Category: Audio Drama Review

Audio Drama Review: Doctor Who: Operation Werewolf

In the 1960s, the British sci-fi classic series Doctor Who featured a unique mix of time and space travel. Anything could happen in a Doctor Who episode in this era, at least within the budget and the logistics of a series that aired 40-plus black-and-white episodes per year, mostly shot on soundstages, and with as limited a number of retakes as possible.

The series produced some great sci-fi epics, but some great storylines were rejected, and many were far too ambitious for 1960s television. One of these was a story written by famed British TV director Douglas Camfield (along with Robert Kitts) at a time when the series starred Patrick Troughton as the Doctor.

In 2024, the British audio drama company Big Finish recorded and released this story as a licensed audio drama, with second Doctor Patrick Troughton’s son, Michael Troughton, playing his father’s Doctor. He was joined by his father’s co-stars Frazier Hines and Wendy Padbury, reprising their roles as the Doctor’s young companions, 18th Century Scotsman Jamie McCrimmon, and late 21st century science whiz Zoe Herriot. The story was adapted to audio by Jonathan Morris.

The Plot:

The Doctor plans to take his friend to Normandy in 1066 but makes a slight miscalculation, instead landing in 1944. The TARDIS crew find themselves in a confused melee as they run into occupying Nazi forces and resistance fighters, and the Doctor is confused for a British operative who the Nazis are somehow aware of and plan to capture.

The Doctor says that they haven’t landed in the middle of Occupied France in World War II.  They have landed on June 4, 1944, with less than two days until the ground they are standing on becomes one of the bloodiest battlefields in history.

Worse yet, Nazi scientists have a secret plan to turn the tide of the war with new teleportation and brainwashing technology. The teleportation part of the plan is given a huge boost when the Doctor is forced to help them. Can the Doctor and his friends thwart the Nazis and get history back on the right track?

Review:

The story itself is a wild mix of science fiction and history, with no alien race involved in the Nazi plot. It’s a compelling combination of reality and the fantastic.  I also like how the script explores the idea of British Nazi sympathizers before the War taking their own covert action in support of Berlin. I also liked the idea of “The Doctor” actually being the codename for the British operative.

Operation Werewolf captures the spirit of the 1960s series while still being a fantastic adventure full of twists and turns throughout its three hour runtime. It features a large cast, much larger than a typical Big Finish story, to capture all the roles that would have been in the original television storyline. There were doubtless some tweaks to the storyline, particularly with the presence of Zoe, who hadn’t become a companion until a year after the original story was submitted, and was different than prior female companions. Still, the adaptation feels quite seamless.

As the Doctor, Michael Troughton captures the energy of his father’s Doctor. He plays the idea of the Doctor looking hapless but being quite cunning as he manages to play his foes against each other. As usual, Hines and Padbury slip back into the characters they played five decades ago and possess the vocal dexterity to make it believable and seamless. The rest of the supporting cast fits right into making this a believable period piece.

This is further supported by great sound design and music, which manage to create the audio illusion of a story set in the 1940s, being told in the 1960s.

There are minor points I’d critique with the story. The Nazis’ plan is very complex and one aspect of it is built up as a horrible threat (indeed it’s the basis for the name of the story) but it’s rather easily overcome in a way that didn’t quite feel earned. In my opinion, it would be better to have a simpler Nazi plan than to have one that has elements resolved in a way that feels cheap. In addition, a character turns out to be distantly related to Jamie, although they conclude that Jamie likely isn’t a direct ancestor. There doesn’t seem to be much point to this plot element.

Still, these are minor complaints for a story that is a really fantastic 1960s science fiction adventure story that’s chock-full of action and intrigue.

In addition, the release also includes an extras section where the cast is interviewed. The best part is where Hines and Padbury share their lovely memories of working with Camfield as a director.  It also includes a music suite by Jamie Robertson which is evocative of the 1960s.

All in all, Operation Werewolf is a great listen for fans of classic Doctor Who, but I also think if you like classic science fiction adventure, this a story you can enjoy without knowing very much at all about Doctor Who.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Operation Werewolf is available for purchase at BigFinish.com

Audio Drama Review: The Kojak Dramas from Power Records


Background:

Audio dramas and stories released on records were rare but not unheard of before World War 2. For example, the cast of Superman performed several short record-only programs in the first part of the 1940s. However, after the War, children’s records were the primary use of this medium, including  Peter Pan, Golden, and Disneyland records. These companies released albums of children’s music and also began to feature stories. Peter Pan became known for its book and story sets in which kids listening could follow along in the book.

Story records often featured adaptations of public domain stories, as well as original children’s material. Some of these records were read by a narrator, and others were full-cast audio dramas.  Over time, companies began to produce records about popular children’s characters of the day. Peter Pan was a leader in this, as they produced records for beloved children’s characters like Scooby Doo, Bozo the Clown, the Flintstones, and Yogi Bear. Through their label, Power Records, Peter Pan produced records featuring DC and Marvel’s most famous comic creations. Power Records also dipped its toe into other popular series that would appeal to older kids and adults, like Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, Space 1999, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Kojak. 

Kojak, the 1970s street-level police series starring Telly Savalas, sticks out in the midst of the Power Records line-up of sci-fi and superheroes. It’s hard to explain why they chose Kojak, as it doesn’t fit their audience. Unfortunately, there’s not much documentation or contemporary reviews of these releases. The best potential explanation I could find is that Power Records competitor Wonderland Records did an album featuring another street-level 1970s cop series, Beretta, the year before, and Power Records decided to match. Of course, we don’t know why Wonderland Records did a Beretta record, but that’s a bit beyond the purview of this review.

 

Synopsis:

There were a total of four Kojak audio dramas produced by Power Records. The first two, “Five Star Final” and “A Question of Honor“, were comic book and record sets, as was normal for many Powers Records releases. Comic books took the place that children’s books had with the Peter Pan releases.  An album was released that collected those two stories as well as two additional tales, “Tourist Trap” and “The Prodigal Son”. The two-record set didn’t include a comic. Each audio drama is between nine and ten-and-a-half minutes long.

