Publisher Description
Patrick Stewart stars as Raymond Chandler and Adrian Scarborough as Billy Wilder in BBC Radio 4's entertaining glimpse inside the Hollywood film industry. 'Double Jeopardy' was originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 4 February 2011.In 1944 Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder came together to work on a screen adaptation of James M. Cain's novel 'Double Indemnity'. Wilder is an ambitious 36-year-old German Jewish émigré just making his name as a director, and Chandler is a reformed alcoholic with a developing reputation as a novelist but absolutely no experience of writing for movies. The play follows their famously difficult collaboration. Paramount studios put Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder together because none of the big names would touch James M. Cain's novel. With its adulterous lovers and a crime that could be copied, it was judged too controversial to adapt because of the censorious Production Code guidelines. Chandler and Wilder famously hated each other but in a space of some four months locked in an office together they created an outstanding screenplay for a ground-breaking classic film. With Patrick Stewart ('Macbeth', 'Star Trek') as Chandler and Adrian Scarborough ('Cranford', 'The King's Speech') as Billy Wilder, 'Double Jeopardy' is directed by Claire Grove.
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About Stephen Wyatt
Stephen Wyatt is a playwright and author with extensive
experience in theater, radio, and television. In 2008 his play Memorials to the Missing won the
Tinniswood Award for best original radio script of 2007, and in 2012 he won
again for his play Gerontius. He is
also the author of two Doctor Who stories:
Paradise Towers and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.