Having already recorded an audio version of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Andy Serkis is now lending his voice to an audio version of The Lord of the Rings.

Speaking about the project, the actor said: “I would consider myself someone who likes a challenge… Walking back into Middle-earth over 20 years after my first life-changing adventure there, and experiencing it all over again (this time for many weeks alone in a sound booth) has brought in equal measures of pure joy, sheer madness, immense pleasure and a level of psychological and physical fatigue I have never quite experienced the like of before.

“I actually feel like I have lived through Tolkien’s saga, and felt his profound understanding of and connection to nature, love, war, truth, hatred and altruism,” he added. “Each day I genuinely went through ups and downs, often coinciding with the progress of the ring-bearer and his companions. On more than one occasion I was sure I wasn’t going to make it to the Crack of Doom!

“Having now completed the quest and been ‘There and back again… again’, so to speak, I realise what a phenomenal privilege it has been to have had the opportunity to read this sublime work once more. My only hope, now, is that I have done it justice, and that the listening experience conveys the power and beauty of JRR Tolkien’s masterpiece.”

The audiobook will be available to download from all audiobook retailers on 16th September, and on CD on 14th October.