In “Five Star Final”, a racketeer leans on a newsstand operator running a small-time numbers game and kills him. In “A Question of Honor”, a white-collar thief selling some hot bonds decides to rob and kill his buyer, take the money and the bonds, and flee. He doesn’t care who he has to kill to make his getaway. In “Tourist Trap”, the owner of one of Kojak’s favorite Greek restaurants is part of an immigration racket to get cheap labor. In “The Prodigal Son”, an entitled junior attorney digs into his father’s files and tries to blackmail a corrupt political appointee. Failing that, the young attorney murders him. Kojak’s investigation into the crime is frustrated by a pompous FBI agent.

Review:

The voice talent in this release is superb. There are six listed cast members (five men and one woman) for the album who voice all the characters that show up throughout four different episodes and you wouldn’t know it. As was typical for Power Records, the actual actors from the TV series didn’t participate. However, the actor who plays Kojak is uncanny and I found myself thinking it was Telly Savalas a few times during the record. It really is a remarkable performance.

The sound effects are good particularly for the era. The Greek restaurant in “Toruist Trap” is well-realized.

This one uses the series’s music as opposed to many other Power records, which had to settle for generic stock music. This gives it a nice bit of authenticity and continuity with the show. And the same goes for the artwork for the comic and record set. The supporting cast members (Captain McNeil, and Detectives Crocker and Stavros) are very good representations of the characters as they appear on television. The overall feel and art for the comic story works fine in the crime genre. My only issues with it are one questionable coloring choice, and a goof where a female police officer who we’re told is a detective is drawn in uniform. But those are minor points in a solid artistic output.

The stories themselves are entertaining, though varying in quality. “Tourist Trap” is the strongest story as it lets us see Kojak in a unique situation. “A Question of Honor” is a very intense tale with so much happening in its nine-minute run time. “Five Star Final” is fine, although it is probably the most forgettable of the four. The titular “Prodigal Son” of the last story is a bit insufferable, made so by a scene where he talks with his dad at his office to complain about how he’s entitled to success as he’s the greatest attorney ever. This is mitigated by satisfying scenes of Kojak pushing around a federal agent.

While fun, the stories are simplified. This means criminals make some dumb mistakes or escalate quickly to bring the story to a head. While it wasn’t the typical practice of Power Records, it may have been a stronger production had Power opted to make two stories of eighteen or nineteen minutes rather than the shorter tales featured. This would make particular sense given the radio revival movement in the 1970s that saw millions tuning in to programs like The CBS Radio Mystery Theater, showing that listener attention spams could support the longer length.

Still, it’s an entertaining curiosity that is a nice treat for fans of Kojak or 1970s detective dramas in general.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Audio Drama Review: Paul Temple: The Complete Radio Collection: Volume Three

The third collection (affiliate link) of surviving Paul Temple radio episode serials brings listeners all five Paul Temple radio series released by the BBC between November 1959 and March 1968, starring Peter Coke as mystery writer and detective Paul Temple and Marjorie Westbury as his wife Steve.

Most of the serials were broadcast in eight half-hour installments. The exception to this is 1965’s “The Geneva Mystery,” which was only six partsThere are three serials that were original and two that that were remade from previously used scripts. The 1959-60 version of “The Gilbert Case” may be the most superfluous surviving serial, as the 1954 version of this same serial, which also starred Coke and Westbury, survives, and the scripts are virtually identical, although the supporting cast is identifying. “The Jonathan Mystery” fills in a key gap, as the 1951 version of the serial, starring Kim Peacock and Westbury is missing.

The serials follow very similar formulas. An inciting event presents Paul Temple a baffling set of circumstances that invariably draw him into a case and into danger. He and Steve provide charming banter and are the souls of friendly politeness to all they meet. There are many cordial conversations, and some a bit more rough, as Paul has friends in high and low places. Along the way, there will be a car crash or two, an explosion, and probably an attempted poisoning or two. There are also plenty of red herrings.

Paul Temple mysteries are complex affairs that keep the audience guessing. The crimes are never for the simple straightforward reasons most detective fiction operates in. Paul Temple cases don’t really come down to simple motives like revenge, lust, or greed. Rather, they are complicated affairs involving complex criminal conspiracies for crimes like smuggling, blackmail, and drug trafficking. Thus the mystery doesn’t follow a simple “Whodunit?” plot. The why of the murder is actually the biggest question. The who of the murder involves figuring out where each of the suspects fits (or doesn’t) into the broader criminal conspiracy and who is deceiving Paul Temple for some relatively trivial reason or because they’re secretly undercover detectives.

Paul and Steve have some great conversations about the case and Steve is a great audience representation character for raising the right questions that the audience would ask (at least if they were as clever as her). However, so he doesn’t tip his hand too much to the audience, he often withholds answers or only hints to tease the audience and set up the final denouement, which usually occurs in his flat with all the suspects gathered, and often ends in an escape attempt he hasn’t fully prepared for.

The stories are filled with tropes and cliches, which will annoy some listeners. However, writer Frances Durberidge knew his audience, he knew what they wanted, and he wrote his scripts that way, and also had top-notch casts that carried them off without a hitch (aside from the occasionally dodgy attempts at American accents by the guest cast).  If you listen to one Paul Temple episode and you like the style of the story and want to hear others with the same style, you can listen to any other Paul Temple mystery and be just as delighted.

As tough as it is to differentiate between one Paul Temple story and another, there are some subtle differences in those stories that were original to the 1960s. “The Margo Mystery” of 1961 begins with a really intense moment (for Paul Temple anyway) where Steve is frantic and Temple is at his most grim. There’s also a smattering of minor swear words in the later serials that wouldn’t raise an eyebrow today. The only big differentiation I’d call out is that the final cliffhanger in “The Alex Affair” (1968) is probably the best cliffhanger in any surviving serial (although the payoff in the final part is a bit lackluster).

The collection includes the bonus BBC radio program from 2005, Peter Coke and the Paul Temple Affair, where the BBC’s Michael Saunders interviews the then-92-year-old Coke about Paul Temple. Coke had retired from acting to focus on antiquing and his seashell art. Coke is sharp and able to provide keen insights from his time on the series, and Saunders is able to communicate to him how the serials are still appreciated by younger audiences on reruns on BBC 7 (now BBC Radio 4 Extra).

