#BBC Radio Four

[martyncrucefix]

ASMR seems linked to a particular quality of attention-giving which yields a rippling of pleasure, close to the erotic, but not the same as that. It is powerful yet undramatic; it is most common in quiet moments of observation.

[munsongirly]

Joseph Quinn on BBC Radio One to promote 'A quiet place: day one' in London. 📷: Neil Mockford.

I spent some time editing this photos from getty images so please give me credit if you use it.

[radiofreeskaro]

Radio Free Skaro #990 - Borad Subsequent Moviefilm

Radio Free Skaro #990 - Borad Subsequent Moviefilm - #DoctorWho "Joy To The World" Trailer! - #ChicagoTARDIS Season 25 panel with Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldres, Mark Ayres, and Dominic Glynn!

http://traffic.libsyn.com/freyburg/rfs990.mp3 Download MP3 It’s a banner weekend in Vancouver as one Taylor Swift graces Warren’s fair city with the final shows of the Eras Tour, and yet the Three Who Rule soldier on (and show just how out of touch they are) with talk of the new trailer for Joy To the World, Doctor Who showrunner holiday photoshoots, some The War Games in Colour backpatting and…

[partiallithopseffect]

“I never knew what to do about the Daleks really, you know, because I always rather fancied Davros.”

— Tom Baker (speaking as the Fourth Doctor)

[ocean-irl]

Absolutely insane. HOW did you encounter Torchwood and watch the whole thing without also encountering Doctor Who? I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.

I got into Doctor Who via my friends and dad in 2013. I've seen all of New Who plus most of the mini episodes, all of Torchwood, about half of the classic series, three Big Finish audios, two books, and a partridge in a pear tree.

How did you get into Doctor who/how much of it have you seen/read/listened to etc

[themcrarchive]

via the MCR website: “Today, My Chemical Romance proudly announce Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (Deluxe Edition), an expanded edition of their 3x-platinum certified sophomore album, out on June 6, 2025 – exactly 21 years to the original release date. The Deluxe Edition is remixed and remastered and will be available on CD, multiple colored vinyl variants, including a stunning zoetrope 2LP, and digitally. The 2 LP vinyl formats are 3-sided, with Side 4 boasting a special etching, making them collector’s items for the MCRmy.

Pre-order/pre-save Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (Deluxe Edition) at MCR.lnk.to/ThreeCheersDeluxe

To commemorate the band’s beloved 2004 album, GRAMMY®️ Award-winning producer Rich Costey has done new mixes for the Deluxe Edition. It is also presented with brand new artwork. The collection features four bonus tracks recorded for BBC in 2005: previously unreleased live versions of “I’m Not Okay (I Promise),” “Helena,” and “The Ghost Of You,” plus a live take on “You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison” – originally released as a B-side on the limited edition UK CD single of “I’m Not Okay (I Promise).” The first bonus track – “I’m Not OK (I Promise) [Live for BBC Radio 1's "The Lock Up", 2005]” – is available digitally now. Additionally, the official music video for “I’m Not OK (I Promise)” has been film restored.”

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Blur - Song 2 1997

"Song 2" is the second song on English rockband Blur's eponymous fifth studio album. Released in April 1997, "Song 2" peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, and number six on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, "Song 2" was nominated for Best Group Video, and Best Alternative Video. At the 1998 Brit Awards, it was nominated for Best British Single, and Best British Video. In 1998, BBC Radio 1 listeners voted "Song 2" the 15th Best Track Ever. In 2011, NME placed it number 79 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".

According to Graham Coxon, "Song 2" was intended to be a joke on the record company. Damon Albarn had recorded an acoustic demo of the song which was slower but featured the song's distinctive "woo-hoo" chorus in whistle form. Coxon then suggested that they pump up the speed and perform the song loudly, with Coxon deliberately seeking out an amateurish guitar sound. From there, Coxon told Albarn to tell the record company that they wanted to release the song as a single to "blow the flipping record labels' heads off". To Coxon's surprise, record executives reacted positively. When asked if the band had any idea of the song's commercial appeal, Coxon replied, "We'd just thought it was way too extreme". Some writers have stated that the song is intended to be a parody of the grunge genre, while others state that it was a parody of radio hits and the music industry with a punk rock chorus.

