Author Topic: Radio recommendations  (Read 44489 times)

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #125 on: 22 May, 2020, 09:56:32 am »
I see series two of Listen Against started a run last night on 4 Extra. Jon Holmes (his most recent thing was, I think, The Skewer) wrote it and Alice Arnold helps him present. It's respliced sound bite spoof new and a lot funnier than I've described it.  (I think Cassette Boy gets a credit in one episoded or another)
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #126 on: 22 May, 2020, 09:57:45 am »
Saturday Afternoon Drama was a re running of Havana Blue, the first in The Havana Quartet detective series. Set in Cuba in 1989 and written by Leonard Padura, I enjoyed it the first time round. For Sam Dale spotters (or is thast just me?), he's in there, as is Michael Bertenshaw, who I first encountered in The Home Front.

Caught some of that. It was good and I have now ordered the first book in the series.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #127 on: 22 May, 2020, 11:27:25 am »
My sister who art in Kingston informs me there's a new series of Charles Paris on R4 at 1130. Bill Nighy playing, as ever, a faded actor, this time with added amateur detective.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #128 on: 24 May, 2020, 06:41:30 pm »
They're repeating Cabin Pressure from s1ep1 :
still sheer class.
Blackadder-style sarcasm cranked up to 11.
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #129 on: 24 May, 2020, 06:55:26 pm »
We have a difference of opinion.

They're repeating Cabin Pressure from s1ep1 :
still sheer class.

I did hear a couple and couldn't believe how so many talented actors could end up in something so dire.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #130 on: 24 May, 2020, 08:30:17 pm »
I find Cabin Pressure a bit hit and miss, but it’s occasionally very funny indeed.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #131 on: 24 May, 2020, 09:52:29 pm »
Natalie Haynes Stands Up For The Classics is good (radio 4) Funny and informative. You do need to have some interest in classical history though I suppose.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #132 on: 24 May, 2020, 10:59:29 pm »
We have a difference of opinion.

They're repeating Cabin Pressure from s1ep1 :
still sheer class.

I did hear a couple and couldn't believe how so many talented actors could end up in something so dire.
He is dead to me.
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #133 on: 25 May, 2020, 07:45:33 pm »
Natalie Haynes Stands Up For The Classics is good (radio 4) Funny and informative. You do need to have some interest in classical history though I suppose.
Yes, she's good. I have to concentrate though. (No bad thing)
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #134 on: 01 June, 2020, 06:51:26 pm »
Some time ago I posted on this thread that there was a new series of Tumanbay.   Well there's another - series four started last week, in the afternoon drama slot. It's a set in a fictional ancient city, based on the Mamluk empire of Egypt. There's intrigue, murder, plotting, sex. And Anton Lesser.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #135 on: 11 June, 2020, 09:42:01 pm »
Currently enjoying the adaptation of Pratchett’s Small Gods on 4 Extra (first broadcast in 2006).
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #136 on: 11 June, 2020, 11:44:34 pm »
Enjoying the current Charles Paris adaptation with Bill Nighy on R4 - as ever there's some rather nice insider jokes about acting and theatre (with added performance art this time round...)

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #137 on: 17 July, 2020, 10:05:06 am »
I see series two of Listen Against started a run last night on 4 Extra. Jon Holmes (his most recent thing was, I think, The Skewer) wrote it and Alice Arnold helps him present. It's respliced sound bite spoof new and a lot funnier than I've described it.  (I think Cassette Boy gets a credit in one episoded or another)

Series three is running at the moment.  Jeremy Paxman has gone on the rampage.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #138 on: 17 July, 2020, 11:07:29 am »
Enjoying the current Charles Paris adaptation with Bill Nighy on R4 - as ever there's some rather nice insider jokes about acting and theatre (with added performance art this time round...)

I enjoyed that too, although I did get a slight feeling that it tries a wee bit too hard to be "quirky".

I reckon it would work well on screen too, whether TV or cinema. Hard to imagine anyone other than Bill Nighy in the role.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #139 on: 17 July, 2020, 01:44:37 pm »
Enjoying the current Charles Paris adaptation with Bill Nighy on R4 - as ever there's some rather nice insider jokes about acting and theatre (with added performance art this time round...)

I enjoyed that too, although I did get a slight feeling that it tries a wee bit too hard to be "quirky".