This makes a nice bonus on an already splendid collection. To the end of its original radio run, Paul Temple remained a delightful series that served its audience well. If you’d enjoy a pleasant mid-twentieth British mystery featuring skilled radio actors and crew, this (or the previous Paul Temple sets) are well-worth checking out.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Green Acres on Radio

 

A version of this article appeared in 2010.
Green Acres

 

If you mention Green Acres, people think of the 1965-71 Sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor. But fifteen years before Green Acres came to TV,  it came to radio.

CBS broadcast Granby’s Green Acres as a Summer replacement series. Granby’s Green Acres told the story of John Granby, a Banker who got fed up with city life and took his wife and family to relocate to a farm.

Sound familiar?

The radio Green Acres were written by a 33-year old writer, who would go on to write 150 of the 170 TV episodes of Green Acres.

There were quite a few similarities between the radio and TV versions of Green Acres. Both featured a scatter-brained Mr. Kimball (although the radio Mr. Kimball ran the county store rather than being the County Agent.) Granby also had a farm hand named Eb. The radio show had some good bits that Sommers would dust off for early TV episodes.

An early Green Acres TV episode where Oliver can’t decide what to plant has its basis in the radio episode, “Mr. Granby Plants a Crop.”

And this great little bit of dialogue was transplanted directly from the radio:

Oliver: I’d take a seed, a tiny little seed, I’d plant it in the ground, I’d put some dirt on it, I’d water it, and pretty soon, do you know what I would have?
Lisa: A dirty little wet seed.

At the end of the radio run. John Granby (Gale Gordon) told listeners to send letters in to their local CBS station with their thoughts on Granby’s Green Acres.  The show never returned to the air.

There were many reasons the show didn’t make it in 1950. First, I don’t think audiences were ready for it. Americans had migrated in large numbers to cities like New York and Los Angeles in search of economic opportunities. Granby’s desire to move to the country seemed absurd. When Green Acres appeared on TV, it was a very different world with violence, unrest, and crime on the rise. Moving to Hooterville sounded a lot less crazy and made us more sympathetic with Mr. Douglas.

The biggest problem with Granby’s Green Acres may have been that it just wasn’t ready for prime time. Granby is too much of a cantankerous blowhard. The radio version gives you an appreciation of the talent with which Eddie Albert played the role of Oliver Wendell Douglas, as a complex mix of bombast, idealism, practicality, and romance that makes the character a joy to watch.

In the radio version, Sommers only had given real airtime to Mr. Kimball from the store, and a know-it-all all County Agent who always ate Granby’s supper. Pretty thin gruel.

Not continuing Granby’s Green Acres was a smart decision. Even with great comics like Burns and Allen leaving radio for television, radio comedy was still undergoing a golden age and Sommers’s creation simply was not in the same league as shows like Our Miss Brooks, Life of Riley, and Life with Luigi.

It also had a nice aftermath. Sommers continued to develop as a writer and work in the world of television, writing on such shows as Amos and Andy, Dennis the Menace, and Petticoat Junction. When Green Acres got its second beginning, it became one of television’s most beloved sitcoms.

It features Pat Buttram turning in the role Mr. Haney, who is always trying to sell Mr. Douglas something, Eva Gabor as the sweet but often confusing Hungarian princess Lisa Douglas, and the Ziffels, who treat their pig like he’s their son, and much more.

While the radio show didn’t have these elements, it serves as a rough draft of Green Acres, which makes it an interesting listen.

You can listen to Granby’s Green Acres here. You can currently watch Green Acres for free with Pluo.

Audio Drama Review: The Great Gildersleeve, Volume 10

*The tenth volume of Radio Archive’s Great Gildersleeve collection collects all of the circulating episodes of The Great Gildersleeve from March 12-June 25,1944, which includes the conclusion of the 1943-44 radio season, and also wraps up the third season’s storyline.

There are lost episodes in sets for this season, but thankfully, the final nine episodes are in circulation, which is really helpful, as the ongoing story really takes center stage. Gildersleeve (Harold Peary) has already decided to run for Mayor of Summerfield, but he also ends up proposing marriage. School principal Eve Goodwin (Bea Benaderet) has agreed to marry Gildersleeve if he manages to win victory in the June 25 primary. If he doesn’t … she keeps her cards pretty close to the vest on what her response will be.

Gildersleeve’s relationship with Eve is interesting. There’s a three-episode arc involving Eve’s mother’s visit to Summerfield and Gildersleeve meeting her. It’s an interesting dynamic. He’s initially nervous but actually finds himself liking her. But when the dynamic between Eve and her mother starts to get in the way of romance, Gildersleeve has to try to work through the complicated and difficult wartime travel situation to get her back to her home. It’s a very different sort of mix and shows a bit more nuance than the typical hostile relationship.

The light-hearted campaign storyline was interesting to listen to, particularly as a far less lighthearted election was playing out while I was listening to the volume. One thing I had to appreciate is that they worked up a backstory for Summerfield’s political situation. Because people of all parties listened to the radio, they didn’t want to offend anyone. So there are two generically named parties in Summerfield and the writers worked up an entire story of how they split, and Republicans and Democrats ended up in both of them. Now, it might take some suspension of disbelief to believe that Summerfield formed its own pocket political universe, but the writers earn right to the benefit of the doubt with the detail they put into this explanation.

The war figures in this story in subte and not-so-subtle ways. In addition to creating a plot point that makes it hard for Eve’s mother to leave town, the end of the show is given to in-universe PSAs that are surprisingly effective.

Gildersleeve’s challenge to the incumbent Mayor gets off to a rocky start. However, a turning point is when the Mayor decides to put Gildersleeve on the spot and have him sing at the town picnic. Gildersleeve wows the crowd and is asked for countless encores, gaining in popularity and heading to frontrunner status. However, as election day and potentially the date for setting his wedding near, we’re treated to the same internal conflict that Gildersleeve shows in the previous season. He’s a man of big ambitions and big dreams but he also likes his status quo life and is afraid of it changing. Will he win despite himself or will subtle (and sometimes not-too-subtle) self-sabotage doom him?

