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You can spend months, if not years trying to get creative projects off the ground. Then one comes along that took less than four months. It now exists as a a book, a live event and with eleven episodes already out at the time of writing – a podcast.

In fairness, only the podcast is my doing. But while giving birth is painful (so I’m told) this one feels like an exploding sac of spider babies, running amok and sending everyone screaming in all directions. In a good way, if that’s possible – especially if spiders are involved.

This probably deserves some background and less rambling about spiders.

Four months ago, in December 2024, longtime friend Helena messaged me and announced she’d written a series of monologues about menopause, and did I know anything about how to get them on stage? Oh and by the way, she was going to self-publish a book too.

Now this is not unusual for Helena. I’ve never met anyone so full of ideas and then proactively puts them into practice quite as often as she manages to do. She’ll have an idea for a sustainable, creative and child-friendly SME on Tuesday and it’ll be up and running by Saturday. In the meantime, I’m still looking for my socks.

This time was different. She sent me a link to the monologues. I read them. There were a LOT of them and they were very good. And then I before I’d finished reading them, I was babbling to Helena on WhatsApp about turning them into a podcast.

“But who’s going to record them?” said Helena. “Where will we find all those actors?”

Turns out the person she’d just asked knew exactly where to find good, perimenopausal and menopausal female actors. With home studios. Who might be willing to record some great scripts. becasue I’ve been working with a number of them for quite a long time…

“Trust me.” I said. “I know one or two.”

Then something weird happened. Everyone I asked to record a monologue said yes. I mean, I was careful to ask people I knew would almost certainly say yes first. But then I got braver, and they still all said yes. And from Helena’s base in Sussex, everyone she spoke to about it wanted to get involved in some way too. Turns out women, especially Gen X women, are very vocal about menopause.

So I got started and very quickly it took on a life of its own. Rather than planning the podcast BEFORE recording as I would for any other client, this podcast planned me. It took shape before I even had fully decided how it would sound. I was reviewing the scripts, making tweaks where appropriate (removing any repetition, adjusting the layout for ease of performing, etc) and firing them off to the voices I thought would best suit each monologue. It was like match-making.

The episodes took shape, onsisting of two monologues, sound designed by me, each with an introduction chat with Helena, and me as reluctant host. Well, we couldn’t afford Davina.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or go here:

But that’s not all…

Episode Eleven was released on Monday 7th April and on Sunday 13th April, nine actors, me and Helena descended on Ironworks Studio in Brighton for the premiere of the live show, featuring several of the actors from the podcast as well as a host of new ones. It was the first time many of us had met in person (though the actors had been rehearsing online) and somehow we had to pull the whole show together in an afternoon before a paying audience of nearly 100 people arrivedthat evening. Between us, we all had the neccessary skills. Just not neccessarily usually used in this context.

You can hear how the day went by listening to the Hot Flashes: Menopause Monologues two-part special out on 25th April. Part one is a behind the scenes look at the day in the run up to the performance with interviews and clips from the live show, and part two is the post-show discussion panel, presented by Hot Flashes actor Natalie Chisholm as she talks to Helena about how it all started and her vision for the future. They’re also joined by Em Anastasi from In The Flow, Mo Kanjilal of Watch This Space and Louise Harman, artist and social impact advocate, to discuss some of the issues and much-needed action points regarding menopause awareness.

And all that wraps up season one. I’ve no idea what will happen next; there might be a tour, more live shows, possibly more episodes. But it’s a start, like Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues before it. Helena described this projects as a “wedge” during the panel discussion – Maybe not a movement on its own, but one that further opens a door to bigger and more vocal conversations about menopause.

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‘Harry’s Home’ was originally a one act play I directed for community theatre group Theatre at Baddow in Essex. Twelve years later, it an audio drama about dementia.

