Temple of the Winds, Wicca & The Silent Vulcan

The Pentworth Trilogy: A BBC Radio Sci-Fi Collection

A sci-fi trilogy from the author of Earthsearch, read by Nigel Anthony 
 
Best known as the author of the popular space serial Earthsearch, James Follett wrote over 50 radio dramas, 25 novels and a number of TV scripts. This gripping 3-book series, adapted and abridged for BBC Radio and read by Nigel Anthony, explores what takes place when a West Sussex village becomes cut off from the outside world by an alien force field after a UFO crash-lands. 
 
Temple of the Winds – Following a violent storm, the village of Pentworth is plagued by bizarre events. A strange crab-like mechanical creature is seen scuttling in the shadows, two visiting investigators from the Radio Communications Agency disappear in the local ‘plague swamp’ and the supplies of gas, electricity and water begin to falter. Then, suddenly, an invisible, impenetrable sphere appears, completely enclosing the town. With the residents trapped and unable to escape, a battle between good and evil begins... 
 
Wicca – Sealed off from the rest of the world, the inhabitants of Pentworth are growing increasingly desperate. Isolated within the dome, they have been forced into self-sufficiency, growing their own food, generating their own power and forming their own – increasingly totalitarian – government. When local cult leader Adrian Roscoe reintroduces a 17th-century law against witchcraft, teenager Vikki Taylor and herbalist Ellen Duncan find their lives in danger… 
 
The Silent Vulcan – Several months have passed since the villagers of Pentworth became imprisoned behind the ‘Wall’. Attempts have been made to break through it, but it has proved impregnable. Beyond it lies the unreachable world of the Farside – an Ice Age landscape of 40,000 years ago, where woolly mammoths and sabre-toothed cats roam. Just as unreachable are the alien visitors who created it, whose UFO lies submerged in the depths of Pentworth Lake. As Pentworth’s makeshift society crumbles and civil war threatens, will the extraterrestrials finally show their hand? And what will happen when they do? 
 
Written by James Follett 
Read by Nigel Anthony 
Abridged by Miranda Davis 
Produced by Richard Bannerman and Elizabeth Allard 
 
First broadcast on BBC 7, 31 January-20 March 2004 (Temple of the Winds), 27 March- 15 May 2004 (Wicca), 23 May-10 July 2004 (The Silent Vulcan) 
 
© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

James Follett is the author of 25 novels, including Mirage, The Tiptoe Boys and Hellborn. He has also written over 50 radio scrips and several TV scripts including episodes of Blake's 7, and he was the creator of BBC Radio 4's acclaimed sci-fi serial Earthsearch. His books have been translated into 11 languages and he is one of the most borrowed authors in UK libraries.

A BBC Sci-Fi Drama from the creator of Earthsearch

The Destruction Factor

A Sci-Fi adventrure from the creator of  cult radio show Earthsearch

A dangerous mutant plant causes chaos in this science fiction thriller 
 
Scientist Ralph Exon, working for an international fertiliser corporation, has created a new strain of soya bean: a mutation which he hopes will help eliminate Third World famine. But in that plant, known as the Exon strain, there lurks the Destruction Factor. 
 
As it rapidly grows – shooting up from six inches to two feet in mere hours – the plant produces oxygen at massively increased levels, sparking uncontrollable fires. And when its seeds escape from the laboratory and are distributed throughout the country, Exon’s colleague Max Flinders realises that if left unchecked, the plants’ oxygen output will destabilise the atmosphere to such an extent that human life could become extinct. 
 
After an emergency vent of the biodome causes an explosion that brings down a jumbo jet, the UN become involved. They issue the British government with an ultimatum: track down and destroy the Exon strain, or they will carpet-bomb the entire country with deadly defoliants... 
 
Written by James Follett, creator of the acclaimed Earthsearch, this dark, sinister radio drama stars T P McKenna, Paul Copley, Rosalind Adams and Clifford Rose. 
 
First broadcast as two 90-minute plays on BBC Radio 4 in 1978

Earthsearch

The complete first and second series of the popular BBC radio sci-fi drama.

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! When they were first broadcast on radio, Earthsearch and Earthsearch II generated a flood of fan letters to Radio Times. Now at last their superb sound is available, digitally remastered for the first time. Also included is an introduction from James Follett, first broadcast as part of BBC7's "Men, Martians, and Machines".

James Follett

Sean Arnold

Amanda Murray

Full Cast

Norman Rodway

Derek Seaton

T. P. McKenna

Paul Copley

Sandra Dickinson

Ed Bishop

Douglas Blackwell

Sean Barrett

10 Full-Cast Dramas including Earthsearch

A collection of full-cast sci-fi dramas from the late, great James Follett, introduced by Follett himself and featuring his bestselling series Earthsearch 
 
Novelist, playwright and screenwriter James Follett wrote over 25 novels, more than 50 radio dramas and numerous TV scripts, including several episodes of Blake’s 7. He was one of the most borrowed authors in UK libraries, and his works have been translated into over a dozen languages. 
 
This anthology includes his finest radio plays and series – including many that have never previously been available before. Framing the collection is the special BBC7 programme Men, Martians and Machines, in which Follett himself introduces us to several of his most popular pieces, providing fascinating behind-the-scenes back stories and tracing the origins of Earthsearch through the evolution of his radio work. 
 
Described by Follett as ‘probably the quirkiest thing I've ever written’, The Devil to Pay features a driver who crashes his car in the desert, and a camper who pulls him from the wreckage. Norman Rodway and Derek Seaton star in this short playlet with a wicked twist. 
 
In The Man Who Invented Yesterday, starring Alan Rowe, a scientist is delighted when his DNA experiments come to fruition. 
 
In The Destruction Factor, a corporation’s new plant strain mutation escapes the lab and causes havoc. Starring T P McKenna, Paul Copley, Rosalind Adams and Clifford Rose. 
 
Next up are Follett’s acclaimed space dramas Earthsearch and Earthsearch II, charting the adventures of the crew of the starship Challenger. Among the ensemble cast are Sean Arnold, Amanda Murray, Kathryn Hurlbutt and Haydn Wood. 
 
The Bionic Blob and its sequel The Bionic Blob and the Stolen Wavelengths tell the story of a ‘Thing’ from outer space who becomes the unlikely sidekick to a private eye on Earth. Sandra Dickinson and Ed Bishop star. 
 
The Doppelganger Machine, set in 1933 and starring Peter Pratt and Hector Ross, sees a plane flying Christmas mail from France to England landing at an unexpected airport – and decade. 
 
In The Twisted Image, a dead woman is found in the boot of a Rolls-Royce, but the clues don’t add up... Douglas Blackwell and Peter Wickham star in this futuristic whodunit. 
 
In the post-apocalyptic disaster thriller Ice, starring Sean Barrett, Carol Drinkwater and Anthony Hyde, a giant iceberg breaks away from the Antarctic and drifts inexorably towards New York. Can the US military avert disaster? 
 
NB: Due to the age of some of the recordings, the sound quality may vary 
 
© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

James Follett

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