First published as "The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost" in the March 1902 issue of The Strand Magazine, H.G. Wells' humorous ghostly tale of the folly of hubris has long been one of his most anthologised and well-known short stories.
Relayed to his circle of friends by firelight following a day of golf, Clayton tells of his encounter with a ghost the previous night and of its piteous nature and plight.
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Written by Simon Clark and originally released as a novel in 2001 to mark the 50th anniversary of John Wyndham's original, 'Night of the Triffids' is the story of David Massen - the son of Bill and Josella - and his misadventures on the island of Manhattan having crash landed his plane during a mysterious blackout on a floating island inhabited by many triffids and one young girl and being rescued by a ship full of Americans who whisk him off across the Atlantic.
The novel was adapted by Big Finish in 2014 with Sam Troughton (grandson of Patrick), Nicola Bryant (Peri Brown, assistant to both the 5th and 6th Doctors) and Paul Clayton taking the leads. It's a quick and faithful version of a quick and faithful novel which means it suffers from the same problems as the novel - being overly slavish to the source material and with a very poor casting decision at it's heart but it's an entertaining romp and an enjoyable enough way to revisit the world of the Triffids.
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"Dark matter makes up 85% of the universe. Recent scientific theory suggests dark matter is information—a fifth form of matter—and that we can wake it up. But waking it up can let dark things out.
James Callis is Dr. John Carnack. Five years ago, his dark matter experiments led to tragedy. His redemption is working for the Department of Midnight, investigating dangerous dark matter experiments, trying to prevent further disasters. But there’s a pattern.
I adore audio plays and so one written by one of my favourite authors revolving around the types of themes and settings we champion here on Wyrd Britain is a very good thing indeed. Warren has never been shy of celebrating his influences and the shadows of 'Doomwatch', 'Quatermass' - Nigel Kneale himself the author of numerous wonderful radio plays - and William Hope Hodgson's occult detective Thomas Carnacki loom large here and those with a familiarity with Warren's work will feel the immediate kinship here with the 'Injection' comic series he does - note the present tense, I'm ever the optimist - with Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire that plays with classic British heroic archetypes and folkloric themes.
The cast are perfectly suited, James Callis (Battlestar Galactica) has that perfectly detached post traumatic British persona that mixes duty and weariness with a barely suppressed mania and Alicia Witt (Dune) - obviously I'm only talking about episode one here - is deliciously bonkers entirely inhabiting the role of being entirely inhabitated.
It's a really strong and intriguing introduction to this world, and I'm very excited to see where they take this.
Episode One: The Cold Spot Dr. John Carnack is an investigator for the Department Of Experimental Oversight. Responding to a whistleblower call, he arrives at a lab to discover Dr. Sylvie Bestler’s personal experiment: to see what’s on the other side of the universe. Starring James Callis and Alicia Witt.
Episode Two: Jack in the Box John Carnack’s old friend is being kept in a plastic cell. There’s a contamination issue. He tripped over something when he discovered his employer’s body. But Carnack is concerned that something darker is going on…Starring James Callis and Gildart Jackson.
Episode Three: Song to the Siren On the death of Carnack’s mentor, her daughter asks him to examine the death scene. They find out too late that she died of very unnatural causes. Starring James Callis and Adrianne Palicki.
Episode Four: The Red House The university bought a derelict house out in the middle of nowhere for this experiment. When Carnack arrives to shut them down, everyone thinks he’s crazy, but he knows what the Red House really is. Starring James Callis and Nolan North.
Episode Five: The Devil Runs Out A routine examination of a dark matter lab turns into a race against time, as Carnack is forced to pursue a face from his past intent on human sacrifice. Starring James Callis and Brett Dalton.
Episode Six: Judgement In the season one finale, John Carnack faces the board of the Department of Experimental Oversight, interrogated by a prosecutor. Now he must be held accountable for his actions. And for the sins of his own past. Starring James Callis and Carla Gugino.
All six episodes are included in the playlist below.
If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain
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