Ingenious BBC radio series with impressive staying power.
The full title of this radio series largely gives the game away - Earthsearch: A Ten-Part Adventure Serial in Time and Space.
Written by James Follett and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1981, the first serial generated a pair of sequels. Earthsearch Two was broadcast in 1982, and Earthsearch: Mindwarp in 2006.
The first series of 10 half-hour episodes is set in a massive starship whose crew have been annihilated by a meteorite collision. Only four babies survive, to be brought up by increasingly deranged computers - the 'Angels'.
Finally, the Angels decide to return to Earth. But on arrival in the solar system, the home planet is nowhere to be found. After many adventures the four humans eventually settle on Paradise, an Earth-like planet.
In the second series the ship forces a renewed search for Earth, which the megalomanic Angels are obsessed with ruling. The quest is highly dangerous, and the final reward questionable.
The final series is a prequel only loosely connected to the preceeding two, though it too was adapted from a James Follett novel. It was broadcast on digital radio station BBC7 in 2006.
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