Rod Serling, each week from 1959 to 1964, would tell audiences they were entering another dimension—a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. This dimension was, of course, The Twilight Zone, and its five seasons of sci-fi and horror parables (almost all of them about things going crappily for some hapless protagonist) are still among the most watched and beloved of television shows today, owing much to Syfy’s yearly holiday marathons. But soon, that dimension of sight and sound will just be a dimension of sound, as the BBC is adapting 10 classic episodes as radio programs.
Twilight Zone just for your ears?!? Has Burgess Meredith dropped his glasses again?!
BBC Radio 4 Extra will be adapting the classic Serling scripts in a series of 40 minute radio broadcasts beginning in March with “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” which aired during Twilight Zone‘s final season. It was, of course, originally a 1962 Academy Award-winning short film to which Serling added narration and wraparound segments. Strange that this episode specifically is being adapted to radio since it’s a nearly silent episode. Guess we’ll find out in March!
Veteran actor Stacy Keach will be stepping into Serling’s shoes and delivering the iconic narration while actors such as Jane Seymour, Jim Caviezel, Michael York, Malcolm McDowell, and Don Johnson play characters in the story. No word yet on the other nine episodes to be adapted, but an audio version of “Time Enough At Last” or “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” might be pretty amazing to listen to.
Which episodes do you think would make good audio dramas? Let us know in the comments below!
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HT: The Independent via io9
Image: CBS
Kyle Anderson is the Weekend Editor and a film and TV critic for Nerdist.com. Follow him on Twitter!
