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Audiobooks and plays / radio comedies and spoken word


jester1470

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This doesn't quite fit in with books etc, but I was wondering here if anyone else is a big fan of audiobooks and audio plays.

 

I spend a quite obscene amount of money annually with Big Finish, on their audio plays, initially Dr Who (and its spin offs like Jago and Litefoot and Countermeasures) but loving their take on Stargate, Highlander, the Avengers and Sapphire and Steel too, and having listened to their trailer for Survivors that will probably need to be bought too along with the Omega Factor.

 

I know a lot of people don't like listening to audio drama's and plays as they need the visual side of things and that they don't seem to be particularly successful in the US where people can't deal without picture, ironic because so much of the great radio drama came from the US, the Orson Welles War of the Worlds, the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series, Vincent Price as the Saint. My other half can listen to radio drama's but doesn't like narration, if there's 2 or more people she can listen fine but she gets bored with standard audio.

 

I also love radio comedies like Old Harry's Game, Ed Reardon's week, Clare in the community etc.

 

Anyway I wondered if anyone else was a fan of the medium.

 

For anyone interested some trailers to my favourite current stuff:

 

http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/survivors---series-one-box-set-953  - The Survivors

 

http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/the-lost-episodes---volume-1-934   -  The Avengers (Steed version)

 

http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/the-passenger-14    -  Sapphire and Steel

 

http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/dark-eyes-792  -  Doctor Who

 

 

 

 

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One radio series I enjoyed was Ross Noble Goes Global from the BBC. It's basically him walking around places, talking to strangers intersperced with his standup. Will have to think of a few others my dad has some good ones that are basically mini biographies of people.

 

There's quite a good radio show on radio 4 called great lives that I usually find pretty informative for stuff like that  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qxsb

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I used to listen to Radio 4 comedies/plays all the time but i'm limited in access in Poland. Nice to see some non-region specific links. I'll be checking them out.

 

I'm against audio books for some reason - I have this nagging feeling i'm 'cheating' when I listen to one. I'll only listen to one if the audio obviously adds to the experience (alan partridge and some other comedian's autobiographies for example). I got an audible subscription from my maw a while back though so I should probably take advantage. Any recommendations are welcome.

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I totally love comedy, but am always ashamed how little I listen to it on the radio. I always tell myself to make the effort and investigate what's on, but never follow through with it. Can someone come and live with me and remind me every time I complain of being bored?

The last radio comedy I really really enjoyed was Warhorses of Letters. The description from the BBC is "Napoleon and Wellington's horses exchange love letters against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars."

Stephen Fry is the voice of Napoleon's horse, Marengo, who is old and self-conscious of his size which means he is technically a pony. The other horse, Copenhagen (Daniel Rigby) starts off as a racehorse who isn't very fast, then as the series goes on, also becomes a warhorse. He sees a painting of Marengo and immediately falls in love so writes to him to declare his feelings and continues from there.
It's just stupid and great. I enjoy the letter format anyway because the writers can do so much with it, but also because it allows for lines such as "I hope that I will break into longer races this year when I am officially 3, even though I am a young 3, because you have to remember that all horses get arbitrarily given the same birthday, which is January the 1st. Oh wait, you don't have to remember, because you are also a horse."

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I remember hearing about it when the news first came out that the station was being set up and it sounded great. I think the people behind it are supposed to be really highly regarded comedy promoters or something, but then they announced that Justin Lee Collins was getting his own show and it seems to have gone wrong since.

Is Herring's show good? I must say I've really gone off him over the past few years. Spreads himself too thin.

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I downloaded the Stephen King's Dark Tower series for my wife, sort of like Game of Thrones, but interlinked with present day real world. What I heard of it was good, and my wife really enjoyed it. Personally I got the Dirk Gently books and Hitch-Hikers guide to the Galaxy.

 

The radio adaptations of Guide and Dirk Gently are great, but you can always rely on Dirk Maggs to put together something interesting, I loved his Independence day UK in the 90's too. I saw him live with the live touring Hitchhikers a few years ago.

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I used to listen to Radio 4 comedies/plays all the time but i'm limited in access in Poland. Nice to see some non-region specific links. I'll be checking them out.

 

I'm against audio books for some reason - I have this nagging feeling i'm 'cheating' when I listen to one. I'll only listen to one if the audio obviously adds to the experience (alan partridge and some other comedian's autobiographies for example). I got an audible subscription from my maw a while back though so I should probably take advantage. Any recommendations are welcome.

 

For audbile, it depends what you like, here are some I've enjoyed, there are series or audiioplays:

 

http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Comedy/Old-Harrys-Game-Audiobook/B004EVPNLM/ref=a_search_c4_1_4_srTtl?qid=1403510287&sr=1-4

http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Comedy/Old-Harrys-Game-Audiobook/B004EVMEA0/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1403510287&sr=1-2

 

http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Comedy/Revolting-People-Audiobook/B004F45WXM/ref=a_search_c4_1_7_srTtl?qid=1403510366&sr=1-7

 

http://www.audible.co.uk/series/ref=a_pd_Film-R_c2__1_sa?asin=B00HSSYM74

 

http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Film-Radio-TV/Dirk-Gentlys-Holistic-Detective-Agency-Dramatised-Audiobook/B004EMAKVE/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1403510528&sr=1-2

 

http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Film-Radio-TV/Neverwhere-Adaptation-Audiobook/B00ELIU5Z2/ref=a_cat_Film-_c1_3_asPr_r

 

http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Film-Radio-TV/Infinite-Monkey-Cage-Series-6-7-8-and-9-Audiobook/B00L4HSGCW/ref=a_cat_Film-_c10_2_t?ie=UTF8&pf_rd_r=136PEM25Y1VHX24HGG78&pf_rd_m=A2YHV2RYTDNFG3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=535843031&pf_rd_p=401541867&pf_rd_s=center-10   -  If you like an irreverent look at science

 

http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Film-Radio-TV/The-Saint-Audiobook/B00KTM4HC6/ref=a_search_c4_2_12_srTtl?qid=1403510695&sr=2-12   -  The Saint 1940's/50's version starring Vincent Price

 

http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Crime-Thrillers/The-New-Adventures-of-Sherlock-Holmes-60-Episode-Set-Audiobook/B00AEBW91S/ref=a_search_c4_1_5_srTtl?qid=1403510770&sr=1-5  - Nearly 30 hours of the legendary Basil Rathbone playing Sherlock Holmes

 

All 1 credit each :)

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