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Temporal

By: Julian Simpson, Richard MacLean Smith, Bec Boey, Nosa Igbinedion
Narrated by: Nicola Walker, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Jessie Mei Li, Steven Mackintosh, Mark Bazeley, Jana Carpenter, Kyle Soller, Phoebe Fox, Barnaby Kay, Rebecca Boey, Danielle Lewis, Don Gilet, Ferdinand Kingsley, full cast
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Publisher's summary

A gripping, full-cast science-fiction drama for fans of time travel, conspiracy theories, and unexplained phenomena.

In the not-too-distant future, a 21-member crew launches from Earth. Their mission: to establish a temporary colony on Mars. Little do they know that colony will become permanent–and the last stand of the human race. Because, without warning, every single person left on Earth simply...vanishes.

Now, a thousand years later, the resources needed to sustain life are running out, and the very existence of the Mars colony is threatened. Humankind has only one option–to return to its home planet.

But is Earth safe? Could the Vanishing happen again?

To get answers, two teams are launched back in time–one to New York City before the Vanishing; another to follow a bizarre trail of clues through history, from Area 51 to the lost Roanoke colony, and beyond.

There are forces, though, that don’t want the Temporal mission to succeed. And a mysterious being whose own agenda might destroy them all.

©2024 Storypunk and Low Spark Entertainment (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC.
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About the Creator

Julian Simpson made his directorial debut at the age of 23 with his film The Criminal, which The Guardian described as “a formidably promising feature debut.” On the strength of this he signed a three-picture writing deal with Miramax.
He went on to direct the first drama aired on BBC3 and over the last 12 years has written or directed some of the UK’s top-rated dramas, including Inspector Lynley, Spooks and Doctor Who. For three series he was lead writer and director on the UK’s highest-rated crime drama New Tricks.
Julian won the 2016 Tinniswood Award and the BBC Audio Drama Award for his Radio 4 drama Fugue State, and the BBC Audio Drama Award for Bad Memories in 2011. He is the creator of the award-winning Lovecraft Investigations fiction podcast, the Aldrich Kemp drama series for Radio 4, which has just been renewed for a third season, and the forthcoming sci-fi series Temporal for Audible. He is also a director of the world-building company Storypunk.

About the Creator

Richard MacLean Smith is a writer and podcaster signed to Curtis Brown and UTA. Richard’s podcast Unexplained, described by The Guardian as the "spookiest podcast ever," was selected as iTunes Best of 2016 and has been streamed over 70 million times, reaching #2 in the US, UK and Canadian Apple Podcast chart.
In 2018, Unexplained the book was published by Sceptre in the UK and Sourcebooks in the US and Canada in 2019. Richard created and produced the Sony podcast Rescue in 2023 and is developing a number of film and TV projects including an adaptation of Unexplained.

About the Creator

Bec is a screenwriter, actor and activist of Malaysian Chinese and Geordie heritage. She has a horror feature in development with the BFI and a comedy commission from the BBC. Her folk horror stop motion short Stones premiered at London International Animation Festival. Her comedy web series Jade Dragon is available on Youtube. Her sci-fi audio pilot Locusts was commissioned by Audible as part of the YA series GNR8. She sits on the Writers Guild Great Britain Television Committee and its Equality and Diversity Committee, and is a founding member of the activist group BEATS (British East Asians in Theatre and Screen).

About the Creator

Nosa Igbinedion is a British-Nigerian filmmaker and recipient of the Rising Talent Screen Nation Award. His shorts have won multiple awards and have been featured in notable film festivals around the world (London Short Film Festival, AFRIFF, Raindance among others).
As a pioneer of the new Afro-futurism movement, he created the first African superheroine universe, "Rise of the Orisha." The proof-of-concept film went viral, garnering over a million views online and was featured in international publications such as O Globo and BBC worldwide. He was also commissioned by the BBC and the BFI to write and direct Binge Watching, a social realist sci-fi short that was broadcast on BBC 4 and I player.
Nosa is currently under commission on two feature film projects, is developing a video game, and has original work in development with leading production companies in both the UK and US. He wrote an original podcast with Storypunk, and is currently writing on an exciting new TV series in development with showrunner Julian Simpson.

About the Performer

Actor and writer Sanjeev Bhaskar gained notoriety as creator and performer of the BBC hit series Goodness Gracious Me. His film roles have included It’s a Wonderful Afterlife (Gurinder Chadha), London Boulevard (William Monahan) and The Zero Theorum (Terry Gilliam).
Sanjeev led the cast in the BAFTA Award-winning television series Indian Doctor, which garnered record ratings and critical acclaim, and he has also appeared in the West End as King Arthur in Eric Idle’s Spamalot.
Sanjeev wrote and starred in The Kumars at No. 42, which had global success winning two Emmys, a BAFTA nomination, a British Comedy Award and the Bronze Rose at Montreaux.
In 2007, Sanjeev embarked on a highly personal journey through modern India with the BBC to commemorate 60 years of Indian independence. His accompanying travel book became a Sunday Times bestseller.
Since then, Sanjeev has starred alongside Nicola Walker and Sinéad Keenan as DI Sunny Khan in ITV's critically acclaimed cold case drama Unforgotten, now on its 6th series. He has a returning role in the DC Comics series Sandman for Netflix and will be back as Dr. Jafri in Paddington in Peru (2024).

