New Doctor Who Audio - Heist! EPISODE 2 ONLINE!

[Si Hunt]

I have to add that I think the way Si has cut the story together lends itself very well to the style of the story; you can imagine it on TV, being quite rapidly edited together.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Yes, very much like an episode of The New Avengers, or Life on Mars...

I do like Mike's cliffhanger! It's like a thunderclap for the listener!

[Martin Penny]

I listened earlier and greatly enjoyed it. I like that it's quite a different type of story, with no alien invasion or typical futuristic stuff going on. It's just about, well...a Heist! I also like the classy piano music playing throughout the story, it seems to fit very well with the story.

I love Mike as Byron Zunestra, I think he's possibly my favourite PS Audio villain. I think I too had expected him to be more camp, but listening to him, he's actually rather intimidating from the moment he appears. I loved the bit where he had his assisstant raise the alarm to see how fast the guards would arrive. Also, kudos to Alex for his constantly terrified assisstant character!
I also liked SiHunt's character, he did a great job making his voice sound different!

I also noticed that within a few seconds, my accent changed from Inspector Cluseau to Chekov...

[Andrew Curnow]

Martin, I think we'd all assumed that was a deliberate bit of comedy business on your part!!

[SiHart]

The classy piano music in the restaurant scenes was Rachmaninov's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra #3 in D Minor - I. Allegro Ma Non Tanto and the music the Doctor listens to in his hotel suite is George Gershwin's Concerton in F for Piano and Orchestra II- Adagio. So there you go!

There was a lot of discussion about whether Paul's Doctor was a Gershwin fan. I think it fits him quite well.

I love the way your accent changes so quickly Martin. I thought it would be a bit jarring, but I think ti just shows that Ed is a bit out of his depth and not really sure what he's doing!

Si xx

[Kathychick]

Wow! It's amazing! Thanks for doing an amazing job! It#s fantastic!!!!!
xx the front cover is also excellent

[Antony Cox]

What a great story! Refreshingly different and some great performances!

Am I right in thinking this was the first one to be recorded with the pop shields? You can certainly tell!

[Andrew Curnow]

I forgot to mention yesterday, I like the fact that we joined the story with the plot already underway - many an NA starts like that, and I heartily approve!!

[Paul Monk]

Could this be Andrew's favourite PS Audio story?

[SiHart]

I forgot to mention yesterday, I like the fact that we joined the story with the plot already underway - many an NA starts like that, and I heartily approve!!

With a two parter you don't have time to waste setting up the story. It's best to get on with it as soon as you can- and I like starting stories like that because it's afr more intriguing for the listener I think.

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

Could this be Andrew's favourite PS Audio story?

In the words of Hong Kong Phooey, could be!!

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Excellent stuff.
Things I liked:

The way you are thrown straight into the story - Paul's opening line is a classic and kind of reminded me of the way the Doctor is revealed in School Reunion - already in 'situ'.
The incidental music - there's some great stuff in there - where did it come from? - I heard one bit that was very Peter Howell (well, it sounded like him anyway) but the rest was all new sounding to me.
The story so far - as others have said it's quite different, but has familar elements - I always like those kind of let's sneek about undercover at a party type scenarios - Ed getting the job at Ridgeway security in order to be the man on the inside - it's all great - and I can't help feeling that it's all being set up in order for it to all go very wrong!!!

Things I loved:
Ed Bradley - just brilliant - Martin is a class act.
Kathy - she's always good, but again we have an excellent character, so different from June River or Emma Bonham and instantly likeable.
The references to Death to the Daleks - Florana, air like a magic potion, effervescent waters etc!! - It just makes it seem like the Doctor is always saying that - making the whole of that scene with the Doc and Sarah Jane in Death to the Daleks sound like one of many occasions where the Doctor has spouted the same old cr*p to a companion just to impress them

Si,
Apologies for the dip in recording quality on my lines- I'm not having a good time with the Audio set up on my PC at the moment (it's given me a bit of grief with the Tamaras re-vamp too). I may have to try and get myself a decent computer microphone. The one I have is excellent for jazz gigs but not so great when plugged into my PC. It also records rather quietly - hence the background hiss when I try to increase the volume!!!

