LATEST UPDATES (October 2018)
I am still performing regularly at The Comedy Store (every second and last Sunday of the month), XS Malarkey (Tuesdays) and the 99 Club Leicester square (Wednesdays – but I have opted to do the gig fortnightly from now on). I can’t fit many other gigs in because…
My play Going, Going Goon – part of the the I Told You I Was Ill umbrella, marking the centenary of the birth of Spike Milligan – was performed in front of a live audience in Hull on Saturday 29th September. It will be broadcast on Radio 3 on October 7th at 7.30pm. It stars Mark Heap (Green Wing, Spaced), Pippa Haywood (Green Wing, Bodyguard, The Brittas Empire), Jonathan Keeble (amazing radio actor with hundreds of credits), Stephen Wight (Olivier nominee for Dealer’s Choice, also starred in McQueen on stage) and, um, me (he knows the writer). The two other plays in the strand were written by Lee Mattinson and Jessica Hynes (who stars in her own piece). The audience loved the show, which is hosted by John Hegley, and I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I hope you give it a listen (as it clashes with Doctor Who perhaps I should point out that it’ll be on iPlayer for a month!).
My adaptation of Nigel Kneale’s lost television play The Road will be broadcast on Radio 4 on October 27th. It was recorded at Maida Vale studios and stars Mark Gatiss and Adrian Scarborough who play, respectively, a philosopher and an inventor who are investigating reports of a haunting in a wood in the late 18th century. It’s a spooky piece with a sting in the tale (don’t read up on it – avoid spoilers) and I know it is eagerly awaited in some quarters (many have tried and failed to get a remake off the ground in the past). We used some sound effects from the original production (which were themselves recorded ay Maida Vale) and the stellar cast is completed by Hattie Morahan (whose father directed the original), Colin McFarlane, Susan Wokoma, Francis Magee, and Ralph Ineson. I will be hosting a listening event at Home in Manchester which will play the broadcast as it goes out (start time, 2.30pm) and will take part in a Q and A afterwards. Tickets are free (but you need to have come to another event at home in their Film Fear season): details here.
I am going to be one of the guests on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast (except this edition is being recorded at the Manchester Dancehouse) on October 5th. The podcast has an illustrious roster of past guests s I’m extremely flattered to have been asked. The recording is sold out, but it will, of course, be available online afterwards if you go here.
Quatermass and the Pit comes to Blu-Ray soon, and I have been working on the release, donating a large amount of photographic and audio material, as well as presenting the commentaries on all six episodes. Not many cast and crew survive, but if they do, we got them, and they have been spliced in with some recordings of my chats with those who are no longer with us. The film sequences have been remastered and they look extraordinary. It’s going to be a terrific release considering the age of the source material and is well worth a look.
I filmed a role in the Eddie Izzard/Judi Dench/Jim Broadbent film 6 Minutes to Midnight at the end of last month: it’s directed by The Next Doctor‘s Andy Goddard. Most details are still under wraps but you can read a little bit about what I got up to on it here.
The Quatermass book grows by the day. It’s pretty much my sole focus between now and Christmas. These past few months have found my securing contributions form David Tennant, John Carpenter, Barbara Kellermann, Indira Varma and Toyah Willcox. So it’s going to be pretty detailed! More info soon…
XS Malarkey is now 21. What a run, and it continues this month with appearances from Chris Lynam and Danny McLoughlin amongst others. More details are available at the XS Malarkey Website.
I have had the sad duty of writing two obituaries this month. Both have been published by The Guardian and are for Jacqueline Pearce and Zienia Merton.
I have also made another documentary for the Doctor Who Blu-Ray range. More news soon…
