Werewolf

Eric Meyers (Sargeant Bullock in Batman: Knightfall, The Human Torch in The
Amazing Spider-Man, and David here) went to college in the US with the brother of
John Landis (the director of the original 1981 film). He thought it might be a good idea
for Dirk Maggs to do the story for radio. Dirk met with John Landis to talk about the
project; he was emerging from the Abbey Road studios after recording music and a
voice-over for his film The Stupids. With him was veteran actor Christopher Lee, and
Dirk got to meet them both for the first time. Initially, Dirk was reluctant to take on
what was essentially a recycled movie; it wasn't what he considered his Audio Movies
to be all about (people still approach him and say, "You do radio versions of films."
which is not the case. There has only been one: this one.). A successful meeting
changed Dirk's mind, however. Landis was keen for this to go ahead and gave Dirk
permission to flesh-out and extend the story with original material, which eventually ran
to more than fifteen percent of the running time. Landis also did everything he could to
push through clearances.

When an attendant checks on a new patient at the lunatic asylum, he witnesses the
man, Talbot, undergo a horrifying transformation. The attendant is brutally torn apart
and Talbot escapes. On the Yorkshire Moors two young American men are
backpacking. Hitching a ride to East Proctor, they call at a small pub called The
Slaughtered Lamb where a frosty reception awaits them, especially when they question
the pentagram and candles on the wall. Unwelcome, they are dispatched back out on
to the Moors with only a single warning to stay on the path. Faced with a seven mile
walk to the next town in torrential rain, matters deteriorate further when they hear the
sounds of a predatory animal circling them. Jack in attacked by a wolf and David is
injured before the special constable, George Hackett, one of the unsociables at the
pub, kills the beast with a shotgun. Before falling unconscious David sees that what
was a wolf is now a naked man.

David wakes up in a hospital in London
to be told by Doctor Hirsch and Nurse
Alex Price that his friend Jack is dead. He
is sedated after becoming hysterical, but
later contradicts the police report that the
attacker was an escaped madman. As far
as David is concerned it was definitely a
wolf. The police learn that Talbot's real
name was Hackett, the same as East
Proctor's special constable. Meanwhile,
David's parents are on board an aircraft
approaching Heathrow Airport when it is
taken over by the People's Liberation
Front. When his father tries to protest, he
is shot. This scene within a scene turns
out to be another in a series of
nightmares surrounding death which
David experiences in the hospital. To
make matters worse his dead friend Jack
appears to him in a state of
decomposition and tells him they were
attacked on the Moors by a lycanthrope,
a werewolf. Jack explains that he is
cursed to walk the Earth in limbo until the
bloodline is broken and the last werewolf
is destroyed. David is told he is that last
werewolf; he must kill himself.

When David is discharged from hospital, the attractive and sympathetic Nurse Alex
gives him a place to stay, and very soon they are a couple. From limbo Jack watches
them make love in the shower. He is urged by Larry, one of many undead from the
werewolf line, to persuade David to kill himself quickly so that they can pass on.
Larry, he discovers, is the werewolf that killed him on the Moors ("I'm really pissed
off at you for killing me, Larry!" "I've said I'm sorry, haven't I?"). This time when Jack
appears to David, he tells his disturbed friend that the next day at the full moon he will
become a werewolf. Needless to say, David thinks he is losing his mind. Intrigued by
his ex-patient's werewolf delusions, Dr Hirsch pays a visit to The Slaughtered Lamb
pub in East Proctor, where he receives a very cool reception from George Hackett and
the other patrons. The urgent warnings of a young villager are abruptly cut off by the
special constable.

Meanwhile, David is left alone while
Alex goes to work the nightshift at the
hospital. He eventually undergoes a
hideous transformation and disappears
into the night. Dr Hirsch and Alex,
concerned about David's mental state,
attempt to contact him without
success. That night a series of gristly
murders are reported in and around
Central London. In East Proctor the
patrons of The Slaughtered Lamb
press George Hackett into taking
action, as the dark secret has now
extended beyond their community.
David wakes up the next morning
naked and in the wolf enclosure at
London Zoo. After persuading a little
boy to lift a woman's fur coat from a
park bench, he makes his way back to
Alex's flat. He feels fit and invigurated,
like a new man.

When Dr Hirsch learns that David has
returned he instructs Alex to bring him
straight to the hospital, but when the
taxi driver starts to talk about the brutal
killings of the night before David
realises he was responsible. He
separates himself from Alex, telling her
he's not safe to be with. Jack makes a
final appearance, beckoning David into
a seedy Leicester Square porno
cinema. David is introduced to his
victims from the night before. One
more time they try to persuade him to
commit suicide, but the full moon rises
causing David to under his
metamorphosis. Although the police
arrive on the scene, the werewolf David
breaks through the barriers created at
the cinema and causes havoc through
the streets around Piccadilly Circus.

Dr Hirsch and Alex arrive at the scene half-believing the werewolf story. Apparently,
Hirsch's ancestors from Eastern Europe were very big on legend and superstition. It
turns out that 200 years before, the people of East Proctor migrated from Eastern
Romania. The werewolf David enters a theatre, but is then cornered in an alley by the
police. Alex manages to slip through unseen into the alley, where she attempts to
protect the beast. However, George Hackett turns up with a shotgun and puts an end
to the curse. With Alex at his side, the werewolf turns back into David. He is dead...
and free.

