Howl's Moving Castle [Drama]

In the land of Ingary, Sophie Hatter is resigning herself to an uninteresting life working in a hat shop, when a castle appears above the town of Market Chipping and refuses to stay still.

Visiting the shop one day, the dreaded Witch of the Waste transforms Sophie into an old crone. Setting off into the countryside to seek her fortune, Sophie soon runs into the sinister moving castle. But the castle belongs to the dreaded Wizard Howl whose appetite, they say, is satisfied only by the souls of young girls.

First published in 1986, Howl's Moving Castle's reputation has grown over time to become recognised as a fantasy classic and, in 2004, it was adapted as an Oscar-nominated animated film by Studio Ghibli.

Cast:

Narrator: Robert Bathurst

Old Sophie: Julia McKenzie

Howl: Iwan Rheon

Michael: Angus Imrie

Calcifer: Dan Starkey

Miss Angorian: Gwyneth Keyworth

The Witch of the Waste: Pippa Bennett-Warner

Young Sophie: Dakota Blue-Richards

Neil: Gerran Howell

Written by Robert Valentine

Based upon the novel by Diana Wynne Jones

Sound Design: Richard Fox

Music: Evelyn Sykes

Directed by Simon Barnard

A Bafflegab production for BBC Radio 4

Diana Wynne Jones's fantasy classic, starring Julia McKenzie and Iwan Rheon.

When a young girl is transformed into an old woman by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a mysterious wizard, up in his sinister moving castle.