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[WhiteCrowNZ]

her instant dislike of Dan's parents akin to racism.

Although I did think a little of a BritCom version of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, I was also thinking a bit more of The Birdcage ... with robots.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Overall I found it quite witty, but no belly laughs if you get what I mean.

I have 100MB a month download allowance on my mobile phone, and used 30% of it today downloading this. However consider it was money well spent, as at the end of the day I was entertained. ie at the end of the day I'm not going "I spent money to listen to THIS!"

My favourite bits were ...

Aerodynamic nostrils
ZX Spectrum music
What happens when she makes scotch eggs?
Dad being a bit like a Max Headroom throwback
Object Orientated Marrage
Your parents will never die - they'll be with us forever
Dad's shutdown code

[Si Hunt]

I really enjoyed it. What I liked about it was that it felt like a proper play - something you might find on radio 2 one afternoon. It was built on a sort of domesticity you don't need to believe in beyond the edges of a theatre stage - many of the best jokes were the ones based on computing nostalgia, which is quite original really! That said, you can't think about it too hard or you might call into question the anachronism of 8 bit computers brushing shoulders with high tech robots.

Comedy isn't easy, but I thought this worked a lot better than a lot of the stagey sitcoms you get on TV! The cast are great, particuarly Brandy, Ali gives her best performance yet and Susan was brilliantly theatrical, only tipping a bit too far this way on a couple of occasions. I also have to say, without being modest, that I thought I was damn good! I managed to stay consistent and match the 'level' of the other performances, maybe only missing the mark near the end when required to show anger/upset.

The best jokes were the performance produced ones - the escaping arm, the stunned silence at the dinner table, the Operation Wolf tune. The only ones that didn't work were the occasional forays into sex wordplay - the screwdriver joke for example. The production was superb and really made it - the Dad robot was a tour de force of blips and bleeps, clunks and whirs. I'm not sure why Allie was echoed, and thought that worked less well. But I loved the general feel of urban domesticity and pictured all the characters in their middle England home, with the garden path and gate outside, middle class kitchen and dining room table with four chairs and ketchup on the table. I didn't once remember we were all standing in a bedroom huddled round a mike. That to me makes it an unqualified success.

At the end of the day, grand or epic wasn't the intention here. I guess that Steve was aiming for an offbeat 50's sitcom parody farce, and the play pulls that off splendidly. It's not once dull or poorly performed and it ALMOST makes you ponder on more serious themes towards the end - far from being a "shit" (maybe the fault was mine in not playing it more heartbroken?) imagine you had parents who would never age, never tire, never leave you and always be in their interfering prime? I feel he had no choice but to switch them off.

You do forget, having been entertained for half an hour, that this was done almost as live and cast minutes beforehand by a shout downstairs. That Steve has produced a professional sounding, entertaining and at times guinely chucklesome radio play out of that is testement to both his hard work on production and interesting script. And some great performances too!

Si. :mobile

[SiHart]

But I loved the general feel of urban domesticity and pictured all the characters in their middle England home, with the garden path and gate outside, middle class kitchen and dining room table with four chairs and ketchup on the table.

That was where I've always thought Steve was coming from in writing this- taking the old surburban sicom like Terry and June and transporting the trappings of that format into a future world. I think that worked well.

Si xx

[WhiteCrowNZ]

That said, you can't think about it too hard or you might call into question the anachronism of 8 bit computers brushing shoulders with high tech robots.

I think that, together with the pitch of comedy (as Si Hart says "Terry And June-esque) and the music, made it feel like a retro-80s version of the future.

[SiHart]

The music was classic BBC Radiophonics from the early 80s- a track called Computers in the Real World.

Si xx

[WhiteCrowNZ]

BTW - did you do an audio trailer for this?

[Si Hunt]

I think we would have heard it by now!

Si.

[brandynigma]

I seem to recall my brief being a cross between Leave it to Beaver and a Terry Wogan Robot...

[Rob McCow]

Thanks to those who have posted on here so far, it's been very interesting reading people's comments!

I wrote this play in 2008, which is now a heck of a long time ago! It's been waiting in the wings for about a year. I tried to foist it on people at the Christmas Spirits recording, but the mood wasn't right and everyone was tired.

The key thing about the play is that it's got two women in it. And those who know our recording sessions may realise that women are sadly in the minority!

My sister had asked at some point if she could have a go at being in one of our audio plays, so we'd invited her along to the Massanicassa recording. We were also lucky enough to have the talents of Brendan and Ali with us, along with hardy perennial Si Hunt. At the end of the afternoon's recording I asked if there was anyone who fancied doing a bit more. This was a very quick and easy casting session!

