Category: Music and Audio

Audio Review-Fight for the Remote

Episode 1: The Oral Fixation Summation.

Fight for the remote is a new audio sitcom from Fantom Films.

Jon (Andrew Hayden-Smith) and Alice (Ayesha Antoine) are a couple in their late twenties living together in London. Alice is ambitious while Jon is happy with his place in life.



This sitcom will strike a chord with anyone in a long-term relationship. On a Friday night, I often have the pizza/kebab chat that Alice and Jon have near the start. At times I actually felt as if the writers, Julia Dawn and Mark Adams, had hidden a microphone in my living room and just transcribed what they heard.

Jon and Alice have friends that help guide them on their journey. Jon has married-Dave (Daniel King) as his sex-obsessed best friend (we all have one of those) and Alice has her man-chasing friend and work colleague Karen (co-director Helen Oakleigh). The performances are great all-round; even the supporting characters get really great lines. The cast was clearly having a great time whilst recording.

We’re introduced to Alice’s mother (Ellen Thomas) via telephone.  She’s a Hyacinth Bucket type that doesn’t believe Jon is good enough for her daughter and feels he is a bad influence that will lead her towards “partaking in the wacky-baccy.”

Happy Azziz (Neil D’Souza) is another great character. Azziz is the local newsagent/kebab shop owner that slightly oversteps the mark every time Jon and Alice visit him (“Happy pleasuring, my friends”). Camp Raymond (Keith Flood) is also great; he’s the inappropriate, permanently-drunk client of Alice.

The thing that makes Fight For The Remote so great is that it is so universally recognisable. Anybody with a live-in partner will instantly identify with the situations and characters; I saw a lot of myself in Jon.

The writers have managed to capture the essence of the long-term relationship perfectly. The script is sharp and well written. It effortlessly manages to bridge together the bigger issues and challenges that couple’s face with the smaller, more trivial subjects such as Deal or No Deal. From the title of the episode, you can guess it’s adult humour which deals with sex, frustration and love. Overall this is a genuinely funny comedy that deserves a lot of success.

Download this episode for free from Fantom Films.



Episode 34: Torchwood BBC Audio Plays

Martyn is joined by Pete and they discuss the three Torchwood BBC audio plays, The Devil and Miss Carew, Submission and House of the Dead.



The podcast is available from all good podcast services, such as but not limited to Amazon Music, Podchaser, Player FM, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts.

If you’d like to support the show, then please shop via our Amazon link. A small percentage goes our way, at no extra cost to you.

Check out our Youtube.

Socials:

Twitter:

Martyn – @BadWilf

Gerrod –@InGerrodsMind

Pete – @BeeblePete

Sam-@Sammichaelcomic

Instagram:

Martyn-@BadWilf



Review-Doctor Who: The BBC Radio Episodes

Here’s a beautiful box-set of BBC radio plays. So beautiful in fact, I almost didn’t open it.

It’s a collection of radio adventures; there are three different Doctors, the 3rd, 4th and 6th.

The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space

These are 3rd Doctor stories which feature Jon Pertwee, Elizabeth Sladen and Nicholas Courtney.

Neither story really works that well and they introduce an extremely annoying, new companion.

In N-Space we meet the Brigadier’s uncle, in an awful ghost tale.
The performances are strong, but the scripts aren’t that great. You can make bad audio out of a good script, but you can’t make good audio out of a bad script. It does, however, try to capture that era of Doctor Who, which even though it failed, was an interesting experiment and given the recent passing of Nicholas Courtney, it was great to hear him again

Doctor Who and the Pescatons

This is a fun little tale, which features the 4th Doctor and Sarah Jane. The Doctor and Sarah are battling monsters, that are bringing panic, to the streets of London. This is less than an audio play and more of an audiobook, with Tom Baker narrating and Liz Sladen throwing in the odd comment. It’s a fun story, but I couldn’t help but feel that it would have suited Patrick Troughton’s 2nd Doctor better.

Exploration Earth

This is the real clunker in this box set. It features the 4th Doctor and Sarah Jane investigating the start, of life on Earth, only to run into the Megaron Lord of Chaos. The performances feel a little “phoned in”.

