Bob Baker and Dave Martin’s 1975 series becomes a full-cast audio drama.
First broadcast in 1975, ITV children’s series Sky followed a time-travelling alien with solid blue eyes and psychic powers, who found himself on Earth in the wrong period of history. When three human children befriended Sky, they were tasked with helping him find his way home – and fending off the attacks of the mysterious Goodchild, created when Earth’s immune system rejected Sky’s presence.
The show came writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin, best known for their 1970s Doctor Who tales. Across their time, the pair penned ‘The Three Doctors’, introducing Omega, and created K-9.
Now, 50 years since its original broadcast, Sky returns.
Fifty years later, 2026, Sky has been reborn. But why now? And what does Sky want with the old man living in the sheltered accommodation who used to fight to save planet Earth from destroying itself…
The series returns for two new full-cast audio drama box sets. Sky: Before the Chaos is out in August 2025, with a second volume, Sky: Into the Chaos, coming in July 2026. Each box set comprises three brand new episodes.
The audio revival stars Cloud Quinn as Sky and Edwin Flay as Arby Vennor. They take on the roles originally played on TV by Marc Harrison and Stuart Lock respectively.
Joining them, Jessica Hayles and Samuel Morgan-Davies play new characters Bex Briggs and Kyle Braddock.
Writer, director and co-producer Gary Russell said:
“There’s a golden decade of kids’ TV between 1972 and 1982, much of it produced by HTV and Patrick Dromgoole, often written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin. One of those gems was Sky, a show that displayed an intelligence and sophistication that many other ITV companies tried to emulate, but rarely did.
“The ultimate outsider, Sky was neither good nor evil, neither a hero nor a villain. The same goes for the other characters around him: Arby, Goodchild, the Briggs family – there are marvellous moral ambiguities about all of them. To a child, that offered a story of such depth and emotion and ethical shades of grey, it was impossible not to love.
“To be asked to find out what happened next, and the effect Sky’s parting gift to Arby might have on a human, was too good an offer to say no to. I love these characters passionately and it’s a joy to be able to tell these latest chapters in their lives – the first audio serial I’ve ever written for Big Finish.”
You can pre order Sky: Before the Chaos and Sky: Into the Chaos as digital downloads to own from Big Finish now.
For more on the original Sky series, there’s a great piece on Television Heaven.