Tracks - BBC Radio series from 2010 to 2016

[holyzombiejesus]

Has anyone listened to this? I only became aware of it this year but finished off the final episode of the 5 series this morning. All are available on BBC Sounds.

It tells the story of Dr Helen Ash. She's a quite disengaged and cold GP who starts the series on her way to meet her estranged physician father off a plane at a rural airfield. The plane crashes and the bodies thrown from the wreckage are kind of weird. Cue paranoia, shady multinationals, increasingly implausible plots and some pretty good sound design.

I enjoyed it in a trashy way but felt it overestimated it's own gravitas. It's well written but rather hokey, and some of the acting is a bit wank. Romola Garai is generally great although does this annoying dreamy voice (a bit like Gillian Anderson did in The Fall) that really grates after a while. She's replaced as the lead in 2 or 3 of the series but that's not too jarring.

It's difficult to write about the sillier aspects without using spoilers but Helen's basically an action hero with unlimited funds by the 4th series. Still, worth a listen.

[Asclepius]

Absolutely loved this. I started listening to it when I took up running (jogging) during lockdown, often of an evening. Really creepy, unsettling stuff at times, which tied amazingly into running down river tracks, across bridges, under motorways and all that.

Really nicely put together, and definitely worth the four series. Each series does have a very different feel (mainly because the lead actor changes!). Yes, it goes a bit far sometimes, but it did earn my favour before then, so I was able to forgive it.

Weirdly, I was hooked on the idea of it because I heard the last half of the final ever episode one day, so started at the start. It was very odd hearing the pieces falling into place eventually.

[holyzombiejesus]

As an aside, I've often wondered what it's like for the actors and production team when there are 'scenes of a sexual nature' in radio dramas. Even when it's just kissing, I can imagine it being more embarrassing than when stuff's filmed.

Anyway, I like the way you got to listen to it. Mine was just before going to sleep so I ended up playing most episodes 2 or 3 times. That second series was a bit of an outlier, subject-wise, but it may have been my favourite. Nice folk-horror vibes.

Also, often found myself just wishing that Freddie would tell Helen to go fuck herself.  I found him to be the only really sympathetic character in it, to the extent that I half suspected he was in league with the big baddies. Even that little kid was a bit of a shit.

[Edje]

I enjoyed these to a greater or lesser degree but it did sort of feel like they'd only really planned one series and then sort of end up having to ignore the ending of that?

e.g. Do they ever reference

Spoiler alert

half her brain having come from someone else?

[close]

Or

Spoiler alert

having made a big public announcement about brain transplantation being possible

[close]

?

Oh yeah and the ponderous monologues were sort of intriguing in the first run but then it did start to feel like they then just felt obligated to stick them in.

[studpuppet]

Has anyone listened to this?

I happened across this while in the car one afternoon, and like a wobbly tooth or a car crash I couldn't stop going back to it. It does have a couple of CaB qualities though:

some pretty good sound design

Reminiscent of the Radio 4 drama on The Day Today that wins the award for Sound.

Romola Garai is generally great although does this annoying dreamy voice

(a bit like Julia Davis' acupuncturist in Blue Jam)

Still, worth a listen.

In spite of itself - it's like a radio version of a sixties ATV show like The Avengers or The Prisoner; bonkers nonsense but all the better for it!