An audio drama reimagining of Gerry Anderson’s classic live-action ITV series UFO is coming to Big Finish Productions, with the first of two box sets due for release in August 2022.
This sci-fi cult favourite, originally launched in 1970 but set in the then ‘futuristic’ 1980, centred on the struggle between SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation) and mysterious, alien would-be invaders. It featured all the explosive, action-packed hardware hallmarks of an Anderson series, but also tackled very human, emotional themes.
Big Finish’s version is written by Andy Lane (known for his Young Sherlock Holmes YA novels) and script edited by Jamie Anderson (son of Gerry) and Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish’s award-winning creative director). It opens with three action-packed full-cast audio adventures, following Ed Straker (Barnaby Kay – Wallander, Doctor Who and former RSC member) as a US Air Force test pilot who gets sucked into the world of alien infiltration and human kind’s fight for survival. It’s a journey that will eventually take him to the top job at SHADO.
UFO —Destruct: Positive! and UFO — Volume 2 (Title TBC) are each available to pre-order as a collector’s edition 3-disc CD box set (+ download for just £19.99 each) or digital download (for just £16.99 each), exclusively from Big Finish. An array of familiar SHADO characters also feature including Colonel Alec Freeman (Samuel Clemens – award-winning film-maker, former RSC member, and son of Brian Clemens), Lieutenant Gay Ellis (Lynsey Murrell – Eastenders and the Sherlock Holmes Chapter One video game), General James Henderson (Harry Myers – The Sandman, Bernice Summerfield), and Lieutenant-Colonel Virginia Lake (Jeany Spark – Wallander, Collateral, RSC).
The human race is under threat. The public has no idea. But alien ships are already attacking. And aliens are already here.
Ed Straker is a test pilot in the US Air Force. Then, one day, his aircraft is attacked by a UFO. His life will never be the same again…
The three stories in this box set, all written by Andy Lane, are as follows:
Destruct: Positive!
Things We Lost In The Darkness
Full Fathom Five
Script Editor Jamie Anderson said: “I worked closely with Andy to create a new beginning for the show. But this audio series has all the essential DNA of Dad’s original creation. What we have here now is an irresistible fusion of a 1970s view of a 1980s world and our own ‘future’ perspective on that. A kind of retro-futurism.”
Script Editor/Director Nicholas Briggs added: “The inspiration behind adapting this rather famous TV series for audio is that I love it. It’s very difficult to categorise but I think UFO is a fascinating and innovative series. Every time I watch it again, and I’ve watched it many times, I adore it more. Destruct: Positive! is our reboot of the UFO story –it’s slightly different from the TV series. It’s a story of secrecy, paranoia, personal struggle, and threats.”
Producer Emma Haigh added: “It’s so exciting to be bringing UFO to audio. It is another iconic TV series from the Anderson world and it’s wonderful to hear Ed Straker, Virginia Lake, Alec Freeman and the SHADO team and stories in this reimagining.”
UFO — Destruct: Positive! is now available to pre-order for just £19.99 (collector’s edition CD box set + download) or £16.99 (download only), exclusively from the Big Finish website. Big Finish listeners can save money by pre-ordering both volumes of UFO together in a bundle for just £38 (collector’s edition CD box set + download) or £33 (download only). All the above prices include the special pre-order discount and are subject to change after general release.
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