Without giving away the ending, I like the way the writers handle it. The show’s final episode offers a satisfying conclusion to Gildersleeve’s story line without feeling like a retread of season two’s conclusion, while still being true to the character. As usual, the series features strong supporting performances, with Gildersleeve’s iconic supporting characters like Judge Hooker (Earle Ross), Mr. Peavey the Druggist (Richard LeGrand), Floyd the Barber (Arthur Q. Bryan), and his cook Birdie (Lillian Randolph).

There are few points for real complaint with the box set or the season as a whole. As usual, Radio Archives provides a high-quality production which provides a better listening experience than most circulating Gildersleeve episodes. One might wish that there were more episodes, with a greater focus on Gildersleeve‘s supporting cast. But the number of lost episodes makes this judgment hard, as there could have been more episodes focusing on supporting players, but they’re lost. The only real complaint is that the character of Gildersleeve’s niece Marjorie (Lurene Tuttle) seems a little less mature this season, which leads to some weaker jokes.

Still, what we have of season three is very strong. It mixes music, romance, comedy, drama, and a bit of political satire for good measure to create a really grand listening experience.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Audio Drama Review: Theater Five: And Dream No More

Theater Five was the first great attempt to revive network radio drama after the end of the Golden Age of Network Radio Drama on September 30, 1962. Theater Five was launched in 1964 as a five-day-a-week series broadcast on ABC and originated in New York.

The Theater Five Project seeks to document the series and upgrade the circulating episodes of the program. In celebration of the sixtieth anniversary, a newly upgraded sixtieth-anniversary collection was posted. In addition to improved audio and thorough documentation, the collection includes one newly recovered episode that has not been in circulation among collectors, “And Dream No More.”

“And Dream No More” was broadcast on June 3,1965 and starred Conrad Nagel, a silent film matinee idol and later as a character in multiple mediums as well as a radio and TV personality and host. Nagel plays Dr. Roger Borton, a psychiatrist who has reached the portion of his career where he’s given up actually paying attention to what his patients say. In an early scene, Borton prescribes a pill to a patient dealing with a fear of crowds who objects. The doctor makes no attempts to respond and just tells him to do it and see him back there. Borton has developed a grand theory of everything that explains all mental illnesses: that they all come down to a fear of death. When a maid (Frances Cheney) for a wealthy client comes in troubled by predictive dreams, Borton already “knows” what’s going on and plans to treat her in time to leave for a golf game with a fellow doctor. But does he really?

Both Nagel and Cheney are great. Cheney does a good job portraying someone who really wants help but is in doubt of his very confident but also very pat answer. Nagel is superb in bringing a super-confident and overbearing character to life. The script by science fiction pioneer Nelson Bond is a taut piece of work that examines not only predictive dreams but the limits of human knowledge.

It’s a solid and thought-provoking script that enhances the already-strong circulating Theater Five canon.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

“And Dream No More” is available for free download on the Theater Five Sixtieth Anniversary Collection

Audio Drama Review: Imagination Theatre: The Investigators

A version of this article was posted in 2019.

The late Jim French is best remembered for his greatest creation, the Seattle-based, modern private eye Harry Nile. However, French produced many detective and crime shows during his remarkable four-decades-plus in radio. Imagination Theatre: The Investigators (affiliate link) from Radio Spirits is a sampler pack of nine different crime shows that French produced over the years as part of his Imagination Theatre

The set kicks off with three episodes of Harry Nile. These shows come from 1999, towards the tail end of the run of Phil Harper (the original actor to play Harry Nile). We’ve reviewed this series extensively before, but for those who haven’t heard of it, Harry Nile is a period piece set in late 1939 through the late 1950s. Initially, the titular detective worked out of Los Angeles, but then he moved to Seattle, where French’s research and attention to detail really shine. The episodes are superb. They’re tailored to provide a complete, compelling mystery in just about twenty minutes.

Next come three episodes of The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which isn’t to be confused with the BBC Radio series of the same name. This stars John Patrick Lowrie as Holmes and Lawrence Albert as Watson. I’d listened to one of these before and hadn’t thought much of it. However, I did enjoy these. While they’re not the greatest of the Holmes pastiches, and a few of the British accents are a bit iffy, the stories do have a Doyle-esque feel to them. While I wouldn’t consider them in the same league as Big Finish’s or the BBC interpretations, it’s better than the 1947-49 radio version with John Stanley. If you enjoyed that take, you’ll enjoy this one as well.

Following that, we’re treated to two episodes of The Adventures of Dameron, which I was happy about.  Dameron was French’s first radio detective. The episodes in this set aired in 1972 and were set in contemporary times. Dameron (Robert E. Lee Hardwick) is a freelance troubleshooter who takes on all sorts of cases. He’s like a 1970s Frank Race, though generally with better production quality. There’s a dearth of 1970s radio detectives, so the two in this set are a definite treat.  We also get to hear actress Pat French, who later played the role of Harry Nile’s secretary and partner, Murphy.

We further get two episodes of Mr. Darnborough Investigates, starring David Natalie. These are cozy mysteries made in 2005 and 2015, but they could have been done in the Golden Age of Radio or over the BBC in the 1940s. Darnsborough is a gentleman detective who calls to mind Campion and Lord Peter Wimsey. If you enjoy those characters, you’ll like Darnsborough.

Then we get a couple episodes of Kerides the Thinker. This series has a different setting for a mystery series: third century BC Alexandria, Egypt. Kerides (Ulrick Dihle) is a travelling Greek student who goes around solving mysteries, accompanied by Adria, a former slave girl (Sarah Schenkkhan), who was freed after Kerides revealed her former master is a murderer. On one hand, I love the idea for the setting and it’s clear that the writers did their homework. On the other hand, the mysteries are so-so and the way Adria is written makes her seem insufferably whiny and unpleasant. Instead of being grateful for her freedom, she’s upset that she has lost her place in the world and has no idea what to do. It’s an interesting concept, but the way it’s realized doesn’t quite work for me.

