Recommendations

- What's the 'best' Old Time Radio show? The scariest? The saddest? The funniest? The most suspenseful? I can't really answer that question, as everyone responds differently to audio drama. The best I can do is offer a place where fans can submit their own 'best of' lists. Some shows appear again and again; some are unique to each individual. Overall, this is a mixed bag with surprisingly few duplicates.

Many of the episodes below have reviews on this site. You can find them on the Plot Archives page for the related series. If I don't have a page dedicated to that series, the episode might be listed under Miscellaneous Shows, or failing that, in the Series Index.

So here's your chance to speak out, and help people who are new to the hobby get their collections off on the right foot. As experienced collectors know, not all radio drama is created equal, and a few unfortunate choices can dampen a newcomer's enthusiasm pretty fast. So, send me your favourites... and I will happily post them!

Webmaster Favourites -- before 1960

Christmas Carol, A - The Campbell Playhouse (1939)
Moat Farm Murder, The - Columbia Presents Corwin (1944)
Beyond Good and Evil - Mystery in the Air (1950)
Three Skeleton Key - Escape (1950)
Green Hills of Earth, The - Dimension X (1950)
Universe - Dimension X (1950)
Farmer Takes a Wife, The - NBC Presents: Best Plays (1953)
Hallucination Orbit - X Minus One (1956)
Cold Equations, The - Exploring Tomorrow (195x)

Webmaster Favourites -- 1960-1969

Screaming Skull, The - Theatre 10.30 (197x)
Flies, The - The Black Mass (1964)
Evening's Entertainment, An - The Black Mass (1964)
Imp of the Perverse, The - The Black Mass (1964)
Outsider, The - The Black Mass (1965)
Hobbit, The - BBC (1968)
No-Name Baby - Beyond Midnight (1969)
Borneo - Beyond Midnight (1969)

Webmaster Favourites -- 1970-1979

Fourth Tower of Inverness, The - ZBS Foundation (1972)
Screaming Skull, The - Theatre 10.30 (197x)
I Warn You Three Times - CBS Radio Mystery Theater (1974)
Very Old Man, A - CBS Radio Mystery Theater (1974)
Fall of the House of Usher, The - CBS Radio Mystery Theater (1974)
Mirror for Murder - CBS Radio Mystery Theater (1974)
Aaron Burr Murder Case, The - CBS Radio Mystery Theater (1974)
Strange Case of Lucas Lauder, The - CBS Radio Mystery Theater (1975)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The - BBC (1978)
Light of Other Days - Mindwebs (1979)
Preserving Machine, The - Mindwebs (19xx)
When It Changed - Mindwebs (19xx)

Webmaster Favourites -- 1980-1999

Monkey's Paw, The - Nightfall (1980)
Canticle for Leibowitz, A - NPR (1981)
Lord of the Rings - BBC (1982)
Ruby: The Adventures of a Galactic Gumshoe - ZBS Foundation (1982)
Tell-Tale Heart, The - Tales from the Shadows (1987)
Every Detail But One - Fear on 4 (1988)
Day at the Dentist's, A - Fear on 4 (1988)
Tell-Tale Heart, The - Closed on Account of Rabies (1997)

Webmaster Favourites -- 2000-present

Bloodchild - 2000x (2000)
Shambleau - 2000x (2000)
Snow, Glass, Apples - Seeing Ear Theatre (2002)
Containment - Man in Black (2011)
Letter of Last Resort, The - Saturday Drama (BBC, 2013)

Jeff Dickson's Top 10:

Alternative to Suicide, An - BBC
Call Me Joe - Sci-Fi Radio
Fatherland - BBC
Here, There be Tygers - Bradbury Thirteen
Kaleidoscope - Bradbury Thirteen
Last Objective, The - Dimension X
Map Makers, The - X Minus One
Martian Death March, The - X Minus One, Dimension X
Prisoner of the Machines - CBS Radio Mystery Theater
Sound of Thunder, A - Bradbury Thirteen

Other Great Recommendations from Jeff:

Abominable Snowman, The - Escape
Bathysphere - Lights Out
Captain of the Pole Star - CBS Radio Mystery Theater
Cold Equations, The - Exploring Tomorrow
Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed - Bradbury Thirteen
Green Hills of Earth, The - Dimension X, CBS Radio Workshop
Gun for Dinosaur, A - X Minus One
Hallucination Orbit - X Minus One
Hostess - X Minus One
House in Cypress Canyon, The - Suspense
Leviathan 99 - BBC
Lost Race, The - Dimension X
Mars is Heaven - ABC Radio Workshop, Dimension X
Sea Legs - X Minus One
Sense of Wonder, A - X Minus One
Seventh Victim, The - X Minus One
Thirteenth Truck, The - Escape
Three Skeleton Key - Escape
Universe - X Minus One
Vital Factor, The - Dimension X
When the Worlds Met - 2000 Plus