On 20 October 2018, at the Demon Dayz Fest LA, Damon Albarn's other band Gorillaz played the familiar "Song 2" theme but in characteristic Gorillaz style with dub/funk elements, before Graham Coxon joined Gorillaz onstage and launched into his original riff.

"Song 2" received a total of 84,3% yes votes! Previous Blur polls: #56 "Coffee & TV"

[caden-ccc]

I'm watching the new sfth longform and did anyone else get like immeadiate flashbacks to AJs bbc radio joke in the cardboard stegosaurus when the radio four bit started? cause I had a moment

[neil-gaiman]

The BBC has just rereleased the Radio Adaptation! Four episodes are out already...

[sgiandubh]

A clarification

As @bat-cat-reader already posted and according to C herself, McGill wasn't there and that should be enough for us. She said it loud, on BBC Four's Woman's Hour - you can listen to it here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0029hlm.

Nuala McGovern, the show's host, specifically mentions the premiere event at the Leicester Square Odeon Luxe cinema in London. The segment that interests us is roughly running between 11:08-13:30 and it could not be clearer. If he was there, why not mention him, but mention her sister, her sister's husband and some friends? I mean, how odd is that, anyways?

Listen for yourself. For obvious reasons related to size, I could not post the entire audio file, so I made a clip out of the relevant part and, as always, transcripted it:

Nuala McGovern (N): 'But I have another guest, who has just made her way into the studio. She won a BAFTA for her performance in Kenneth Branagh's film Belfast, she's known to many fans of time-travel drama Outlander as Claire, but the Irish actress Caitriona Balfe is joining me to talk about her latest role, this is playing a Russian spy in the new film The Amateur, starring Rami Malek. Welcome to Woman's Hour!'

Caitriona Balfe (C): 'Hi, Nuala, thank you for having me, just to say it, I didn't win the BAFTA, I would love to have, but I was nominated [laughs].'

'N: ' We just elevate it a bit, maybe we're sending all of that to the Universe, have it happen next time [? unclear, both laugh], but I went to see you last night, I went to the premiere. I mean, I think this is the first premiere I've ever gone to.'

C: 'Oh, well, I am very glad you've made it! I hope you had fun!'

'N:' I really did! It's such a glitzy, glamorous event, I was wondering what must it be like to be in the eye of the storm and for anybody who hasn't been, like I haven't before, apart from seeing it on TV, you know, you have these pens of journalists and fans, and you walk down a white carpet, not a red carpet last night, and people are just roaring at you and looking for attention, what does that feel like?'

C: 'Ahem, I mean it's kind of fun, I don't know. I mean, I don't think I ever had a premiere there before...'

N: ' It was Leicester Square, just to let people know, in London, on a kind of a warm evening....'

C: ' It was gorgeous, I mean, sunshine and blue skies and all of that... ahem, you know, it's kind of overwhelming, but it's also, I think, once in a while, to be able to kind of get dressed up and celebrate, you know, the hard work of a lot of people, especially when our business is sort of struggling at the moment, it feels really good.

N: 'So, ahem, and also, the crowd that was there last night, they were a very vocal crowd, I don't know, do you watch the film, or do you come out at the beginning...?

C:' No, I sat at the beginning, I watched it, my sister was there with her husband and some friends, so we all sat together, uhm... and it's fun, I mean people were laughing, people were...'

N: ' Hollering! Whooping...'

C:' ...so, it's good, that's always a good sign when the film gets people engaged, like that.'

Nothing left to comment, even if some would still like to cling to the absurd premise he was still somehow there and not mentioned at all, perhaps on purpose. Now why would that be? For all it's worth, she always mentioned McGill as a convenient prop of sorts every single time questions were probably hitting way too close to home than she thought suitable or comfortable. Mentioning her sister's husband and not 'her own'? Wow. Really wow, here.