Next up are three episodes of Kincaid, the Strange Seeker, starring Terry Rose. This one is a series about a TV reporter who investigates mysteries that always have a supernatural cause, such as bank robberies that turn out to be done by ghosts. I’m not a fan of supernatural mysteries, and I also wasn’t sure how to feel about these episodes. They aren’t scary and they don’t have a Twilight Zone-style twist. The stories seem off-the-wall more than anything else. In addition, I was bothered by how Kincaid gets hit with unwarranted skepticism despite a solid track record. Other than that, the production values are still good. This just wasn’t my thing.

Following this, we’re given three episodes of Raffles, the Gentleman Thief, starring John ArmstrongThese are based on the character of A.J. Raffles, a brilliant gentleman thief created by E.W. Hornung.  These were popular in their time but have faded from public consciousness.  The adaptation does a good job of capturing the spirit of the original stories with good acting and good effects. The first two episodes are adaptations of Hornung’s original stories and the third is a solid pastiche. I’m not a huge fan of Raffles, but I could appreciate the way they handled the character. My only complaint is that Raffles, particularly as portrayed in these stories, isn’t an investigator of any sort, but plenty of people who enjoy detective fiction love Raffles. If you do, you will enjoy these stories.

Then we have the Hilary Caine Mysteries, which is my second favorite thing that Jim French Productions put out. It features Australian actress Karen Heaven as Hilary Caine, an on-staff “girl detective” for the British Tittle-Tattle Magazine. The series is set in the 1930s and finds Hilary stumbling into a crime scene being investigated by Inspector Finn (Randy Hoffmeyer). At first, she seems to be a bit silly, but ultimately she shows her cunning in solving the case. These are fun, light mysteries and Heaven is wonderful in the role of Hilary Caine.

The collection rounds up with two episodes (including one double-length episode) of the Anthony Rathe Chronicles, which is a modern British drama that follows the career of a guilt-ridden attorney who solves crimes to atone for a case he got wrong. It definitely has a modern BBC feel. It’s a bit soapy for my tastes, but the mysteries are well-written.

Overall, this was a fun mix of programs. While I liked some more than others, it was interesting to hear or re-listen to such a variety of detectives. It’s great to have a chance to appreciate all the audio dramas Jim French put out over nearly half a century, when most people thought audio drama was a thing of the past. I also think the success of this set may help Radio Spirits determine whether they release larger sets for Jim French series outside of the quite popular Harry Nile and Sherlock Holmes series.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Audio Drama Review: The Death and Life of River Song

Solving a mystery is hard. It’s even harder if you’re trying to do it on an Earth nearing an apocalypse. It’s particularly challenging if you’ve been dead for thousands of years. However, Professor River Song (Alex Kingston) has to do just that to return to her family and a happy electronic afterlife in the first box set, “Last Words”, for her new Doctor Who spin-off series from Big Finish Production, The Life and Death of River Song.

Background

For the uninitiated, or even those who only saw Doctor Who on television, some explanation is in order. River Song was introduced as a character in the fourth series of Doctor Who in 2008 in the two-part story, The Silence in the Library andForest of the Dead. She and the Doctor arrive at a mysteriously abandoned library planet. She knows who the Doctor (David Tennant) is but he doesn’t recognize her. The Doctor is a time traveler and she’d met him in his future and they’d had a life of adventures together and (it’ll eventually be revealed) she had married the Doctor. These adventures would play out onscreen during the tenure of Tennant’s successors, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi.

In her first adventure on-screen, she dies heroically saving the Doctor. However, in last dramatic scene, the Doctor is able to save her data pattern and mental essence onto the library’s massive cloud, along with all the friends she had with her when they came to the Library, giving her a happy digital afterlife.

Of course, her further on-screen adventures add depth to her backstory. They also establish that she operated as a private eye during the 1930s, using the name Melody Malone.

In addition to her on-screen work, Kingston appears in twelve series’ worth of box sets in her previous series, The Diaries of River Song, as well as making guest appearances in numerous Big Finish Doctor Who audio series. None of these extra adventures are necessary to understand this set story, which occurrs after her time being stored in the library.

The Set-Up

It’s the distant future and apocalyptic solar flares are threatening to devastate Earth and its terrestrial-bound inhabitants, who long ago abandoned space travel. A multi-billionaire mogul (Greg Wise) has a bunker and plans to remake the world in his own image once the dust settles. But there’s a fly in the ointment, and mysterious forces could undermine his plans. To get to the bottom of this, he needs help. He acquires the library where River’s essence is housed and extracts that essence into a cloned body – a decaying cloned body.

He tasks River with finding a missing scientist who is the key to the whole conspiracy. If she helps him, she’ll get placed back in the library. If she doesn’t, she’ll die and be forever separated from her family. River thus finds herself alone, in an apocalyptic world of failing technologies and a doomed humanity. Her life depends on her uncovering a dangerous secret that people will kill to keep her from discovering.

Review

This isn’t the first time River Song has played detective (see my review of Series 7 of The Diary of River Song) but this story is different in that the entire four-hour box set tells a single story, a single apocalyptic mystery adventure. While the chapters have different titles, this is mostly a continual stream of the same story. Only the second chapter, “Fate and Fatality”, could be said to be set apart, as some listeners might be confused by River Song apparently being in a regency historical. But really it’s all the same piece.

What we’re given is a complex and well-developed plot that blends the detective and mystery genres seamlessly into the apocalyptic setting. The result is a thoroughly engaging bit of techno-noir within the frame of the Doctor Who universe.

As usual, Big Finish provides a solid cast of regulars from the British acting community with solid performances all around. Greg Wise is appropriately sinister as the ruthless billionaire. Jamie Parker does a great job playing a complex character whose morality and motives remain a mystery until the final chapter.

It’s Kingston who puts in the best performance. Writer Rob Valentine had been under the impression that this would be the last River Song story and wrote it accordingly. In the midst of the mystery and high-speed chases, Valentine shows sensitivity in exploring River as a character with emotional beats as she deals with living in a world without her husband or her library family. However, Valentine avoids making this a navel-gazing production by letting River Song’s actions show who she is more than her words.