Whatever Happened To… Susan?

This is a tongue-in-cheek tale of what Susan did after she left the TARDIS. Jane Asher takes over from Carol Anne Ford, as Susan and is talking to a documentary crew, about her life after leaving the TARDIS.

There is some laugh out loud moments here, including her tale about how The Doctor gets younger and younger with each regeneration and how companions fell in love with him.

It’s an amusing story that runs at about 30 minutes, but it completely contradicts continuity. If you’re willing to switch your brain off and just listen, then you’ll have an amazing time, if you get bogged down with continuity, you won’t enjoy it.
I couldn’t help but wish that it was a proper, serious audio drama, with Carol Anne Ford reprising the role of Susan and telling the tale. Done seriously, this could have been a brilliant audio drama

Slipback

Now, this was the first Doctor Who story made for radio and was broadcast during the show’s enforced hiatus, in 1985.
This was a very Douglas Adams story – I could imagine Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect in this. This isn’t a great story; the computer is annoying but likeable. The performances of Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are quite good and you get a foreshadow of the chemistry that would later work so well on Big Finish.

It’s a good enough box set with a few decent tales, but also with a few poor episodes. I’d say this is one for true, die-hard Doctor Who fans. Viewers of the new series will get very little for money.


Review-Torchwood: Department X.

James Goss has once again proven himself to be a master of audio storytelling with his work on Department X. The Torchwood team investigates the mysterious disappearances of customers in the old Cardiff department store, GR Owen. Goss’ writing skillfully blends elements of mystery and suspense, keeping listeners engaged from start to finish. The style of this audio differs from its predecessor, Ghost Train, as it moves away from first-person narrative and towards a more traditional audiobook format. Despite this change, Goss’ writing still manages to capture the essence of all the Torchwood characters, old and new.

Paired with Kai Owen’s exceptional vocal performance, the result is a truly immersive listening experience. Owen effortlessly embodies the distinct personalities of each character, leaving listeners feeling as though they are right in the middle of the action. The musical score and sound effects add to the overall ambience, creating a richly textured world that is a joy to explore.

Overall, Department X is a welcome return to the Torchwood of old, striking a perfect balance between the darker tones of Children of Earth and the more lighthearted feel of series 1. With Goss at the helm, fans can rest assured that Torchwood is in good hands, and we can only hope that more audio adventures will be forthcoming.

This audiobook is a must-listen for fans of the Torchwood series and is available for purchase in both CD and digital download formats for a reasonable price.

Review-Doctor Who: The Gemini Contagion

As the anticipation builds for the 2011 series of Doctor Who, fans can get their fix with the return of the last Time Lord in audiobook form. Meera Syal, known for her role as Nasreen Chaudry in the Silurians two-parter from series 5, delivers an excellent performance, capturing the essence of every character with ease.

The story itself is reminiscent of the late great Douglas Adams, with a focus on a new anti-viral handwash named Gemini that has been laced with Meme-Spawn, a sentient microorganism that makes the user fluent in every universal language. However, the manufacturers failed to test it on humans, resulting in violent communication in every language at once. The Doctor and Amy find themselves on an Earth-bound cargo ship loaded with Gemini and an infected crew, with Amy facing infection herself. The Doctor must decide between saving Amy or the Earth.

The audio quality is impressive, and the story is so gripping that you’ll find yourself wishing it was an episode of the TV series. The only minor niggle is the believability of the manufacturer not testing the product on humans before selling it to them. But overall, this under-a-tenner audiobook is a great value and a must-listen for any Doctor Who fans craving a quick fix.


Review-Torchwood:Ghost Train

With open arms, Torchwood fans welcomed the latest instalment of their beloved series, Ghost Train, written by the talented James Goss. Goss, who has penned several Doctor Who and Torchwood novels, including the 2009 audio play The Golden Age, proves his mettle once again with this gripping tale.

Set between Series 2 and Children of Earth, Ghost Train is a first-person narrative centred around Rhys Williams, brought to life by the incomparable Kai Owen. Owen’s vocal prowess is on full display, with clear enunciation and spot-on characterizations that never distract from the engaging story.

