Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ Readers also credited Wallace's novel with making Jesus's story more believable by providing vivid descriptions of the Holy Land and inserting his own character of Judah into scenes from the gospels. One former alcoholic, George Parrish from Kewanee, Illinois, wrote the author a letter crediting "Ben-Hur" with causing him to reject alcohol and find religion. Parrish remarked: "It seemed to bring Christ home to me as nothing else could". Others who were inspired by the novel dedicated themselves to Christian service and became missionaries, some of them helping to translate "Ben-Hur" into other languages. This kind of religious support helped
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Heston. A BBC Radio 4 dramatization of the book in four parts was first broadcast in the United Kingdom in March–April, 1995, starring Jamie Glover as Ben-Hur, with a cast that included Samuel West and Michael Gambon. "Ben-Hur"s success encouraged the publication of other historical romance stories of the ancient world, including G. J. Whyte-Melville's "The Gladiators: A Tale of Rome and Judea" (1870), Marie Corelli's "Barabbas" (1901), and Florence Morse Kingsley's "Titus, A Comrade of the Cross" (1897). Other novels adapted Wallace's story: Herman M. Bien's "Ben-Beor" (1891), J. O. A. Clark's "Esther: A Sequel to Ben-Hur" (1892),