Overall Thoughts:

It’s tough to make a four-hour full-cast audio drama work. But Big Finish nailed it. Last Words offers an engaging mystery, sci-fi action, a few laughs, and some beautifully played emotional moments that make this one of the best Big Finish releases of the year, and one of Kingston’s strongest performances.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0

The Death and the Life of River Song: Last Words is available exclusively through BigFinish.com through the end of the month

Audio Drama Review: Perry Mason: The Case of the Lucky Legs

A version of this article appeared in 2011.

Colonial Theatre released the third of its Perry Mason audio dramas, “The Case of the Lucky Legs.”  As with the first two, this is an audio drama based on the original Perry Mason novels of the 1930s, but produced in the 21st Century.

Perry Mason is retained initially to take legal action against a beauty contest promoter who cheated small-town businessmen and a local young woman by promising her stardom as the winner of a Lucky Legs contest and then leaving her high and dry in Hollywood. When Perry goes to have a discussion with the con man, he finds the man murdered.

Perry finds himself dodging the police until he can find the truth, questioning the witnesses, all while not even sure who the client is, as the man who gave a retainer for $5,000 to file the lawsuit keeps changing who Perry is supposed to represent.

The recording is quite a bit shorter than the previous Perry Mason stories that Colonial Theater had done and the length works for this story. It really creates a very tight and well-paced mystery. The plot is full of twists and surprises. At one point, Perry even hires another detective agency to spy on Paul Drake’s operative, only it turns out they are working for the man who paid him.

If there is one criticism I have for the production, it is that role of the winner of the Lucky Legs contest had a voice that didn’t fit the part. She sounded more like 14 rather than 21.  Still, that’s a minor flaw in a brilliant production.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Audio Drama Review: The Great GIldersleeve, Volume 9

Radio Archives’s ninth set of Great Gildersleeve episodes featuring Harold Peary contains twelve episodes, all the circulating programs from September 19, 1943 to March 19, 1944. The bulk of the third season of Gildersleeve focuses on Gildersleeve’s love life. The over-arching through-line in the story is about the love triangle between himself, the very newly widowed Leila Ransom (Shirley Mitchell), and elementary school principal Eve Goodwin (Bea Benaderet), who both find themselves vying for Gildersleeve’s affections.

Beyond this, the episodes are mostly self-contained stories that cover a lot of ground. In one episode, Gildersleeve having agitated against the old water commissioner in the previous season, he finds himself in “hot water” when low water pressure becomes a problem. My favorite episode is “Sleight Ride”, in which Gildersleeve gets together some male friends in the hopes of getting Eve and Leila to join them. The episode is nice for some fun character interactions. It’s also a bit of a time capsule, capturing a practice that you don’t see anymore except for some really rural parts of the country. It was probably out of style by 1944 in most places, but it was a plausible good time to have in a small town where gas rationing limited how much people could drive. The set ends with Gildersleeve launching a mayoral run (and immediately trying to ditch an important meeting with a congressman for the sake of his social life.)

The relationship angle is the most prominent part of the set and also the most frustrating. Once again, this has nothing to do with Radio Archives, but with the episodes missing from circulation. Of the twenty-seven episodes that aired during this time period, there are only twelve in circulation, and the fourteen missing episodes come in chunks of three, seven, and four weeks, so you feel like you’ve missed a few important points in the ongoing romance angle.

Gildersleeve, as a great sitcom hero, manages to provide plenty of situations that lead to misunderstandings, mostly in understandable ways. He’s non-committal and wants to avoid making up his mind, and when he does, he manages to say the wrong thing and botch things up. And by the end of this set, due to his indecision, rivals are emerging for him in both women’s lives, so maybe we’ll write about a love pentagon in the next set.  Of course, he’s not the only one to cause problems. In one episode, Leila tricks Gildersleeve’s cook, Birdie (Lillian Randolph), into letting her take Gildersleeve’s roast. A major issue in an era defined by meat rationing!

The only real issue with Gildersleeve that seems a bit too stupid to be funny is that he keeps actively working to bring Lelia and Eve together for social occasions. They don’t like each other, it’s awkward, and ends uncomfortably for him. There’s no logical in-universe reason to do it. It just makes the story a bit convenient for the writers.

Still, it doesn’t happen that often in twelve episodes, and the series is enjoyable, with a solid ongoing cast. And, as always, Radio Archives does a beautiful job with the transfers. If you’ve enjoyed past GIldersleeve sets, you’ll enjoy this one, even while wishing we could hear all the missing episodes in this collection.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Audio Drama Review: CBS Mystery Theater: Ordeal by Fire

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been posting reviews that focus on Batman actors in other detective and mystery programs as part of our Amazing World of Radio Summer Series. However, we’re getting creative this week. The only thing this week’s villain has was a brief cameo as himself, in the second-to-last episode of Kojak. So I decided it’d be nice to review a CBS Radio Mystery Theater episode with another Batman villain who didn’t appear during the Golden Age of Radio, but did some work during the era of radio revival. I’m referring to Julie Newmar, who played Catwoman in seasons one and two of Batman.

In the March 1974 episode, a woman (Newmar) grows alarmed when her father becomes increasingly scared and paranoid. She summons her fiancé (Mandel Kramer) back from his trip to China to help sort things out. The fiancé checks with his millionaire future father-in-law and finds that he’s joined the Prometheus Society, a secret society that wants to bring back moral order to the world by doing stuff (making movies, releasing books) that they’ve not actually done with the donations they’ve received. They are led by a man who claims the ability to control fire, which he demonstrates by setting himself on fire without being burned at every meeting.

The millionaire future father-in-law has been commanded to fork over a million-dollar donation. One of his fellow society members had declined to do so, only to have his feet catch fire while he was at home, leaving such severe burns on his leg that it put him in a wheelchair. The fiancé calls in an old Marine buddy from Vietnam, who had since become a private detective, to help sort of everything out.

