Reality Check: Building a better High Rise

Following a screening of High Rise as part of the symposium J.G. Ballard in the Seventies, Alex Fitch talks to three members of the production team behind Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s High Rise. Dan Martin discusses arranging the special effects for the movie and creating realistic gore for Wheatley’s films, Mark Tildesley talks about dressing the set cost effectively and how this compared to working with Michael Winterbottom on Code 46, and Odile Dicks-Mireaux discusses making science-fictional clothes for the cast, including a James Bond style suit for Tom Hiddleston.

Alex Fitch talks to Dan Martin, Odile Dicks-Mireaux and Mark Tildesley on stage at the British Library after a screening of High Rise

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: Info about the British Library event where this podcast was recorded
High-Rise tumblr page
Electric Sheep podcast about High-Rise and the 1971 production of Crash

Reality Check: Building a better High Rise [ 51:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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)

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

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

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

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 1

Alex Fitch looks at the actors who have been hired to play incarnations of Doctor Who after the original actors have passed on or retired. While the programme has a built in fiction for the constant recasting of the lead role, fans have had a desire to still see and hear new adventures for the 1960s and 70s versions of Doctor Who, and these have begun to be made and licenced by the BBC for broadcast on digital radio, television and download.
Alex talks to impressionist Jon Culshaw about playing Tom Baker – otherwise known as the Fourth Doctor – in Dead Ringers, and audiobooks such as The Ark in Space; to actor David Troughton about channeling his father Patrick as an ersatz Second Doctor on BBC Radio 4extra
(Originally broadcast 21st December 2015 as part of a Clear Spot on Resonance FM, with thanks to BBC Audio)

David Troughton / Jon Culshaw / Covers of The Hexford Invasion and the Ark in Space

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: Article about the recording of The Ark in Space at ladbrokeradio.com
Review of Doctor Who: Serpent Crest at cultbox.com
Listen to Alex’s interviews with Doctor Who actors Sylvester McCoy, Michael Jayston and Sophie Aldred
Order Death to the Daleks, The Ark in Space, The Hexford Invasion and The Curse of Peladon on CD from bbcshop.com

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 1 [ 37:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download