The plot starts with missing fridges, but it quickly becomes clear that something far more sinister is afoot. The strange occurrences, from radios instructing people to kill to SatNavs urging drivers to run over pedestrians, all point to a mysterious train that has recently pulled into a long-abandoned station. As it turns out, the train is coming from a world that has just been destroyed, and whatever is coming from that world is coming to this one.

Clocking in at just under two hours and twenty minutes across two CDs, Ghost Train is a thrilling ride that never feels too long. Kai’s impeccable portrayal of the Torchwood team, especially his spot-on rendition of Gareth David-Lloyd’s dry wit as Ianto, will have fans smiling from ear to ear. The story is expertly paced, balancing moments of levity with nail-biting suspense that keep listeners on the edge of their seats.

Like all other Torchwood Audiobooks, Ghost Train should be considered canon, and the inclusion of a £5 off code for first-time purchasers only sweetens the deal. Simply put, Ghost Train is a must-listen for any Torchwood fan looking for an engaging, immersive audio experience.

Episode 21: No Glove, No Love

Martyn and Gerrod discuss Torchwood series 1, episode 1: Everything Changes.

“Everything Changes” is the first episode of the British science fiction television programme Torchwood, which was first broadcast on 22 October 2006. The story was written by show creator and executive producer Russell T Davies as an introduction to the show’s mythos. The episode re-introduces Captain Jack Harkness, who had proved popular in the first series of the 2005 revival of Doctor Who, as the leader of Torchwood, a team of alien hunters.

The story is told from the perspective of Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), who comes across the Torchwood team through her job as a police officer with the South Wales Police, who are investigating a series of strange deaths in Cardiff. Through Gwen’s discovery of Torchwood, the audience is introduced to team members Owen Harper (Burn Gorman), Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori) and Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd). Suzie Costello, as played by Indira Varma, had also been billed as a series regular prior to transmission, though in a twist the character was revealed as the murderer and killed off at the end of the episode, with Gwen replacing her as a member of the Torchwood team.

The episode originally aired on Freeview channel BBC Three and upon broadcast earned the channel its highest ever viewing figures. Critical reaction to the episode was mixed, with reviewers making both positive and negative comparisons to Torchwood‘s parent show Doctor Who.

The podcast is available from all good podcast services, such as but not limited to Amazon Music, Podchaser, Player FM, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts.

If you’d like to support the show, then please shop via our Amazon link. A small percentage goes our way, at no extra cost to you.

Check out our Youtube.

Socials:

Twitter:

Martyn – @BadWilf

Gerrod –@InGerrodsMind

Pete – @BeeblePete

Instagram:

Martyn-@BadWilf



Doctor Who audio review: The Sirens of Time

In practice, the story’s shape gets in the way. Gallifrey is in a state of crisis, facing destruction at the hands of an overwhelming enemy. And the Doctor is involved in three different incarnations – each caught up in a deadly adventure, scattered across time and space. The web of time is threatened – and someone wants the Doctor dead. The three incarnations of the Doctor must join together to set time back on the right track – but in doing so, will they unleash a still greater threat? (synopsis)

In The Sirens of Time, fan service is performed to a five-star degree. In the first moment of Part One, a Gallifreyan tannoy voice delivers an alert in accurate, Deadly Assassin style. The meeting of the Doctors’ minds later on is a good mix of the sound heard in The Three Doctors and something better suited to accompany the memory flashbacks that the three share.

Each of the three Doctors get an episode to themselves then converge in the conclusion. In practice, this story structure is a bit disorienting. The three short pieces don’t get much time to develop before the fourth on Gallifrey gets into gear. Although the plot seems to have no holes it doesn’t come together in the way I imagine the makers hoped.

Doctor Who is usually better for me in reruns and this was no exception. Doubtless most of the actors will have completely forgotten having done this job but that’s fine with me; they’ve left behind some good performances. I hope they had some laughs and maybe earned a penny or two because my side of the equation’s worked out pretty well.

Check out the trailer.

[amazon_link asins=’1903654289′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’bawi-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’0ffb29ac-3401-11e8-88ce-d3a172b14bd8′][amazon_link asins=’1781789460′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’bawi-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’1b2c2667-3401-11e8-8825-8ff4b38be22d’]