Top-10 List from B. Stewart

Country of the Kind - Mindwebs
Devil Car, The - Mindwebs
After Sunset - Nightfall
Talkers, The - Theatre Five
Noon Stars, The - Theatre Five
Meteor - Vanishing Point
Crazy Town - Lights Out
Night the Fog Came, The - The Hall of Fantasy
Apartment Hunting - Mindwebs
Little Girl, Little Girl - Theatre Five

Recommendations from Rich Carlson - Kirkland, WA

Thing on the Fourble Board, The - Quiet, Please
Ghost Hunt - Suspense
Donovan's Brain - Suspense
Last Objective, The - Dimension X
Death Robbery - Lights Out
Man Who Stole a Planet, The - Quiet, Please
Johnny Got His Gun - Arch Oboler's Plays
Gibbering Things, The - The Shadow
Map Makers, The - X Minus One
Three Skeleton Key - Escape
Earth Abides - Escape
Lottery, The - NBC Presents: Short Story
Hole in Empty Space, The - Space Patrol

Top-10 List from Michael Lloyd - Los Angeles, CA

Zero Hour - Suspense
Mars is Heaven - X Minus One
Marionettes, Inc. - Dimension X
Sound of Thunder, A - Bradbury Thirteen
Kaleidoscope - Bradbury Thirteen
Too Perfect Alibi, The - Suspense
Parade, The - X Minus One
Ravine, The - Bradbury Thirteen
Man, The - Bradbury Thirteen
Waxwork, The - Suspense

Recommendations from M.P. Cassidy - Thornton, New Hampshire

Hitchhiker, The - Suspense
Sorry, Wrong Number - Suspense
Martian Chronicles, The - Dimension X
Berlin, 1945 - Quiet, Please
Dracula - Mercury Theatre on the Air
Home Surgery - Gunsmoke
Adventure of the Speckled Band, The - The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Old Post Road, The - Nightfall

Top-10 List from Seth Gaines

With Folded Hands - Dimension X
Three Skeleton Key - Escape
Little Piece of Rope, A - Suspense
Friend to Alexander, A - Suspense
Evening's Diversion, An - Suspense
Donovan's Brain - Suspense
Hitchhiker, The - Suspense
Fire in the Sky - The Mysterious Traveler
Skulking Permit - X Minus One
Cold Equations, The - X Minus One

Recommendations from Luc L'Heureux

Thing on the Fourble Board, The - Quiet, Please
Northern Lights - Quiet, Please
Whence Came You? - Quiet, Please
Let the Lilies Consider - Quiet, Please
Shadow of the Wings - Quiet, Please

House in Cypress Canyon, The - Suspense
Hitchhiker, The - Suspense
Ghost Hunt - Suspense
Three Skeleton Key - Suspense
Sorry, Wrong Number - Suspense

Veldt, The - X Minus One
Mars Is Heaven - X Minus One
Zero Hour - X Minus One
Nightfall - X Minus One
Sea Legs - X Minus One

Hole, The - Lights Out
Dark, The - Lights Out
Chicken Heart - Lights Out
Cat Wife - Lights Out
Poltergeist - Lights Out

Resolution 1841 - Dark Fantasy
Death Is a Savage Deity - Dark Fantasy
Man With the Scarlet Satchel, The - Dark Fantasy
Demon Tree, The - Dark Fantasy
Pennsylvania Turnpike - Dark Fantasy

Martian Chronicles, The - Dimension X
Nightfall - Dimension X
Dr. Grimshaw's Sanitarium - Dimension X
Mars Is Heaven - Dimension X
Pebble in the Sky, A - Dimension X

Casting the Runes - Escape
Country of the Blind - Escape
Three Skeleton Key - Escape
Bloodbath - Escape

War of the Worlds - The Mercury Theatre on the Air

The Shadow - all
The Lone Ranger - all

Favourites from Rob Knaap - The Hague, Netherlands

Aliens in the Mind - BBC
Day of the Triffids, The - BBC
Man, The - Bradbury Thirteen
Murder on the Orient Express - BBC
Baldi - BBC
Paradise Lost in Space - BBC
Unpleasantness in Bellona - BBC
Charity Ends at Home - BBC
On the Farm - BBC

Favourites from an anonymous listener in Washington DC:

Faith and the Faker - CBS Radio Mystery Theater
Temple of Vampires - I Love a Mystery
Whirlpool, The - Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theatre
Escape in Time - The Avengers
Specialty of the House - Price of Fear
Odyssey of Flight 33 - Twilight Zone Radio Dramas
Heir Hunters - The Zero Hour
Country of the Blind - Escape; Suspense
Lost Horizon - Lux Radio Theatre
Sam, This is You - X Minus One
Book of Bell - Nightfall
Graveyard Shift