The Chrysalids & Survival cover art

The Chrysalids & Survival

Classic Radio Sci-Fi

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Chrysalids & Survival

By: John Wyndham
Narrated by: Full Cast, John Moffatt, Nicholas Courtney, Stephen Garlick, Susan Sheridan
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

 Two classic tales from acclaimed British science fiction writer John Wyndham. In The Chrysalids, ten-year-old David is a happy, ordinary boy, untroubled except for occasional strange dreams about a mysterious city – until he befriends Sophie, who is unlike anybody he has met before: she has six toes. But, in the ultra-religious village of Waknut, all abnormality is abhorred as an offence against God, and he must keep her secret to himself. When he learns that he, too, is ‘deviant’, he realises that differences can be very dangerous indeed... Survival, set in the future, concerns the first auto-piloted space flight. When the ship meets with an accident, one of the passengers is killed and the others are cast adrift into space. They have enough supplies to last for three months – but the only woman on board, Alice Morgan, is pregnant, and needs extra rations. Then, food starts to go missing from the larder. What lengths will the passengers go to in order to survive? Stephen Garlick, Susan Sheridan, John Moffatt and Nicholas Courtney star in these two disturbing stories about the darker side of human nature. This CD release also includes a detailed sleeve note recounting the making of the radio adaptations, written by Andrew Pixley.© and (P)2007 BBC Audiobooks Ltd Drama & Plays European World Literature

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Midwich Cuckoos cover art
Classic Radio Sci-Fi: BBC Drama Collection cover art
John Wyndham: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
Men, Martians and Machines: A BBC Radio Sci-Fi Collection cover art
Classic Dystopias: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
All stars
Most relevant
John Wyndham is a master of the uncanny and these vintage recordings capture the period of broadcast as well as the fear in both stories. Great stuff.

Such classics!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Chrysalids is a great book and this dramatisation is excellent. Very true to the book. I recommend it. Survival is a short story at the end...I was never overly fond of the original story but putting that aside the dramatisation is very good.

Captured the book very well.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Chrysalids is no doubt a good story but the performance was quite mediocre and affected my ability to enjoy it. The recording was also very quiet and made listening to details very hard at times. the second story; 'Survival' was just silly and not worth the bother!

Disappointing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What would have made The Chrysalids & Survival better?

There is not enough story to justife price.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Story itself is not bad but less than 2 hours for this price is not worth of money.

What character would you cut from The Chrysalids & Survival?

Survival.

Any additional comments?

Keep away from this unless you get this free or really like a nostalgia.

Waste of money

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.