Showing results for "Classic" in Dramatisations

Often referred to as the father of science fiction, Victorian author Jules Verne is renowned for his fantastical adventures imagining extraordinary voyages to strange new horizons. Prolific and prophetic, he wrote over 50 novels and numerous short stories, in which he foretold the skyscraper, the submarine, space missions and even the Internet. Featured here are contemporary adaptations of four of his most famous tales, as well as a special episode of The Forum examining the long-lasting appeal of his work.

The Abominable Snowmen: Tibet, 1935: English explorer Travers is determined to track down the mythical Abominable Snowmen which are said to roam the Himalayas. When the Doctor and his companions visit the nearby Detsen monastery they discover that the Yeti are all too prominent - in fact, they...

Full-cast dramatisations of six masterpieces from the founding fathers of dystopian fiction Dark and disturbing, provocative and prescient, dystopian literature has long captured our imagination with its nightmarish visions of forbidding future worlds. Included here are six classic novels of...

It's 2116, and Bernard Marx and Helmholtz Watson are token rebels in an irretrievably corrupted society where promiscuity is the norm, eugenics a respectable science, and morality turned upside down. There is no poverty, crime or sickness - but no creativity, art or culture either. Human beings are merely docile citizens: divided into castes, brainwashed and controlled by the state and dependent on the drug soma for superficial gratification.

Deviant. Depraved. Dangerous. Denounced for their transgressive themes and inflammatory ideas, these 20th-century classics have all been considered so seditious that they had to be suppressed. Find out what made these iconic works so threatening to governments worldwide in these superlative dramatisations, featuring stellar casts and specially composed music.

This first volume of readings features twelve stories of excitement and adventure in distant times and places. In The Curse of Peladon (read by Jon Pertwee), the Doctor and Jo visit a primitive planet where they encounter a delegation of aliens- including the Ice Warriors. In Kinda (read by...

These three stories - The Myth Makers, The Massacre and The Highlanders - see the TARDIS landing in Ancient Greece, 16th Century France and 18th Century Scotland. In The Myth Makers, the time travellers arrive on the plains of Asia Minor, not far from the city of Troy - where the Doctor finds...

'We at this table pledge our allegiance to the Dalek cause. Our armies will reduce the galaxies to ashes, their people to dust. And Earth we will conquer first!' In their quest to gain control of the Solar System, the Daleks have taken possession of the Time Destructor, a weapon which threatens...

Terry Molloy reads this original adventure for the Seventh Doctor and Ace, featuring a rematch with the Autons. When a new state-of-the-art recycling plant opens in North-East London, pensioner Roger Turner is all for doing his bit. In return for donations of unwanted plastic, he and his friends get to see AN-X Recycling’s exhibition of life-size human and animal mannequins.

'Don't pretend. They're here somewhere, on these mountains. The Yeti. The Abominable Snowmen!' The year is 1935. The TARDIS materialises in the snowy Himalayas, and the Doctor makes a return visit to the nearby Detsen monastery. Having last been there three hundred years ago, he is astonished...

Driving back from a weekend in London, Richard and Janet Gayford are surprised to find the village of Midwich sealed off because of ‘army manoeuvres’. There are no birds singing, the air seems thick and there is a strange sort of music in the air. It soon becomes clear that there is an...

Following a spot of uncharacteristic intoxication, the Doctor wakes to discover that the TARDIS has materialised in the service ducting of the Vipod Mor, a huge craft which is itself floating in deep space. Furthermore, the console has detected time spillage: someone or something is tampering...

A charming rogue, Dan Courtney is learning fast that it takes more than a little charm to lay the groundwork for a railroad. Particularly when the plan is to build it across some of the roughest and most dangerous territory on earth. Courtney's been hired to survey the land that would link up the Uganda Railway to the Anglo-Egyptian railroad. Running through desert, jungle and mountains, this is one line—and story—with more twists and turns than the New York City subway system.

The TARDIS materialises in Paris in 1572, a time of great danger and religious strife. Whilst the Doctor pays a visit to famous apothecary Charles Preslin, Steven is befriended by a group of Protestants who come from the household of Admiral de Coligny. Meanwhile, the Catholic Queen Mother...

The Doctor has adopted many guises in his time, but to be hailed as the great god Zeus is a bit of a shock. Yet this is exactly what happens when the TARDIS lands on the plains of Asia Minor, not far from the city of Troy. Taken to the Greek camp by Achilles, the Doctor is introduced to...

Fang Rock Lighthouse stands somewhere off the South Coast of England in the early 1900s. Its three keepers have lately noticed a strange fog, and one has seen an eerie light in the water. Soon one of them is dead, and Old Reuben believes that legend is about to become reality... When the...

Scotland, 1745. The Doctor, Ben and Polly arrive in Scotland after the Battle of Culloden and meet a band of Highlanders who are fleeing in defeat. Their Laird is injured and the three offer to help tend his injuries. Polly and Kirsty McLaren, the Laird's daughter (played in a guest appearance...

'We're talking about the Daleks, the most evil creatures ever invented. You must destroy them - you must complete your mission for the Time Lords!' Genesis of the Daleks: Tom Baker narrates an abridged version of this 1975 television adventure in which the Doctor, Sarah and Harry are sent to...

'Nobody who crosses Pike lives to tell the tale!' The rugged Cornwall of days gone by is the scene for first Doctor William Hartnell’s 1966 foray into the murky world of pirates and hidden treasure. The TARDIS lands on the seventeenth century Cornish coast, and its crew stumble upon a plot...

'We have reached the distant horizon of an age of peace and prosperity!' When the TARDIS materialises on an alien planet, the Doctor insists that he and his companions have arrived in the far future. Steven and Dodo think otherwise, however, after they encounter a band of cave-dwelling...