Podcasts, radio shows, writing and more by Alex Fitch
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Book List: Novelizing Doctor Who
December 12, 2013
— 6 Comments
Covers of Doctor Who novels by Terrance Dicks, Mark Platt, Paul Cornell, Jenny Colgan and Tommy Donbavand
Novelizing Doctor Who: In an hour long show looking at the long tradition of Doctor Who novelizations and original novels, Alex Fitch talks to five novelists who have written books and monologues based on all eras of the show: Jenny Colgan, Paul Cornell, Tommy Donbavand, Marc Platt, and script editor (1970-1974) Terrance Dicks. Recorded in front of a live audience at SCI-FI-LONDON, Spring 2013.
(Originally broadcast 12/12/13 on Resonance FM)
For more info about this podcast and a variety of other formats you can download / stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.org (more…)
Today’s show: Novelizing Doctor Who
December 12, 2013
— 1 Comment
Today at 8pm on Resonance 104.4 FM, Clear Spot: Novelizing Doctor Who
Covers of Doctor Who Novels by Terrance Dicks, Lawrence Miles, Marc Platt, Paul Cornell, J.T. Colgan and Tommy Donbavand
In an hour long show looking at the long tradition of Doctor Who novelizations and original novels, Alex Fitch talks to five novelists who have written books and monologues based on all eras of the show: Jenny Colgan, Paul Cornell, Tommy Donbavand, Marc Platt, and script editor (1970-1974) Terrance Dicks. Also, critic Andrew Hickey talks to writer Lawrence Miles about his Who novels from the late 90s and early 2000s and his spin off series Faction Paradox.
8pm, Thursday 12th December 2013, repeated 9am, Friday 13th December 2013, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com
Links: Jenny Colgan’s facebook page
Paul Cornell’s website
Tommy Donbavand’s website
Wikipedia pages on Marc Platt and Terrance Dicks
Lawrence Miles’ blog and books published by Mad Norwegian Press (more…)
Panel Borders: AC / DC (Paul Cornell and David Hine)
September 23, 2010
— 3 Comments
Panel Borders:
AC / DC
Originally broadcast 23rd September 2010 on Resonance 104.4 FM
Action Comics #690 and 691 by Paul Cornell and Pete Woods, Detective Comics #864 and 867 by David Hine, Jeremy Haun and Scott McDaniel
Continuing our month of shows looking at British writers of superhero titles, Alex Fitch talks to the current writers of two of the longest running American comics – Action Comics (which normally features Superman) and Detective Comics (which generally features Batman), Paul Cornell and David Hine.
Alex talks to Paul about his sojourn on the book which will detail a year long quest by Lex Luthor to gain superpowers and about his forthcoming titles Knight and Squire – a British set spin off of Batman – and Soldier One, a Science-Fiction title for Boom! comics, based on an idea by Stan Lee, and to David about exploring light and darkness in Gotham City, the joy of writing the psychopaths in Arkham Asylum and his surrealistic pop art Image comic The Bulletproof Coffin.
For more info about this podcast and a variety of formats you can stream or download, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.org
Links: Wikipedia pages on Paul Cornell, David Hine, Action Comics and Detective Comics
David’s Strange Embrace website
Paul’s website
Read an interview with Paul about Knight and Squire
Read an article about Action Comics #894 featuring ‘Death‘
Read 6 pages of Soldier Zero #1 by Paul Cornell, Stan Lee and Javier Pina
Read an interview with David about Batman: Arkham Reborn
Read the whole of The Bulletproof Coffin #1 online
Related podcasts:
Alex’s previous interview with David Hine (and Frazer Irving) about X-Men: The 198, Silent War, Spawn and Shaun of the dead.
Alex’s panel discussion on Sci-Fi comics with Paul Cornell, Bryan Talbot, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Paul Duffield.
Alex’s interviews with Paul Cornell and Alan Davis about Captain Britain
Alex’s interview with Neil Gaiman about Stardust
Recommended events:
Pickled Ink‘s search for a comics artist
Art illustration agency Pickled Ink has launched a new award in a bid to find an artist to draw a new graphic novel by Super Gran creator and writer Jenny McDade.
(more…)
Today’s show: AC / DC (Paul Cornell and David Hine)
September 23, 2010
Today on Resonance FM…
Panel Borders: AC / DC (Paul Cornell and David Hine)
Action Comics #690 and 691 by Paul Cornell and Pete Woods, Detective Comics #864 and 867 by David Hine, Jeremy Haun and Scott McDaniel
Continuing our month of shows looking at British writers of superhero titles, Alex Fitch talks to the current writers of two of the longest running American comics – Action Comics (which normally features Superman) and Detective Comics (which generally features Batman), Paul Cornell and David Hine.
