She has obtained sweeping new powers for Scotland, leads a party poised to dominate Holyrood for years - and is now set to restore order to a UK invaded by aliens.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is to make first foray into radio drama - playing herself as a calming voice of authority as Britain is besieged by extra-terrestrials

Ms Sturgeon appears in the BBC Radio 4 production, The Kraken Wakes, a modern retelling of John Wyndham's classic 1953 apocalyptic novel, which has been adapted by the Scottish crime writer and dramatist Val McDermid.

The two-part drama stars Tamsin Greig and Paul Higgins as reporters Mike and Phyllis Watson, who are on a honeymoon cruise when they see strange red lights falling out of the sky and into the sea.

The lights are aliens who are invading the earth and destroying its environment by raising sea levels.

"There's chaos in London, there's no police force, and the British Government has collapsed, but its the Scottish government that survives and tries to re-establish civic order," said Mr Higgins.

"So mine and Tamsin's characters are always twiddling with the radio, trying to get a signal, and they hear Nicola Sturgeon saying the Scottish Government is going to take control."

Val McDermid, who is a fan of Wyndham's works, retells the story "in the light of contemporary fears of climate change".

In the show, the British government collapses and it is up to the Scottish government to restore order to the UK.

Ms Sturgeon was asked by McDermid, of whose work she is a fan, to record a short section where she declares over the radio that the Scottish Government is going to set the country in order.

The First Minister recorded the section at BBC Scotland's recording studios in Edinburgh, which are close to Holyrood.

She said last night: "I was invited to take part in the play by Val McDermid, after interviewing her at this year’s [Edinburgh International] Book Festival. "I’ll leave it to others to guess if fending off creatures from outer space was any easier than dealing with some of my political opponents.

"I’m well used to being in a radio studio but this was a bit different.

"I’m looking forward to hearing the finished product but I doubt I’ll be moving into theatre any time soon."

The book has previously been adapted for the radio in 1954 and 1998.

Paul Higgins, renowned for his role as the hyper-aggressive press officer Jamie McDonald in TV satire The Thick of It, told The Herald's Neil Cooper: "I think the novel ends in Cornwall or somewhere, but Val McDermid has it finish in Scotland.

The show was recorded live with a new score, performed by the BBC Philharmonic, an experience Higgins said was "nerve wracking."

He added: "The music represents the undersea creatures, and it was funny doing this story in January that was about Britain being flooded, because you would turn on the telly and Britain really was flooded."

In the original novel, Wyndham describes phases of an invasion of Earth by never-seen aliens, as told through the eyes of Mike Watson, who works for the English Broadcasting Company (EBC) with his wife and co-reporter Phyllis.

Mike and Phyllis are witness to several major events of the invasion.

Aliens, who first land in the depths of the oceans, melt the polar ice caps, leading to the flooding of major cities.

Ultimately the aliens are defeated by an "ultrasonic" weapon.

The aliens are not seen, although appear to be some kind of protoplasm.