Listen free for 30 days
-
John Wyndham: A BBC Radio Drama Collection
- Six classic BBC radio adaptations
- Narrated by: Bill Nighy, Peter Sallis, Barbara Shelley
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Radio/TV Programme
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £23.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Classic Radio Sci-Fi: BBC Drama Collection
- Five BBC radio full-cast dramatisations
- By: Stanislaw Lem, Karel Čapek, Mary Shelley, and others
- Narrated by: William Gaunt, full cast, Robert Glenister, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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. Titles include Frankenstein (1994), The Time Machine (2009), The Lost World (1975), R.U.R. (1989) and Solaris (2007). Accompanying this collection is a bonus PDF file featuring extensive sleeve notes by Andrew Pixley.
-
-
Constant problem
- By LJ on 31-10-19
-
The H G Wells BBC Radio Collection
- Dramatisations and Readings Including the Time Machine, The War of the Worlds & Other Science Fiction Classics
- By: H. G. Wells
- Narrated by: Amy Hoggart, Bernard Cribbins, Bill Nighy, and others
- Length: 29 hrs and 12 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
H. G. Wells wrote dozens of novels and short stories and is often called the 'father of science fiction'. Here we collect together the works of H. G. Wells as broadcast on BBC Radio. With full-cast dramatisations of novels including The Time Machine, The Island of Dr Moreau, The War of the Worlds, Ann Veronica, The First Men in the Moon and The Wonderful Visit; plus readings of The Invisible Man, Love and Mr Lewisham and several short stories including The Inexperienced Ghost and In the Abyss.
-
-
AMAZING EXTENSIVE COLLECTION
- By Amazon Customer on 06-10-20
-
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
- 15 BBC Radio 4 Original Full-Cast Dramas
- By: Bert Coules
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs, Clive Merrison, full cast
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A gripping collection of 15 BBC Radio full-cast dramas written by Bert Coules, inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories. In the 56 short stories and four novels Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about his great detective, how many times did Dr John Watson tantalise us with references to cases which were never written about in full? These original adventures flesh out those unrecorded cases to wonderful effect. Clive Merrison plays the great sleuth himself, with Andrew Sachs in the role of Doctor Watson.
-
-
brilliant new adventures
- By J. Goss on 11-08-18
-
The Night of the Triffids
- By: Simon Clark
- Narrated by: Sam Troughton, Nicola Bryant, Paul Clayton
- Length: 2 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the Isle of Wight, a colony of survivors wakes to a world plunged into darkness. Before long, the triffids, thought safely out of the way on the mainland, attack.... In John Wyndham’s classic best seller The Day of the Triffids the world has been overwhelmed by killer plants. As the novel ends, Wyndham’s narrator scientist Bill Masen is escaping, with his wife and four-year-old son, to the Isle of Wight where a small colony of survivors is holding out. Simon Clark’s sequel picks up the story 25 years on.
-
-
Brilliant
- By A. Jackson on 26-10-20
-
The Midwich Cuckoos
- Classic Radio Sci-Fi (Dramatised)
- By: BBC Audiobooks
- Narrated by: Bill Nighy, Sarah Parish
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a dynamic, modern dramatisation of a classic book by John Wyndham. Bill Nighy ( Love Actually and many other films) and Sarah Parish ( Cutting It) play Richard and Janet, a couple caught up in the goings-on of a sleepy English village in which all the children have golden eyes, blond hair, and a sinister talent for telepathy and telekinesis. (Wyndham's novel was filmed as Village of the Damned in 1960 and 1995.)
-
-
Loved It
- By Tim on 17-02-07
-
The Chrysalids
- By: John Wyndham
- Narrated by: Noah Reid
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Strorm's father doesn't approve of Angus Morton's unusually large horses, calling them blasphemies against nature. Little does he realise that his own son, his niece Rosalind and their friends have their own secret aberration which would label them as mutants. But as David and Rosalind grow older it becomes more difficult to conceal their differences from the village elders. Soon they face a choice: wait for eventual discovery or flee to the terrifying and mutable Badland.