I was looking for something to stage on the theme of ‘Memory’ and by chance, was introduced to Hannah Puddefoot. She told me about a play she’d written about a Dementia and Alzheimer’s sufferer forced to move out of his sheltered accommodation after an incident involving his flatmate and back in with his family. They love him and want to help, but they really don’t know the best way to go about it – plus they have chaotic lives of their own. It was a perfect moment of serendipity and the first performance took place in April 2013 at a local studio theatre.

I always felt Harry’s Home deserved a bigger audience. Its subject matter, sensitive handling, relatable characters – and humour – resonated with everyone who saw the small, original production, but I had neither the skills nor the experience to take it further back then. Twelve years on, I finally feel I’ve acquired both and I’m now of an age where it has even more resonance for me and the people around me. Both of my parents were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the last two years. This inspired me to make an audio drama about dementia.

With a few professional radio dramas under my belt, I contacted Hannah to see if she’d be interested in adapting Harry’s Home for audio. Fortunately she was and working with script editor Colin Brake, she turned it into a 75 minute radio play.

This is a personal project with a lot of resonance for both me and Hannah, so while I’ve recruited friends and colleagues at B7 Media to help produce it, this is a not-for-profit production. As such, creating this audio drama about dementia is a labour of love for all involved.

Yesterday (13 Jan 2025) recording studio The Soundhouse joined us a co-producers and very generously donated two days of studio time, allowing us to schedule in the recording of Harry’s Home – so we’ll be heading to Acton in mid-March!

THE CAST

‘Doctor Who’ actor Nicola Bryant is both co-star and co-producer and so far, actors Rose Quentin, Timothy Blore and Joshua Manning, all with multiple credits in film, TV and audio. You can read more about their previous work here.

We have just one more cast member still to come: the titular Harry…

Our crowdfund raised just over £1,000 towards production. Myself and the Director have deferred our fees indefinitely, but we still need to pay the actors we have cast fairly. At present, we have enough to pay our five actors for one day in the studio. We need more funding to cover the second day and post-production. While we can ask people to work for free or deferred payment, we’d much rather be able to guarantee payment for their work on this audio drama about dementia.

The crowdfund has ended, but if you want to help fund the ongoing production of this important drama the GOFUNDME page is still running!

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

“My name is Harry Castle. Before I forgot.”

After an incident between his roommate and their carer at his assisted living flat, Harry unwillingly finds himself back home with his family; permanently busy and pre-occupied daughter Theresa and adult grandchildren Keith and Laurie. Distracted with their own lives, how can they possibly provide the support Harry needs?

Attempting to cajole the family into prioritising Harry is his care worker, Rob, who despite being painfully on the wrong end of a cricket bat during the flatmate incident, is still determined to help Harry settle back into his old home.

Even with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, Harry is not unaware of the disruptive impact his arrival has had. His capacity for navigating his new circumstances may have diminished, but for now he has retained his dry sense of humour.

One evening during a family meal, Harry fixates on the noisy crows on the roof, just as he often did before his diagnosis, and tries to tackle the problem in his old and impetuous manner. It’s a terrifying wakeup call for Theresa as she realises she must take the chance to rebuild her relationship with her father while he still remembers her.

Harry’s Home is an authentic, gently funny and emotional play touching upon the day-to-day realism of living with a dementia sufferer, and a reminder that whatever is slowly being lost, there may still be time left to mend old hurts, build bridges and create new memories for those who are left behind.

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In a shock move, for once I’m not plugging my own stuff here.

I’m slightly biased about this ‘unsettling and comfortingly’ creepy comedy podcast as a fellow Teessider, but disclaimer: I’m not involved in its production or promotion beyond this mini review. I’m just a fan, loving their work. And if it does make the leap to a bigger platform and a wider audience, I’ll hopefully gain kudos points by saying I was a listener from the start…

LISTEN THROUGH THE BROWN WINDOW

There’s some very interesting audio stuff coming out of Teesside. Anyone familiar with Hauntology will know it’s the home of Fortean Times writer Bob Fischer and of Mulgrave Audio, where he’s part of the team behind Simon Perkin’s Lurgy, an unsettling audio drama two-hander throwing back to Television for Schools, closedowns at 1am and plummy-voiced continuity announcers who suddenly start speaking directly to the protagonist.

