MICHAEL HORDERN (Gandalf): The first – an archangel – who’s guarding a vase?
I: The second – spends more than an age at his house?
CHRISTOPHER FAIRBANK (Shagrat): The third graced our screens in ‘Auf Wiedersehen, Pet!’
ROBERT STEPHENS (Aragorn): The fourth was a Prince on a Veronese set.
O: The fifth, though no hobbit, loves victuals and drink,
PAULINE LETTS (Ioreth): The sixth – Walford matriarch allows us – I think!
H: The seventh played quack to Ross Poldark’s old flame -
JOHN MCANDREW (Pippin): The eighth, (flag the second), definitive Thain!*
LEONARD FENTON (Daddy Twofoot): The ninth, (flag the fourth), a Walfordian quack -
ELIN JENKINS: The tenth – Tucker’s sister? (Once a river flows back).
S: In eleven, a saint meets a foundling most poor -
WILLIAM NIGHY: In twelve, it seems Shakespeare’s nearby, but wherefore? **
?N: Thirteen is a saint, and a visionary too, **
MARION DIAMOND (Galadriel): Fourteen is a maid, and a gemstone most true.
?I: Fifteen: Eighties game, plus a bounder and measure, **
DAVID COLLINGS (Legolas): Sixteen plays the son of an elf who loves treasure.
D: For seventeen, no spade? Petrified, but not dead!
JENNY LEE (Shelob): Eighteen, (flag the sixth), Attercop! Poison-head!
E: The nineteenth, twice queenly, a pen or car-stopper?
-
?E: With twenty as glue, the tale won’t come a cropper! **
ANTHONY HYDE (Eomer): Twenty-one is no Jekyll. On horseback he jogs,
RICHARD O'CALLAGHAN (Merry): Twenty-two steers a barge, or plays fair Lewis Boggs!
??T: This sibilant genius is our twenty-three - ***
HARRY HOLM (Elanor): Two dozen! - a Potter, and Old English sea!
The whole means a drama, of quality rare,
Where thesps and their ilk show considerable flair!
I left out the ‘sounds likes’ to make it flow better,
So - enjoy the clues! (From Pervinca, your setter).
( * Well, future Thain).
(** Flag the second).
(*** Flag the third).
THEME: THE BBC 'LORD OF THE RINGS' RADIO DRAMATISATION.
Verily. And let me tell you, he really IS definitive!
FYI, Tucker Jenkins is an iconic character from the hugely popular British school drama, 'Grange Hill.'