-
-
Enthralling Tale of Celebrating Difference
- By littlemisspee on 27-11-21
-
Classic Radio Sci-Fi: BBC Drama Collection
- Five BBC radio full-cast dramatisations
- By: Stanislaw Lem, Karel Čapek, Mary Shelley, and others
- Narrated by: William Gaunt, full cast, Robert Glenister, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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. Titles include Frankenstein (1994), The Time Machine (2009), The Lost World (1975), R.U.R. (1989) and Solaris (2007). Accompanying this collection is a bonus PDF file featuring extensive sleeve notes by Andrew Pixley.
-
-
Constant problem
- By LJ on 31-10-19
-
The H G Wells BBC Radio Collection
- Dramatisations and Readings Including the Time Machine, The War of the Worlds & Other Science Fiction Classics
- By: H. G. Wells
- Narrated by: Amy Hoggart, Bernard Cribbins, Bill Nighy, and others
- Length: 29 hrs and 12 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
H. G. Wells wrote dozens of novels and short stories and is often called the 'father of science fiction'. Here we collect together the works of H. G. Wells as broadcast on BBC Radio. With full-cast dramatisations of novels including The Time Machine, The Island of Dr Moreau, The War of the Worlds, Ann Veronica, The First Men in the Moon and The Wonderful Visit; plus readings of The Invisible Man, Love and Mr Lewisham and several short stories including The Inexperienced Ghost and In the Abyss.
-
-
AMAZING EXTENSIVE COLLECTION
- By Amazon Customer on 06-10-20
-
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
- 15 BBC Radio 4 Original Full-Cast Dramas
- By: Bert Coules
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs, Clive Merrison, full cast
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A gripping collection of 15 BBC Radio full-cast dramas written by Bert Coules, inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories. In the 56 short stories and four novels Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about his great detective, how many times did Dr John Watson tantalise us with references to cases which were never written about in full? These original adventures flesh out those unrecorded cases to wonderful effect. Clive Merrison plays the great sleuth himself, with Andrew Sachs in the role of Doctor Watson.
-
-
brilliant new adventures
- By J. Goss on 11-08-18
-
The Night of the Triffids
- By: Simon Clark
- Narrated by: Sam Troughton, Nicola Bryant, Paul Clayton
- Length: 2 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the Isle of Wight, a colony of survivors wakes to a world plunged into darkness. Before long, the triffids, thought safely out of the way on the mainland, attack.... In John Wyndham’s classic best seller The Day of the Triffids the world has been overwhelmed by killer plants. As the novel ends, Wyndham’s narrator scientist Bill Masen is escaping, with his wife and four-year-old son, to the Isle of Wight where a small colony of survivors is holding out. Simon Clark’s sequel picks up the story 25 years on.
-
-
Brilliant
- By A. Jackson on 26-10-20
-
The Midwich Cuckoos
- Classic Radio Sci-Fi (Dramatised)
- By: BBC Audiobooks
- Narrated by: Bill Nighy, Sarah Parish
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a dynamic, modern dramatisation of a classic book by John Wyndham. Bill Nighy ( Love Actually and many other films) and Sarah Parish ( Cutting It) play Richard and Janet, a couple caught up in the goings-on of a sleepy English village in which all the children have golden eyes, blond hair, and a sinister talent for telepathy and telekinesis. (Wyndham's novel was filmed as Village of the Damned in 1960 and 1995.)
-
-
Loved It
- By Tim on 17-02-07
-
The Chrysalids
- By: John Wyndham
- Narrated by: Noah Reid
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Strorm's father doesn't approve of Angus Morton's unusually large horses, calling them blasphemies against nature. Little does he realise that his own son, his niece Rosalind and their friends have their own secret aberration which would label them as mutants. But as David and Rosalind grow older it becomes more difficult to conceal their differences from the village elders. Soon they face a choice: wait for eventual discovery or flee to the terrifying and mutable Badland.
