Radio and Podcast Drama…What are you Listening to?

SwingsitlikeHogan

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Any other fans of listening to drama.

I’m a massive fan of BBC Sounds, and currently listen to Tumanbay - a Game of Thrones type historical drama inspired by the Mamluk Slave Dynasty of Egypt - I’m currently on Ep 9 of Season One (there are four seasons of it). Each Episode is 45mins long so you have to put the undisturbed time in, but the experience has been very rewarding. The use of sound and the soundtrack to enable the listener to build their own mind picture of setting and events is brilliant and provides a great immersive experience. Plus being a podcast means I can pause, rewind and relisten to any part I want to hear again.

Loving it. But this is just my current listen as I’ve listened to loads of stuff on Sounds and Radio 7/Radio 4Extra over the last 10yrs or so (Charles Chilton’s Journey into Space from the 1950s is a long standing favourite, as are Agatha Christie dramas)

Any other fans? Any recommendations of great listens?
 
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backwoodsman

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Love radio drama but not listening to much at the mo - as HID finds it "irritating" so dont get much chance in the house. (Apparently the fact I find much TV irritating is beside the point). I love the fact that radio leaves much to the imagination rather than trying to put it into pictures. Eg, IMHO, neither of the radio productions of Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, nor Lord of the Rings have been bettered by visual media - even as excellent were, say, Peter Jackson's productions on film.

Therefore currently limited to snippets on Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra when I'm in the car - and so tend to get just "half episodes" of stuff which I don't get chance to follow up. Not heard of Tumanday before. Have downloaded a couple of episodes and it seems interesting. Definitely going to continue with it.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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Love radio drama but not listening to much at the mo - as HID finds it "irritating" so dont get much chance in the house. (Apparently the fact I find much TV irritating is beside the point). I love the fact that radio leaves much to the imagination rather than trying to put it into pictures. Eg, IMHO, neither of the radio productions of Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, nor Lord of the Rings have been bettered by visual media - even as excellent were, say, Peter Jackson's productions on film.

Therefore currently limited to snippets on Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra when I'm in the car - and so tend to get just "half episodes" of stuff which I don't get chance to follow up. Not heard of Tumanday before. Have downloaded a couple of episodes and it seems interesting. Definitely going to continue with it.
Likewise with my Mrs. We are heading to Canterbury later today for a couple of nights in the Cathedral lodge (in cathedral precinct) and she may allow me an episode of Tumanbay during the drive…?
 

Beedee

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I enjoy a good audiobook, but I prefer a single reader rather than the ones that have a large cast. I find it easier to adopt the level of immersion and imagination when it's not a cast.

With radio plays I find the exposition required to be a bit on the clunky side. In an audiobook it's a natural part of the book, and so less jarring.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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I enjoy a good audiobook, but I prefer a single reader rather than the ones that have a large cast. I find it easier to adopt the level of immersion and imagination when it's not a cast.

With radio plays I find the exposition required to be a bit on the clunky side. In an audiobook it's a natural part of the book, and so less jarring.
With Tumanbay they very cleverly signal changes of scene with both a change of background music, and often the narrator (being one of the principle characters) making comments that go to reinforce what the listener has just heard but in a general way…so not exposition as such. Plus a scene tends to be limited to two or three characters, often in the same context as they were in immediately previously, and as the characters have all been given strong characters, characteristics and story lines, it’s usually quite straightforward to know who is who; who is speaking, and what’s going on. Very clever.

That said I do enjoy a single reader audiobook.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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Well it’s taken quite a while (about 3 months) but that’s me finished Tumanbay on BBC Sounds, all 34x45min episodes of it. And it was pretty darned epic. Now got a big hole in my late night listening pleasure to fill but BBC Sounds gives me endless choice.
 

chico

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Well it’s taken quite a while (about 3 months) but that’s me finished Tumanbay on BBC Sounds, all 34x45min episodes of it. And it was pretty darned epic. Now got a big hole in my late night listening pleasure to fill but BBC Sounds gives me endless choice.
Like yourself I'm a big fan of BBC Sounds. Just finished listening to A Christmas Carol yesterday. Started about 2 weeks ago driving the kids to school we would listen to a bit every morning.
Listened to The Corrupted by G F Newman that was a long running crime drama spanning the decades that I thought was very good.
 
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