I am very glad to be able to give more substance to these positive news, which were, I think, much needed in here.

And that's all I will comment about it. I absolutely own my varying position on the matter of McGill's presence at the event. Despite what some might want to think, I sometimes also work with the data and information some of you are kindly sending me. While I may have tips, that was not the case yesterday - just a blogger who thought she saw McGill there and felt the need to tell me and others. I now think she was honest, but very probably wrong, given what C just publicly declared on a major public media outlet.

As we know, there are no coincidences. What happened today starts to sketch a very interesting story, keeping in mind that McGill's entrance was operated in pretty much the same way, with allusions inserted in interviews, and so on.

[maxispixels]

HANPICKED

PART THREE.

Hobie Brown x GN!Reader

1.8k words

You work at a flower shop in late 70s London and Hobie's being a menace. Slowburn? Probably will be around 10 parts. Strangers to reluctant acquaintances to friends to something more. Maybe a lil' messy?

CW: mention of a funeral

Part one. Part two. Part three. Part four. Part five. Part six. Part seven. Part eight. Part nine. Part ten. Part eleven. Part twelve.

Your weekend had been busy with all the chores you let pile up during the last few weeks, and you were almost relieved to go back to the flower shop, and only have to sit on a stool for a few hours. Maybe make some commands and other stuff but hey, at least you were paid for it.

The green storefront greeted you cheerfully, and you turned the closed sign into an open one. The bell rang to welcome you, and you made your way to the old radio post in the corner of the shop. It still worked better than yours, despite its age, and the worrying amount of dust you didn’t dare to touch.

You quickly managed to get to BBC Radio 3, playing some classical music at that time of the morning. It made you feel like you were in a fairytale, tending to your flowers. Definitely made your job a lot nicer than it already was.

And just like that, you started to work, starting with cleaning the front window. 

Then it started to rain. You cursed the sky, ruining your hard work. You went back inside and started to water the potted plants, before changing the water of the ones in vases. 

The first customer of the day passed the door while you were in the middle of pouring water. “Good morning,” you welcomed with a singsong voice, still turning your back to the door. “One second and I’m yours.”

“Oi that’s interestin'.” A deep voice you’ve learnt to recognize resonated over the orchestral going on in the background. You almost spilled your water.

“You again?” You turned to face him. He had a small umbrella this time, but it didn’t protect him well from the rain. He put it in a corner carelessly. 

“Happy to see ya too.” He tilted his head. “Wot are ya doing there watering the flowers? They’re dead.”

“They’re cut flowers. They’re in their prime.”

“Prime? They’re on life support, yeah.”

You sighed. “What do you want?”

“No more how can I help you?” he imitated your tone, and you cringed. “An’ wot’s up with the music? Anything better than this? Are ya tryin’ to lure yer customers to sleep or som’thin?”

You rubbed your forehead. “You’re so annoying.”

“Don’t be mean, I came ‘ere with a gift.” He cooed. 

You raised an eyebrow, expecting the worst. “What for? We still don’t accept bartering.”

“I said a gift. I’m not tryna get anythin’ from ya.” He pulled out a couple of yellow flowers from his sleeve.

“Oh, lovely. Wildflowers. Did you pull those out of someone’s garden?”

“From a rich bloke’s ledge, if that makes ya feel better.” You rolled your eyes. “Picked these myself. Your daffodils are too posh. Thought you could use a change, somethin’ wild.”

You looked at his outstretched hand, holding the small, damp golden flowers. Buttercups, you thought. They were small, and reminded you of a kid picking flowers for their mother. It made you feel a little nostalgic.

Your hands gently grabbed them from his, careful not to brush his fingers. You still felt how cold his hands were, from being outside in the rain. 

“Don’t work your little brain too hard. M’just payin’ back for the daffodils the other day.”

You nodded. That was… Nice. “They’re… fine, I guess.” You said a little too quickly before placing the buttercup in a small water cup on the counter. Maybe you’ll sketch them later. You already had a couple of drawings for each plant from this shop, but you didn’t have a sketch of buttercups. 

