1st, 4th, 6th, 7th Doctor Novelisations

Doctor Who: The Third Alien Worlds Collection

Five exciting novelisations featuring adventures for the Doctor and his companions on weird and wonderful planets.

Slick and polished...immersive productions of much-loved novelisations...long may we enjoy them.

Five exciting novelisations featuring adventures for the Doctor and his companions on weird and wonderful planets. 
 
In The Rescue, the First Doctor meets the sole survivors of a crashed spaceliner on Dido. 
 
In Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit, the ruthless Lady Adrasta is keeping an unusual visitor prisoner on the planet Chloris. 
 
In The Twin Dilemma, a newly regenerated Doctor tries to become a hermit on the planet Titan 3. 
 
In Paradise Towers, the Doctor and Mel meet the residents of a dystopian hell, and in The Happiness Patrol the TARDIS lands in trouble on the colony world Terra Alpha. 
 
 Maureen O'Brien, Tom Baker, Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford and Rula Lenska are the readers for this quintet of stories based on classic BBC TV serials.

Five classic novelisations of TV adventures on alien planets!

Doctor Who: The Alien Worlds Collection

Five classic novelisations of TV adventures on alien planets! 
 
In Doctor Who and the Zarbi, the First Doctor and his companions Ian, Barbara and Vicki are trapped on the remote planet Vortis. In Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon, the Third Doctor and Jo are mistaken for delegates of the Galactic Federation on a primitive and superstitious world. In Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius, the Fourth Doctor and Sarah find the living remains of a renegade Time Lord and his maniacal saviour. In Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive, the Fourth Doctor and Romana find subterfuge and corruption lurking beneath the surface of the pleasure planet Argolis. In Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, the Seventh Doctor and Ace fight for their lives on Segonax, home of the Psychic Circus. 
 
Read by William Russell, David Troughton, Tom Baker, Lalla Ward and Sophie Aldred. 
 
Each purchase is accompanied by a PDF booklet featuring full cast and credits, chapter-by-chapter navigation, and sleeve notes for each book by David J. Howe. 
 
“This range of classic Target audiobooks continues to go from strength to strength…” 
Doctor Who Magazine 
 
Sound design by Simon Power 
TARDIS sound effect by Brian Hodgson 
Executive producer: Michael Stevens 
Cover illustration by Alister Pearson 
 
(p) BBC Worldwide 2018 © BBC Worldwide 2018 
BBC logo © BBC 1996 
Doctor Who logo © BBC 2014 
A stereo recording 
MCPS 
 
Digital Edition Chapter Listing 
 
Doctor Who and the Zarbi 
Files 001-007 
 
Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon 
Files 008-018 
 
Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius 
Files 019-030 
 
Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive 
Files 031-039 
 
Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy 
Files 040-053

Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso

The Divine Comedy

Blake Ritson, David Warner, Hattie Morahan and John Hurt star in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Dante's epic poem.

Blake Ritson, David Warner, Hattie Morahan and John Hurt star in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Dante's epic poem. 
 
Inferno: Thirty-five year old Dante finds himself in the middle of a dark wood, in extreme personal and spiritual crisis. Hope of rescue appears in the form of the venerable poet Virgil, now a shade himself, who offers to lead Dante on an odyssey through the afterlife, beginning in the terrifying depths of Hell. 
 
Purgatorio: Dante is led up Mount Purgatory by his guide. They encounter numerous souls who have embarked on the same difficult journey - one that will eventually lead to their spiritual salvation. 
 
Paradiso: Dante's journey comes to a glorious conclusion as he is led by Beatrice, through the spheres of Paradise and into the presence of God himself. As they ascend, they encounter a number of souls who have also achieved blessedness. 
 
Many years later, the older Dante reflects on the episodes from his life that have inspired his great poem. 
 
 
©2014 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2014 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

In a glorious adaptation of The Divine Comedy, Stephen Wyatt takes a potshot at bankers, forced to sit forever on hot sands under fiery rain.

