wednesday December 19
• Episode 4: Thursday December 20
• Episode 5: Friday December 21
• Omnibus Edition (all episodes): Sunday December 23

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A Taste for Death: Press release from Souvenir Press

(which sounds a bit better than 'Souvenir Press Press Release')

Souvenir Press will be reprinting A Taste for Death to tie in with the radio play. You can view their press release here, and below is the Modesty Blaise page from their catalogue (click image to enlarge).

Unfortunately, it looks like not all of the Modesty Blaise books are being reprinted; two are still out of print.

Unbelievably, the 2001 paperback reprint of The Impossible Virgin is selling for as much as US$298 on Amazon.com! (I've paid less than that for first edition vintage paperbacks!) I'm not sure why Souvenir Press isn't reprinting the entire series.

But on the plus side... 16 days until the radio play airs!
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A Taste for Death: BBC Announcement

The BBC has finally announced the A Taste for Death radio play, with an almost-full cast list (noticeably absent: McWhirter).

The cast list:
Modest Blaise - Daphne Alexander
Willie Garvin - Carl Prekopp
Sir Gerald Tarrant - Alun Armstrong
Simon Delicata - Sam Dale
Steve Collier - Geoffrey Streatfeild
Dinah Pilgrim - Samantha Dakin

More “A Taste for Death” News: Willie Garvin

This just in: the role of Willie Garvin will be played by… Carl Prekopp.

Prekopp has been in countless BBC radio plays, including Wuthering Heights and David Copperfield.

You can hear his voice in this interview clip.

And the countdown is on... only a few weeks until the radio play airs!

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Update on A Taste for Death Radio Play

More news about the BBC radio production of A Taste for Death...

The dramatisation will be broadcast on the Radio 4 “15 Minute Drama” slot over the five weekdays of the week before Christmas, 17–21 December. The episodes will be available online as they are broadcast, and for up to a week afterwards.

The music was composed specially for the programme by Will Gregory, and has been recorded by the National Orchestra of Wales.

There was a question in from a Modesty fan who wanted to know how the play will be fit into five 15-minute slots; below is the answer.

Stef Penney's adaptation has to fit the time available for the broadcasts, which means some things have had to be cut and others handled in a different way. However, things are in good hands: Stef has been a devoted fan of Peter O’Donnell's work for many years, and Kate McAll, the BBC Executive Producer who is handling the production, is one of the most respected producers in radio drama.  They have worked together on other literary dramatisations.

Daphne Alexander will play Modesty Blaise

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John Burns originals for sale

The Book Palace has three Modesty Blaise originals by John Burns for sale. The first two are unused art that was produced for Dead Man's Handle and The Xanadu Talisman (both 13x17 oil on card):

...and the third is the original art produced for the Titan Books reprint of the Modesty Blaise story 'Warlords of Phoenix'.

You can view (or buy!) these on The Book Palace website.
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New BBC Radio Play of A Taste for Death

BIG news, everyone... the BBC is producing a radio play of the Modesty Blaise novel A Taste for Death. The play will be serialised on Radio 4 in December (yes, this year!)

The script has been written by bestselling crime author Stef Penney (author of ‘The Tenderness of Wolves’), and Daphne Alexander has been confirmed for the part of Modesty Blaise.

I'll post any more details as I get them... stay tuned!

Missing Strip from The Wicked Gnomes

Hello everyone - this site's been quiet for a while as I've been busy with other projects, but here's an unusual gem for you: a missing strip! A faithful MB fan noticed that strip 3194 was missing from the Titan print of The Wicked Gnomes. The strip was very kindly sent in by another Modesty fan, so here it is:

You can click on the image to view a larger version.

Thanks to the fan who sent this in!

New Loopy Dave Cover - Those About to Die

Another gorgeous cover by Loopy Dave for Agent X9 magazine, for the Modesty Blaise story Those About to Die:

Amazing perspective on this one!

You can check out more at Deviant Art.
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Jim Holdaway and The Vanishing Lady

This treasure came to me from John Henley, a magician who once commissioned Jim Holdaway to illustrate a puzzle for him.

"Back in the 1960s/1970s, I owned and ran a magic shop in London, England, and was a keen follower of the Modesty Blaise cartoons, not just for the stories but also the style of artwork. When I was going to update a puzzle that we were going to reissue, I contacted Jim Holdaway to see if he would illustrate it, and was delighted when he agreed to come to my magic shop to discuss it. He was a nice guy, and occasionally I spoke to his wife too, but she had a nickname which escapes me... I think it was ‘Chip’. Anyway, after a long, long wait (artists always seem to be under the gun for their work), Jim provided me with the artwork, from which we had the plates made. If you check the picture, you will see Jim's signature and the 1969 copyright — not long before he died.

There are three parts that make up the full picture which relates to a puzzle called The Vanishing Lady. I was always appreciative of Jim's effort to produce this puzzle, and his artwork was first rate (I still have the original drawings).

The puzzle is, in fact, extremely clever, and Jim worked from an old-fashioned model that I used to sell in the early 1960s. There are three pieces of card: one long and two short. The two short pieces, when placed side by side, are the same length as the long piece. The three pieces are assembled with the long strip at the bottom and the two shorter pieces on top. With the pieces thus assembled, you see pictures of 15 pin-up girls. If you swap the positions of the two short pieces, the picture size is the same as before, but now you can see only 14 girls. One has disappeared. Which one, and where did she go?"

You can enlarge the images below to see the puzzle in the two different formats: one with 15 girls, one with 14.

 

John Henley is the international copyright holder of the illustrated puzzle; many thanks to him for sharing his story, as well as this beautiful Holdaway artwork that most of the world has never before seen!
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Modesty Blaise Dog

This has to be the oddest piece of MB merchandise I've seen yet: a Modesty Blaise dog. I'm not sure which is stranger, the item or the £700 price tag!

Unless this dog can do some really cool tricks, like break you out of a Thai gaol and bring down a crime ring while he's at it... I hope there's a misplaced decimal place in the price.

Thanks, Wayne, for sharing this gem!
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Holdaway Originals in the Cartoon Museum

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The Cartoon Museum in London sounds like it is well worth a visit, not least of all because it contains some Holdaway Modesty Blaise originals.

"The museum was established to preserve the best of British cartoons, caricatures and comics and to make the creativity of cartoon artists past and present accessible to people of all ages, and it does just that.

The origins of British cartooning are set out here, beginning with the work of Hogarth, Gillray and Cruikshank, and travelling through decades and centuries right up to the present, with examples from the finest British contemporary political cartoonists, such as Matt, Steve Bell and Peter Brookes.

There are original works by Thelwell; Thurber; Giles; Norman Pett, who created Jane; Jim Holdaway, who gave Modesty Blaise her start in life; and Reg Smythe's unforgettable Andy Capp and Flo."

You can read more about it in this article from Adelaide Now.

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Dick Giordano Modesty Blaise originals

A number of Dick Giordano original Modesty Blaise strips have been popping up on Ebay, including the original sketch for the DC cover:

The original cover by DICK GIORDANO for the Modesty Blaise Graphic Novel 1-Shot published by DC, 1994, done on standard DC paper. Source: Ebay

Bidding for this one starts at $250 - not bad for an original! 
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Happy New Year - First Agent X9 Modesty Cover of 2012!

Loopy Dave continues to produce gorgeous new covers for Agent X9:

Many fans will be happy to see Modesty in a bikini, and I think the artist has also done a great job with the composition - I love the boat seen through the wheel. But I can't help wondering why she doesn't wear her sunglasses...
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