The session went swimmingly - we got through the whole half-hour play very quickly, with only a few 'Can you try that again please!' moments. It was immensely gratifying when we had to stop because the cast were laughing at the jokes.

It took a while to put together as well, it was on the back burner for a month or two and it slowly came to fruition towards the end of January. Si Hart was invaluable in finding an appropriate bit of music for the theme, as well as donating a few extra sound effects. A lot of Clive's sounds were borrowed from the Quake 3 computer game; aside from the several other sources.

I'll admit that the last scene, though interesting, was a mistake. That scene was in my mind from the moment the concept first formed, but it should have been binned. I have thought of a replacement scene involving Clive's arm following Helen around, but it's way too late now!

The most difficult thing was trying to make it different from Futurama and Red Dwarf, who between them have the monopoly on Android jokes. I think I got a new slant by making it more present-day and sitcom-ish, but I'll leave that up to you to decide!

Anyway, thanks again for your comments. They are like mannah to the soul.

[Alex]

I'll admit that the last scene, though interesting, was a mistake. That scene was in my mind from the moment the concept first formed, but it should have been binned. I have thought of a replacement scene involving Clive's arm following Helen around, but it's way too late now!

I was thinking about this earlier, and the comments I made, and I really hope they didn't come across as too harsh - I'm just very passionate about comedy! I think without that ending, the play would have made a lot more sense and I'd have enjoyed it overall a lot more. I guess my main problem with it was that the two robots were (imo) by far the funniest characters (which I believe was done on purpose) so to see them murdered at the end was quite shocking and didn't fit with the overall tone of the piece.

I think it could have worked though, if it had been the final part of, say, a six episode series, where we saw that the parents weren't quite what they initially seemed, and there'd been more examples of Dan being an experiment to them. That said, he still could have just moved out of home and not seen them again!

What I didn't do before is comment on how good the performances were, which I should have done - both Susan and Brendan were superb in the comedic roles, and Si provided a great straight man. And Ali was very good too - though if the character had been my girlfriend she'd have been shown the door about half way through the episode...Well, unless the sex was outstandingly good...!

[Si Hunt]

Surely, the fact they were "murdered" is debatable - they were robots after all! And isn't that the whole point - the debate over "can a robot be considered a real person" was the crux of the play, and that was taken to its ultimate conclusion by the end, as they were "switched off". Without the end, well, I think the story as a whole would have been without its key point.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Heh, I think Alex is too sentimental!

And I think you've got Ali and Susan the wrong way round - Ali was playing the 'Mumbot', who's called Susan. Confusingly enough. Susan played Helen, the girlfriend character.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I really hope they didn't come across as too harsh - I'm just very passionate about comedy!

I told Steve that you and me are a bit like comedy snobs. The connoisseurs of comedy. Have you tried the 2001 Spaced sir? Very fruity, with a slight earthy taste.

Personally from my own perspective, I feel I should give some kind of feedback over none at all, and a lot of it I did enjoy.

The ending I think could have stayed, but you'd just need to sow some extra dialog into the robot characters a little more. If you'd put bit in mum-bots dialog to suggest she was pushy and overbearing "when are you going to get married ... can we look forward to grandchildren soon ... you can come and live with us", then the idea of forever with your parents would be nightmarish. And the idea might be that the main character would have difficulty keeping both his parents and his love interest in his life.

Actually along that line - do you remember the 80s series Sorry! with Ronnie Corbett? He is going on 40 and still living with his overbearing mother. It was billed as a comedy, but personally I found it very unpleasant. If I remember she kind of regularly sabotaged his attempts to build a life elsewhere. If Ronnies character had turned axe murderer against his mum in the last episode, I think most people would have cheered.

I guess with what had gone before, the comedy felt a bit of a subtext on racism or homophobia. Like I say there were shades of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner and The Birdcage in there. So the ending didn't really feel like it belonged in there. Can you imagine Spencer Tracy killed off at the end?

The ending was perfectly fine on it's own - indeed gave us the great 12345 gag. But it felt like it belonged to another comedy. In comedy I think there's an awful temptation to keep a scene as a vehicle for the gag, but sometimes you just need to let the joke go. I found Friends annoying for that, because there'd sometimes be a lot of build up for a joke which then often didn't feel worth it.

Most of all remember - this is a pilot, a first episode on the scheme of things. Most comedys start up with a first episode which is a way of trying out material. Most comedy is trial and error - you try something in one episode, see if it's funny, and if it is, you build on it in another episode. It's a learning experience.

My friend from University is a stand up, and they say with stand up, you can sit down and try and be funny and clever, but it's only in putting your material out there you can gauge if it works or not.

