Classic Radio Sci-Fi: BBC Drama Collection

Five BBC radio full-cast dramatisations

By: Arthur Conan Doyle, H G Wells, Karel Capek, Mary Shelley, Stanislaw Lem

Narrated by: Full Cast, Joanne Froggatt, Robert Glenister, William Gaunt

Five seminal science fiction classics are brought vividly to life in these gripping BBC Radio dramatisations, with casts including Robert Glenister, William Gaunt, Carleton Hobbs and Joanne Froggatt.

"Frankenstein" (1994) is adapted from one of the first science fiction novels, Mary Shelley's tale of a scientist who tries to play God and creates a monster.

"The Time Machine" (2009) dramatises one of the first stories to feature time travel, HG Wells' thrilling tale of an inventor who discovers a dystopian future.

"The Lost World" (1975) is based on a classic fantasy adventure story by Arthur Conan Doyle's, whose notion of dinosaurs roaming our world was the inspiration for Jurassic Park.

"R.U.R." (1989) is a radio production of Karel Capek's thought-provoking play which introduced the word 'robot' to the English language.

"Solaris" (2007) dramatises Stanislaw Lem's pioneering ghost story set in space, both a suspenseful thriller and a philosophical meditation on guilt and the human condition.

Accompanying this collection is a bonus PDF file featuring extensive sleeve notes about the programmes.

CHAPTER LIST:

CHAPTERS 1-2 FRANKENSTEIN
CHAPTERS 3-4 THE TIME MACHINE
CHAPTERS 5-7 THE LOST WORLD
CHAPTERS 8-9 R.U.R
CHAPTERS 10-11 SOLARIS

Disappointing

I began this collection with high hopes. I love radio drama of the 1940s and thereabout. Additionally, the ground-breaking science fiction of over a century is to be praised. Be this simply dated, and that the performers lacked an inspired belief that the stories were true, I found this to be of historical fascination but of minimal pleasure, escape, and even passing believability. Disappointing....

Disappointing

Every so often I get an audio performance book and then I’m reminded why I don’t listen to more of them. The audio is so uneven that it’s almost impossible to follow the story at times. One second people are yelling and the next they’re whispering. Some characters are front and center while others are far back from the mic and really hard to hear. You end up constantly adjusting the volume. With headphones it’s extremely jarring and totally detracts from the actual books.