Tag: Channel 4

Very British Futures – The Aliens

It’s been longer arriving than I hoped but Season Two of my podcast Very British Futures is finally taking flight. I’ve found a better way of planning my time, and so I’ve been able to invest some energy into editing my recordings from the last few months.

So first released blinking into the online world is our discussion of The Aliens, E4’s 2016 drama with blackly comic moments, set in a world of human and alien drug dealers, ghettoised resentful alien immigrants and one hapless protagonist who keeps trying to do the right thing but generally just digs himself deeper into trouble.

It has a marvellous cast of people who were just getting recognised for their talent, including Michaela Cole (I Will Destroy You), Jim Howick (Ghosts) and Michael Socha (Being Human) and Michael Smiley (Kill List) and was produced by a lot of the same team responsible for Misfits.

This is also best produced episode so far, thanks to the technical brilliance of Kevin Hiley (Tripodscast) and being the first to be recorded in an actual room instead of online. I was joined by two guests from Tripodscast: Rebecca Wray and Dani Wray. Both of them were excellent and had plenty of fascinating observations about the show and its characters. Look out for their forthcoming new series with John Isles I Don’t Do SF in the new year.

You can listen to the episode at Anchor FM or on all the major podcast platforms. You can also check its dedicated page at my new website for the podcast which also has links for further reading, including the original E4 website which contains a lot more background information about the fictional history of the aliens’ arrival in Britain. For the first season I also put the episode up on this blog as a downloadable MP3. I’ve decided to stop that for season two, partly to cut down on housekeeping, and also to hopefully encourage more listeners to the podcast platforms and build up the podcast’s official stats. If you would like to download a file to listen to offline, may I suggest checking out the episode’s page at Spreaker, which has a download option.

Hope you enjoy this episode. More coming soon, continuing with The Flipside of Dominick Hyde.

Very British Futures – Max Headroom 20 Minutes Into the Future

Max Headroom

Somewhere in the world between the USA and Europe is a city ruled by television, where gangs roam the dirty streets, the rich live in skyscraper fortresses, life is cheap and technology is a retrofitted mix of hi-tech computer networks and 20th century junk. It’s world in need of a hero, but what its going to get is a video celebrity who’s not even real – or is he? 20 Minutes Into the Future has no right to be as great as it is. Designed to launch a new pop video show on Channel 4, it’s a pop rock video delight that captures the flavour of cyberpunk better than most Hollywood attempts.

It was definitely one of the shows I had in mind when I first thought about making a SF podcast. Joining me for the ride are Amy Elizabeth, who you might remember as Bianca Ruocco in Agents of Psyence and Steve Noble, top reviewer for the Talking Pictures TV podcast and one time comic strip writer. We had a very chatty and enjoyable discussion about Max Headroom, with as you’ll hear a lot laughs along the way. Although the pilot movie is the focus, we can’t help but talk about the whole Max Headroom phenomena, that burned brightly but briefly in 1985.

Blank Reg
Reg

The UK pilot led into an excellent but short lived US TV series which was beyond the podcast’s brief but personally I am very fond of too. Even though it softened some of the pilot’s cynicism and made Max himself a little more obviously a good guy. One fact I didn’t manage to fit in is that US broadcast of this film featured extra Max Headroom, with clips from the Channel 4 pop show added to increase his presence in last act.

Edison Carter and Theora Jones

Important Max Facts for you:
Edison Carter / Max Headroom – Matt Frewer
Theora Jones – Amanda Pays
Grossman – Nikolas Grace
Bryce – Paul Spurrier
Blank Reg – W Morgan Shepherd
Dominique – Hilary Tindall
Breugal – Hilton McRea
Mahler – George Rossi

Written by Steven Roberts
Based on an idea by Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton and George Stone
Produced by Peter Wagg
Directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton

You listen to this episode at Anchor.fm, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and most major platforms. Or listen and download it from here!

Next time – Threads