Listen through the Brown Window also has links with Scarred for Life, the darkly satirical blog Scarfolk by Richard Littler, whose own spoof poster was accidentally used in the London Evening Standard, and a band of contributors consisting of comics and writers with credits on well-known comedy series spanning several decades.

OK. All that should set you up nicely. 

A static-riddled list of numbers immediately puts you in the hauntology territory of number stations and the original music is so reminiscent of 1970’s and 80s production music, it’s both unsettling and comfortingly creepy. 

It’s also very funny. Radio and telly anoraks will love the fake commercials, trailers, political broadcasts and voiceover parodies, and a continuity announcer’s rundown of the BBC’s evening entertainment is perfectly and ridiculously observed.

The sketches, some of which land better than others, as is often the case and everyone has their favourite bits – include a Dad’s Army parody that almost convinced me it was a real extract until a certain punchline caused me to cackle loudly; and the Rocky 4 “Blockbuster at Bedtime” on Radio 4 is a chef’s kiss of genius. A lengthy and deliberately slow buildup to a joke in which only one side of a telephone conversation is heard also rewards your patience.

If I had one criticism, its strength is also its weakness. Where the atmospheric analogue radio sound design and long establishing soundscapes are brilliantly done and make the payoffs worth waiting for, for me, one or two more traditional-style sketches do continue a little too long after the funniest moment has passed. Editing might be painful, but it can make something good even better…

There are tonal nods to Monty Python, Look Around You and from the radio world, Blue Jam and The Skewer. It already stands out as something uniquely weird, nostalgic, dark and very, very funny and I can’t wait for more episodes.

Listen Through the Brown Window is available on Mixcloud and Spotify.

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It’s been a long time coming, but Producers Misha Crosby and writer John Mawson have worked hard to make sure ‘UNSINKABLE’ (starring Brian Cox, John Malkovich, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Nathalie Emmanuel) found the home it deserves – and it now has one on Wondery+.

As one of the UK producers – alongside Andrew Mark Sewell (as part of my role at B7 Media) and Jack Bowman (Audiomarvels) – I’m really proud to have made a contribution to this, including the epic initial dialogue edit and as a bridge for the team in LA as they directed sessions in my studio with some of the UK-based talent. This was waaay back in 2020 – 2021, and you may remember – or may have chosen to forget, that we were in the midst of a pandemic back then, which added to the challenges.

This Behind The Scenes “Inside the Episodes” video tells the story of the San Demetrio and the production of the series far better than I can, so give it a watch.

https://collider.com/video/unsinkable-inside-the-episodes-season-1-exclusive

UNSINKABLE is available on July 10th exclusively on Wondery+ (1st two episodes will also be available for free on YouTube.)

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Why do we hear so little about branded audio fiction? Factual branded podcasts, especially made for companies and organisations, dominate the market, but branded audio fiction far less. So could taking the bigger risk lead to greater rewards?

Like a lot of people I went to see Barbie – and came out considering it a masterclass in using drama to enhance your brand. It clearly worked; Barbie has grossed more than $1 billion at the global box office and is the first do so with a female director, Greta Gerwig. You go girl, etc.

Despite the phenomenal results, it’s insanely tricky to get right. Mattel must be giving themselves arm ache with all the congratulatory back-slapping. Because there’s a lot to balance.

Firstly, the brand must have the kind of values and that can believably work in a fictional context (yes, I know, Barbie?! Bear with me). A fracking company doing a heartfelt story about children saving the rainforest? Erm, unlikely. Cue mass scepticism.

People of a certain generation will remember the Renault Clio commercials featuring Papa and Nicole. Fictional characters with an ongoing family narrative within a series of commercials that ran for six years. It was apparently the most popular car advertisement in history and made Renault one of the “most persuasive advertiser(s) in five European countries in 1994.”

And they did it with a relateable story.

