Coming to BBC Radio 4 this spring is a celebration of “extraordinary tales from the golden age of adventure” typified by the writings of Jules Verne, Henry Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling.

Beginning with a new audio realisations of Journey to the Centre of the Earth (March 19th), “The End of the Earth” series of “big classics” continues with King Solomon’s Mines (April 2nd), and The Man Who Would be King (June 17th) and will conclude with a new radio production of the seafaring spectacular 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (June 24th). 

Adapted by Moya O’Shea from Verne’s 1864 novel the new version of Journey to the Centre of the Earth tells the story of a trio of “intrepid explorers who venture into the heart of a dormant Icelandic volcano where there is shock and peril at every turn beneath the earth’s layers.” Starring Joel MacCormack (as Axel), Stephen Critchlow (Professor Lidenbrock) and Gudmundur (Hans), this new version is produced and directed by Tracey Neale and promises a thrilling tale “in the Victorian tradition with action, science, knowledge, discovery and surprise.”

Ahead of the broadcast of the first drama in “The Ends of the Earth” season, new documentary Lost Worlds, New Worlds (March 18th) explores the lasting appeal of the work of Victorian writers who wrote so expressively about the excitement of exploration and discovery. Host Alex Clark invites adventure novel enthusiasts Fay Weldon and Tom Holland to consider the cultural legacies left by these authors, and asks “whether they are more than ripping yarns of derring-do.”

“The Ends of the Earth” will turn the spotlight on the “great fiction from the 19th century that captured the optimism of the adventurers of a new age.”