You leaned back against the counter and eyed him as his gaze followed the shelf of flowers. “Why d’you needed the daffodils for anyyouway?” You asked before you could stop yourself.

His eyes went back to you, from the other side of the shop. “I might tell ya if  ya let me change the radio.” 

Your eyebrows knitted together. “...Fine?” 

It took him more than ten minutes to find what he wanted, and your patience was running low. “Careful with the antenna—”  scolded as he tugged it at an alarming angle. “I know what I’m doin’!” He insisted. You groaned, your face buried in both your hands.

The statics and random bits of voices slowly let place to something else. Distorted and muffled noises broke through the radio, followed by loud drumming and rugged vocals. He gave you a satisfied grin. “There it is.” You grimaced. The shop felt less like a peaceful garden and more like a dingy London club for a moment.

“What is that?”

“The best pirate radio in all of London. Proper punk, none of that watered down crap they put on the BBC.”

You frowned. “Pirate radio?” You mumbled. “Isn’t that… Illegal?”

He grinned at you like you said something adorable. “Course it is. That’s the point.”

You shifted on your legs, glancing nervously at the door. You quickly turned down the volume.

“No fun,” he pouted.

“Are you gonna talk now?”

“What was your question already?”

“Are you serious?”

“About what?”

There was no way he wasn’t being dumb on purpose, testing the limit of what patience you had left. “Why’d you nick the flowers?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding your eyes. “Why’d ya care? I just paid you back anyway.”

“I don’t. But I’m curious—it’s so weird to steal flowers. Especially since you just showed me that you were more than able to pick wild ones. Why get in trouble? For daffodils?”

“Well... it was for... an... important thing?” He mumbled, looking up at the ceiling, then letting his gaze trail down to some carnations.

You raised an eyebrow. “An important thing?” You couldn’t help but smirk as you saw the tall, punk, scary, grown man avoid your eyes like a kid. “What important thing? A girl?” You covered your mouth, feigning shock. “A boy?”

He gave you a look. His brown eyes fell back on you, and you swore they softened for a moment. You found yourself stumbling to hold his gaze. It made you weak in the knees, and you couldn’t figure out why.

“Does it matter?”

You shrugged. “I’m not judging.” You tilted your head, grinning. “Come on, tell me—you owe me an explanation, ay? For all the trouble you caused.”

He gave you a half-smile—was it shy or sad? You couldn’t tell. It threw you off balance. “Or don’t. You don’t have to.” You corrected yourself.

“No big deal. T’was just for a funeral.” He shrugged again, his tone casual, but it didn’t match the weight of his words.

Oh. The realization hit you like a slap. “Oh... I’m sorry. I... I didn’t know.” You muttered, your words suddenly too quiet.

“Don’t make that face.” He seemed to be the one teasing you now.

You blinked, not even realizing the puppy eyes you were giving him. Sad and guilty, like a kicked dog. God, you felt like such an idiot. You’d been nothing but rude to him up until now. Stupid, really. The whole situation was so absurd—here you were, feeling bad for a punk, in a flower shop, with a crazy bassline blasting in the background.

“No, I’m really sorry, I was awful. Fuck, can I do something for you?” You mumbled sheepishly, feeling a little off-balance.

“Mpf, don’t get all like that.” He raised an eyebrow, clearly enjoying the shift in the dynamic. “I liked it better when you were all feisty. Or all nosy about my love life.” He smirked at you, and the cheeky look on his face made you want to wipe it off. 

You just let yourself fall back onto the stool, letting out a sigh of exhaustion. The shrill sound of police sirens suddenly blared through the air, startling you. You quickly realized it was coming from the radio, and your eyes flicked to the man, who was grinning at you, clearly amused by your reaction.

The static on the radio cracked as another song kicked in, something about police oppression, though the quality of the recording and the poor reception made the lyrics nearly impossible to understand.

“See, they don’t put this on the BBC.” Hemused, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. “This, this is fockin’ brillant.” 

You’re persuaded he’s distracting you again from the matter at hand. You let him. 

“They still put out some stuff on the BBC, though.” You argued. “The other day, I was trying to relax and there was some punk crap that started playing. Almost broke the old radio.” You were careful to not tell him you actually, kind of, a little enjoyed it.

“Breaking your shit is punker than anything you could’ve played on it.” He retorted.

“So you don’t like anything that plays on the common channel?” You tilted your head—you wondered if he would’ve liked the song that came up the other time. To you, it didn’t sound so different from what he was playing now. 

He rolled his eyes. “Yes I do, I’m not saying it’s bad, just it’s watered down. They never put extreme stuff. Or unknown stuff, you get me?”

You didn’t. You let him talk and geek out about punk music for a while, occasionally asking questions to keep him entertained and not at all to keep hearing his smooth deep voice. 

You zoned out, watching his lips move, his piercings catching the light of the shop. You had the time to count all of them. Eight. A ring in his left ear, three along his right ear, a horizontal piercing at each eyebrow, another ring at his right nostril, and one to the left of his bottom right lip. The cool metal contrasted beautifully with his dark skin. The lines of his face were deep and you found yourself wanting to reach for them. There was just something so sculpted, so intriguing about his bone structure. You just wanted to sketch him. 

“And that’s why community organizing is so important.” he finished.

You blinked, scrambling for something to say that wouldn’t give you away. “That’s... cool?”

He raised an eyebrow, his smirk returning. “Do you have a scooby what I was talking about?”

The way you looked at him was enough of an answer. He chuckled and shook his head. “Got it. I have to go anyway. You know, protests to attend, stuff. Capitalism ain’t gonna stop itself.”

“Wait—what’s your name?” you called as he turned on his heels.

He paused in the doorway, his hand on the frame. It hit you both at once that you’d never exchanged names. He grinned, the kind of grin that made your stomach do a little flip. “Might tell you if I come back.” 

With a wave, he grabbed his small umbrella, before he stepped out into the rain, leaving you alone with nothing but the punk music crackling on the radio for company.

Part four.

[radiofreeskaro]

Radio Free Skaro #932 - The Dark Crystal

Radio Free Skaro #932 - The Dark Crystal - Paul McGann spinoff? (No!) - Missing episodes returned? (No!!) - #DoctorWho news deluge! (Yes!!!)

http://traffic.libsyn.com/freyburg/rfs932.mp3 Download MP3 Another week, another absolute deluge of Doctor Who news has buried the Three Who Rule in minutiae. Amongst the highlights are The Star Beast news, Steven Moffat absolutely dominating a Best Of poll in DWM, the name of the Christmas Special being nonchalantly announced by Disney , Ncuti Gatwa looking dapper as usual in British GQ, and…

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

The Radio Times magazine from the 29 July-04 August 2023 :)

THE SECOND COMING

How did Terry Pratchett and Neil gaiman overcome the small matter of Pratchett's death to make another series of their acclaimed divine comedy?

For all the dead authors in the world,” legendary comedy producer John Lloyd once said, “Terry Pratchett is the most alive.” And he’s right. Sir Terry is having an extremely busy 2023… for someone who died in 2015.

This week sees the release of Good Omens 2, the second series of Amazon’s fantasy comedy drama based on the cult novel Pratchett co-wrote with Neil Gaiman in the late 1980s. This will be followed in the autumn by a new spin-off book from Pratchett’s Discworld series, Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch, co-written by Pratchett’s daughter Rhianna and children’s author Gabrielle Kent. The same month, we’ll also get A Stroke of the Pen, a collection of “lost” short stories written by Sir Terry for local newspapers in the 70s and 80s and recently rediscovered. Clearly, while there are no more books coming from Pratchett – a hard drive containing all drafts and unpublished work was crushed by a vintage steamroller shortly after the author’s death, as per his specific wishes – people still want to visit his vivid and addictive worlds in new ways.