-
-
Enthralling Tale of Celebrating Difference
- By littlemisspee on 27-11-21
-
The Kraken Wakes
- By: John Wyndham
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Journalist Mike Watson and his wife, Phyllis, trace it back to the strange showering lights they noticed on the final day of their honeymoon cruise; lights which appeared to land and disappear into the water. Reports mount of similar sightings all over the world. Governments embark on missions to investigate the sea, but ships disappear and diving crews never return to the surface. Something deep in the ocean does not want to be disturbed.
-
-
They come over here stealing our deep places...
- By Dr Caterpillar on 03-10-16
-
Chocky
- By: John Wyndham
- Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
- Length: 4 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Matthew is a normal 11-year-old boy living with his parents and little sister in Surrey. He's too old and sensible to have an imaginary friend really. Yet when Matthew's parents keep finding him talking and arguing with a strange presence whom Matthew calls Chocky, that's what they believe it must be…at first. But Chocky is oddly sinister, and keeps asking Matthew all sorts of complicated questions about the world and making him behave in unusual and erratic ways. Then Matthew suddenly does something heroic, well beyond his capabilities; the media become interested and the interest in Matthew widens.
-
-
Too good
- By Alan on 14-03-13
-
The Midwich Cuckoos
- By: John Wyndham
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the sleepy English village of Midwich, a mysterious silver object appears and all the inhabitants fall unconscious. A day later the object is gone and everyone awakens unharmed - except that all the women in the village are discovered to be pregnant. The resultant children of Midwich do not belong to their parents: all are blonde, all are golden eyed. They grow up too fast, and their minds exhibit frightening abilities that give them control over others and brings them into conflict with the villagers just as a chilling realisation dawns on the world outside....
-
-
Stephen Fry is totally over the top
- By Amazon Customer on 29-11-21
-
The Day of the Triffids
- By: John Wyndham
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bill Masen wakes up one morning in his hospital bed. His eyes are completely bandaged after an eye operation so he is unable to see. He immediately notices how still and quiet everything is. Having taken off his bandages, he discovers that both inside the hospital and out, the majority of the population (who watched a display of startlingly bright comets in the night sky the previous evening) have all gone blind, and realises that there is a terrifying new enemy for humankind to contend with.
-
-
Beautifully narrated but RUINED by "music"
- By uksub on 12-03-15
-
The Price of Fear: 20 Tales of Suspense Told by Vincent Price
- A BBC Radio 4 Vintage Horror Series
- By: William Ingram, Richard Davies, Maurice Travers, and others
- Narrated by: Vincent Price, Maurice Denham, Annette Crosbie, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty tales of terror and suspense, brought to you by sinister storyteller Vincent Price. Horror legend Vincent Price presents an anthology of eerie, unsettling tales with a devilish twist - some purportedly based on his own adventures, others narrated by him in his own inimitable style.
-
-
Vincent price is awesome
- By Lindsey nolan on 06-05-22
-
Journey into Space: The World in Peril
- The BBC Radio Sci-Fi Drama
- By: Charles Chilton
- Narrated by: Don Sharp, Alfie Bass, Andrew Faulds, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charles Chilton's classic science-fiction trilogy stormed the BBC airwaves during the 1950s. Its gripping story lines, extra-terrestrial sound effects, and atmospheric music engaged the listener as never before. Between 1953 and 1958, a devoted audience of adults and children attentively followed Captain Jet Morgan and his crew from one cliff-hanger to another as, together, they faced the unknown perils of space.
-
-
A Journey into Digital download!
- By Peter on 21-05-09
-
Vintage BBC Radio Horror: The Slide, Night of the Wolf & Dark
- Three Full-Cast Supernatural Thrillers
- By: Victor Pemberton
- Narrated by: full cast, Vincent Price, Roger Delgado, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A trio of terrifying radio tales starring Roger Delgado, Vincent Price and Honor Blackman. Author, playwright and TV producer Victor Pemberton was probably best known as a script editor and writer for Doctor Who, and as the inventor of the Doctor's trademark sonic screwdriver. But he also created numerous dramas for radio, among them the three cult classics included here.