All in all, this is a solid mystery. There’s some great atmosphere and a good puzzle throughout that’s well-acted and even has one shocking surprise towards the end of the second act. The ending is harsh, with rough justice being arranged in a way that reminds you that this isn’t the Golden Age of Radio, although it has a strong “moral” about the danger of playing with fire.

My big complaint is that there’s not a ton for Julie Newmar to do in this. Her character brings in the fiancé, and her father reveals what’s going to the fiancé on the condition the fiancé not tell his adult daughter because I guess she can’t handle it. After this, she gets two scenes with nothing to do. It’s a waste of a talented actress, who had a significant number of credits to her name. I can only imagine that this script wasn’t written with her mind, but she happened to be available at the time and took the work, which usually amounted to half a day for a modest wage. On the bright side, she didn’t have to do much work for it.

Overall, other than the waste of Julie Newmar and a so

Audio Drama Review: CBS Radio Mystery Theatre: Your Move, Mr. Ellers

“Your Move, Mr. Ellers” aired over the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre on December 30, 1976. In the episode, an insurance investigator (Bob Readick) is investigating a series of thefts that have occurred over several years from a respected jeweler. He’s concluded it must be an inside job and his suspicions appear to have fallen on the firm’s most respected employee, the chess-loving Mister Ellers (Roger De Koven), who has a friend (Jackson Beck) with a shady past and maybe a shady present. And the young man (Jack Grimes) Ellers mentored seems to have found himself in the middle.

For today’s old-time radio fans, the casting of this episode includes some wonderful Easter egs. Readick was the immediate successor to Bob Bailey as radio’s most well-known insurance investigator. In addition, the other three members of the cast were all veterans of the Golden Age of Radio. Grimes had voiced Jimmy Olsen on “The Adventures of Superman”, where he also worked with Beck, who served as announcer and was the star of several old-time radio series, including “Philo Vance”. DeKoven was no star, but a consumate character actor who was perfect for a role like Ellers’.

While Readick’s presence evokes Johnny Dollar, I actually think the episode has undertones that evoke a more contemporary influence: Columbo. At one point, the insurance investigator states that he had Ellers convinced he was an incompetent bungler: the exact sort of situation that Columbo thrived on. And while we don’t “see” (or hear) the crime committed beforehand, and it’s not a strict inverted mystery, it definitely isn’t exactly a traditional whodunit either.

The story uses chess as a theme, and weaves through the narrative right up to a satisfying and insightful conclusion. It’s a carefully plotted and well-produced play performed by four pros who know their business. There are certain plots that are a bit predictable, but more than enough surprises and good drama to make this a very satisfying forty-five minutes of listening.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Audio Drama Review: The Great Gildersleeve, Volume 8

The eighth volume of The Great GIldersleeve from Radio Archives collects the twelve circulating episodes between episodes seventy-seven to ninety-one and all starring Harold Peary in the titular role as Tow Water Commissioner Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve. This set takes us through the end of the show’s second season and features two episodes of the third, all from 1943. While there are three lost episodes, it feels like we miss less that impacted ongoing plotlines than in previous box sets. The big exception would be that the mini-feud between Gildersleeve and Judge Hooker (Earle Ross) over a fender appears to have been ironed out in the missing eightieth episode.

I have to praise Radio Archives for the wonderful cover art that they commissioned for this set, with Gildersleeve and Leila Ransom (Shirley Mitchell) as the the focal point of the first ten episodes of the set, which build up to their scheduled nuptials. Related plots deal with planning the wedding and the honeymoon, as well as Gildersleeve’s attempt to work up a budget. I think the second half of the season gives a bit more meat to Leila as a character beyond “Southern Belle who likes to manipulate men,” making her much more sympathetic and well-rounded. In the season finale, just before the show went on summer vacation, the wedding day found Gildersleeve with a serious case of cold feet, leading to a shocking season-ending twist.

There is more than the wedding going on in Summerfield in this set. This box set also sees the introduction of Ben (played by future Dragnet co-Star Ben Alexander) as the bashful young beau of Marjorie (Lurene Tuttle) and he makes a fun addition to the cast. Meanwhile, Leroy (Walter Tetley) goes to work for Mr. Peavey, the druggist (played brilliantly by Richard LeGrand) in the second half of the season. Gildersleeve and a few of his pals also sing together, which is a foretaste of the coming of the Jolly Boys Club in later seasons.

The War features, although in a smaller way, during the second half of season two. When Leroy gets his first paycheck, he buys a lot of knick-knacks for the family and otherwise wastes it on typical kid things. He is reproved for not using some of his money to buy war bonds. Season three’s larger focus on the War would show up in the final episode in the set.

The new focus was due to the donation of the sponsor, Kraft, to the Third War Loan Drive. The town is focused on selling more bonds to meet its quota and sends the head of city departments out canvassing (including Gildersleeve) door-to-door to sell bonds. Yet, in many ways, Gildersleeve’s heart is just not in it. For one thing, he is mad at the chairman of the drive, the local newspaper editor. He tries to start a one-way feud over the editor having published an editorial raising reasonable concerns about the town’s water quality, and drags his feet on getting out to cover his territory. Gildersleeve also expresses frustration with the war, with how it has disrupted the world and changed the general focus and behavior of women. Nearly two years after Pearl Harbor, Gildersleeve is no doubt speaking for many listeners. Yet, the end of the episode brings him, and hopefully other war-weary Americans, back to center.

The episode may be the strongest of the set for showing Gildersleeve’s humanity. And really that’s the strength of the series. Gildersleeve is a funny character, but ultimately quite human with both big flaws (such as as being a loud-mouth and braggart) and positives such as being well-intentioned, responsible, and caring. And after its second season, Summerfield feels far more like a real town where real people live, which makes the comedy far more satisfying.

Overall, this is another strong collection from an old time radio sitcom that was getting even better as it went along.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

A Look at the Hardy Family

A big Hollywood studio grabs at a recently popular film franchise from the past, turns it into a series, and uses it as a centerpiece of a new package of programs. Sounds like the story of the latest Netflix/Disney/Paramount series.

