Audible, out now

Five HG Wells classics read by some familiar genre names.

What connects the 10th Doctor, Discovery’s Captain Lorca, Merlin’s Mordred, short-lived Doctor Who companion Alison Cheney and intergalactic pirate captain Sam Avery? The answer is that they – or rather, of course, the actors who played them among many other parts – are the performers of this nifty collection of HG Wells stories, produced for Audible by Ladbroke Audio’s Neil Gardner.

Performers is the operative word as well – I have no doubt there are plenty of versions of Wells’ tales around if you want a straightforward rendition, but each of these actors brings them to life in a way that will make you pick up elements of the text that you may not have noticed no matter how many times you’ve read them. When Big Finish did their dramatizations a couple of years back, I reread the original stories after listening to the audios to judge how close they’d come, but hearing these versions reminds me of the pointedness in places of Wells’ stories.

David Tennant reads The War of the Worlds – the start seems odd after so many years of hearing Richard Burton and/or Liam Neeson reading the potted version at the beginning of the Jeff Wayne rendition, but I’d love a Tennant take on the double album – while Jason Isaacs has The Island of Doctor Moreau and stranger creatures than the Mirror Universe to contend with. Alexander Vlahos is one of The First Men in the Moon – his reading of the first meeting between the narrator and Cavor is a delight – and Sophie Okonedo brings The Invisible Man to life. I loved Sir John Hurt’s take on it for Big Finish, but Okonedo captures the spirit of Griffin and those who encounter him brilliantly. Finally, Hugh Bonneville performs The Time Machine, with a wide selection of voices to portray the Time Traveller’s friends – and once again, listening to this, I’m struck by how much Wells incorporated social commentary even into his exposition.

Verdict: Single voice but fully dramatic readings of five SF classics. 9/10

Paul Simpson