He’s done a remarkable job. Out go the cantos and rigid rhyming structures. In comes a flowing narrative that loses none of the evocative imagery of the original. And it does Wyatt’s case no harm that the three central characters — Dante the younger, Dante the elder and Virgil, his ghostly omnipresent guide through hell, purgatory and paradise — are played by Blake Ritson, John Hurt and David Warner.

Dante Alighieri (Author) Dante, or Durante deli Alighieri, was born in Florence, Italy, circa 1265. His family was connected with the Guelph political alliance, supporters of the Papacy. His mother died before Dante’s tenth birthday. Dante himself was betrothed to Gemma di Manetto Donati when he was aged only 12. The pair went on to marry, but Dante’s true love was for Beatrice Portinari, who would inspire much of his poetry. Dante and Gemma had several children. 
Dante was a member of Florence’s Apothecaries’ Guild, though he did not practice as a pharmacist. Allied to the White Guelphs, with whom he fought against the vanquishing Black Guelphs, he was eventually condemned to perpetual exile from Florence. He went first to Verona and then to Liguria. There is speculation that he travelled more widely, including to Paris and Oxford, although this has not been verified. 
During his time of exile Dante conceived and wrote the three poems which form The Divine Comedy. He died in 1321, aged 56, of suspected malaria. He was buried in Ravenna, Italy, where a tomb was later erected in his name. 
 
Stephen Wyatt is a playwright and dramatist with extensive experience in stage, radio and television.

Blake Ritson, David Warner, Hattie Morahan and John Hurt star in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Dante's epic poem. 
 
Inferno: Thirty-five year old Dante finds himself in the middle of a dark wood, in extreme personal and spiritual crisis. Hope of rescue appears in the form of the venerable poet Virgil, now a shade himself, who offers to lead Dante on an odyssey through the afterlife, beginning in the terrifying depths of Hell. 
 
Purgatorio: Dante is led up Mount Purgatory by his guide. They encounter numerous souls who have embarked on the same difficult journey - one that will eventually lead to their spiritual salvation. 
 
Paradiso: Dante's journey comes to a glorious conclusion as he is led by Beatrice, through the spheres of Paradise and into the presence of God himself. As they ascend, they encounter a number of souls who have also achieved blessedness. 
 
Many years later, the older Dante reflects on the episodes from his life that have inspired his great poem. 
 
 
 ©2014 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2014 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Doctor Who: The Greatest Show In The Galaxy

Sophie Aldred reads this exciting novelisation of a classic Doctor Who adventure.

Sophie Aldred’s vocal duties are first-rate with her naturally strong reading voice complemented by a wide range of voices for the different characters.

CREEPY. That’s what Ace thinks of clowns. But the Doctor insists on entering the talent contest at the Psychic Circus, the self-proclaimed Greatest Show in the Galaxy, on the planet Segonax. What has reduced Segonax to an arid wasteland? Why have the happy-go-lucky circus folk stayed here so long? And why are they no longer happy? Above all, what is the dreadful truth about the ‘talent contests’ run by the sinister Ringmaster and his robot clowns? The Doctor and Ace need all their death-defying skills in the big top to uncover a brooding, ancient evil that has broken the spirit of the Circus and demanded the sacrifice of so many lives. Sophie Aldred, who played Ace in Doctor Who, reads Stephen Wyatt’s complete and unabridged novelisation, first published by Target Books in 1989.

Doctor Who: Paradise Towers

Bonnie Langford reads this gripping novelisation of a classic Doctor Who adventure.

