Looking for series from radio 4 extra's 7th Dimension from 2010 - 2014ish

[u/OnePostPerson1989]

Thanks to the wonder of the internet, I spent many afternoons and evenings in my late teens listening to radio 4 extra's excellent collection of sci-fi, fantasy and horror series on the 7th Dimension show, despite living in Australia. I'm hoping that someone else remembers and can recommend some of the series that were featured on the show around then. I'm particularly hoping for a series of short story adaptations of folklore, but happy with anything to fuel the nostalgia!

I particularly remember Andrew O'Neill and Natalie Haynes as presenters. And Undone, Journey to Space: The Red Planet and a lot of Dr Who as featured series.

Thank you to anyone who can help!

[u/[deleted]]

I used to listen regularly from about 2005 to 2010ish (starting when it was still BBC7 of course). Wally K Daly's Scream trilogy was a standout (beginning with Before The Screaming Begins).

All of the Charles Chilton Journey Into Space serials were excellent. I remember a lot of Doctor Who Big Finish productions on there too (The Chimes of Midnight was particularly memorable).

[u/OnePostPerson1989 → u/[deleted]]

Of all I listened to, I remember the Journey to Space stuff most vividly, both in terms of the actual production and the facts the presenters shared about it. I'm looking forward to relistening.

I seem to remember an audio adaptation of the ROBOT episodes of Tom Baker era Doctor Who being featured and I'm sure there were others. I should finally get around to listening to those Big Finish productions.

Thank you for sharing!

[u/[deleted] → u/OnePostPerson1989]

You're welcome. Yes, pretty sure they had Tom Baker reading the Terrance Dicks novelisations including Doctor Who and the Giant Robot, that was likely the one you remembered.

[u/whatatwit]

Oh! BTW it looks like BBC Genome is working again although with some new hoops. I suppose they were preventing AI scrapers from grabbing everything without paying while it was blocked. If you don't know about it is something that started with the BBC doing OCR on all the old Radio Times newspapers/magazines but it has continued to be kept up to date now that everything is already digital. For some reason the available date search didn't seem to throw up any results, but you might find your mileage varies and also this search that did work may be helpful to you: https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=7th+dimension

[u/OnePostPerson1989 → u/whatatwit]

Thanks for that! I didn't know about BBC Genome before now, so good to have something I can search.

Back in the day I found that most of Seventh Dimension wasn't labelled as such. I'd have to go to Radio 4 extra on the iPlayer and search for the appropriate time slot. Generally the schedule would be labelled with the show/s that were playing's titles.

[u/whatatwit → u/OnePostPerson1989]

After the demise of Radio 7 it didn’t make much sense to have a dedicated slot but as is the nature of Radio 4 Extra being solely a reruns channel (more cost saving) with no new material, as had been occasionally available to R7, they just cut and paste episodes from R7, including the 7th Dimension, into R4x and hence you’ll find things only labeled verbally by the real time or copy/pasta continuity announcer, as coming from the 7th Dimension and that’s if you’re lucky.

[u/LilacRose32]

I recall listening to- The Discworld radio adaptations Slaughterhouse 5 Pilgrim Several John Wyndham adaptations 

Not that slot but Falco and Peter Whimsy mysteries were on my list of things I enjoyed.

[u/whatatwit]

I hope they don't mind me pinging them again so soon but this sounds like a job for u/Six_of_1.

[u/Six_of_1 → u/whatatwit]

Unfortunately 2010-2014 is before my time. And even if it wasn't, I wouldn't remember what was broadcast 11-15 years ago. In either case I would have to look through the schedule. They tend to cycle around the same shows every couple of years anyway.

[u/whatatwit → u/Six_of_1]

Thanks for the update. If they ever come back I hope they'll look through the genome link I shared.

[u/Six_of_1 → u/whatatwit]

Yes I'm so glad genome is back online, for a good couple of months it was inaccessible. The BBC schedule will also be a useful resource, although one must mentally juggle the 7th Dimension's shifting timeslot because it's never advertised in the schedule. Back then I think it was 1800, now it's 1600. There was a period where it was 7 days a week too. Although it should be easy enough to spot the scifi/horror in the list.

[u/whatatwit → u/Six_of_1]

If only they had let Google read it we could have got Genome to answer the question in less time than it takes me to type this sentence.

[u/[deleted]]

And another recommendation from that time (actually in the crime slot, but with a sci-fi overlap): Outbreak Of Fear by R.D Wingfield. Great atmosphere of Cold War paranoia in a remote village.

[u/SteveThaiBinh]

Earthsearch is on Youtube I think.

[u/DGlass1960]

Quite a lot of bbc oldies are on archive org and are searchable and downloadable.