Good Omens 2 will be the first test of how this can work. The original book started life as a 5,000-word short story by Gaiman, titled William the Antichrist and envisioned as a bit of a mashup of Richmal Crompton’s Just William books and the 70s horror classic The Omen. What would happen, Gaiman had mused, if the spawn of Satan had been raised, not by a powerful American diplomat, but by an extremely normal couple in an idyllic English village, far from the influence of hellish forces? He’d sent the first draft to bestselling fantasy author Pratchett, a friend of many years, and then forgotten about it as he busied himself with continuing to write his massively popular comic books, including Violent Cases, Black Orchid and The Sandman, which became a Netflix series last year.

Pratchett loved the idea, offering to either buy the concept from Gaiman or co-write it. It was, as Gaiman later said, “like Michelangelo phoning and asking if you want to paint a ceiling” The pair worked on the book together from that point on, rewriting each other as they went and communicating via long phone calls and mailed floppy discs. “The actual mechanics worked like this: I would do a bit, then Neil would take it away and do a bit more and give it back to me,” Pratchett told Locus magazine in 1991. “We’d mess about with each other’s bits and pieces.”

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch – to give it its full title –was published in 1990 to huge acclaim. It was one of, astonishingly, five Terry Pratchett novels to be published that year (he averaged two a year, including 41 Discworld novels and many other standalone works and collaborations).

It was also, clearly, extremely filmable, and studios came knocking — though getting it made took a while. rnvo decades on from its writing, four years after Pratchett's death from Alzheimer's disease aged 66, and after several doomed attempts to get a movie version off the ground, Good Omens finally made it to TV screens in 2019, scripted and show-run by Gaiman himself. "Terry was egging me on to make it into television. He knew he was dying, and he knew that I wouldn't start it without him," Gaiman revealed in a 2019 Radio Times interview. Amazon and the BBC co-produced with Pratchett's company Narrativia and Gaiman's Blank Corporation production studios, with Michael Sheen and David Tennant cast in the central roles of Aziraphale the angel and Crowley the demon. The show was a hit, not just with fans of its two creators, but with a whole new young audience, many of whom had no interest in Discworld or Sandman. Social media networks like Tumblr and TikTok were soon awash with cosplay, artwork and fan fiction. The original novel became, for the first time, a New York Times bestseller.

A follow up was, on one level, a no-brainer. The world Pratchett and Gaiman had created was vivid, funny and accessible, and Tennant and Sheen had found an intriguing romantic spark in their chemistry not present in the novel.

There was, however, a huge problem. There wasn't a second Good Omens book to base it on. But there was the ghost of an idea.

In 1989, after the book had been sold but before it had come out, the two authors had laid on fivin beds in a hotel room at a convention in Seattle and, jet-lagged and unable to sleep, plotted out, in some detail, what would happen in a sequel, provisionally titled 668, The II Neighbour of the Beast.

"It was a good one, too" Gaiman wrote in a 2021 blog. "We fully intended to write it, whenever we next had three or four months free. Only I went to live in America and Terry stayed in the UK, and after Good Omens was published, Sandman became SANDMAN and Discworld became DISCWORLD(TM) and there wasn't a good time."

Back in 1991, Pratchett elaborated, "We even know some of the main characters in it. But there's a huge difference between sitting there chatting away, saying, 'Hey, we could do this, we could do that,' and actually physically getting down and doing it all again." In 2019, Gaiman pillaged some of those ideas for Good Omens series one (for example, its final episode wasn't in the book at all), and had left enough threads dangling to give him an opening for a sequel. This is the well he's returned to for Good Omens 2, co-writing with comic John Finnemore - drafted in, presumably, to plug the gap left Pratchett's unparalleled comedic mind. No small task.

Projects like Good Omens 2 are an important proving ground for Pratchett's legacy: can the universes he conjured endure without their creator? And can they stay true to his spirit? Sir Terry was famously protective of his creations, and there have been remarkably few adaptations of his work considering how prolific he was. "What would be in it for me?" he asked in 2003. "Money? I've got money."