Alex talks to Paul about his sojourn on the book which will detail a year long quest by Lex Luthor to gain superpowers and about his forthcoming titles Knight and Squire – a British set spin off of Batman – and Soldier One, a Science-Fiction title for Boom! comics, based on an idea by Stan Lee, and to David about exploring light and darkness in Gotham City, the joy of writing the psychopaths in Arkham Asylum and his surrealistic pop art Image comic The Bulletproof Coffin.
5pm, 23/09/10, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast here at 10.30pm 23/09/10
Wikipedia pages on Paul Cornell, David Hine, Action Comics and Detective Comics
David’s Strange Embrace website
Paul’s website
Read an interview with Paul about Knight and Squire
Read an article about Action Comics #894 featuring ‘Death‘
Read 6 pages of Soldier Zero #1 by Paul Cornell, Stan Lee and Javier Pina
Read an interview with David about Batman: Arkham Reborn
Read the whole of The Bulletproof Coffin #1 online
Recommended events:
Pickled Ink’s search for a comics artist
Art illustration agency Pickled Ink has launched a new award in a bid to find an artist to draw a new graphic novel by Super Gran creator and writer Jenny McDade.
Working with Jenny, the creator/writer of the TV series Super Gran, who cut her teeth writing strips for the British girls comic Tammy, and comic book author and editor Pat Mills, the agency is searching for an outstanding character-led artist to illustrate Jenny’s first graphic novel script, Party Girls. The winner will be awarded £1000.00 and a contract of representation at Pickled Ink, whose current artists include Hanako Clulow, Hattie Newman, Hannah Bagshaw and many others.
In brief, they’re asking for: character design of two lead characters; and a 20 frame sample sequence and a front cover design. The winning artist must be an existing or recent graduate from the last 12 months only, able to draw modern fashion, facial expression, great storytelling, and be generally ‘2011’.
The deadline for entries is Monday 8th November 2010, more info at www.pickledink.com where you can download a PDF of the full rules and conditions
Reality Check: Sci-Fi Comics part two
December 22, 2009
— 3 Comments
Reality Check:
Sci-Fi Comics part two
Clockwise from top left - FreakAngels by Paul Duffield and Warren Ellis, Grandville by Bryan Talbot, Iron Man 2020 by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Kenneth Rocafort, Dark X-Men by Paul Cornell and Jae Lee
Continuing our podcasts of talks and Q and As recorded live at this year’s Spring Sci-Fi London Film Festival, this is the second half of a two part podcast in which Alex Fitch talks to four practitioners of Science-Fiction comic books about their work; these include Paul Cornell (Captain Britain and MI-13 ), Bryan Talbot (Grandville ), Daniel Merlin Goodbrey (Iron Man 2020) and Paul Duffield (Freakangels). In this second half, members of the audience ask the panel about the future of comics post Google digitization, their influences from SF literature and the cross-over between different audiences.
For more info, please visit the home of this podcast at Sci-Fi London or click here for info on the first half of this podcast.
Links: Paul Cornell – blog
Interview about Captain Britain
Bryan Talbot – website
Interview about Grandville
Daniel Merlin Goodbrey – website
Read Iron Man 2020 online
Paul Duffield – website
Read FreakAngels online
Recommended events:
Comixmas exhibition
ComiXmas: When Worlds Collide is an exhibition of fantastic images from contemporary comic books and graphic novels, featuring work by the best contemporary comic book artists, along with images from past great masters of the genre. On display in the exhibition are prints reproduced at a strikingly larger scale by artists such as Osamu Tezuka, one of the fathers of Japanese manga and anime; Hergé, the Belgian creator of Tintin; Woodrow Phoenix, creator of the award winning Rumble Strip; Andrzej Klimowski, illustrator of The Master & Margarita; Reinhard Kleist, illustrator of Johnny Cash: I See A Darkness; From Hell creators Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, and many other artists. This free exhibition runs from 11 December 2009 to 6 February 2010 at the LondonPrintStudio Gallery, 425 Harrow Road, London.
Additionally, Paul Gravett will be hosting a free panel discussion How A Comic Is Made at the LondonPrintStudio on Thursday 21 January 2010, where you can discover the secrets behind writing and drawing comics, graphic novels and manga, revealed by creators featured in the ComiXmas Exhibition: Andrzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal (Master & Margarita), Nana Li (Twelfth Night), Pat Mills (Nemesis, Slaine, Requiem) and Woodrow Phoenix (Rumble Strip). Followed by book signings and reception.
More info at www.londonprintstudio.org.uk
Click here to visit The Stroke Association website
BBC audio director Neil Gardner (The Brightonomicon / Doctor Who: Hornet’s Nest) is offering choice items from his CD, DVD and book collection in exchange for donations to The Stroke Association and will match donations by 200%!
Get your stocking fillers from Neil and donate to a good cause….