-
-
Shockingly bad!
- By Windy Dryden on 19-11-21
-
The Complete George Smiley Radio Dramas
- BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: full cast, Simon Russell Beale
- Length: 18 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete collection of acclaimed BBC Radio dramas based on John le Carré's best-selling novels, starring Simon Russell Beale as George Smiley. With a star cast including Kenneth Cranham, Eleanor Bron, Brian Cox, Ian MacDiarmid, Anna Chancellor, Hugh Bonneville and Lindsay Duncan, these enthralling dramatisations perfectly capture the atmosphere of le Carré's taut, thrilling spy novels.
-
-
A satisfying marathon listen
- By CrisH on 07-03-17
-
Earthsearch
- The Complete Radio Series I and II (Dramatised)
- By: James Follett
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The acclaimed BBC Radio 4 space drama arrives in its entirety for the very first time, with a bonus introduction by creator and writer James Follett. The starship Challenger has been on a 115-year-long mission, exploring other galaxies for suitable Earth-like planets to colonise. The present crew of four were born on the ship and have never left it. But when the Challenger attempts to return to the crew's home planet, it discovers that the Earth has vanished!
-
-
Stands up to the test of time
- By Wendy on 22-08-06
-
Shardlake: The Complete BBC Radio Collection
- Six BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations
- By: CJ Sansom
- Narrated by: full cast, Jason Watkins, Justin Salinger, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete collected dramatisations of C. J. Sansom's historical mystery series: Set during the reign of Henry VIII, these six stunning dramas follow the adventures of hunchbacked lawyer-detective Matthew Shardlake as he navigates the dangerous world of Tudor England, solving crimes and seeking out murderers.
-
-
Shardlake
- By Lee on 20-03-22
-
Journey Into Space: Operation Luna
- The BBC Radio Sci-Fi Drama
- By: Charles Chilton
- Narrated by: Alfie Bass, Andrew Faulds, Guy Kingsley Poynter, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charles Chilton's classic science-fiction trilogy stormed the BBC airwaves during the 1950s. Its gripping story lines, extra-terrestrial sound effects, and atmospheric music engaged listeners as never before. Between 1953 and 1958, a devoted audience of adults and children attentively followed Captain Jet Morgan and his crew from one cliff-hanger to another as, together, they faced the unknown perils of space.
-
-
Journey into space
- By Nick on 06-12-06
-
Jack Aubrey & Stephen Maturin: Master & Commander & Other Adventures
- A BBC Radio 4 Full Cast Drama Collection
- By: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrated by: Richard Dillane, Michael Troughton, Adjoa Andoh, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widely regarded as the most engaging historical novels ever written, the 21 books in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series have garnered millions of fans since the publication of the first volume over 50 years ago. Included here are BBC radio adaptations of the first seven thrilling stories.
-
-
Great listen!
- By Anonymous User on 17-06-22
Summary
Bill Nighy, Barbara Shelley and Peter Sallis are among the cast in six classic BBC Radio dramatisations of stories by one of Britain's most popular science fiction authors.
'The Day of the Triffids', first broadcast in 1968, is set in a world in which most people have been left blind after a meteor shower, and lethal carnivorous triffids are roaming the land. 'The Kraken Wakes', dramatised for radio in 1998, is a gripping story of monsters from the deep, alien invasion and ecological disaster.
'The Chrysalids', first broadcast in 1981, explores the dangers of being different, while the 1989 adaptation of short story 'Survival' focuses on the lengths people will go to in order to survive.
'The Midwich Cuckoos', broadcast in 2003, is a disturbing tale of a village sealed off from the world for a day and subsequently taken over by terrifying inhuman children.
Dramatised for radio in 1998, 'Chocky' is a chilling tale of a boy who appears to be communicating with an invisible friend. Also included is 'Beware the Stare!', a half-hour radio documentary looking at 'The Midwich Cuckoos' in print and on screen.
