Saruman than in their equivalent books, and he appears in several scenes that are not depicted in Tolkien's work. In the films, Saruman is depicted presenting himself outright as a servant of Sauron. Smith and Matthews suggest that Saruman's role is built up as a substitute for Sauron—the story's main antagonist—who never appears directly in the book. Jackson confirms this view in the commentary to the DVD. They also suggest that having secured veteran British horror actor Christopher Lee to play Saruman, it made sense to make greater use of his star status. Despite this increased role in the first two
The Lord of the Rings (1978 film) King", but a complete adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings" on BBC Radio. For this broadcast, Michael Graham Cox and Peter Woodthorpe reprised their roles of Boromir and Gollum, respectively. Warner Bros. (the rights holder to the post-1973 Rankin-Bass library and the pre-1990 Saul Zaentz theatrical library) has released "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Return of the King" on VHS and DVD, both packaged separately and as a boxed-set "trilogy" of films. While the VHS version ends with the narrator saying "Here ends the first part of the history of the War of the Ring.",