Opening Lines - Treasure Island
John Yorke looks at Treasure Island, the great swash-buckling adventure by Robert Louis Stevenson that inspired almost every pirate tale to follow.
Stevenson wrote the story to amuse his stepson on a wet holiday in the Scottish Highlands, with the original title The Sea Cook. Looking back at his time as a boy, narrator Jim Hawkins recounts his thrilling adventures on land and at sea in the pursuit of buried treasure, and we discover that the sea cook is none other than archetypal pirate Long John Silver, one-legged and with a parrot on his shoulder, one of Stevenson’s great literary creations.
John Yorke argues that Treasure Island has a profound and lasting impact even in the age of Minecraft, Reality TV and YouTube length dramas, and in this episode of Opening Lines he will explain why.
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.
Contributor:
Louise Welsh, author and Professor of Creative Writing, Glasgow University
Extracts from:
Michael Morpurgo, Twice Upon a Time podcast produced by Hat Trick Productions Ltd, 2022
Claire Harman, BBC Radio 4’s Great Lives, 2005
Reader: Crawford Logan
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Researcher: Henry Tydeman
Production Hub Coordinator: Nina Semple
Producer: Mark Rickards
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
Published on Sunday, 24th August 2025.
Available Podcasts from Opening Lines
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