The Last of the Mohicans & The Spy

Summary

BBC Radio drama adaptations of two action-packed adventures by James Fenimore Cooper

A founding father of American literature, James Fenimore Cooper was one of America's first professional novelists, and a pioneer of both the Western and the historical romance. Included here are his 1826 masterpiece The Last of the Mohicans and his 1821 classic The Spy, widely considered the world's first espionage novel.

The Last of the Mohicans - 1757, and Britain and France are struggling for control of the New World. Caught between them are the tribes of the First Nations... Hawkeye is an American scout who lives with the American Indians and fights for the British. When the daughters of a British army officer are captured by a vengeful Huron chief while travelling to join their father, Hawkeye and his Mohican friends set out on a rescue mission... This gripping dramatisation of James Fenimore Cooper's epic is narrated by Garrick Hagon, stars Michael Feast as Hawkeye and Helen McCrory as Cora.

The Spy - New York State, 1778. Henry Wharton, a young soldier for the British in the American Revolutionary War, sneaks into no-man's land in disguise to spend an evening with his family. But their happy reunion is cut short when American troops surround the house. Can the mysterious peddler Harvey Birch provide Henry with a means of escape? Burn Gorman and Rose Leslie star in this thrilling tale of double agents and divided loyalties.

First published 1821 (The Spy) and 1826 (The Last of the Mohicans)

Production credits
Written by James Fenimore Cooper

The Last of the Mohicans
Narrator - Garrick Hagon
Hawkeye - Michael Feast
Major Heyward - Philip Franks
Cora - Helen McCrory
Alice - Naomi Radcliffe
General Munro - Russell Dixon
Chingachgook - Okon Jones
Uncas - Clarence Smith
Magua - Alfredo Michelsen
General Montcalm - John Jardine
David - Robert Whelan
Tamenund - Joe Speare

Dramatised by David Calcutt
Produced and directed by Michael Fox
Music: Trevor Allan Davies

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 5-12 November 1995


The Spy
Harvey Birch - Burn Gorman
Frances - Rose Leslie
Henry - Alex Waldmann
Mr Wharton - James Lailey
Sarah - Francine Chamberlain
Mr Harper - Timothy Watson
Caesar - Richard Pepple
Peyton Dunwoodie - Simon Bubb
Captain Lawton - Gerard McDermott
Colonel Wellmere/Skinner - Adam Billington
Isabella Singleton - Victoria Inez Hardy
Colonel Martin - Paul Moriarty

Dramatised by DJ Britton
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 22-29 January 2012

© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd