{{Infobox Radio Show , show_name = Slipstream , image = , imagesize = , caption = , other_names = , format =

Radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

Science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

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United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

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English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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BBC 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...

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Rory Kinnear Rory Michael Kinnear (born 17 February 1978) is an English actor and playwright who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. In 2014, he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of William Sha ...

, Joannah Tincey , creator = , writer =

Simon Bovey Simon Bovey (born 1960), is a British scriptwriter and director. He has written several science fiction dramas for BBC Radio,Stereophonic sound , opentheme = , endtheme = , website = , podcast = ''Slipstream'' is a

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

Simon Bovey Simon Bovey (born 1960), is a British scriptwriter and director. He has written several science fiction dramas for BBC Radio,BBC 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...

during March 2008. Bovey described the premise of ''Slipstream'' in an interview as follows: "It's set in 1945 when the Allies' victory in Europe is a forgone conclusion and everyone is fighting for a piece of the spoils. And then the UFOs are sighted. Part political thriller, part war story, part future shock."Interview with Simon Bovey
''The Thunder Child Science Fiction and Fantasy Web Magazine and Sourcebooks'', 2007. This radio drama combines a story of a raid by

British commandos The Commando, Commandos, also known as the British Commandos, were formed during the World War II, Second World War in June 1940, following a request from Winston Churchill, for special forces that could carry out Raid (military), raids against ...

into Germany during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

with a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

story about a new Nazi aircraft capable of fantastic speeds and shooting down hundreds of Allied aircraft. Nicknamed ''Luftschraubenstrahl'' (German for "Slipstream"), the silver disc-shaped aircraft turns out to be constructed around an extraterrestrial artifact.

Plot

The British airforce finds themselves helpless against a mysterious new Nazi aircraft that is capable of fantastic speeds, and shoots down 150 Allied bombers during one of their bombing missions. After hearing of the bomber raid disaster, Major Barton coerces the code word "Slipstream" from a German prisoner via torture just before the prisoner dies. He persuades his leader to allow a commando raid on an experimental aircraft development site in Germany, where the Slipstream seems to have been built. The target is located between advancing American and Russian forces, who have their own agendas and may reach it before the British. As part of his team, Barton conscripts Kate Ritchie, a British research scientist whose brother may have been lost in one of the bombing raids. To fly the Slipstream back to Britain once it has been captured, Barton recruits a German

prisoner-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

, ''Flugkapitän'' Jürgen Rahl. Jürgen is a former test pilot who was captured when his

Messerschmitt Me 262 The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed ''Schwalbe'' (German: "Swallow") in fighter versions, or ''Sturmvogel'' (German: "Storm Bird") in fighter-bomber versions, is a fighter aircraft and fighter-bomber that was designed and produced by the Germ ...

was shot down, and Barton promises to save his father in Potsdam from the advancing Russians, though he later admits he has no plans to do so. In Germany the raiders enter an underground factory, the ''

Mittelwerk Mittelwerk (; German for "Central Works") was a German World War II factory built underground in the Kohnstein to avoid Allied bombing. It used slave labor from the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp to produce V-2 ballistic missiles, V-1 flying ...

'' where they find

slave worker Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

s, a German "technician", Frau Schenk, and the mysterious Slipstream in a cave. In a test flight with Ritchie, Jürgen finds that piloting the aircraft is a matter of wearing a helmet and controlling it with his thoughts. Schenk tells them that previous pilots of the Slipsteam died of brain inflammation after a few missions. Determined to secure the Slipstream for Britain, Barton and his men ambush and destroy an American squad who come to the factory. Kate and Jürgen learn what they can about the Slipstream, which seems to be built around an alien artifact that crashed into the Brazilian jungle in 1929, and was taken by the German SS after a German priest working in the Vatican learned of its existence from a missionary. The artifact is intelligent and Jürgen learns to communicate with it, and discovers that it geared to teach science rather than destroy life, and that previous pilots died when they forced it to act against its programming by taking part in war. As the Americans and Russians close in, Jürgen pilots the Slipstream back to Britain with Kate and Barton aboard, but once the war is over, politics take over and the Slipstream has to be handed over to the Americans. The British are unsuccessful in studying it because it will not fly for any of their pilots, and bring Jürgen back for one final attempt before the craft is handed over. He takes off into outer space, apparently to return the artifact to its creators.

Cast

* Major Bill Barton - Tim McMullan * Flugkapitän Jürgen Rahl -

* Dr. Kate Ritchie - Joannah Tincey * Lt. Dundas - Ben Crowe * Teazle - Sam Pamphilon * Frau Schenk -

Rachel Atkins Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

* Voice of Slipstream - Laura Molyneaux * Brigadier Erskine - Peter Marinker

References

2008 radio dramas British radio dramas BBC Radio 4 Extra programmes