I reckon it would work well on screen too, whether TV or cinema. Hard to imagine anyone other than Bill Nighy in the role.
An early adaptation had Captain Scarlet Francis Matthews as Charles Paris. It was a much more srious portrayal, not many (any?) laughs, more violence (I think) and more shagging.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #140 on: 17 July, 2020, 01:48:16 pm »
Francis Matthews also played Paul Temple on TV, which is... unsurprising.

I do enjoy the Paul Temple radio adaptations with Peter Coke, though they are beyond even Agatha Christie levels of ridiculousness.

Likewise Peter Wimsey.

Currently very much enjoying the re-runs of Raffles on 4Extra, which are only marginally less preposterous.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #141 on: 17 July, 2020, 01:57:14 pm »
Remember that Raffles was written by E W Hornung, whose day job was being Conan Doyle's brother in law, which is why there are occassional digs at Sherlock Holmes.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #142 on: 17 July, 2020, 02:10:33 pm »
Francis Matthews also played Paul Temple on TV, which is... unsurprising.

Around these parts Mr Temple will always be known as Tall Pimple.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #143 on: 26 July, 2020, 09:50:14 pm »
The Saturday afternoon drama slot on the Home Service is currently doing a rerun of the Martin Beck Killings. Steven Mackintosh as Martin Beck, Neil Pearson as Lennart Kollberg and the gravelly voiced Ralph Ineson as Gunvald Larsson.

Meanwhile, today saw the radio premiere of Camus' The Plague. The blurb says
Quote
World radio premiere of Albert Camus’s classic novel of a town hit by plague and how its residents respond to quarantine. Recorded during UK lockdown with actors self isolating.
  I'll give that a listen.

And finally Esther, Tom Robinson's show this evening on 6 Music was a tribute to Peter Green.
Quote
A special three hour listener curated playlist dedicated to Peter Green's work and his influence on a golden era of British Blues.
Among the tracks played was Crossroads by Cream. Tom Robinson, a mainstay of Rock Against Racism BITD, said of Eric Clapton:
Quote
For me that was Eric Clapton's finest moment was with Cream, he did lots of the stuff later, which we won't go into...
Heh.   
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #144 on: 26 July, 2020, 11:21:49 pm »
Do we allow podcasts in here ?

Though my recent fave was, I am sure, played on the World Service.

13 Minutes to the Moon. Gripping. Highly recommended, though I accept that I might be a little biased given my age and resulting sense of awe with anything to do with the moonshots.

There are two series, one telling the tale of the programme up to Apollo XI and the second recounting Apollo XIII's travails. 
Rust never sleeps

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #145 on: 21 October, 2020, 12:33:13 am »
Been a bit quiet on this thread lately.

Some new stuff I like is Rob Newman's Half-Full Philosophy Hour. Thirty minutes of philosophy and jokes. Which is much better than that sentence suggests.

Some repeated stuff that I also like is Hazelbeach. Written by David and Caroline Stafford it stars Hamie Foreman as Ronnie Hazelbeach, a conman/ dodgy geezer. Funny it is, Minder it ain't.

Edit: Both on BBC Sounds, radio 4 and/or 4 extra.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #146 on: 21 October, 2020, 08:49:31 am »
I happened upon The Skewer on R4 recently. Didn't quite get it to start with but now love it.
Rust never sleeps

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #147 on: 21 October, 2020, 09:50:30 am »
I'm mostly listening to stuff on R4 Extra these days, which is largely repeats.

Currently enjoying Rubbish, a sitcom about a man working in local council waste management department. Whimsical in that very Radio 4 way. First broadcast in 2007.

Another new-old discovery is The Pin, a comedy sketch show by a double act who I'm aware of as stalwarts on the comedy circuit though I don't think I've ever seen them live - I'm sure I would remember them if I had. They're very funny. I was listening last night in bed and annoying my wife by laughing too much (mostly at a sketch about Frank Lampard recording an advert for Gilette and being unable to rein in his urge to go off-script with some improv).

Also the repeats of the very first series of Ed Reardon's Week, which are reminding me that the early series were much funnier than the later ones.

And the Charles Paris mysteries - about a hack thesp who has a habit of getting embroiled in murder cases - recent versions with Bill Nighy are good, but there are also older ones, recorded in the early 80s, I think, which sound horribly dated now.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #148 on: 23 October, 2020, 09:45:48 am »
Chris Boardman on desert island discs next week.

Re: Radio recommendations
« Reply #149 on: 23 October, 2020, 09:50:14 am »
Chris Boardman on desert island discs next week.
I just came here to post precisely those words ^  ^  ^   :-)
Rust never sleeps