According to its introduction, The Princess Bride is a long, sprawling book by the great Florinese writer S. Morgenstern that renowned screenwriter and novelist William Goldman has been obliged to abridge so that his son doesn’t have to struggle through all the boring bits.

But as John Yorke reveals, all is not as it seems in this metafictional novel from 1973 that Goldman himself went on to adapt into a screenplay for a much-loved film. The Princess Bride may ostensibly be a fairy story, but there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for R4.

Natalie Haynes is a classicist, broadcaster and author of books including A Thousand Ships and Stone Blind.
Stephen Keyworth is a writer and director who has adapted two of William Goldman’s novels – The Princess Bride and Marathon Man – for Radio 4.
Interview with William Goldman, BBC Radio 3 Third Ear, March 1988

Reader: Riley Neldam
Music: Torquil MacLeod
Researcher: Henry Tydeman
Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Producer: Torquil MacLeod
Executive Producer: Sara Davies

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4