The BBC is planning a major science fiction season across its radio network early next year; Radio 4, Radio 3 and digital-only channel BBC 7 will host a series of science fiction themed dramas over two weeks in February and March. According to The Stage Radio 4 will have five SF shows, Radio 3 will have (appropriately) three plays and BBC 7 will have the ten part Planet B, the largest original series the station has so far broadcast – a lot of 7′s programming is drawn from the Beeb’s massive archives, including some very tasty SF classics (their Seventh Dimension slot has served SF fans pretty well, I have to say), but great to see them taking on a huge, original work. They will also be airing more classic SF shows during the season to compliment the new works. Some of the dramas will be original works while others are based on some top SF novels, such as Iain M Banks’ The State of the Art and Arthur C Clarke’s Rendevous with Rama.
“What we are interested in doing is contemporary science fiction. Science fiction now as opposed to hoary old-favourites as it were. You look at some of the contemporary science fiction from writers like Clarke and William Gibson and radio is their natural home – they are fantastic works of the imagination,” Jeremy Howe, Radio 4 Drama Commissioner, talking to The Stage.
Wed, Oct 1, 2008
Books, Film, TV and radio