Like the novel on which it is based, the radio series tells the story of an epic struggle between the Dark Lord Sauron of Mordor, the primary villain of the work, and an alliance of heroes who join forces to save the world from falling under his shadow.

The BBC entered negotiations with The Saul Zaentz Company to obtain the radio rights to adapt The Lord of the Rings in 1979, following the release of the Ralph Bakshi animated film.

[5] Sibley and Bakewell began the process of adapting the books by arranging the core storyline into 26 episode synopses, each with its own conventional narrative structure and ending on a natural ‘cliffhanger’.

Sibley recalls pacing difficulties due to the book's fluctuations between "sections rich in description, others containing lengthy historical resumés, some having an abundance of dialogue, while others are almost entirely narrative.

As such, the serial omits several sequences, most notably those in Book 1 in which the hobbits come to Crickhollow, enter the Old Forest, and encounter the Barrow-wights, Old Man Willow, and ultimately Tom Bombadil.

[6] On the latter, Sibley has stated he considers Bombadil to be a character Tolkien created independently of The Lord of the Rings,[3] and that it was preferable to "excise one large episode than to dramatically reduce several others."

[2] The script attempts to be as faithful as possible to the original novel[6] with many sections of dialogue lifted directly from the source material, such as the conversations between Frodo, Sam and Faramir in The Window on the West.

The soundtrack with Stephen Oliver's music, digitally remastered, was included with The Return of the King set, with a demo of John Le Mesurier singing Bilbo's Last Song as a bonus track.

"[1] He felt that Hordern managed to "become" Gandalf, "by intuition or some other theatrical magic ... by turn wise, stern and compassionate, a force for good, a constant light in an ever-darkening storm.

"[1] As for John Le Mesurier's Bilbo, the comic actor who had played Sergeant Wilson in Dad's Army gave the part "a weary melancholy".

Rosebury states that a radio production is "fundamentally hampered" by not being able to "suggest the physical and cultural presence of Middle-earth",[6] other than through the limited medium of sound effects.

"[6] He finds the dialogue well delivered by the actors, admiring especially Peter Woodthorpe's "fine Gollum", and the abridgement skilful though subtly flattening Tolkien's text "in the direction of an adventure story.