The audience has to buy into it

That’s the case with any story, but audiences know full well when they’re being sold to. Products shown or referenced within TV programmes are regulated or monitored. Undue prominence is distracting. Barbie, fundamentally, is one huge infomercial. But we know that. Of course we know that! Barbie knows that, and Mattel, both onscreen and off, know it too. With Barbie, because we’re all in on the joke, we don’t care.

The people behind the brand have to be comfortable taking a back seat

While Mattel featured heavily in the film, it wasn’t really their story. I hesitate to call them brave – it’s actually quite a cynical decision – but letting themselves be seen as a chauvinistic corporate entity was very smart. See above. Don’t play the audience for fools.

Trust the people who are making your podcast

Of course there’s got to be some pretty thorough back and forth about expectations, story, production… But once that’s done, let the team get on with it. If everyone is briefed properly and communication is clear, problems and misunderstandings should be minimal. However brands with no experience of creative production tend towards opposite extremes. They either completely disappear and become impossible to get hold of, or need to be involved with every detail, demanding multiple changes and insisting on feedback from seventeen different people across the company. And they will ALL have an opinion.

The answer of course, is as always, somewhere in the middle. But ultimately, it’s about trust.

Reputation

Another sticking point is how the brand might want to be perceived. Are there any negatives in the company’s current perception that could be addressed as part of the drama podcast? It’s a brave brand that hands over significant marketing cash – and then steps back. But if a brand IS brave enough to do that – is secure enough in its identity, its audience, its messaging and potentially what it wants from this, just think what could be achieved. An increase in interest in the product, for starters. An improved reputation maybe, or perhaps – the marketer’s dream, new customers. The subject of the drama should have synergy with the brand – but not be about the brand itself.

But moving on to my real question: Why doesn’t audio do this? Of all the branded podcasts out there – why are so few branded audio fiction?

I’ve been extolling the virtues of branded audio fiction for some time, but it’s not new – there’s just not very much of it about. In 2017, Land Rover created The Discovery Adventures, a binaural podcast which combined fact and fiction to encourage families on trips in their car, to experience places via the series. It won awards. It was very good.

There are plenty of branded podcasts. But few companies seem brave enough to want to try branded audio fiction podcasts. In all fairness, a high-quality audio fiction series would need a significantly bigger budget than a round table chat in a studio once a week with guests talking about your brand.

But wouldn’t drama be more interesting? What genres might fit your brand? Scifi? Mystery? Crime? A soap opera? Does your brand have a real origin story than can be called upon as a starting point for something more? Jack Daniels has used its history and people for years to market their whiskey.

I recently pitched the concept of a branded audio fiction podcast to a potential partner looking to cross-promote a stage show which would have linked perfectly to a Christmas campaign for a national supermarket. What sort of financial return would the supermarket expect to see?

“They wouldn’t see a financial return” I said. “What they would get is brand recognition, a reinforcement of their brand’s values, engagement and a Story unique to what they represent. What is that worth? And all for a fraction of the cost of their TV advertising budget.”

Cue confusion. The money mattered more.

Audible’s announcement today that it has partnered with Nickelodeon to make a companion podcast to its 90s horror kids anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark? is another step towards branded audio fiction. True, it’s two organisations with a track record in creating content already, but interest is being piqued.

Branded audio fiction podcasts won’t suit every company. It seems to work best for lifestyle products and groceries and I suspect that will be the entry level to begin with. But with intelligent storytelling, great writing, amazing sound design, music and savvy audio producers, you could end up with a bespoke audio fiction podcast for your brand, available worldwide, that’s worth a fortune.  

Hellooooo, Barbie’s one billion dollars.

Back to About Me

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Brand new audio drama Theatre of the Damned is now available to buy and download from new platform Audioteria, intended to be a purchase platform primarily for independent drama and enhanced audiobooks and I’m thrilled it’s now out in the world.

Theatre of the Damned is a B7 Media co-production with indie theatre company Metal Rabbit. It’s planned as a series, but we wanted to make sure it worked as a standalone story in its own right as well as serving as a proof of concept.

