The BBC’s audio drama of That Hideous Strength looked like a gift to Lewis readers. Listening closely, the production often leaves behind the fairy tale Lewis said he was telling, including the academic “progressive element” that gives Belbury its bite.

In this Mythic Mind episode, Dr. Andrew Snyder (professor of philosophy and theology) walks his review of the adaptation: what it gets, what it flattens in Mark and Jane Studdock, NICE, and Ransom the Pendragon, and why the novel still needs the earlier Ransom books beside it.

Topics include adaptation fidelity, modern power dressed as progress, and why a hollow audio drama can still send you back to the book.