The Virginian

Available for over a year

Story of America, a major collection of dramatisations marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, featuring a new adaptation of Owen Wister’s pioneering work of Cowboy fiction by Theo Toksvig-Stewart. In this mythic portrayal of the Wild West a lone cowboy must confront the values he lives by when he falls in love. The Virginian ..... Parker Sawyers Tenderfoot ..... Alexander Arnold Molly ..... Jessica Rhodes Steve ..... Sam Swann Trampas ..... Fayez Bakhsh Scipio ..... Christopher Ragland Shorty ..... Andre Bullock Mrs Taylor ..... Clare Corbett Judge Henry ..... Sam Dale Directed by Gemma Jenkins Sound Design by Keith Graham and Andy Garratt Production Co-ordinator: Jonathan Powell Casting Manager: Alex Curran A BBC Studios Production For Radio 4 As the first American Western novel, runaway bestseller The Virginian (1902) is where it all began. It's set against the backdrop of the Wyoming frontier in the late 1880s, and tells the story of 'the Virginian', a stoical cowboy working on the Sunk Creek Ranch. His values are constantly put to the test through his interactions with cattle rustlers, outlaws, and his long-standing feud with fellow cowboy, Trampas. It's also a love story, as he woos school teacher, Molly Wood, who is from the East and unfamiliar with the ways of the West. It's Molly who makes the Virginian confront himself in ways no one else has before.