Note: These are the BBC Transcription versions of The Day of the Triffids, prepared for sale to overseas territories. At the time, 12 minutes of material was deleted from these episodes to bring down the running time. However, these deleted scenes have been recovered and are included as bonus extra content at the end of the final episode.
More from the same
What listeners say about John Wyndham: A BBC Radio Drama Collection
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike Horton
- 14-10-17
A poorly assembled collection by Audible
I love these stories, stories of my childhood and the dramatic delivery is enjoyable.
Except, in some of the stories the chapters have been put in the wrong order, huge jumps between events, some mid sentence, then at the end all the missing parts are thrown on the end of the story.
Has been reported to Audible but they are unwilling to do anything about it.
They should, at the very least mark this up as having a chaotic edit that will leave readers bemused.
75 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Norley
- 02-02-19
Classic adaptations of classic stories
A little treasure trove of apocalyptic gems. Wyndham was a pioneer and, although the adaptations are somewhat abridged, they capture the spirit of the novels nicely. The vast majority of the voice acting is great and the effects suitably atmospheric, personally I had no problem hearing the voices over them.
As for the review that states the Triffids has parts out if sequence - the reviewer didn’t read that these were 10 minutes trimmed from the overseas version and included here as bonus material!
The collection wraps up with a short piece on Wyndham’s life which gives us a tiny glimpse into a very private man.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M.K.Blackmore
- 06-08-17
Fun, nostalgic, but too abridged?
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Fun, nostalgic, but too abridged. Only a couple of JW's books seem audiobooked - Kraken and Triffids. Otherwise this trip into childhood nostalgia and the Great Brish Disaster Story only available in these BBC productions. Reading now difficult, and I really could not remember the plots of some at all - this was the only way to get at them. Come on audidible, get on with recording more of the SF classics.
What about the narrators’s performance did you like?
BBC and actors great, as usual from auntie.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Wassim
- 24-04-17
Riveting and superb performance
I was hooked on this from the moment it started playing. The BBC have done a great job in adapting Wyndham's stories and the voice actors give a delightful performance that really brings the stories to life. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- miss christina bengston
- 21-03-17
Oh my god sooooo good
I absolutely loved this. The dramatization was excellent. I was completely sucked into every story. Wyndham is a legend and these adaptations are classics I will listen to over and over again.
16 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pengwen
- 25-07-17
A mixed bag
One of the drawbacks which is presumably something that Audible control, is the lack of named books and chapters on the sidebar so you can choose easily to pick up or miss a particular story.
The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos are well known to most people some of the other stories may not be as well known . Overall despite the fact that they are unsettling, scary stories what struck me most was how dated they sounded . I found the portrayal of women just wearing in the end. It's been a long time since I read the Day of the Triffids, for example, perhaps it's the radio production focuses attention of the listener to this aspect more than reading the books. Perhaps it's simply because the books are a product of their time but it got in the way of my enjoyment. The highlight however was listening to Bill Nighys performance in the Midwich Cuckoos, such a great delivery, I could listen to him reading the phone book.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Odo
- 01-08-18
Overall not bad..
Classic stories delivered in radio performances from different eras. Some better than others, spoilt only by some poor indexing of the segments making bits confusing in places.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Mrs EJ Blackwell-Combe
- 24-08-17
Brilliant adaptations with excellent cast.
I enjoyed each of these radio dramatisations enormously. I have only read The Crysalids, Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes, so can't comment on how faithful the other adaptations are. I wasn't familiar with the story 'Survival', which was a nice, enjoyably creepy addition. Highly recommend this audio book.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Krats Dillion
- 19-08-17
Masterfully done great voice performance
Hard to fault this radio play. Great listening and cracking stories. Highly Recommended. For lovers of a strange yarns and weird tales
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Laura Bennewith
- 09-05-17
Listen to the originals instead
These are not good adaptations of some really rather good stories. Day Of The Triffids isn't bad but they get progressively worse and I genuinely cannot fathom why they did what they did to The Midwich Cuckoos. I advise you to get the original stories which are brilliant and interesting.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Old ManParker
- 25-07-20
The best (and the worst) of BBC radio adaptations
There are four stores. Two really good ones, and a two bad - these are terrible and you fast forward through 'em.