Braveheart Steve!

[brandynigma]

It certainly didn't feel like murder when I was performing it. It felt like a set up of a larger narrative, possibly bringing the parents back at a later date (if there were more stories). After all, is Helen really going to be happy now?

It's pretty much implied that Clive and Susan will be reactivated once they get to Pluto- otherwise, why send them there at all? I'd certainly be up for more...

By the way folks, thank you for the kind words about we performers. I hadn't done any acting in over two years when it was recorded, so I was a bit worried about how it came out...

[Antony Cox]

I think it was pretty good, seeing as comedy is far more difficult than straight drama. I certainly chuckled here and there, but I'm afraid most of the computer jokes were lost on me!

The final scene did seem a bit extreme and out of place, but overall I enjoyed it; well done to all those involved!

[Andrew Curnow]

Just finished listening to BTM over breakfast. I'm interested to read some of the other comments here, because my initial thought on the last scene wasn't that it was murder - the parents were 'only' being switched off to ship out to Pluto. It did feel, perhaps, that it needed one last scene, with Dan & Helen happy together, to show that it was worth it, but to me it felt more like an abrupt ending than a 'shocking' one.

It was a neat idea, and like Si & others have said, I pictured it as a trad. BBC sitcom, but with robots for parents - despite little references to a technological world that's way in our future, it felt domestic and 'now' which worked really well. A successor to "So Haunt Me" perhaps, or even "Bewitched" where one member of a normal household is something extraordinary.

Considering it was really only four people talking for half an hour, it didn't drag, and the performances kept it going nicely. I really enjoyed it, with all the characters coming across well - so we've got Dan stuck in the middle, Dad well-meaning but hopelessly embarassing, Mum polite but clearly desperate for her potential daughter-in-law to be machine (my favourite bits were the bit with the metal detector, and then the reference to the X-Ray machine), and Helen who could have come across as unllikeable, since the parents seemed so nice, but was well-played so that she sounded actually just like the voice of sanity!!

As well as the metal detector, I also really liked (as others have mentioned) the 1234-5 gag, and the trousers bit (Si, you stud!). And obviously I enjoyed the nods to Who, as well as the namecheck for the famous Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein. (Although if you're building a theme park on the moon, surely Mek-Quake would be a better choice - he does big jobs you know!)

All in all, well worth a listen, and it's really good to see you audio bods stretching your wings again beyond 'just' Doctor Who. And that darned theme music is so catchy I shall be humming it all day I know!

[Rob McCow]

And that darned theme music is so catchy

You can thank Jonathan Gibbs for that - This CD is well worth a punt. Radiophonic Retrospective

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

I thought that was very good. I do find the mix of sci-fi and domesticity rather amusing (I seem to recall a sketch in 'Big train' with Ming the Merciless at home doing the vacuuming)!!!

I thought this was written and performed very well and as Si Hunt said I can really imagine this going out on the radio - I think it would be well received too.

I love the two robot characters (part of me kept thinking that Dan was going to discover he was a cyborg though - it must have been Mumbot's references to Helen being part robotic).

Steve, you should definitely write more of these - I think you've a real talent for it.

Well done everyone.

By the way I've still not heard 'Unknown Variables' - can I still get it from somewhere???

[cullsoft]

Listened to it this morning, and on the whole I enjoyed it. The "visit" middle section was where it shone for me, as the inevitability of things going from bad to worse made it classic comedy formula, and Brendan's voice for Clive was perfect for that "classic 80's sitcom" vibe - top marks to him!

I wasn't fond of the ending, and the last two scenes sadly didn't work for me. Without wanting to give out spoilers, I wasn't happy with how Dan and Helen's relationship turned out, and what happened at the very end; although I gather it's not likely to happen, it did feel like it was leaving things open for a sequel or "to be continued" message... as such an ending did not feel in place with the rest of the story.

Whilst not a flaw, I was a little surprised that it opened up with showing Dan's parents were robots... I was expecting it to be one of those things that got revealed to us at the same time as it was for Helen!

[Philipnet]

"Whatever makes you happy, my little transistor"

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

This and the rather more serious "Unknown Variables" are still waiting for the full RBJ review treatment but fear not they haven't been forgotten. I've only got a handful of Doctor Who plays left to review after all.
Reminds me I must try and do something about the standalone idea that I've got ticking away at the back of my mind and currently exists as a short word document listing a couple of ideas which has been slightly modified since I decided it would work a lot better without trying to shoehorn in characters from the PSA Doctor Who audios. (That idea of a sort of spin off featuring a couple of my favourite characters from season one actually found its way to being the origin point for the short story I wrote this week )