Category Archives: Audio Drama/Radio Plays

James Bond: Thunderball. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Toby Stephens, Tom Conti, Alfred Molina, Janet Montgomery, John Sessions, Lisa Dillon, James Callis, Josh Stamberg, Ian Ogilvy, John Standing, Janie Dee, Julian Sands, Nigel Lindsay, Matthew Wolf, Alan Shearman, Darren Richardson, Aaron Lyons, Simon de Deney.

A film that suffers under the weight of its writer’s history is one that finds itself developing the human disorder of duel personality, and whilst Thunderball is film that sparks the imagination, it also leaves the fan wondering how the series could hope to capture the brilliance of the previous film, Goldfinger.

James Bond: Thunderball. Audio Drama Review. full post

(454 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

James Bond: From Russia With Love. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Toby Stephens, Eileen Atkins, John Sessions, Tim Pigott-Smith, Mark Gatiss, John Glover, Aileen Mowat, John Standing, Janie Dee, Julian Sands, Matthew Wolf, Olga Fedori, Micky Stratford, Nathaniel Parker, Martin Jarvis.

It could be argued that the fan and the listener alike have been short changed when it comes to adaptations of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels for the radio; whether this is down to the estate not wishing to decry from the scores of films or because it has been long thought that such books cannot be captured with just a voice rather than the dramatic sequence that film provides is for another debate, and yet there is something to be said for being able to see 007 aim his trilby at the hat stand, to see the devastation of his actions take place, rather than just match your imagination to the actor’s voice.

James Bond: From Russia With Love. Audio Drama Review. full post

(516 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

The Birthday Party. Radio Play Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Toby Jones, Henry Goodman, Stephen Rae, Maggie Steed, Peter Wright, Jamie Winstone.

Harold Pinter’s first major play, The Birthday Party, has either captivated or underwhelmed audiences since it first came to the stage sixty years ago. Even in 2018 as it was revived with Zoe Wanamaker, Stephen Mangan and Pearl Mackie amongst its cast, it left confusion in its wake, taken to heart by many, but leaving some distrusting of the playwright’s ultimate question which never truly gets spoken out loud.

The Birthday Party. Radio Play Review. full post

(455 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Take Me To Hope Street. Radio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Annabelle Dowler, Shaun Mason, Laura Dos Santos, Ian Conningham, Monty d’Iverno, Jane Slavin, Lile Marie Gibney.

There are many ways in which to celebrate or commemorate Christmas, chiefly amongst them is the act of memory, of remembering all those who have come into your life over the years but who, for whatever reason, have slowly disappeared from it, an act of forgiveness perhaps required on your part for the wrong they may have caused you, a meaningful gesture from the depths of your soul as you seek to be pardoned from the inappropriate action you may have caused distress with. It is though the act of forgiving yourself in which the time of year holds its greatest fear, a dread in which few are willing to face, and in which the Christmas ghost story deals with in spine-tingling relish.

Take Me To Hope Street. Radio Drama Review. full post

(489 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Looking For Oil Drum Lane. Radio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Marc Wootton, Barry Castagnola, James Hurn, Phil Cornwell, Ian Pearce, Toby Longworth.

It has been observed that the closest occupation resembling death, is that of writing. The endless search for inspiration is consuming, an overwhelming, often fearful, unbearable shadow in which the writer sees only blankness before them. It is a struggle that requires discipline, the ability to keep going in a desert of solo thought, and fortune to come up with an idea that, if you are lucky, will grip the nation in tears, or with hope in laughter.

Looking For Oil Drum Lane. Radio Drama Review. full post

(568 words, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

The Haunting Of M.R. James. Radio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Mark Gatiss, Fenella Woolgar, Ryan Whittle, Gerald McDermott, Cameron Percival, Ronny Jhutti, Michael Bertenshaw, Tony Turner, Ewan Bailey, Chris Harper, Sam Dale, Lewis Bray.

We live in a world that is rapidly losing its sense of wonder, of having everything explained and leaving the thought of fancy and intrigue hanging in the air as if somehow resembling the figure of dishonest fruit hiding knowledge from the feast of humanity.

The Haunting Of M.R. James. Radio Drama Review. full post

(547 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Born To Be Wilde: An Ideal Husband. Radio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: John Heffernan, Miranda Raison, Ryan Whittle, Lucy Doyle, Saffron Coomber, Michael Bertenshaw, Elizabeth Counsell, Tony Turner, Sean Murray.

If you can change the appearance of William Shakespeare’s work by adding a certain modern charm to the story, then any writer from literature’s illustrious past is worthy of eliciting a certain degree of similar occasion from; many will be called to the performance circle, many works will be deemed unfavourably, some unconsciously denied the modern touch and added personal extras, and some will shine like a beacon of joy, asking only companionship for a while of the supporter.

Born To Be Wilde: An Ideal Husband. Radio Drama Review. full post

(460 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

End Of Days. Radio Podcast Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

We only see the clarity of the defining moment, we have a vague sense of what may have happened before, the prelude to the final act, but the aftermath we find perhaps dull, the event has moved on and we, as human beings, only have the attention span in which to express our opinion in which makes sense to us.

End Of Days. Radio Podcast Review. full post

(585 words, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: The Lost Stories. The Song of Megaptera. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, John Benfield, Neville Watchurst, John Banks, Susan Brown, Toby Longworth, Alex Lowe.

One of the reasons Doctor Who worked in the classic series and continues to do so in the modern age, is because the people behind it were not afraid to be politically adventurous, to put in a story line that will rock the minds of certain bodies, institutions and Government to its core; it might not be as damning as television series as Death on the Rock, A Very British Coup, Hillsborough or Edge of Darkness but in its early evening television slot way it was just as hard hitting and made the viewer think about humanity’s place in the world and the political agenda it found itself in.

Doctor Who: The Lost Stories. The Song of Megaptera. Audio Drama Review. full post

(498 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

John Finnemore’s The Wroxton Box. Radio Comedy Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: John Finnemore, Michael Palin.

The trouble is with the 20th Century, there are just too many candidates for the title of most destructive human to walk the Earth. Some merit their position purely by being in a position of power, by sending their armies into invade and cause annihilation of a particular people, of lives wiped out and their history’s erased purely out of suspicion and greed. For some though the misery they cause comes down to public arson, of dismantling the nation’s heritage all in the name of so called progress; Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher undoubtedly belongs in the column, and so too does the murderer of the Railways, Dr. Richard Beeching.

John Finnemore’s The Wroxton Box. Radio Comedy Review. full post

(476 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)