Journey into Space: Frozen in Time: The BBC Radio Sci-Fi Drama

Charles Chilton

Jan 2009 · Journey into Space Book 5 · BBC Digital Audio · Narrated by Alan Marriott, Chris Moran, David Jacobs, Full Cast, and Michael Beckley

About this audiobook

A BBC Radio 4 sequel to Charles Chilton's iconic radio sci-fi series.

Between 1953 and 1958, Journey into Space attracted millions of listeners, gripped by the mystery and promise of space exploration in weekly cliffhanging instalments.

In this thrilling episode, the spaceship Ares has been heading back to Earth for 30 years, with the crew in suspended animation - except Captain Jet Morgan, whose sleeper pod failed. With the ship six months from home, Jet picks up an SOS from Mars, and wakes the others to go on a rescue mission.

But when our heroes meet up with the stranded crew it becomes apparent that all is not what it first appeared. Unwittingly caught up in seismic deception, it is not only the lives of the Ares crew which are at stake - the entire future of planet Earth could be in peril...

David Jacobs - from the original radio series - stars as Jet Morgan, with Michael Beckley as Mitch, Alan Marriott as Doc and Chris Moran as Lemmy.

Production Credits
Written by Charles Chilton. Directed by Nicholas Russ.
Original music and sound design by David Chilton.

Cast
Jet Morgan - David Jacobs
Mitch - Michael Beckley
Doc/Ed - Alan Marriott
Lemmy - Chris Moran
Astnd - Emma Fielding
Jensen - Stephen Hogan
Radio operator / film voice - Kate Harbour

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12 April 2008.

©2009 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2009 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Ratings and reviews

Great series but where are the rest of the BBC Journey into Space radio sci-fi-series some of which are a great deal longer than these two BBC Journey Into Space series.

About the author

Charles Chilton was born in London in 1917. He was raised by his grandmother after his father was killed in the First World War and his mother died in the 1918 flu epidemic. He started work aged fourteen, for a company that made electrical signs, but left in 1932 and got a job in the BBC record library. From here, he worked his way up to becoming a full-time producer. After a few years presenting music programmes, Chilton joined the RAF when World War Two broke out, and was sent to Sri Lanka to run the forces' radio station. On his return, he produced some of Alistair Cooke's first broadcasts from America. Chilton himself then spent some time in the United States, writing and producing several series of American Western history. The most successful was Riders of the Range, which was first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in 1949 and ran for six series. It was replaced by the show that would bring Chilton international recognition: Journey Into Space. The serial was commissioned by Head of Variety Michael Channing, and was initially planned to be twelve episodes. It ran for three series, was translated into 17 languages and attracted huge audiences: at one point, almost 8 million people were tuning in. Chilton was to go on to produce many more hit shows, including The Goon Show and Oh! What a Lovely War, which was adapted first as a stage musical and later as a film directed by Richard Attenborough. In 1976, Charles Chilton was presented with an MBE, and the following year he retired from the BBC. He died in 2013.