What was Shadowlands?
Shadowlands was a play depicting Lewis’s friendship and marriage to Joy Davidman Gresham towards the end of his life. There have, to date been four different versions: a BBC TV play; a stage play; a movie and a radio play. The play was first mooted way back in 1983 by Brian Sibley and Norman Stone. Their script, under the title Surprised By Joy, was optioned by a TV company but was not made. It emerged two years later and was revived by scriptwriter Bill Nicholson who wrote an entirely new script entitled ‘Shadowlands’. This was released as a TV film directed by Norman Stone, and starring Joss Ackland and Claire Bloom in 1985. The piece was then re-written as a stage play and this version starred Nigel Hawthorne and Jane Lapotaire (who was later replaced by Jane Alexander). It premiered in London in 1990, and then in New York in 1991. The movie version was again a re-write by Bill Nicholson, and was released in 1993. This time it starred Anthony Hopkins and Debrah Winger, and was direc