It actually happened in 1949. MGM launched MGM Radio Attractions, a package of syndicated radio programs that would eventually land on the Mutual Broadcasting System. While there were some original series not based on any actual movies, and they would add the British-produced Black Museum in 1951, MGM leaned heavily into their film legacy. MGM played into its back catalog of film hits with MGM Theatre of the Air adapting old MGM movies as a sort of low-budget answer to The Lux Radio Theatre, and then it took its short film series, Crime Does Not Pay, and turned that into a radio series. It had Ann Sothern reprise her role in the ten Maisie films in The Adventures of Maisie. Lew Ayers and Lionel Barrymore were invited to pick up their stethoscopes and play their parts from the Dr. Kildare series. And to bring us to our subject, Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, and Fay Holden were invited to bring the Hardy Family of fifteen films to radio.

The Hardy Family first appeared in a 1928 play called Skidding, which was adapted to film in 1937, A Family Affair, and featured sixteen-year-old Mickey Rooney as Andy Hardy, with his father played by Barrymore. It was decided to make a series centered around the Hardy family, with Stone cast to play Judge Hardy and Fay Holden to play his wife Emily. The series was popular, although the one public domain entry and final film, “Love Laughs at Andy Hardy” may be the best-known to non-fans. The series follows Hardy as he grows up and goes through the pangs of life and young adulthood and all the various misadventures that happen along the way.

Of all the major film tie-ins, this is probably the one that has fared worst in terms of serving episodes and quality of recordings, although they’re still listenable. There were likely 78 episodes made, but there are maybe a dozen that you could collect from various websites. The Internet Archive has a decent sample of what’s out there. In reducing Hardy’s adventures from feature-length films to half hour radio programs, the result is much more typical sitcom fare. The radio series didn’t feature the film character of Aunt Milly, and while some lost episodes might mention her, it appears that Andy Hardy’s sister went the way of Chuck Cunningham, as all dialogue seems to indicate that Andy is an only child.

Most of the episodes center on something happening to Andy which he views as magnificently stupendous and the most amazing thing to ever happen to anyone. Invariably it’s not, and there’s no chance for it to be. And the comedy ultimately centers on his over-the-top expectations and imagination meeting reality.

This is a series where the scripts are decent, but nothing amazing. What ultimately makes the series are the performances. Mickey Rooney brought massive, manic energy to the role. These stories had to be faced and he powered through each episode with one of the most energetic performances you’ll ever hear. Fay Holden plays Emily Hardy with a sort of eccentricity that’s reminiscent of a more low-key Gracie Allen. Lewis Stone’s Judge Hardy is a calm voice of reason that brings balance to the stories. With their work in film, they play off each other beautifully.

The series lacks a lot of the heart of films, which included some moments that brought heart and sentiment that the radio series lacks. But it also doesn’t undermine the films. If you want a decent sitcom with a talented cast who gives each script their all, or if you’re a fan of the Andy Hardy films, this series is worth checking out.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

Audio Drama Review: The Great Gildersleeve, Volume 7

The seventh volume of The Great Gildersleeve from Radio Archives features twelve episodes that aired between November 29, 1942 and April 4, 1943. This stretch of episodes continues along the same lines as previous volumes, with its typical cast of characters including his niece Marjorie and nephew Leroy, the cook Birdie, and key characters from around town, such as Judge Hooker, Mr. Peavey, and Floyd the Barber. Gildersleeve’s budding off-again on-again romance with Leila Ransom takes center stage. It also introduces the bashful and easily manipulated boyfriend of Marjorie, Ben (played by future Dragnet co-star Ben Alexander.)

Highlights of the season including a lovely Christmas episode, less with a centralized plot but more with a series of vignettes that capture someone trying to celebrate Christmas with good cheer even while being patriotic and operating on a limited budget.

The series also has a formal crossover with Fibber McGee and Molly (Jim and Marion Jordan), with radio’s most iconic comedy couple traveling from Wistful Vista to Summerfield, which is a nice moment for fans, as the Gildersleeve character started on Fibber McGee. This crossover occurs after Gildersleeve and his nephew Leroy (Walter Tetley) appear on the post-Christmas episode of Fibber McGee and Molly, in which the Jordans had been unable to appear due to a health issue.

The episode “Income Tax Time” is a fine patriotic episode about the importance of everyone reporting their income tax, as Gildersleeve struggles with whether to report his interest income. The great part of the episode is that through all the sincere patriotism, the episode has a hilarious twist ending that’s comedy gold.

On the war front, there is also an episode warning about the danger of over-vigilance and assuming the worst and getting paranoid, as Gildersleeve accidentally starts spreading a rumor about sabotage and creates all kinds of problems.

There’s nothing wrong with this set in terms of its audio quality. It collects the episodes that Radio Archives was able to lay its hands on with the highest quality available. Missing episodes are a fact of life for old time radio listeners but they’re especially felt here. The collection covers 19 weeks but there are only twelve episodes available. This leads to some changes occurring perhaps in missing episodes or off-screen. For example, Gildersleeve’s super-competent secretary disappears without explanation, and is replaced by barely competent help whom Gildersleeve keeps meaning to fire but never gets the time. In addition, the engagement between Leila and Gildersleeve is called off in one episode but apparently things are patched by the time the circulating episode was released four weeks later.

Probably the biggest challenge for many modern listeners to enjoy is the Gildersleeve-Leila Ransom relationship. While Leila fits into a comedy trope of the time, she’s messed up. She uses flattery to get men to do what she wants and to keep them competing with one another for her affection. She’s prone to over-the-top jealousy, and any deviation of plans to do something else is met with a manipulative, pouty statement like, “Well, Throckmorton, if working late because you’re in a job that oversees infrastructure in the middle of the War is more than me, that’s fine.” Lelia is well-played by a really talented actress, Shirley Mitchell, who played many of these sorst of characters. She does her best with the material given. Still, a bit of Leila can go a long way, and some of these episodes have a little bit too much.

Still, despite Leila’s antics, this is an enjoyable set. Ben is fun, and the barbershop setting helps to give the show a sense of rhythym. The show in its second season is clearly moving in the right direction.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5