Set in the grim and gaudy Paris of the 1920s, Theatre of the Damned draws inspiration from the real-life Theatre du Grand Guignol. It explores the blood-curdling depths to which struggling immigrant theatre producer, Camille Choisy (Amir El-Masry), penniless Parisian playwright, Andre De Lorde (Sam Crane) and aspiring actress, Paula Maxa (Kelly Burke), will stoop in order to satiate their audience’s blood-thirsty appetite and gain Faustian profits.

I always knew this was going to be a fun one. During the first Covid lockdown, we ran a series of online table reads; partly for fun and to keep us and the actors we knew busy, but also to try out some scripts we’d had on the shelf for a while as well as hear potential new scripts like Theatre of the Damned.

Unusually for an audio drama, and as a result of having a theatre company as our partner, we had the luxury of a rehearsal day, which was a great opportunity for the cast to meet and work with each other before heading into the studio.

Mics! Script! …Acton!

Theatre of the Damned was recorded over two days with the lovely people at The SoundHouse in Acton, where we had a lot of grisly fun. The second day held a surprise: our Production Assistant casually mentioned that there was a young bird caged under the wastepaper basket in the corner of the studio. One of our actors with a gift for animal whispering had rescued it outside and decided to look after it between his scenes. Given the themes of the script, it fortunately survived till lunchtime, when it was released outside to loiter by the picnic tables looking for crumbs.

The extra – temporary – cast member

So, into the studio where we staged fights, “bad” acting, eating fingers, executions, vomiting and screaming. Lots of screaming. (None of it related to discovering a bird under the wastepaper basket.) I even provided some blood-curdling screaming of my own.

Theatre of the Damned is available now and contains scenes of gore, horror and strong language – not for one while eating lunch!

Head to Audioteria to buy and download. The site is paired with its own app where you can keep all your Audioteria content – or you can play on whatever device you prefer.

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There are very few opportunities to enter promos and trails for recognition in the UK, so when I stumbled over the submission information for the Promax North America‘s awards on the last day, it was clearly a sign.

My entry was somewhat thrown together late on deadline day I admit, but it still managed to grab a nomination.

I genuinely didn’t think it would make it any further than that – Up against CNN and a Disney+ promo?! Not a chance. But I’ll take making it into the top three in these circumstances…

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Two other audio dramas I produced this year made their debut on BBC Radio 4 in November 2021 and February 2022 respectively; Barred, a legal drama based on the experiences of female black barrister Thandi Lubimbi and Mahabharata Now, a two part modern adaptation of one of the stories in India’s epic poem, The Mahabharata.

Barred was recorded in June 2021 at the height of one of the Covid pandemic’s peaks, resulting in the loss of a lead cast member with just 48 hours notice and several other cast due to illness or being required to isolate.

Mahabharata Now was recorded entirely in Mumbai over four days. The Director and UK producers dialled into the Mumbai studio from the UK via Zoom (my alarm went off every day at 3:20am!) which was tough on the body clock, but the advancements in communications technology are so incredible, that we only lost connection once. It was almost – almost – like being there in person!

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What’s better than DAB? DAB+ of course!

For the last year, I’ve been put in charge of mixing and mastering Digital Radio UK‘s radio commercial campaigns heard across all the UK’s commercial radio stations.

Working with Fresh Air Production, I’d liaise with the Producers by preparing and mocking up the sessions, then mixing in the VO once recorded and delivering the various versions.

The commercials are airing through Summer 2021.

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The UK’s first radio soap since Waggoner’s Walk ended in 1980 and the BBC World Service soap Westway which ended in 2005, Greenborne made its debut on 21st March 2021 across the UK via a network of fifty community radio stations.

Supported by the Audio Content Fund, Greenborne is a B7 Media production devised by Colin Brake (Writer) and Andrew Mark Sewell (Director). Helen is the Series Producer.

Greenborne is now available as a podcast via Acast. You can subscribe here.