Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Fantasy

Ursula K. Le Guin was one of the most revered and influential writers of the 20th century. Her Earthsea books have sold millions of copies and been translated into numerous languages, while her trailblazing novel The Left Hand of Darkness was a landmark in feminist science fiction and ranks among the greatest SF novels of all time. This BBC collection brings together the magical radio retellings of both these seminal classics.

A brand new stand-alone adventure for the 10th Doctor, which also forms part of the Time Lord Victorious story arc, read by Jacob Dudman. The Doctor travels with Brian, the Ood assassin, to the planet Magnox, one of the greatest receptacles of knowledge the universe will ever know. The Doctor needs to ask a vital question, but the answer is grade-one classified! In order to gain an audience with the Minds of Magnox themselves he must take a dangerous test. Is he smart enough to get through?

Nicholas Briggs and Camille Coduri are the readers of these three original novels featuring the Ninth Doctor and Rose, as played on TV by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. Join the Doctor and Rose on these journeys in Time and Space as they encounter faceless killers in 1920s London, get trapped in an alien prison camp and discover something very sinister behind the latest video game craze. The stories are The Clockwise Man by Justin Richards, The Monsters Inside by Stephen Cole and Winner Takes All by Jacqueline Rayner. 

Robin of Locksley returns from the Crusades to find his people starving and oppressed by the new Sheriff of Nottingham. Under this tyrannical regime, the slightest crime attracts the heaviest punishment, and dissent is impossible. Robin soon discovers that the only way to reason with the Sheriff...

Thirtieth-century Britain and the calamitous collapse of the pension system means compulsory euthanasia for all 70-year-olds. But a clerical error spells disaster for 69-year-old George Smith, who suddenly finds himself facing his demise a year early. Feisty George isn't going to take this lying down and goes into battle with Central Admin - and the terrifying TV crew from This Was Your Life, who want to broadcast his imminent death live on air. 

In these 34 intriguing episodes, leading historian Christopher Andrew rewrites history, considering what might have transpired if pivotal events had turned out differently. By altering a single, plausible fact, he explores alternative futures where the Spanish Armada landed on English soil, Pontius Pilate freed Jesus, the Nazis occupied Britain and many more.

Why is the Doctor suddenly summoned to the shores of Loch Ness? Terror and panic spread as the third oil rig is smashed into the sea by a mysterious force...the monster? The controlling power must be the Zygons - alien creatures who have hidden on Earth for thousands of years, and who now feel strong enough to take over the planet. The Doctor, Sarah, Harry and UNIT have different ideas - but can they outwit the supreme cunning of the ruthless Zygons?

From the moment they land on the planet Androzani Minor, everything goes wrong for the Doctor and his new young companion, Peri. They become involved in the struggle between brutal gun runners, ruthless Federation troops, and the hideously mutilated Sharaz Jek, who lurks in the depths of the caves with his android army. Key to the struggle is spectrox, the most valuable substance in the universe. Suitably processed, spectrox is an elixir of life, but in its raw state it is a deadly poison - a fact which will cost the Doctor another of his Time Lord lives.... 

The Doctor ventures into alternative dimensions in these four exciting novelisations of TV stories.

An alternative history of the US space programme, dramatised by Dirk Maggs. What if John F. Kennedy survived the assassination attempt and developed the space programme? President Nixon, with the help of former president JFK, has just green-lit NASA’s first manned expedition to Mars. Aboard the expedition is Natalie York, a geologist who risks everything she loves for the chance to go to space; Phil Stone, former X-15 test pilot; and Ralph Gershon, a Vietnam War hero intent on being the first African American to reach another planet.

Originally published in 1943, The Glass Bead Game was Herman Hesse’s last novel. It was hailed as his magnum opus, and was instrumental in securing him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. Set in a utopian future society, it explores themes of knowledge, individualism, creativity and spirituality, and has inspired contemporary thinkers from authors to game designers. Narrated by Derek Jacobi, this two-part radio drama tells the story of Joseph Knecht (Tom Ferguson), plucked from obscurity as a young orphan, admitted to the finest elite school and groomed for greatness.

The TARDIS crewmembers have taken a break from their adventures and are enjoying a rest in a luxury villa. But, in the gory grandeur that is Imperial Rome, things don't stay quiet. If the time travellers can save themselves from being sold as slaves, assassinated by classical hit-men, poisoned by the evil Locusta, thrown to the lions, maimed in the arena and drowned in a shipwreck, they still have to face the diabolical might of the mad Emperor Nero. As if that wasn't enough, they also discover that, although Rome wasn't built in a day, it burnt down in considerably less time.

In present day England, a group of scientists are intent on analysing an impossibly ancient skull. But when the ultra-modern technology of their Time Scanner combines with the ancient evil of Fetch Wood, it brings to life a terror that has lain hidden for twelve million years. Arriving in the TARDIS, the Doctor and Leela must fight to destroy the Fendahl, a recreated menace that threatens to devour all life in the galaxy. Louise Jameson, who played Leela in the BBC TV series, reads this classic novelisation of Chris Boucher's 1977 serial. 

A thrilling novelisation of a classic TV adventure for the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith. In the snowy wastes of blizzard-swept Antarctica, a strange pod-like object is unearthed, buried deep in the ice. Curiosity turns to alarm as the pod begins to grow - then horror when suddenly it cracks open and a snaking green tendril shoots out, mercilessly seeking the nearest live victim. 

The Arthurian legends have long held a powerful grip on our collective imagination, inspiring numerous poets, novelists and playwrights to interpret them in countless different ways. In this epic play cycle, based on Malory's classic Le Morte D'Arthur, Graeme Fife gives us his dramatic, in-depth retelling of these perennially popular myths. Focusing on seven key characters: Merlin, Tristram, Gareth, Lancelot, Galahad, Guenever and Arthur himself, he builds a vivid, multi-layered picture of the fabled king and his heroic knights.

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. 

Challenged to retrieve a fallen star, Tristran Thorn leaves the sleepy English village of Wall and crosses into the land of Faerie and the realm of Stormhold. Locating the star, he discovers it is no meteorite but a young woman, Yvaine. When Yvaine evades him and escapes, Tristran discovers he is not the only one in pursuit of the star: there are dark forces in this magical land, and he must find Yvaine before she falls into their clutches.

Join the Doctor on these journeys in Time and Space. In The Taking of Chelsea 426, he visits a city-size colony floating on the clouds of Saturn, just as some familiar foes arrive: the Sontarans. In Autonomy, an unspeakable terror is lurking on Level Zero of Hyperville, the hi-tech, 24-hour entertainment complex where the stage is set for a battle with the Autons. In The Krillitane Storm, the Doctor finds medieval Worcester threatened by the legendary Devil’s Huntsman, in reality a menace he has encountered before.

Zienia Merton reads this captivating novelisation of an epic ‘lost’ historical TV adventure featuring the First Doctor. The young Venetian Marco Polo is on his way to the Emperor’s court in Peking when he meets four intrepid time travellers: the elderly Doctor, his granddaughter Susan, and their companions Ian and Barbara. The TARDIS has broken down whilst on Earth, in the year 1289. Marco Polo recognises in it a means of winning favour with the emperor, and he insists that the travellers accompany his caravan to Cathay. 

While travelling on the London Underground one afternoon, Alice meets the gaze of a man standing on the platform of a mysterious 'ghost station'. As her train hurtles into a tunnel, he's gone. She's convinced that the man was her brother Alan who has been missing presumed dead for the past five years. This fleeting encounter is the beginning of Alice's increasingly bizarre, desperate and labyrinthine search for her missing brother, a journey that leads her back through time into London's past.