The acting talents of Jenny Agutter, Brian Glover and John
Woodvine (Woodvine's rich voice would be perfect for audio
book narratives, if he hasn't already added that to his repertoire)
were secured to reprise their film roles and bring continuity to
the project. Also turning in stirling performances as David and
Jack, the American backpackers, are Eric Meyers and William
Dufris (Judge Caligula in Judge Dredd - The Day The Law Died,
and the title character in The Amazing Spider-Man) respectively.
William Dufris has made it known that this project is one of his
career works he's most proud of.

As in the film, the best humour comes courtesy of the
conversations between David and his dead friend Jack. For
example: "It looks like I'll have to get used to entertaining
corpses. Take a seat." "I'd better stand. I seem to leave bits of
myself behind when I sit." Another example is: "I came to see
you." "You've seen me, now go away and decompose
somewhere else. I will not be threatened by a walking meatloaf!"
In the brand new opening sequence there is a clever exchange
between a Inspector Villiers and his subordinates: "There's
enough blood. Where's the body?" "Over here. And over
there." "Another bit over here, sir." Another powerful moment,
particularly because there are no other actors to play off of, is
the scene when David is left alone in Alex's flat on the night of
his first transformation. He tries out the TV: "ITV - soccer
match, BBC1 - insipid documentary, BBC 2 - insipid
documentary, Channel 4 - insipid documentary presented by
midget transvestites..." And he checks his appearance:
"Everything looks the same in the mirror. No insipient werewolf
characteristics. Snarl! Growl! Grr!"

Due to the horror content and some bad language, An American
Werewolf in London was first broadcast in three-minute
segments in a late night BBC Radio 1 slot, again mixed by Paul
Deeley in superb Dolby Surround Sound. To create the gutteral
wolf sounds a pig and English badger noises were used in the
mix. Eric Meyers was recorded using a stereo capsule on a
boom so that there would be the feeling of frantic movement.

The dramatisation was released in its 110 minute entirety on cassette and CD later in
1997 (ZBBC 1994). Sales were respectable, but feedback was surprisingly quiet.
However, the industry obviously appreciated the piece as Dirk's script was nominated
for the Writers' Guild Award for Best Dramatisation, and the production won the 1997
Talkie Award for Best TV or Film Adaptation. A slightly trunkated version of the
complete Audio Movie aired on 13th September 2003 on the BBC World Service as
its Play of the Week, during the themed Monster Season. The BBC World Service has
a global audience of 150 million.

"This one had nothing to do with the
cinematic release of An American Werewolf
in Paris, that was pure coincidence. Eric
Meyers suggested the idea to me very early
on, about 1995, but it took two years to
clear. The concession to the nature of the
beast was that it aired in the Mary Ann Evans
(? apologies to the dj, I can't remember the
name) show, late nights weekdays. I do
remember I sensed we were coming to the
end of our Radio 1 heyday; the people at the
show didn't seem crazy about having to play
a three-minute episode every night. Later on
they warmed up a bit when they heard it. But
Matthew Bannister was leaving the network
and I had a feeling - which turned out to be
correct - that the new regime was going to
dump us. Which was a pity because we were
one of the good things they had at that
time... we were going places, then they
stiffed us.

"Of the original cast I only ever went for Jenny Agutter, Brian Glover and John
Woodvine; they were the important characters and they were accessible. I knew that
Eric Meyers and Bill Dufris would play David and Jack really well. Jenny told me she
did it only because John Landis told her I was a good bloke, which was sort of
reassuring! Jenny was delightful - obviously she's still dead sexy and all that, but she
has a great sense of humour and was enormous fun to have around, which isn't true of
all actresses who are also big stars. John Woodvine had a very dry sense of humour.
One time I apologised for a slightly clumsy line I had written for him and he said,
'Don't worry Dirk, I'm sure I can improve it somehow!' Of course it was Brian
Glover's last ever acting job (I believe), he died a couple of months later. He was
terrific, sick as he was; he came to the studio on the bus, refusing a car, said he
needed the exercise. And he turned in a very powerful performance. I dedicated the
Talkie Award we won to him. A lovely man and a truly great actor.

"For the additional scenes I was looking for a backstory for the werewolf. Who was
he before he was killed on the Moors? Why were the villagers in The Slaughtered
Lamb protecting him? Brian's character was so vehement about protecting the secret. I
reasoned he must have a family connection. But at the same time I thought that Dr
Hirsch must have some kind of secret knowledge of the situation. He is such an
establishment figure, yet believes in werewolves. How could I reconcile those
elements? I though maybe he too came from the area, and I wondered if maybe there
could be some kind of Eastern European settlement there - in the style of
Transylvanians coming here ... not exactly relatives of Count Dracula, but from the
village! And blow me down, as I was starting to write the scripts, on the Today
programme there was a piece about Eastern European migrants to the North of
England in the 18th Century - perfect! So that gave me a link, which I followed up. It
was fun to try and tie these element up a bit."

Review by Ty Power