Much in need of a holiday, Mel and the Doctor head for Paradise Towers: a luxury man-made planet with sparkling fountains, sunny streets, exotic flowers and a shimmering blue swimming pool. But when the TARDIS materialises in a dark, rubbish-filled, rat-infested alley it seems that this particular Paradise has turned into Hell! Pursued by rogue cleaning machines, authoritarian caretakers and old ladies with strange eating habits, the Doctor and Mel track down the source of the chaos to one mysterious character - the designer of Paradise Towers, the Great Architect himself... Bonnie Langford, who played Mel in the original TV series, reads Stephen Wyatt's complete and unabridged novelisation, first published by Target Books in 1988.

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation

Double Jeopardy

Patrick Stewart stars as Raymond Chandler and Adrian Scarborough as Billy Wilder in BBC Radio 4's entertaining glimpse inside the Hollywood film industry.

Stephen Wyatt was born in Beckenham, Kent and brought up in Ealing in West London. He was educated at Latymer Upper School and then went on to Clare College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge, he directed the 1973 Footlights Revue, Every Packet Carries a Government Health Warning, as well as productions of The Mikado, Handel’s Semele and Verdi’s I Due Foscari. His first full-length comedy, Exit, Pursued by a Bear, was produced at the Edinburgh Festival in 1973. After a brief spell as Lecturer in Drama at Glasgow University, he began his career as a playwright in 1975 as writer/researcher with the Belgrade Coventry Theatre in Education team. In 1982 and 1983 he was Resident Writer with the London Bubble Theatre. Stephen has worked widely as a freelance playwright in theatre, radio and television ever since. He also has considerable experience as a teacher, workshop leader and script reader and in the creation of audio guides. The first piece he wrote for television was a play called Claws which led to his being commissioned to write Paradise Towers and then The Greatest Show in the Galaxy for Doctor Who. In 2008, his play, Memorials to the Missing, won the Tinniswood Award for best original radio script of 2007 as well as Silver in the Best Drama category of the 2008 Sony Radio Awards. He spent two years as Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the University of Sussex and in the autumn of 2011 he took up a post as RLF Writing Fellow on Greenwich University’s Maritime campus. Author biography by David J. Howe, author of The Target Book, the complete illustrated guide to the Target Doctor Who novelisations.

Patrick Stewart stars as Raymond Chandler and Adrian Scarborough as Billy Wilder in BBC Radio 4's entertaining glimpse inside the Hollywood film industry.   In 1944 Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder came together to work on a screen adaptation of James M. Cain's novel 'Double Indemnity'. Wilder is an ambitious 36-year-old German Jewish émigré just making his name as a director, and Chandler is a reformed alcoholic with a developing reputation as a novelist but absolutely no experience of writing for movies. The play follows their famously difficult collaboration.  Paramount studios put Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder together because none of the big names would touch James M. Cain's novel. With its adulterous lovers and a crime that could be copied, it was judged too controversial to adapt because of the censorious Production Code guidelines. Chandler and Wilder famously hated each other but in a space of some four months locked in an office together they created an outstanding screenplay for a ground-breaking classic film.   With Patrick Stewart ('Macbeth', 'Star Trek') as Chandler and Adrian Scarborough ('Cranford', 'The King's Speech') as Billy Wilder, 'Double Jeopardy' is directed by Claire Grove.      'Double Jeopardy' was originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 4 February 2011.

Alice Through the Looking Glass

Ken Campbell, Windsor Davies, John Bird and John Fortune star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatization.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, which includes the poem "Jabberwocky", and the poem The Hunting of the Snark, all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic and fantasy. There are societies in many parts of the world dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life. [Wikipedia]

Ken Campbell, Windsor Davies, John Bird and John Fortune star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation. 
 
When Alice leans too close to the Looking Glass, she suddenly finds herself in a land of caustic characters and twisted logic – a back-to-front world where flowers can talk, Queens can run and a crown could depend on a game of chess... In her bid to become Queen of the Chess Board, Alice must escape the fearful Jabberwock and get to the eighth square. En route, she takes advice – and sometimes downright criticism – from such peculiar folk as Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Lion and the Unicorn, and very helpful gnat. 
 
