Roald Dahl Retrospective Episode 18: James and the Giant Peach (1976)

After almost two years, the Roald Dahl Retrospective is back! In honor of Matilda the Musical being in the theaters, Arun and Patricia catch up with the remaining Roald Dahl adaptations before jumping into this new film. In this episode, they cover the 1976 BBC special James and the Giant Peach based on the 1961 book of the same name starring Simon Bell, Anna Quayle, Ann Beach, Arthur Hewlett, Andrew Sachs, Thorley Walters, Pat Coombs, Kate Lock, and Bernard Cribbins. James Trotter lives with his mean aunts Spiker and Sponge after losing his parents from a rhino attack. An old man gifts James crocodile tongues to make his dreams come true, but drops them accidentally. It ends up growing a peach to a large size. James and a group of insects escape inside the peach and use it to venture off away from Aunts Spiker and Sponge. The 1976 version of James and the Giant Peach is one of the obscure Roald Dahl adaptions ever made and has since been overshadowed by the 1996 Disney adaptation. Is this version better or worse? Listen and find out.