About the Performer

Theatre includes: The Corn is Green (National Theatre), The Cane (Royal Court), A View from the Bridge (Young Vic, Wyndham’s & Lyceum Theatre New York), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress), Season’s Greetings, Gethsemane, Tales from the Vienna Woods and Edmond (all National Theatre), Di and Viv and Rose (Hampstead Theatre), Mrs Klein and Cloud Nine (both Almeida), Relocated, Fresh Kills, Sweetheart, The Libertine/The Man of Mode, Hated Nightfall (all Royal Court), Modern Dance for Beginners (Soho Theatre), The Dead Eye Boy (Hampstead), Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Sheffield Crucible), A Lie of the Mind (Donmar), Passion Play (Donmar & Comedy) and Fifty Revolutions (Whitehall).
Television includes: Mary & George, Annika, Marriage, Unforgotten: Series I-IV, The Split: Series I-III, Collateral, Inside No. 9, River, Last Tango in Halifax: Series I-V (BAFTA Best Supporting Actress nominations), Babylon, Scott and Bailey, Prisoners Wives, Heading Out, Inside Men, Spooks: Series II-V & VIII-X, Being Human, Law & Order, Luther, Turn of the Screw, Oliver Twist, Torn, Broken News, People Like Us, The Last Train, Touching Evil: Series I-III, Chalk, A Dance to the Music of Time, Milner, Faith, and Moll Flanders.
Film: Shooting Dogs, Shiner, Four Weddings and a Funeral.

About the Performer

Jessie Mei Li starred as "Alina Starkov" in two seasons of the hit Netflix show Shadow & Bone, based on the bestselling trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. She will soon be seen in Gareth Evans’s feature film Havoc, playing the role of "Ellie" opposite Tom Hardy. Other recent work includes the Edgar Wright feature Last Night in Soho for Working Title Films/Film4, and Ivo van Hove’s stage adaptation of All About Eve at the Noel Coward Theatre opposite Lily James and Gillian Anderson.

About the Performer

Jana Carpenter is an actor, improvisor and musician. She is the star of the hit Lovecraft Investigations podcast series, and plays a variety of characters in the BBC's Aldrich Kemp audio drama series. She is one half of Mercury Award-nominated band Sweet Billy Pilgrim, and is currently researching a PhD in Early Modern History.

About the Performer

Since graduating from RADA, Kyle Soller has acquired an impressive body of work across stage, screen and film. Kyle’s stage work earned him the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2011 following his three breakout performances in the 2010 revival of Tennessee Williams’s play The Glass Menagerie at the Young Vic, in Gogol’s classic comedy The Government Inspector, also at the Young Vic, and The Faith Machine at the Royal Court. The following year he received an Olivier Award nomination for his performance in Anthony Page’s 2012 production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night. In 2017, Kyle starred in Patrick Marber's Hedda Gabler opposite Ruth Wilson at the National Theatre in Ivo van Hove's directorial debut for the National Theatre. In 2019, Kyle starred in The Inheritance at the Young Vic, which then transferred to Broadway and won Kyle an Evening Standard Nomination for Best Actor, and he was the winner of Best Actor at the Olivier Awards.
Other theatre credits include Edward II at the National Theatre. Kyle made his Broadway debut in 2012 in Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac.

What listeners say about Temporal

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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

The plot.

I disliked how quickly it ended! I want more! Please, where can I find the second part of this???

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Audio Dramas RULE!

While I enjoy audio books, every book should be made as an unabridged audio drama. For this one it was a challenge for me to keep up with the timeline changes, but was still an enthralling listen, enjoyed every minute of it. Looking forward to more audio dramas!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting story; well voiced/acted

The story is interesting and twisty enough to require attention, and with one very minor exception (character with ~5 lines), very well voiced/acted. An enjoyable listen!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

strong time travel possible alien changing the end of the world senerio.

I enjoyed it and it was a pretry fast listen. lots of great background sounds. got confusing had to listen to last chapter a couple times.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting take on the occurrence of certain historic events.

Overall, the story was okay, but maybe not something I would rush to listen to again. Slow start... Unfortunately, this story seemed to take what should have been a simple concept, and proceeded to make it complicated. The story kept adding different subject along the way...I get the need for uniqueness,... However I feel the plot began to get lost the more they tried to bring everything together.

I think my mind zoned out somewhere in the middle...

The performance were good and it could be heard that professionalism and money went into it's production. I loved music. The pacing of the story despite some of it's confusing tones was great... It's not that I was bored with it, just confused with some of the elements. Perhaps if the story was a little longer, they could have fleshed out some concepts.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Solid sci-fi

Well produced, immersive, with very interesting ideas explored carefully. Solid sci-fi storytelling. Big recommend.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A little quantum leap

The story has good plot however it gets confusing and jumps around a lot. It left me with a lot of questions. Could have ended way better!

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    4 out of 5 stars
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I like these audio dramas, but..

I liked this but the sound effects were just a little too much and took away from hearing the dialog. Yes, just a little too much background sounds.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

horribly produced

seems like an interesting story but I had to turn it off halfway through. The production is horrible. The entire thing sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom. and when they actually do get to a bathroom in the story, it's even worse.

might have been worth finishing if it wasn't recorded by an amateur.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Just OK

The overall audio experience left a lot to be desired. some of the dialog gets lost in the music and foreground noise. I found that very frustrating. I feel like I probably missed some important pieces to the puzzle, but I got tired of rewinding 30 seconds to try and pick it up.

Some of the secondary and tertiary characters seemed like the producers were desperate to find someone to read the parts. They were offensively terrible, but I would hesitate to call them voice actors. Again, not bad enough to stop listening, but they were definitely auditory speed bumps.

The story was interesting, but sometimes hard to follow.

I don't regret listening to it, but I don't think I'd listen again.

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