By Rudyard Kipling, adapted by Mike Walker

BBC Radio 4, July 22 2018

Kipling recounts the tale of two men who try to impose their will in the Hindu Kush mountains…

Mike Walker’s retelling of Kipling’s classic tale (which formed the basis for the well known Sean Connery movie from the mid-Seventies) doesn’t shy from many of the inherent assumptions made by the characters in the original, even if he does – sensibly – rework a lot of the language that Peachey Carnehan and Daniel Dravot use (the “n” word in particular makes no appearance). He moves things on by eliminating Kipling’s first encounter with the pair in detail, keeping it to the meetings before and after the two Masons decide to head to Kafiristan. The original already has a narrator in it, courtesy of the survivor, and this is put to good use.

Blake Ritson makes an urbane Kipling, reinforcing my opinion that at some point someone has got to cast him as Simon Templar on audio; Richard Ridings and Samuel James make a good contrast as the pair of former con men who in some ways are embarking on the biggest con of their career. Peter Polycarpou’s Timuk (again, sensibly renamed from Kipling’s original) is a voice of reason – but one tinged with steel.

The ending is slightly reworked for audio (think Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’s rope bridge for an idea of Kipling’s version), but is actually considerably more effective for it, making the repentance and acceptance of the original far more personal. Abigail le Fleming keeps it all moving, and it really doesn’t feel like nearly an hour has elapsed at the end.

Verdict: A good adaptation of the story HG Wells described as “one of the best in the world”. 9/10

Paul Simpson