Story 1.) - "The Day of the Triffids" - is very good.
An awesome (classic) story that predates the whole "zombie apocalypse" story (that's been done to death, so to speak) before there were zombies. Not a plague of the man-eating walking dead, but of the man-eating walking PLANTS!
(not zombies, but Triffids, got it?) It's so terrifyingly good that it's delicious in it's horror.
Then there's two really awful stories that are very badly adapted into audio rubbish. It's all about voice actors
2.) "The Kraken Wakes" - bad - this was really awful! Another audio “drama” that's audio torture about annoying people with annoying accents, and you have to wade through hours of their tedious married life to finally get to not nearly enough, and quite badly done, Lovecraftian monsters on the move from the great deep. (Fast Forward.)
3.) The Chrysalids - so bad I couldn't tell what it was about. Terrible audio drama that was un listenable to - because listening to someone “eat” into a microphone and tell you ( with a mouth full of food) “These sweets are quite good you should have one.” is the worst possible audio anyone could be forced to hear. Worse than "The Kraken Wakes". (even Faster forward!)
Then I think there were was another tale in there called "Survival", but I was so irritated by then I couldn't listen to it's overly dramatic slop.
Story 4.)
"The Midwich Cuckoos" - with BILL NIGHY! - This is AWESOME!
This radio drama has Bill Nighy in it. BILL NIGHY! One of the best actors alive.
"The Midwich Cuckoos" is dramatized for radio by Dan Revalatto - Well written.
This shows how audio drama can be either the worst or the best experience.
The incredible talent of Bill Nghly -(sigh)- Bill Nghly is the whole show here. Bill Nigly is a sheer joy to listen to. Everything he says seems so 'real'. Someone with this much talent makes or breaks “radio theater drama”.
Bill Nghly's performance makes this audio-drama's-slice-of-married-life warm-up bit interesting & funny. How he communicates with his slightly-shrewish & not so logical wife is highly entertaining. He’s hysterical, he's tense, he's exciting, he breaths life into every scene.
These's a scene with Bill Nighy and his wife trying to figure out what’s wrong with Midwich; they are walking down the street talking to people they meet… and it’s brilliant. It made me wish there was a whole series of audio books with these two actors playing these two quirky married people solving weird mysteries.
Bill Nigly plays an impatient. easily bored man tossed into a mystery he could care less about, until, it’s unearthly weirdness rises & rises 'til it smoothly escalates into the impossible, then rises yet again into blood chillingly strange.
By then you are completely hooked into this story, as they say, you're listening on the edge of your seat.
This is audio GOLD, and worth the one credit for this whole book.
BILL NIGHY - We need much more of this man as a narrator.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Dr. Joe de Beauchamp
- 21-02-19
coocoo's
Legend of Midwich is a must read by SciFi folks... narraration superior in this BBC brodcast.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- A. West
- 21-02-19
A great group of Wyndham stories on radio!
as I've seen the film and TV versions of several of these it was very interesting to hear what the radio versions brought to it.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Stephen Tchaou
- 26-02-21
Nice Collection of Thought-Provoking Sci-Fi Tales
Nice introduction to John Wyndham's works. All of the longer stories had a nice combination of depth and 'scariness.' The shorter story, Survival, somewhat had me wishing that it had been extended somehow, because it had interesting premises that never got to be fleshed out enough to be considered too worthwhile.
My main criticism of the audio recordings themselves are that oftentimes the actors' voices would be muddled to the point that I could not recognize them. Since the 'podcast' had already taken the liberty of paraphrasing and summarizing various passages from the book, not being able to hear any lines at all meant one would be missing out quite a bit on what the book had tried to get across.