Richard Thomas remixes the soundtracks of the classic British Transport Films that were made from 1949 to 1982. Made by a protégé of the British Documentary Movement their purpose was to act as travelogue films, which promoted destinations in town, country and seaside resorts throughout the British Isles. By interweaving a variety of these films, which are being introduced to a new generation via BFI DVD releases, Richard investigates the cultural memory that the sounds and rhythms of the film soundtracks evoke.
Links: Buy the films from the BFI
BTF website
Originally broadcast 15th June 2006 (mp3 format, 25.1mb)

Alex Fitch introduces and moderates a discussion with Guy Edmonds, film preserver and travel writer David Wenk about this year’s Home Movie Day which is being held at the Cinema Museum in Kennington. The annual Home Movie Day is designed to celebrate a populist art form which represents a cultural memory of the 20th century and documentations of everyday life. All visitors to the museum are welcome to bring their old cine reels to share, archive and project with others…

Links: Guy Edmonds
David Wenk
Home Movie Day in London
Lambeth Cinema Museum
The annual international Home Movie Day

Originally broadcast 10th August 2006 (mp3 format, 22.4mb)

On 25th October 1925, The original Film Society held its inaugural meeting at the New Gallery Kinema in Regent Street in London. Founder members of The Film Society included Anthony Asquith, H G Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Augustus John and Maynard Keynes. One of the primary objectives of the society was to screen more of the avant-garde material which had not found an outlet in the commercial cinema. It’s ironic how little has changed and how film societies are as necessary as ever in today’s cinematic climate!
To coincide with this year’s London Film Festival, we’re looking at homegrown, less corporate alternatives! Alex Fitch talks to Darren Perry who runs the West London Fantastic Film Society and Adrian Winchester who has been running a horror film club in South London for 25 years…
 

Links: The Unoffcial UK Film Societies site
A brief history of the film society movement in Britain
IMDb page on Stolen Face (the film I had just watched at Adrian’s before the interview)
N.B./ The official Film Societies site is currently offline 

Originally broadcast 24rd August 2006 (mp3 format, 26mb)

Alex Fitch interviews Sue Clark from the British Board of Film Classification. Alex and Sue discuss the BBFC’s strategies for classifying films aimed at children, the current status of previously banned movies and the attitude of the French to film ratings!

Links: The BBFC’s website
Wikipedia entry on the History of the BBFC

Originally broadcast 23rd March 2006 (mp3 format, 26.5mb)

In the last of our shows on Doctor Who, we explore the world of Doctor Who fandom. Each month at a certain bar in central London, Doctor Who fans and professionals meet to talk about their favourite show. So back in February, Richard Thomas, Alex Fitch and James De Carteret went down to the pub to record some interviews and encountered the likes of Clayton Hickman – the editor of Doctor Who magazine, Paul – a theatre director who had travelled 50 miles to come to the gathering and Gary – a member of the Greenwich Doctor Who fan club…

Links:
Type 40 owners club of Great Britain
Outpost Gallifrey
Wikipedia entry on Doctor Who Magazine

Originally broadcast 27th July 2006 (mp3 format, 25.4mb)

In the third of our shows on Doctor Who, Alex Fitch interviews Kim Newman, renowned film critic for Empire and Sight & Sound. Kim has written two books on Who – an overview of the series for the British Film Institute and a novella set before the first episode called ‘Time and relative’ – and discusses these and his opinions on the show in the podcast.

Links: Wikipedia entry on Kim Newman
BFI TV Classics: Doctor Who
Buy “Doctor Who: Time and relative” second hand from Amazon…
Wikipedia entry on ‘jumping the shark’

Originally broadcast 20th July 2006 (26.4 mb)

In the first half of this episode of I’m ready for my close-up, Alex Fitch concludes his interview with Nicholas Briggs focusing on Nick’s history as an interviewer of Doctor Who stars such as Jon Pertwee and Elizabeth Sladen and then talks to Robert Shearman, the writer of last year’s TV episode Dalek.
This is the second show of four looking at the world of Who and will be followed next by a discussion with writer and critic Kim Newman about the continuing popularity of the show.
If you’d like to hear a Doctor Who radio play by Nick: BBC7 will be broadcasting Sword of Orion which features Paul McGann and the Cybermen, on Sundays at 6pm & midnight starting tomorrow (September 24th) and available to download from the BBC website for a week after.

Links: Big Finish – http://www.bigfinish.com/drwho
Wikipedia entry on Rob Shearman
BBC7 website

Originally broadcast 13th July (26 mb)

Alex Fitch interviews Nicholas Briggs, the actor who provides the voices of the Daleks & the Cybermen in Doctor Who and even the Timelord himself on a number of occasions… Nick is also the Executive Producer of Big Finish productions, the company which produces the majority of Doctor Who radio dramas.
This is the first show of four shows covering all aspects of Who and will be followed by the second half of Alex’s interview with Nick plus a discussion with one of the writers of the new series on TV…
If you’d like to hear a Doctor Who radio play by Nick: BBC7 will be broadcasting Sword of Orion which features Paul McGann and the Cybermen, on Sundays at 6pm & midnight starting this weekend (September 24th)

Links: Wikipedia entry on Nicholas Briggs
BBC7 website
Big Finish Productions

Originally broadcast 6th July (27 mb)

To coincide with the start of Resonance’s Space Soon Week, here’s another chance to hear Richard Thomas’ show on the BFI re-release of Godzilla (a.k.a. Gojira, 1954) and The Mysterians (a.k.a. Chikyu Boeigun, 1957) on DVD… Richard talks to Ken Hollins, writer of the book ‘Destroy All Monsters’, about the continuing appeal of The Gorilla Whale and classic Japanese sci-fi.

Links: Buy ‘Destroy All Monsters’
Wikipedia entry on Godzilla / The Mysterians

Originally broadcast 16th February 2006 (27mb)

Zoe Baxter covers 101 years of Chinese cinema concentrating on some of the last century’s most famous and notable heroines from Lingyu Ruan to Maggie Cheung Man Yuk. Zoe’s guest is Annie Kwan, a film historian who works with The Light Surgeons (who were the subject of the show on 3rd August).

Links: Zoe’s blog – http://luckykitty.blogspot.com
(scroll down to the March 8th entry for more details on the show)
The Light Surgeons – http://www.thelightsurgeons.co.uk

Originally broadcast 9th March 2006 (mp3 format, 25mb)