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Killer plants, a blinding meteor shower, the spread of an unknown disease: John Wyndham's 1951 story explores ideas about the hazards of bioengineering and what happens when society breaks down. Matthew Sweet is joined by writers Amy Binns and Tanvir Bush, broadcaster Peter White and New Generation Thinker Sarah Dillon to look at the novel which spawned film, TV and radio adaptations and discuss what resonance it has today.

Amy Binns has written a biography of John Wyndham - 'Hidden Wyndham: Love, Life, Letters'.

Tanvir Bush is a writer and photographer whose most recent novel is 'Cull'.

Peter White is the Â鶹ԼÅÄ's Disability Affairs Correspondent and presents You and Yours on Radio 4. He presented a documentary exploring science-fiction and blindness /programmes/p0931fvq

Sarah Dillon is Professor of English at Cambridge University and a Radio 3 New Generation Thinker. Her most recent book is 'Storylistening: Narrative Evidence and Public Reasoning'.

You can find other Free Thinking conversations exploring a range of films, books, artworks and TV series which are Landmarks of Culture on the website - everything from Jaws and The Quatermass Experiment to the writing of Günter Grass, Audre Lorde and Lorraine Hansberry. /programmes/p01jwn44

Producer: Torquill MacLeod

Image: a still from the Â鶹ԼÅÄ's 1981 TV series adapted from John Wyndham's novel Day of the Triffids