[Wayne]

Haven't had time for this yet due to having a mad busy gig weekend, but i'll get around to this tomorrow when i can give it full headspace.

[WhiteCrow]

Yeah Heist was a learning experience for me. I used to be able, much like Brian Blessed to project to the back of any hall or theatre, so tended to lean back a bit from the microphone when speaking (or shouting) my lines, but was told I came out a bit quiet.

We live and learn though!

It was in many ways an interesting experience. Although I've done amateur stuff in both theatre and hospital radio, and done some audio plays as a kid using the old cassette recorder, it's just amazing how it can all be filtered together.

In fact it takes us an afternoon to record the dialogue, but weeks for it to be fine tuned and produced into a performance. It's a dual testamont to how amazing technology is and how lucky we are to have such dedicated sound mixers to make us all look good.

Alchemy is alive and well, and the secrets are in the hands of the PS Audio staff!

[WhiteCrow]

Just listened to it again (in a bit more detail), I'm sure I sound a little like this guy at times ...



He he he!

[shada pavlova]

I thought that the cliffhanger was a bit...well, bad, really.

[Rob McCow]

Hmm - what was wrong with the cliffhanger? It may not have involved someone hanging over a cliff by an umbrella, but I thought it was fairly dramatic!

Do you have any other thoughts on the episode, Mr.Pavlova?

[SiHart]

Shada: A bit, well, bad? Ah well. To be honest, I did struggle with writing a cliffhanger in this story, and this was just about the only moment that was in the right place in the storyline, and had the right amount of menace. This is one of the problems of approaching the writing like a 50 minute episode- sometimes there isn't a natural cliffhanger break and you have to engineer one. Sorry you didn't like it much. I've written some pretty splendid cliffhangers in the past though, if that's any compensation. I hope you liked the rest of it though.

Andrew: The music comes from several different sources. As well as the Rachmaninov and Gershwin, there's stuff by Air, Neoon Neon, Zero 7, Mylo and Blur in there, as well as few tracks sourced from Soundsnap which is quite useful at times. I wanted to do something different and give it a different feel to the other stories, and I think it's worked. I thought really long and hard about it. Well done on spotting Peter Howell though (his was the Who theme refrain in the scene in Zunestra's vault). I knew you wouldn't let me down!

Wayne: Get and listen to it you!

Mike: The Hood is a good role model for a villain, so that's fine!

I'm really bowled over by the response from everyone for this. I'm so pleased you're all enjoying it so much.

Si xx

[Antony Cox]

Zero 7

I spotted that one! It's from The Garden, isn't it?

[SiHart]

It is!

Si xx

[Pip Madeley]

I think the cast did a grand job of bringing Si's characters to life, nobody lets the side down And Paul's just getting better as the Doctor. I can't wait to see what he does with the new material this weekend.

[Paul Monk]

I currently have no idea what I'll do with it as I haven't read it yet. Well I have read my own script obviously.
Suppose I better print them both out!

[Pip Madeley]

Jesus H Corbett, get learning your lines, man!

[Wayne]

Wayne: Get and listen to it you!

I will be doing very shortly. Definitely before tonight is out. I didn't get up 'till late, 'coz i was knackered after a hectic weekend. Then i had to do shopping, Post Office, & the dentist, & also make certain preparations relating to a very exciting e-mail i recieved this morning.
Any percieved reluctance stems only from the fact that i don't want to just cram it in to a busy day. I'd rather wait until i've got everything else out of the way so that i can just relax & give it the attention it deserves.
Which is basically gonna be tonight at some point. I've only really just sat down properly today. How you folk that have proper jobs go on i'll never know. (hopefully)

[SiHart]

Well that's reasonable (and I was only joking!) and I hope the exciting email you received this morning and the preparations have gone ok!


Hope you enjoy it when you do hear it!

Si xx