Author Archives: alexfitch

About alexfitch

Co-presenter / producer of "Panel Borders", Thursdays 5pm Resonance 104.4 FM. Film reviewer for www.electricsheepmagazine.com Podcaster for www.sci-fi-london.com

Book List: McKean and Sinclair

Book List: McKean and Sinclair

Guest presenter Chiara Ambrosio talks to psycho-geographer and novelist Iain Sinclair and artist Dave McKean about their collaborations such as Slow Chocolate Autopsy and London Orbital, their inspirations and their working methods. The podcast also includes additional questions from Alex Fitch and others, plus readings by Sinclair and McKean of their short stories The Articulate Head and The Coast Road. Recorded at The Light and Shadow Salon, Horse Hospital, Bloomsbury in July 2014. (Partially broadcast as an episode of Panel Borders, 21/07/14 on Resonance FM)

Dave McKean, Chiara Ambrosio and Iain Sinclair at the Horse Hospital / cover and interior art from Slow Chocolate Autopsy

Dave McKean, Chiara Ambrosio and Iain Sinclair at the Horse Hospital / cover and interior art from Slow Chocolate Autopsy

Links: Dave McKean’s website
Iain Sinclair’s website
The Horse Hospital website and more info about the original event
Light and Shadow Salon blog
Chiara Ambrosio’s website

Book List: McKean and Sinclair [ 1:17:59 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Comix Creatrix and The Black Feather Falls

Panel Borders: Comix Creatrix and The Black Feather Falls

Alex Fitch talks to a pair of comic book creators featured in the all female exhibition Comix Creatrix, on display at House of Illustration, Granary Square, London which includes work by 100 artists from the Eighteenth Century to the present day.

Ellen Lindner discusses her latest graphic novel, the Edwardian Murder Mystery The Black Feather Falls published by Soaring Penguin Press, in a Q and A recorded at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, in Brew Brothers Tea Shop, Kendal.

Also: Tula Lotay (a.k.a. Lisa Wood) explores her work in serialised comics such as Image Comics’ Elephantmen and Supreme: Blue Rose, her stewardship of the Leeds comics festival, Thought Bubble, and her thoughts on the importance of the Comix Creatrix Exhibition.

(Panel Borders continues on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 8pm, repeated the following day at 9am. Originally broadcast as the first half of a Clear Spot on Resonance 104.4 FM, 9th February 2016)

Covers of Undertow and The Black Feather Falls by Ellen Lindner, photo of The House of Illustration, covers of Supreme: Blue Rose #1 and Vision #2 by Tula Lotay

Covers of Undertow and The Black Feather Falls by Ellen Lindner, photo of The House of Illustration, covers of Supreme: Blue Rose #1 and Vision #2 by Tula Lotay

For more info and a variety of formats to stream or download this podcast, please visit archive.org

Links: Tula Lotay’s website
Ellen Lindner’s website
Order The Black Feather Falls and Undertow from Soaring Penguin Press
Info about Supreme: Blue Rose and other Image Comics by Tula Lotay
Listen to Alex’s interviews with Elephantmen creators Richard Starkings and Ian Churchill: Part one / part two

Panel Borders: Comix Creatrix and The Black Feather Falls [ 47:18 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Reality Check: Save Our Skins, Superbob!

Reality Check: Save Our Skins, Superbob!

Alex Fitch talks to the casts and crews of two British Comedy / Science-Fiction films, in Q and As on stage at the SCI-FI-LONDON Film Festival. At Stratford PictureHouse, the director of SOS: Save our Skins, produced by Baby Cow, discusses finding humour in an alien apocalypse, and at the Ritzy Cinema, the creator of SuperBob and members of the cast, including Catherine Tate talk about creating a South London Superhero.

