Sir Ian McKellen will play 17th century poet John Milton in an exclusive adaptation of the writer’s epic poem Paradise Lost on BBC Radio 4 this March. Joined by Frances Barber as his wife Elizabeth, McKellen will act as a narrator for the two-part drama, which has been adapted by award-winning British poet Michael Symmons Roberts.
Broadcast on Radio 4 at the beginning of Holy Week, Paradise Lost is one of English literature’s most seminal works. First published in 1667, the poem begins with Satan being cast into hell and portrays the Fall of Man. In this adaptation, Satan is played by Simon Russell Beale.