He wanted his work treated reverently and not butchered for the screen. It's why Good Omens and projects like Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch are made with trusted members of the inner circle like Neil Gaiman and Rhianna Pratchett at the helm. It's also why the author's estate, run by Pratchett's former assistant and business manager Rob Wilkins, keeps a tight rein on any licensed Pratchett material — it's a multi-million dollar media empire still run like a cottage industry.

And that's heartening. Anyone who saw BBC America's panned 2021 Pratchett adaptation The Watch will know how badly these things can go when a studio is allowed to run amok with the material without oversight. These stories deserve to be told, and these worlds deserve to be explored — properly. And there are, apparently, many plans afoot for more Pratchett on the screen. You can only hope that, somewhere, he'll be proud of the results.

After all, as he wrote himself, "No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away, until the clock wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone's life is only the core of their actual existence."

While those ripples continue to spread, Sir Terry Pratchett remains very much alive. MARC BURROWS

DIVINE DUO

An angel and a demon walk into a pub... Michael Sheen and David Tennant on family, friendship and Morecambe & Wise

Outside it's cold winter's day and we're in a Scottish studio, somewhere between Edinburgh and Glasgow. But inside it's lunchtime in The Dirty Donkey pub in the heart of London, with both Michael Sheen and David Tennant surveying the scene appreciatively. "This is a great pub," says Sheen eagerly, while Tennant calls it "the best Soho there can be. A slightly heightened, immaculate, perfect, dreamy Soho."

Here, a painting of the absent landlord — the late Terry Pratchett, co-creator, with Neil Gaiman, of the series' source novel — looms over punters. Around the corner is AZ Fell and Co Antiquarian and Unusual Books. It's the bookshop owned by Sheen's character, the angel Aziraphale, and the place to where Tennant's demon Crowley is inevitably drawn.

It's day 74 of an 80-day shoot for a series that no one, least of all the leading actors, ever thought would happen, due to the fact that Pratchett and Gaiman hadn't ever published any sequel to their 1990 fantasy satire. Tennant explains, "What we didn't know was that Neil and Terry had had plots and plans..."

Still, lots of good things are in Good Omens 2, which expands on the millennia-spanning multiverse of the first series. These include a surprisingly naked side of John Hamm, and roles for both Tennant's father-in-law (Peter Davison) and 21-year-old son Ty. At its heart, though, remains the brilliant banter between the two leading men — as Sheen puts it, "very Eric and Ernie !" — whose chemistry on the first series led to one of the more surprising saviours of lockdown telly.

Good Omens is back — but you've worked together a lot in the meantime. Was there a connective tissue between series one of Good Omens and Staged, your lockdown sitcom?

David: Only in as much as the first series went out, then a few months later, we were all locked in our houses. And because of the work we'd done on Good Omens, it occurred that we might do something else. I mean, Neil Gaiman takes full responsibility for Staged. Which, to some extent, he's probably right to do!

Michael: We've got to know each other through doing this. Our lives have gotten more entwined in all kinds of ways — we have children who've now become friends, and our families know each other.

There have been hints of a romantic storyline between the two characters. How much of an undercurrent is that in this series.

David: Nothing's explicit.

Michael: I felt from the very beginning that part of what would be interesting to explore is that Aziraphale is a character, a being, who just loves. How does that manifest itself in a very specific relationship with another being? Inevitably, as there is with everything in this story, there's a grey area. The fact that people see potentially a "romantic relationship", I thought that was interesting and something to explore.

There was a petition to have the first series banned because of its irreverent take on Christian tropes. Series two digs even more deeply into the Bible with the story of Job. How much of a badge of honour is it that the show riles the people who like to ban things?

David: It's not an irreligious show at all. It's actually very respectful of the structure of that sort of religious belief. The idea that it promotes Satanism [is nonsense]. None of the characters from hell are to be aspired to at all! They're a dreadful bunch of non-entities. People are very keen to be offended, aren't they? They're often looking for something to glom on to without possibly really examining what they think they're complaining about.

Michael, you're known as an activist, and you're in the middle of Making BBC drama The Way, which "taps into the social and political chaos of today's world". Is it important for you to use your plaform to discuss causes you believe in?