Poster and still from SOS: Save Our Skins / Superbob poster, Catherine Tate, Brett Goldstein, Natalia Tena and director John Drever at the Ritzy Q and A with Alex Fitch (photo by Chris Harvey)

Poster and still from SOS: Save Our Skins / Superbob poster, Catherine Tate, Brett Goldstein, Natalia Tena and director John Drever at the Ritzy Q and A with Alex Fitch (photo by Chris Harvey)

Links: Grain Media page on Superbob
Buy Superbob from amazon.co.uk
SOS Save Our Skins tumblr
BITE TV channel on youtube

Reality Check: Save Our Skins, Superbob! [ 45:13 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Fumio Obata

Panel Borders: Fumio Obata

In a Q and A recorded at Cartoon County, Brighton, Alex Fitch talks to Fumio Obata about his graphic novel Just so happens, which fictionalises his experiences of working as an artist in England and Japan, and his web comics about the Fukushima disaster. (Panel Borders continues on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 8pm, repeated the following day at 9am. Originally broadcast as the first second of a Clear Spot on Resonance 104.4 FM, 14th January 2016)

Excerpts from webcomics by Fumio Obata, at Cartoon County with Alex Fitch (photo by Corinne Pearlman), Observer competition entry and cover of Just So Happens

Excerpts from webcomics by Fumio Obata, at Cartoon County with Alex Fitch (photo by Corinne Pearlman), Observer competition entry and cover of Just So Happens

Links: Fumio Obata’s website
Review of Just So Happens in The Guardian
Listen to Paul Gravett discussing webcomics with P.J. Holden, Liz Lunney, Tim Winchester, Philipa Rice, David O’Connell and Sydney Padua

Panel Borders: Fumio Obata [ 53:30 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Brain Pickings and Cigarette Burns

Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Brain Pickings and Cigarette Burns

Virginie Sélavy and Alex Fitch talk to Rich Pickings director Carla MacKinnon, about their new series of science and art events titled Inside Out, which explore the human experience through film and discussion. They also talk to Josh Saco, head of celluloid promotion outfit Cigarette Burns, about their Twisted Valentine screening of 1965 seedy gem Who Killed Teddy Bear at the Barbican. Plus an interview with female-centred erotic film maker Erika Lust; includes classic tracks by Luther Ingram, Lyn and The Invaders, Chubby Checker, and The Velvet Underground.

Rich Pickings logo, Who Killed Teddy Bear poster, Erika Lust photo

Rich Pickings logo, Who Killed Teddy Bear poster, Erika Lust photo


Originally broadcast as a ‘Clear Spot’, 20th January 2015 on Resonance 104.4 FM; The Electric Sheep Film Show continues on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 8pm, repeated the following day at 9am, on Resonance FM.

Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download.

Links: Rich Pickings website
Cigarette Burns website
Erika Lust‘s website

Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Brain Pickings and Cigarette Burns [ 1:02:36 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Drawn from life

Panel Borders: Drawn from life

In the first Panel Borders of 2016, Alex Fitch talks to three cartoonists who work in biography and autobiography. Andrzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal discuss their memoir about life in 1970s communist Warsaw – Behind the Curtain – and Sydney Padua explores her fictionalised account of the birth of computing – The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage – in a panel discussion recorded at Stoke Newington Literary Festival, 2015. (Originally broadcast as the first half of a Clear Spot on Resonance 104.4 FM, 14th January 2016)

Excerpts from Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua, Behind the Curtain by Klimowski and Schejbal

Excerpts from Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua, Behind the Curtain by Klimowski and Schejbal

For more info and a variety of formats to stream or download this podcast, please visit archive.org

Links: Info about the event at Stoke Newington Literary Festival
More info about Behind the Curtain by Andrzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal
More info about The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua
Listen to Paul Gravett discusses webcomics with P.J. Holden, Liz Lunney, Tim Winchester, Philipa Rice, David O’Connell and Sydney Padua
Listen to Alex’s previous interviews with Andrzej Klimowski amd Danuscia Schejbal

Panel Borders: Drawn from life [ 46:13 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Reality Check: Darth Vader and the Girls from Goldfinger

Reality Check: Darth Vader and the Girls from Goldfinger

In Q and As recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON and the London Film Museum, Alex Fitch talks to Dave Prowse, Shirley Eaton and Tania Mallet about appearing in (Saving) Star Wars and Goldfinger respectively.
Shirley and Tania discuss being cast as Bond Girls: the Masterson sisters in the third 007 film, and Dave talks about turning down the role of Chewbacca for a more sinister position in George Lucas’ classic movies.

