The Midwich Cuckoos

Classic Radio Sci-Fi

By: John Wyndham

Narrated by: Bill Nighy, Full Cast, Sarah Parish

Driving back from a weekend in London, Richard and Janet Gayford are surprised to find the village of Midwich sealed off because of ‘army manoeuvres’. There are no birds singing, the air seems thick and there is a strange sort of music in the air. It soon becomes clear that there is an invisible wall around the village, and everyone within the perimeter is unconscious. When the barrier lifts, the strange occurrence is put down to a gas leak. The villagers seem to have suffered no adverse effects from their ‘day out’ - until, some months later, there is an epidemic of pregnancies among the women. All the babies are born on the same day, all have golden eyes - and they can all communicate with each other telepathically. As they grow older and their powers grow stronger, the people of Midwich begin to feel threatened...© and (P)2007 BBC Audiobooks Ltd.

how brief a life of the cuckoo

The story 's split into 2 chapters, I frankly think 3 or 4 truly to do the novel Justice were needed..

First rate

Very well done. Bill Nighy is his usual delightful self, and Clive Merrison also contributes a solid performance. This is, in many ways, one of Wyndham's more horrifying stories. As a longtime fan of Wyndham's work, I'm happy to say that the spirit of his novel comes through loud and clear. If you appreciate good, intelligent radio drama, this is for you.

Quite good - except for the screaming

I hadn't read any John Wyndham books since I was a kid, but lately I've been really into BBC radio serials, so I thought I'd give this a try (and heck, who can resist Bill Nighy? I always love his performances).

Overall, this is a great production, and fairly recent, so some of the more dated aspects (the whole stereotypical '1950s housewives' attitude was one of the reasons I hadn't loved the book whn I read it years ago, for example) have been toned down or confined to a general 'women are more attached to their children than men' approach.

However.

I don't recommend listening to this while lying on the couch trying to relax on a Sunday afternoon, because every 5 minutes some female character lets out the kind of ear-piercing, sustained shriek that has you jumping out of your chair and lunging for the EQ because you feel like your eardrums are about to perforate themselves. (The Chysalids dramatization has the same problem.)

So: definitely buy this, but it's best to listen to while, say, cleaning the house.

Very creepy!.

Saw the movie when I was a child. This acting was great and and the sound effects were also for a radio book play.

Midwich Cuckoos is outstanding

I’ve loved John Wyndam’s book and have read it several times (but not recently). The 1960 film is okay, but the 1995 remake is awful.

This is a full cast dramatization is well done. But it’s not an audio book. It stars Bill Nighy as Richard, one of the bystanders. The part must have been especially written for him as the character is far more twitchier than I remember from the book.

One element in the story is how utterly devoted the mothers are to the alien brood. The implication is that they are both showing a motherly devotion and are controlled by the children.

They say they are not simply incubators. But the reality of the situation is that they are. I wish this version at least show the possibility that they were aware their feelings were not their own. When a male character tries to voice concern, the women say, “you’re a man. You can’t understand”. True for regular babies but these children are clearly out to take over the world.