Michael: The Way is not a political tract, it's just set in the area that I come from. But it has to matter to you, doesn't it? More and more as I get older, [I find] it can be a real slog doing this stuff. You've got to enjoy it. And if it doesn't matter to you, then it's just going to be depressing.

David, Michael has declared himself a "not-for-profit" actor. Has he tried to persuade you to give up all your money too?

David: What an extraordinary question! One is always aware that one has a certain responsibility if one is fortunate and gets to do a job that often doesn't feel like a job. You want to do your bit whenever you can. But at the same time, I'm an actor. I'm not about to give that up to go into politics or anything. But I'll do what I can from where I live.

Well, your son and your father-in-law are also starring in this series. How about that, jobs for the boys!

David: I know! It was a delight to get to be on set with them. And certainly an unexpected one for me. Neil, on two occasions, got to bowl up to me and say, "Guess who we've cast?!"

How do you feel about your US peers going on strike?

David: It's happening because there are issues that need to be addressed. Nobody's doing this lightly. These are important issues, and they've got to be sorted out for the future of our industry. There's this idea that writers and actors are all living high on the hog. For huge swathes of our industry, that's just not the case. These people have got to be protected.

Michael: We have to be really careful that things don't slide back to the way they were pre the 1950s, when the stories that we told were all coming from one point of view and the stories of certain people, or communities within our society, weren't represented. There's a sense that now that's changed for ever and it'll never go back. But you worry when people can't afford to have the opportunities that other people have. We don't want the story that we tell about ourselves to be myopic. You want it to be as inclusive as possible

Staged series 3 recently broadcast. It felt like the show's last hurrah — or is there more mileage? Sheen and Tennant go on holiday?

David: That's the Christmas special! One Foot in the Algarve! On the Buses Go to Spain!

Michael: I don't think we were thinking beyond three, were we?

So is it time for a conscious uncoupling for you two — Eric and Ernie say goodbye?

David: Oh, never say never, will we?

Michael: And it's more Hinge and Bracket.

David: Maybe that's what we do next — The Hinge and Bracket Story. CRAIG McLEAN

[i-may-be-an-emu]

Inside The Mysterious Cube and And So It Begun similarities in terms of random AJ things

“BBC News!” And “Radio Four!”

“and now a message from the president”

*random singing*

“Ameriiiiicaaaaaaaaa” 🎶

[safedistancefrombeingsmart]

This June BBC Radio 4 will mark 100 years since the death of Franz Kafka and 75 years of the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell by dedicating more than 12 hours of original programming to their work.

Talent includes Martin Freeman, Adjoa Andoh, Tom Hollander, Iwan Rheon, Phil Davis, Nina Wadia and Adrian Scarborough.

Interesting! 👀

[lalaballa]

There’s this four-part series being broadcast on BBC Radio 2 this month (though online all four episodes are already available) in which “Johnny Marr takes listeners on a journey through Great British bands, spanning from the 1960s to the contemporary era.” In episode one he includes Crying Lightning and says the following about the band and Alex (starts at 28:30):

[Song ends] “Arctic Monkeys, Crying Lightning, from the album Humbug. Well, if we’re discussing great British bands… I mean… what more do you want? Arctic Monkeys. One thing about them… so, if you go to America – anywhere in America, in fact, because they’re pretty big over there – and you mention Arctic Monkeys, I think the first thing people are going to say is that they’re from Britain. They’re synonymous with where they come from… I think they could only come from Britain, and furthermore probably could only come from the North, Sheffield. It’s interesting, I think, that regional thing. But… yeah, proper British band. I played with Alex, with the Shadow Puppets, a couple of times, and he’s as good as you think he is, folks. You learn a lot about someone, standing next to them in front of a bunch of people playing. I found that with quite a few people that I’ve worked with. You really get a sense of them, when you stood next to them when they’re doing what they do. And what struck me the first time I ever played alongside him was… for the first time I realized that he reminds me quite a lot of David Bowie. You just have to trust me on that."

Source: AMUS forum (u/Fleur_aviation) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0023q6l