Shirley Eaton and Tania Mallet (photo by Mark Mawston) / Dave Prowse and friend (photo by Getty Images)

Shirley Eaton and Tania Mallet (photo by Mark Mawston) / Dave Prowse and friend (photo by Getty Images)

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com

Links: Watch Saving Star Wars on watchscifi.com
Official Dave Prowse website
Listen to Alex’s interview with Honor Blackman about appearing in Goldfinger, The Avengers and Doctor Who

Reality Check: Darth Vader and the Girls from Goldfinger [ 44:47 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Pop culture and Honor Blackman

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Pop culture and Honor Blackman

In the December episode of the Electric Sheep Film Show, ESM editor in chief Virginie Sélavy and assistant editor Alex Fitch explore film and pop culture. Celebrating her recent 90th birthday, in an interview recorded at the London Film Museum, Alex talks to legendary British actress Honor Blackman about Goldfinger, Doctor Who and the cult 1960s TV series The Avengers, plus producer Sean Hogan discusses Future Shock: The Story of 2000AD, a documentary that charts the development of the seminal British comic.

Also, Virginie chats to curator Helen Melody about the Alice in Wonderland exhibition at the British Library, and the varying adapations of Alice on screen over the years; includes classic tracks by The Sonics, Serge Gainsbourg and Jefferson Airplane.

Originally broadcast as a ‘Clear Spot’, 16th December 2015 on Resonance 104.4 FM The Electric Sheep Film Show continues on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 8pm, repeated the following day at 9am, on Resonance FM.

Poster for Alice in Wonderland at the British Library, publicity still for The Avengers with Patrick MacNee and Honor Blackman, poster for Future Shock

Poster for Alice in Wonderland at the British Library, publicity still for The Avengers with Patrick MacNee and Honor Blackman, poster for Future Shock

Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download.

Links: Electric Sheep Magazine website
More info about Alice in Wonderland at The British Library
Future Shock!: The Story of 2000AD website
Honor Blackman’s website

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Pop culture and Honor Blackman [ 1:08:52 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Drawing The Beano

Panel Borders: Drawing The Beano

Alex Fitch talks to writers / artists Laura Howell and Hunt Emerson who have contributed a number of strips to The Beano since 2002, including Little Plum, Ratz, Minnie the Minx and more, in an interview recorded at Caption comics festival, Coventry. Laura discusses moving from the small press to mainstream comics, and Hunt talks about the challenges of drawing kids comics after a career of adaptations of adult literature.

Laura Howell draws Minnie the Minx (photo by Coventry Express and Star) / excerpts from Ratz, Little Plum and Freds Bed

Laura Howell draws Minnie the Minx (photo by Coventry Express and Star) / excerpts from Ratz, Little Plum and Freds Bed

For more info and a variety of formats to stream or download this podcast, please visit archive.org

Links: Hunt Emerson’s website
Laura Howell’s website
The Beano website Continue reading →

Panel Borders: Drawing The Beano [ 31:09 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 2

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 2

Alex Fitch continues his exploration of the actors who have been hired to play incarnations of Doctor Who after the original actors have passed on.
Alex talks to John Guilor about providing a new voice for William Hartnell’s First Doctor in reconstructed ‘missing’ scenes for BBC DVDs; and to Tim Treloar about continuing the adventures of the Third Doctor in Big Finish audio plays, now that Jon Pertwee is no longer with us.
(Originally broadcast 21st December 2015 as part of a Clear Spot on Resonance FM, recorded at ‘The Day of the Doctors 2’ convention, with thanks to Big Finish Productions)

Cover of The Third Doctor Adventures / Syvlester McCoy and Tim Treloar / Cover of Doctor Omega / Behind the scenes and cover of Doctor Who: Planet of Giants

Cover of The Third Doctor Adventures / Syvlester McCoy and Tim Treloar / Cover of Doctor Omega / Behind the scenes and cover of Doctor Who: Planet of Giants

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.org

Links: More info about ‘Tenth Planet’ Doctor Who events
Article about the recording of The Third Doctor Adventures at bigfinish.com
Behind the scenes video of recording The Planet of Giants
Buy The Third Doctor Adventures: Volume 1, Doctor Who: Planet of Giants and Doctor Omega And The Fantastic Adventure To Mars from amazon.co.uk
Info about Tim Treloar’s Doctor Who CDs at bigfinish.com
Listen to Alex’s interviews with Jon Culshaw and David Troughton about playing alternate versions of Doctor Who

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 2 [ 29:00 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download