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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.
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Grazr
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Monday, November 10, 2008

Life With The Lyons

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This BBC radio comedy series, probably the first sitcom in Britain, ran for twelve years between 1950 and 1961, and starred American movie stars Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels, and their children Barbara and Richard. It broke the mold of BBC radio comedy of the day, which usually comprised sketches alternating with musical items or guest star spots.

Bebe Daniels, the creative side of the couple, came up with the format of the Lyons playing themselves, with Ben working for a film company, living in London, bringing up their children, even giving their (almost correct) home address. From 1950 to 1961 we listened to them raising their children, watching them mature, get engaged and married. She made them larger than life, but basically they played themselves. Bebe was the scatterbrain, Ben the authoritarian father, Barbara the teenager flitting from romance to romance with the catchphrase "I'll die...... I'll just die" when things went wrong. Richard would do anything for a shilling but never spent one. They had a hard time with Barbara & Richard who didn't want the discipline of a regular radio show, with Bebe's rules - no nights out, no onions or garlic, before a broadcast. Barbara especially became a "star" in her own mind until Bebe sorted her out. Bebe worked as script editor from the writers' layouts, honing the scripts until she was happy. They recorded rehearsals, playing the acetates that night to cut out unsuccessful lines, or make improvements. Acting was second nature to her, but praise for her scripts brought her real pleasure. Bebe finalised the scripts in her basement at Southwick Street, from drafts by Bob Block, Ronnie Hanbury and others, including at one time Bob Monkhouse. Brad Ashton was brought in to help following Ronnie Hanbury's death in a car crash in France. During out-of-season breaks each year, they went back to America where in 1954 Bebe was surprised by "This Is Your Life", thinking she was going to praise Louella Parsons. (from Phil Watson OTRR)

Available for download is 21 shows from the 1950 - 61 time period. Click link below to go to download page.


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Saturday, November 1, 2008

Red Dwarf (Radio Series)

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Red Dwarf was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, the radio and TV comedy writers behind Son of Cliché and Spitting Image. It was based on a series of radio sketches they had written called 'Dave Hollins - Space Cadet' about a man stranded on a space ship, alone except for his computer.





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An American Werewolf In London

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An American Werewolf in London was a comedy/horror film released in 1981, written and directed by John Landis. Adapted, written, and directed by Dirk Maggs starring Jenny Agutter, John Woodvine, Brian Glover, Eric Meyers, and William Dufris, this BBC Radio adaptation of American Werewolf captured the tone of Landis' film completely.










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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon. Adaptations have included stage shows, a series of five books first published between 1979 and 1992 (the first of which was titled The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), a 1981 TV series, a 1984 computer game, and three series of three-part comic book adaptations of the first three novels published by DC Comics between 1993 and 1996.

These are all of the radio adaptations.











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Absolute Power - The Complete Radio Series

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Having prudently terminated the In the Red/Chair/Balance saga with 1999's In The End, writer Mark Tavener swiftly abstracted what were arguably the series' two strongest characters as the basis for a new project. Absolute Power told the continuing story of Charles Prentiss and Martin McCabe (Stephen Fry and John Bird), originally conceived as conniving BBC Radio controllers: various thwarted schemes had seen them shunted sideways around the Corporation's hierarchy and ultimately, as the result of one management rationalisation too far at the conclusion of In The End, out onto the street. Branching out into a new career chosen to capitalise on their principal talents (namely skulduggery and swinging the lead) the duo set up a partnership specialising in 'government-media relations consultancy' -- otherwise known as 'spin-doctoring', by now an omnipresent satirical target thanks to the paranoiac PR policies of the New Labour government.

By talking up the extent of their personnel and facilities -- which actually consisted of Sandy (Siobhan Hayes), a reluctant work-experience secretary wedded to the NVQ rulebook, and a fridge -- the consultancy was able to pull in contracts to achieve a variety of seemingly impossible tasks, such as relaunching the Sun as an organ of the pro-European movement and revitalising the Church of England. However, since Charles's many ingenious 'wheezes' met with only intermittent success (and Martin had never really developed much of an understanding of the causal link between work and being paid), Prentiss McCabe relied for its survival on under-the-counter payments from Number Ten, conveyed via the agency's governmental handler Archie (Tony Gardner), in exchange for a variety of dirty deeds. This often led to complicated Yes Minister-style conflicts of interest -- especially when the team were also working on behalf of the Conservative Party... Among the more regular members of the variable supporting cast were Simon Greenall and Beth Chalmers; at least one episode in the series was written not by Tavener but by Mark Burton.


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In The Red

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A series which has attained an unusual position in BBC history. In its original form, In The Red was a novel based on author Mark Tavener’s experience of working for the Corporation and at the offices of the Liberal Party: a broadly comic thriller, it had a three-stranded plot involving a serial murderer working his way through London’s bank managers, a crisis for the tiny Reform Party in the shape of a by-election it might actually win, and the nefarious schemes of two BBC Radio controllers plotting to overthrow the director-general.

The seven-part radio version was the result of an adaptation by Tavener himself and the comedian Peter Baynham. The cast included Michael Williams as George Cragge, a seasoned, hard-drinking BBC crime correspondent of the old school who is contacted by the killer, and Barry Foster (star of Van der Valk in the 1970s) as the policeman leading the enquiry; Stephen Fry and John Bird played the radio controllers. A sequel along similar lines, In The Balance, went out on Radio 4 the following year.

http://rapidshare.com/files/135117758/01._In_the_Red.mp3
http://rapidshare.com/files/135118537/02._In_the_Red.mp3
http://rapidshare.com/files/135119338/03._In_the_Red.mp3
http://rapidshare.com/files/135120153/04._In_the_Red.mp3
http://rapidshare.com/files/135121143/05._In_the_Red.mp3
http://rapidshare.com/files/135121917/06._In_the_Red.mp3
http://rapidshare.com/files/135122733/07._In_the_Red.mp3
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The Lord of the Rings

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In 1981 the UK radio station BBC Radio 4 broadcast a dramatization of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in 26 half-hour stereo installments. The 26-part series was subsequently edited into 13 hour-long episodes, restoring some dialogue originally cut for timing (since each hour-long episode is actually around 57 minutes, as opposed to 54 minutes for two half-hour episodes with overlaps and extra credits removed), rearranging some scenes for dramatic impact and adding linking narration and music cues. It is the story of Frodo and Samwise, and their epic journey to destroy the evil master ring found by Bilbo so many years ago. A great cast that includes Ian Holm, Michael Hordern and John LeMeasurier. A magnificent BBC production.


Password to unzip the rars: IMU4ALL

http://rapidshare.com/files/132235632/Boston_Project_03.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132235766/Boston_Project_03.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132235714/Boston_Project_03.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132235685/Boston_Project_03.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132245651/Boston_Project_03.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132245727/Boston_Project_03.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132245697/Boston_Project_03.part7.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132242585/Boston_Project_03.part8.rar

Boston is the file name, but the project unzips The Lord of the Rings
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