Even when she has passed this test, the ordeal awaits of dinner with the Red and White Queens – and Alice learns an important lesson about not eating food you've been introduced to. 
 
This witty adaptation of Lewis Carroll's enduring children's classic boasts the much-loved Jabberwocky poem amongst its sparkling collection of gems.

Stephen Wyatt

William Schwenck Gilbert

Sarah Hadland

Jonathan Coy

Full Cast

Bertie Carvel

Alison Steadman

Stephen Moore

Chris Emmett

A BBC Radio 4 drama collection

Ten comic dramatisations based on the stories and plays of WS Gilbert 
 
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert is best known for his operatic collaborations with Sir Arthur Sullivan, which captivated 19th-century audiences and continue to delight today. But he also created numerous solo works, among them these ten pieces, dramatised for radio by Stephen Wyatt and featuring Jonathan Coy as WS Gilbert. 
 
The Finger of Fate - Confirmed bachelor Foggerty yearns for peace - but Fate has other plans, in the form of large, lively Dolly Fortescue. 
Starring Stephen Moore, Alison Steadman, Martin Hyder, Ian Masters. 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 December 2002 
 
An Elixir of Love - The inspiration for the Gilbert &amp; Sullivan opera The Sorcerer, this humorous tale finds the Rev Stanley Gay secretly administering a love potion to his parishioners - with unexpected results. 
Starring Paul Downing, Cathy Sara, Gillian Goodman, Christopher Scott, John Fleming. 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14 May 2003 
 
The Burglar's Story- Housebreaker's son Theodore Belvawney learns the hard way that there is no honour amongst thieves. 
Starring Michael Onslow, John Webb, Anny Tobin, Stephen Boswell, Kim Durham, Alexandra Lilley 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21 May 2003 
 
Wide Awake - Rich, unworldly Harold Symperson learns that he must stay alert when looking for his soulmate. 
Starring Richard Derrington, Chris Emmett, Julia Hills, Joanna Wake, Jamie Chapman, Tom George. 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 28 May 2003 
 
Mr Foster's Good Fairy - Confectioner Cyril Foster fears his chequered past will be exposed, until he's offered an unlikely escape. 
Starring Ian Brooker, Sara Coward, Lennox Greaves and David Bannerman 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 4 June 2003 
 
The Wedding March - Woodpecker Tapping's wedding day goes from bad to worse in this farcical drama. 
Starring Jason Chan, Paul Clarkson, Amy Shindler, John Rowe, Alex Tregear, Sion Probert, Charlotte West-Oram 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 15 December 2004 
 
A Sensation Novel - Author Ebenezer Fudge is most perturbed when his characters come to life and criticise his melodramatic plots. 
Starring John Rowe, Nicholas Boulton, Hugh Dickson, Julia Hills, Jason Chan and Wendy Baxter 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 22 December 2004 
 
A Colossal Idea - Holidaying with his wife in Margate, grocer Mr Yellowboy claims to be writing an encyclopaedia - but his real activities are less innocent. 
Starring Tim Hudson, Sarah Hadland, Tina Gray, Bella Merlin, James Howard. 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 December 2004 
 
Tom Cobb or Fortune's Toy - In need of money to marry his fiancee, Matilda O'Fipp, Tom Cobb decides to 'die'. 
Starring Bertie Carvel, Sarah Corbet, Stephen Hogan, James Howard, Bella Merlin, Jason Chan. 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 5 January 2005 
 
The Realm of Joy - A West End play proves so scandalous that Victorian society can't stay away. Starring Alexander Delamere, Jeffrey Harmer, Tim Hudson, Jilly Bond, Stephen Hogan, Bella Merlin, Charlotte West-Oram. 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12 January 2005 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by WS Gilbert 
Dramatised by Stephen Wyatt 
Directed by Sally Avens, Sue Wilson and Jenny Stephen 
 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. ? 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Gilbert without Sullivan

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