.

This blog is in the process of moving to a new location to be combined with other Calfkiller blogs in a central location. You can find it by clicking here.

Times Past



Here is recent post:



"If you’ve listened to the dramatisations recorded by the Old Court Radio Theatre Company on TimesPast or on the Sherlock Holmes Society of London’s website at www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk, you’ll recognise the name of Dennis Rookard, whose expertise as producer and technician gave them a professional polish. No more, alas, because Dennis died on 2 March aged sixty-eight. A radio man through-and-through, he had worked as a journalist, presenter and producer for the BBC, LBC, Essex FM, the Forces Broadcasting Service and others. Hosiprog, the name under which he made and provided original drama for hospital radio throughout the world, was just one of his many, mostly unpaid, retirement activities.

The Old Court Company and Essex Audio Theatre are continuing to produce and record original material for Hosiprog, with John Rhodes as recording engineer. For extremely practical reasons - plus the fact that we love TimesPast - we're moving the Hosiprog archive to this site. It will take some time, so please be patient.

Anyone is welcome to listen to the recordings, or to download them, and they may be broadcast freely by voluntary and community-run radio stations.

Enjoy!" by Magersfontein

You can follow the posting in the new group "HOSIPROG" on our sister site TimesPast. The group is open to the public.



Sample Post


"In recent years, plays about the Master have abounded. Roger Johnson’s “The Great Detective” is, however, far superior to most of these efforts because it is firmly grounded in Canonical and Doylean reality. Instead of putting words in Holmes and Watson’s mouths that they would have never said or turning Holmes into a 20th century neurotic, Johnson constructs his play primarily from Watson’s and Doyle’s own words -- an ingenious interweaving of portions of several cases and excerpts from Doyle’s writings.

"While experienced Sherlockians will find no surprises in the script, they will appreciate its clever construction and delight in the magic of Holmes, Watson, and Doyle. For novices, the play is a superb introduction to the joys of the Canon and should motivate them to delve more deeply into the Sacred Writings."

[from a review in "The Serpentine Muse", journal of the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes]

The prolific American actor David Ian Davies (no relation to the the eminent British Sherlockian David Stuart Davies) asked me if he could record "The Great Detective", which I wrote and directed for Chelmsford Theatre Workshop in the late 1990s. The idea of adapting the play for audio appealed to me, so of course I said yes. Then David asked if I knew anyone who could act as sound engineer...

This production, in which David Ian Davies plays every character, is a transatlantic collaboration. David recorded the script in California, Dennis Rookard edited the recordings, adding music and sound effects, and I performed some of the functions of a director.





older post


Huffduffer: calfkillerotr Links tagged BBC

Here is links from across the web added to Huffduffer I tagged with BBC.
.
Grazr
.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Image:Journey to the Center of the Earth DVD.jpgJourney to the Center of the Earth is a classic 1864 science fiction novel by Jules Verne. The story involves a professor who leads his nephew and hired guide down a volcano in Iceland to the "Center of the Earth". This audio theater production is from BBC 1963. The story begins on Sunday 24 May 1863, in the Lidenbrock house in Hamburg, with Professor Lidenbrock rushing home to peruse his latest purchase, an original runic manuscript of an Icelandic saga written by Snorri Sturluson. While looking through the book, Lidenbrock and Axel find a coded note written in runic script. While looking through the book, Lidenbrock and Axel find.





.

Journey Into Space

Image:Journey Into Space cast.jpg Journey Into Space was a BBC Radio science fiction program, written by BBC producer Charles Chilton. Three series were produced, which have been translated into 17 languages and broadcast worldwide. In the UK it was the last radio program to attract a bigger evening audience than television. Internet Archive.

Hancock's Half Hour

http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/homepic8.jpg Hancock's Half Hour was a ground-breaking and influential BBC radio comedy series of the 1950s, starring Tony Hancock, with Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams. From 1956 it also became a television comedy series. The show was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, and produced by Dennis Main Wilson, although, after Main-Wilson departed for his television career, this role was later taken by Tom Ronald. The distinctive tuba-based theme tune was composed by Wally Stott. Most radio episodes were recorded between one day and three weeks in advance, except in the case of Series 6 which was mostly recorded over a three-week period in June, 1959 to avoid clashing with the pre-recording of Series 5 of the television show. All of the regular cast members played "themselves", except Kenneth Williams (who played a series of unnamed characters referred to in the scripts -- but not on air -- as "Snide"); Alan Simpson (who played an unnamed man who would listen patiently to Hancock's long-winded stories); and Hattie Jacques (who played Hancock's secretary Griselda Pugh). Internet Archive

Download Hancock's Half Hour

Listen HHH_56-11-11_s04e05_The_New_Secretary



The Men from the Ministry

The Men from the Ministry was a British radio comedy series broadcast by the BBC between 1962 and 1977, and starring Wilfrid Hyde-White, Richard Murdoch and, from 1966, when he replaced Wilfrid Hyde-White, Deryck Guyler. Written by Edward Taylor with occasional contributions from John Graham and Ronald Baddiley, it ran for 14 series, totaling 147 half-hour episodes. A further 14 episodes were made by the BBC Transcription Service in 1980 but were never broadcast in the UK. Versions of the series were also made by YLE in Finland and Springbok Radio in South Africa. Internet Archive

Download Shows

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Dad's Army

Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard in the Second World War, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series starred several veterans of British film, television and stage, including Arthur Lowe (1915–82), John Le Mesurier (1912–83), Arnold Ridley (also a veteran playwright; 1896–1984), John Laurie (1897–1980) and Clive Dunn (b.1920). Relative youngsters in the regular cast were Ian Lavender (b.1946) and James Beck (1929–1973), the latter dying suddenly part way through the program's long run despite being one of the youngest cast members. Many TV episodes were remade for BBC Radio 4 with the original cast, although other actors played Walker after James Beck's death. These radio versions were adapted by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles and also starred John Snagge as a newsreader who would set the scene for each episode. Different actors were used for some of the minor parts; Mollie Sugden played the role of Mrs Fox and Pearl Hackney played the role of Mrs. Pike for example. Internet Archive


Friday, August 3, 2007

Fear on Four

.

FEAR ON 4 is the British Broadcasting Corporation's continuation of a tradition of horror shows dating back to 1943. Back then, the BBC offered APPOINTMENT WITH FEAR, the title given to ten series of programs running from 1943 to 1955. The Man in Black returned to radio again in 1988, this time played by Edward de Souza. FEAR ON 4, airing on BBC Radio Four, continued in the tradition of its predecessors. Four series were produced from 1988 through 1993 with a fifth series in 1997.




Fear On 4
.