The Pentworth Trilogy: A BBC Radio Sci-Fi Collection: Temple of the Winds, Wicca & The Silent Vulcan

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)

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