Watership Down is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in Hampshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natural wild environment, with burrows, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language, proverbs, poetry, and mythology. Evoking epic themes, the novel follows the rabbits as they escape the destruction of their warren and seek a place to establish a new home (the hill of Watership Down), encountering perils and temptations along the way.
Watership Down was Richard Adams' debut novel. It was rejected by several publishers before Collings accepted the manuscript; the published book then won the annual Carnegie Medal (UK), annual Guardian Prize (UK), and other book awards. The novel was adapted into an animated feature film in 1978 and, from 1999 to 2001, an animated children's television series. In 2018, a drama of the story was made, which both aired in the UK and was made available on Netflix.
Adams completed a sequel almost 25 years later, in 1996, Tales from Watership Down, constructed as a collection of 19 short stories about El-ahrairah and the rabbits of the Watership Down warren.
Watership Down is a 1978 British animated adventure-drama film, written, produced and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the 1972 novel by Richard Adams. It was financed by a consortium of British financial institutions and was distributed by Cinema International Corporation in the United Kingdom. Released on 19 October 1978, the film was an immediate success and it became the sixth-most popular film of 1979 at the UK box office.
It features the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne and Roy Kinnear, among others, and was the last film work of Zero Mostel, as the voice of Kehaar the gull. The musical score was by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson. Art Garfunkel's hit song "Bright Eyes" was written by songwriter Mike Batt. It has garnered a cult following.
Opening Credits; Introduction (1.21); Background History (20.15); Watership Down Plot Synopsis (21.57); Book Thoughts (29.16); Let's Rate (50.29); Introducing a Film (52.51); Watership Down Film Trailer (1978) (56.13); Lights, Camera, Action (59.36); How Many Stars (1:40.44); End Credits (1:44.27); Closing Credits (1:45.25)
Opening Credits– Epidemic Sound – Copyright . All rights reserved
Closing Credits: Bright Eyes from Watership Down by Art Garfunkel. Taken from the album Fate for Breakfast. Copyright 1978 Columbia Records.
Incidental Music: Music from Watership Down by Angela Morley. Available on the Watership Down 1978 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Copyright 1978 Vocation Records.
Original Music copyrighted 2020 Dan Hughes Music and the Literary License Podcast.
All rights reserved. Used by Kind Permission.
All songs available through Amazon Music.
Iron Giant, Monster House & A Tribute to David J. Skal
Season 7: Episode 346 - BATMAN: The Worry Men/Sideshow/A Bullet for Bullock/The Trial
Season 7: Episode 344 - Make/REMAKE: The Lion King (1994)/The Lion King (2019)
Season 7: Episode 343 - ANTHOLOGY: A Christmas Horror Story (2015)/Tales From The Crypt (1972)
Season 7: Episode 342 - DOCTOR WHO: Christmas Edition: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Season 7: Episode 341 - DOCTOR WHO: Mission into the Unknown/The Myth Makers
Season 7: Episode 340 - 2 For One: The Music Man (1962)/Island of Love (1963)
Season 7: Episode 339 - BATMAN: Demon’s Quest Part 1 & 2/Fire On Olympus/Read My Lips
Season 7: Episode 338 - ONCE UPON A TIME: Auntie Mame (P Dennis)/(Film: 1958)
Season 7: Episode 337 - ANTHOLOGY: The Uncanny (1977)/Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye (1985)
Season 7: Episode 336 - DOCTOR WHO: The Time Meddler/Galaxy 4
Season 7: Episode 335 - DARK FAMILIES: The Breadwinner (2017)/The House With The Clock In Its Walls (2018)
Season 7: Episode 334 - BATMAN: Shadow of the Bat Pt 1&2/Blind As A Bat/His Silicon Soul
Season 7: Episode 333 - ONCE UPON A TIME: Mrs Frisby & The Rats of NIMH/Secret of NIMH (1982)
Season 7: Episode 332 - ANTHOLOGIES: Trick ’R Treat (2009)/Tales of Halloween (2015)
Season 7: Episode 331 - DOCTOR WHO: The Space Museum/The Chase
Season 7: Episode 330 - DARK FAMILIES: Kuntilanak (2018)/The Hole (2009)
Season 7: Episode 329 - BATMAN: Paging the Crime Doctor/Zatana/The Mechanic/Harley and Ivy
Season 7: Episode 328 - ONCE UPON A TIME: Coraline (N Gaiman) (2009)
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