Radio Roundup
May. 25th, 2020 07:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinThe BBC has really been pulling out all the stops to entertain the British public during this dark time. I don't know if this is part of that or just a whim of the controllers, but the radio schedule is just packed with goodies, so in order not to miss out on any myself, I am compelled to index them here. If you want a listen, then as always, you are my guest!
Natalie Haynes Stands Up For The Classics - Ancient Greece + Modern Feminist Comedy = Yes listen is fun please
SILLY
CABIN PRESSURE!! - Radio 4 knows what the country needs right now and that is JOKE PILOTS! Hand on heart, this series cured my depression in 2014; there is no limit to its goodness. If you've listened before, listen again. I can assure you the layers keep revealing themselves every time and it's gold all the way down.
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme - Radio 4 Extra has just finished a rerun of Series 5, so there are still a few episodes available if you need more uplifting Finnemore goodness.
The Boosh - Before they went on TV and became Mighty, The Boosh were a radio show, where the special effects are better and the surrealism unlimited. I bet the dolphin race wasn't in the TV show.
Welcome To Our Village, Please Invade Carefully - BBC Radio has never shied from odd premises for sitcoms, and the odder ones are often the best – cf. set in Hell, starring Satan. This one's about an alien invasion of a sleepy English village. As you do.
Safety Catch - Another one of BBC radio's surprising sitcom premises: Arms dealership! Yes. It works. And it doesn't often get repeated, so hop on it while you can.
Think the Unthinkable - The above, but, at a marketing consultancy. Infinitely funnier than Reluctant Persuaders and with more original characters, who you like despite yourself after a few episodes.
The Masterson Inheritance - A fully improvised epic family drama about one of Britain's most notorious (and ridiculous) dynasties.
That Mitchell and Webb Sound - Also before telly, also limitless, also I'm tired of writing superlatives, it's just really great, OK?
Listen Against - Now that it's all BBC Sounds the pun of the title doesn't really carry, but the infinite reflexivity of the self-referencing is just as head-spinning as ever.
Concrete Cow - Another excellent sketch comedy (seriously R4x how am I supposed to keep up??) featuring one half of Mitchell & Webb, an Oscar-winning actress, and an entry in the Scott Comedy Club!
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - The classic 'antidote to panel games' is back for a memorial spin, after losing two of its regulars in the last year-and-a-bit. It really can't be beat.
SERIOUS
So Bad It's Good - Why do we love music, movies, and books that are just plain awful?
You're Dead To Me - A casual but informative chat between the host (of Horrible Histories) and a guest historian and comedian, about a range of lesser-known historical topics. I have linked to the LGBT History episode but there are LOADS. You can cherry-pick the ones you want or just listen straight through, they're all good.
The Man Who Was Thursday - A detective infiltrates an anarchist (read: terrorist) cell in Edwardian London. Things get really exciting ... and then really weird.
Brideshead Revisited - A dramatisation from the golden age of radio drama. Ordinarily I find Waugh disagreeable but I this one is poignant enough to revisit. So to speak.
The Anatomy of Melancholy - I haven't listened to this yet – it is a 'loose dramatisation' according to the blurb – but I did just hear a really interesting discussion of the book, one of the first to investigate mental illness scientifically.
Copenhagen - Longtime readers of this blog may remember that I used to shout into the void about the ghosts of physicists arguing about what did or didn't happen one night in Copenhagen in 1941. That is because the TV adaptation of Michael Frayn's play is tattooed on my heart. This is not that. However it is a more faithful (i.e. complete) adaptation, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch instead of Daniel Craig, so, ladies, there you go: physics is hot.
Natalie Haynes Stands Up For The Classics - Ancient Greece + Modern Feminist Comedy = Yes listen is fun please
SILLY
CABIN PRESSURE!! - Radio 4 knows what the country needs right now and that is JOKE PILOTS! Hand on heart, this series cured my depression in 2014; there is no limit to its goodness. If you've listened before, listen again. I can assure you the layers keep revealing themselves every time and it's gold all the way down.
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme - Radio 4 Extra has just finished a rerun of Series 5, so there are still a few episodes available if you need more uplifting Finnemore goodness.
The Boosh - Before they went on TV and became Mighty, The Boosh were a radio show, where the special effects are better and the surrealism unlimited. I bet the dolphin race wasn't in the TV show.
Welcome To Our Village, Please Invade Carefully - BBC Radio has never shied from odd premises for sitcoms, and the odder ones are often the best – cf. set in Hell, starring Satan. This one's about an alien invasion of a sleepy English village. As you do.
Safety Catch - Another one of BBC radio's surprising sitcom premises: Arms dealership! Yes. It works. And it doesn't often get repeated, so hop on it while you can.
Think the Unthinkable - The above, but, at a marketing consultancy. Infinitely funnier than Reluctant Persuaders and with more original characters, who you like despite yourself after a few episodes.
The Masterson Inheritance - A fully improvised epic family drama about one of Britain's most notorious (and ridiculous) dynasties.
That Mitchell and Webb Sound - Also before telly, also limitless, also I'm tired of writing superlatives, it's just really great, OK?
Listen Against - Now that it's all BBC Sounds the pun of the title doesn't really carry, but the infinite reflexivity of the self-referencing is just as head-spinning as ever.
Concrete Cow - Another excellent sketch comedy (seriously R4x how am I supposed to keep up??) featuring one half of Mitchell & Webb, an Oscar-winning actress, and an entry in the Scott Comedy Club!
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - The classic 'antidote to panel games' is back for a memorial spin, after losing two of its regulars in the last year-and-a-bit. It really can't be beat.
SERIOUS
So Bad It's Good - Why do we love music, movies, and books that are just plain awful?
You're Dead To Me - A casual but informative chat between the host (of Horrible Histories) and a guest historian and comedian, about a range of lesser-known historical topics. I have linked to the LGBT History episode but there are LOADS. You can cherry-pick the ones you want or just listen straight through, they're all good.
The Man Who Was Thursday - A detective infiltrates an anarchist (read: terrorist) cell in Edwardian London. Things get really exciting ... and then really weird.
Brideshead Revisited - A dramatisation from the golden age of radio drama. Ordinarily I find Waugh disagreeable but I this one is poignant enough to revisit. So to speak.
The Anatomy of Melancholy - I haven't listened to this yet – it is a 'loose dramatisation' according to the blurb – but I did just hear a really interesting discussion of the book, one of the first to investigate mental illness scientifically.
Copenhagen - Longtime readers of this blog may remember that I used to shout into the void about the ghosts of physicists arguing about what did or didn't happen one night in Copenhagen in 1941. That is because the TV adaptation of Michael Frayn's play is tattooed on my heart. This is not that. However it is a more faithful (i.e. complete) adaptation, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch instead of Daniel Craig, so, ladies, there you go: physics is hot.
