This new podcast is a showcase for high quality, audio drama – plays, novels, short stories, poems – beyond the output of the relatively few major public service and commercial providers in this area.
It provides independent writers, adapters and directors with an outlet and medium to produce and distribute studio-engineered audio/radio content. This content is quality-checked and approved before being recorded and edited.
So far, the show’s output has included a series of short stories by Charles Dickens adapted from “The Pickwick Papers” and an ongoing collection of modern stories, short and longer, from a panel of established writers.
The core production team consists of:
James Newberry: commissioner, adaptor, director, editor, actor, and producer
Nigel Banks: writer, director, editor, and actor
Robbie Burgess: sound/recording engineer and audio effects expert.
This effort is well supported by an ensemble of professional and other talented actors selected by the production team.
Episode List: March to April 2020
Title Writer
The Story of Tom Smart Charles Dickens
A story of magical transformation. After a few too many drinks at the inn where he is staying, our hero Tom notices a strange wooden chair in his bedroom. What follows is a fantastic encounter that changes Tom’s life forever.
The Strange Client Charles Dickens
George Heyling vows to be revenged on the man responsible for his tragedy – his father-in-law. What follows is a path of destruction as he systematically – and legally – ruins the man’s life, engineering his death in a final, fatal confrontation.
The Grave Digger and the Goblin Queen Charles Dickens
Gabriel Grubb is a morose, lonely and drunken grave digger who hates people, particularly during the festive season. One Christmas Eve, while at work, he encounters a startlingly scary Goblin Queen who terrorises and whisks him away to her underworld lair where Grub is shown the true human values of the season.
The Tale of Jack Martin Charles Dickens
A rollicking, enchanting tale of derring-do: featuring a hero, heroine, and a couple of posh, dastardly villains! Jack Martin, our hero, is whisked away on a journey involving kidnap, conspiracy, sword play and a beautiful, feisty heroine in peril.
Ashes to Ashford Parts 1 & 2 Nigel Banks
Ashes to Ashford is a “quest” story…with a difference. Instead of a heroic Odysseus, Sir Lancelot or Luke Skywalker, we have Jimmy McIver, a feckless Cockney failure living in 21st Century England. Having made very little of his existence thus far, Jimmy is given one last chance to “make it big” by a now-deceased old school friend and success story, Roger Soul.
The Second Chance John Nevinson
Ellie is relieved that she fails to post a rancorous letter to her father. But then, in “Sliding Doors” fashion, the letter is despatched. Regretting the vicious content immediately, she tries to intercept its arrival – with ironically deadly results.
Black and White and Red All Over Neil Robinson
Driving home at night, Will is forced to stop after colliding with something in the road – possibly a badger? Getting out of the car he realises quickly that something is not right. And then the police arrive…
The Man in the Window Nigel Banks
A woman watches a man dressing mannequins in a shop window, surrounded by fog.
This leads her to fantasy, a brief connection, illness, and finally….sorrow.
Pipeline List
Father’s Day Susan Cartwright
Whodunnit Neil Robinson
Blue Belladonna Nigel Banks
Mrs Lirriper’s Lodgings Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
Great American Poetry Various