More info here…
Reality Check: Sci-Fi Comics part one
December 3, 2009
— 3 Comments
Reality Check:
Sci-Fi Comics part one
Pauls Cornell and Duffield, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Bryan Talbot at Sci-Fi London 8
Continuing our podcasts of talks and Q & As recorded live at this year’s Spring Sci-Fi London Film Festival, this is the first half of a two part podcast in which Alex Fitch talks to four practitioners of Science-Fiction comic books about their work; these include Paul Cornell (Captain Britain and MI-13 / Doctor Who), Bryan Talbot (Grandville / The Adventures of Luther Arkwright), Daniel Merlin Goodbrey (Iron Man 2020) and Paul Duffield (Freakangels). Alex discusses with the panel about using comics as an underated way of telling SF stories and the probable future of the medium via the internet.
For more info, please visit the home of this podcast at Sci-Fi London and more info about part two click here
Links: Paul Cornell – blog
Interview about Captain Britain
Bryan Talbot – website
Interview about Grandville
Daniel Merlin Goodbrey – website
Read Iron Man 2020 online
Paul Duffield – website
Read FreakAngels
Recommended events:
Woodrow Phoenix at Brighton Library
Woodrow Phoenix, esteemed author of the astonishing graphic road-rage-busting RUMBLE STRIP, and so much else, will be doing his thing at the Jubilee Library this coming Thursday 3rd December at 6pm. His publishers Myriad Editions would be delighted if you could join them for a pre-Christmas drink and to hear Woodrow talk about art, words, life, and his experience of comic workshopping with 150 kids at a go, during his recent British Council tour of India.
Jubilee Library, Jubilee St, Brighton, BN1 1GE
Thursday 3rd December at 6pm…
Bad Santa screening
Sasquatch Cinema is a monthly film night held at the new Shortwave cinema at 10 Bermondsey Square, London, SE1 3UN (Tel: 0207 357 6845). / nearest tube Borough (Northern line).
We will be showing an eclectic range of films including cult classics and rarities you may not have seen before.
The next film we will be showing is a late night screening of Bad Santa – staring Billy Bob Thornton on Friday, 11th December at 22:30.
The traditional Christmas tale will never be the same after this cleverly twisted and merrily irreverent story of a Santa so bad he’s wickedly funny. This is one of the best Christmas movies of recent years.
The cinema has a bar, and you can even bring your drinks in and watch the film!
The entry fee is £5.00. Tickets are sold on the night on a first come – first served basis. Email: gabzucc[at]yahoo.com for more info.
Please view Sasquatch Cinema’s facebook / myspace pages for more details about the film
Sci-Fi London 8
April 11, 2009
Sci-Fi London 8 logo
It’s nearly the May Bank Holiday, which means it’s also nearly time for this year’s Sci-Fi London – The London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantasy Film
Now in its 8th year, Sci-Fi London has developed into a more wide-ranging science fiction festival than ever before. Sci-Fi London now includes talks on literature, science and comic books that not only sit alongside the film events in the programme, but provide a dialogue with the screenings: TV and radio writers will discuss sci-fi comedy while comic book artist Kevin O’Neill will talk about his drawings on screen and the film based on them, Hardware (1990), which will be shown afterwards.
Image from Hardware, directed by Richard Stanley
A perennial and popular strand at SFL is the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 all-night screenings, where fans of SF B-movies watch a TV version of those films, with heckling by an onscreen astronaut and two robots. This year’s festival takes that idea into the realm of stand-up comedy, screening one of the films showing in the festival again with a live redub of the soundtrack by improv comedians who include Cariad Lloyd, Gemma Whelan, Sara Pascoe (Free Agents), Humphrey Ker (Penny Dreadfuls) and Paul Foxcroft. Elsewhere there are different kinds of interaction with SF fans. For the first time in its history, SFL 8 will screen a ‘fan-film’, The Hunt for Gollum, which boasts production values similar to any of the authentic Lord of the Rings films and should keep devotees of the saga happy before the official prequel hits the big screen. In addition, SFL features an on-stage reading of a radio play script, The Brightonomicon, by some of the original cast, allowing the audience to see behind the scenes of something they’d normally only hear. The films at this year’s SFL are a mixture of old and new, Western SF and films from further afield:
The City of Lost Children / La cite des enfants perdus directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet
As well as The City of Lost Children (1995), featuring a Q and A with co-director Marc Caro performed by Alex Fitch with translation by Virginie Sélavy, there’s a kids screening of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth (1986), Ever Since the World Ended (2003), and four of the best Star Trek movies from the 1980s, which fans can see for free. World cinema is represented by Turkish comedies G.O.R.A. (2004) and A.R.O.G. (2008), Japanese SF epic Twentieth-Century Boys part 2 and a selection of Israeli short films.
Image from Stingray Sam directed by Cory McAbee
New films and premieres include Bill Plympton’s Idiots and Angels, Stingray Sam (from the director of The American Astronaut, a low-fi American indie favourite of recent years) and new Japanese / American co-produced animé Afro Samurai: Resurrection, featuring the voices of Samuel L. Jackson and Lucy Liu. Perhaps the most obvious example of combining old and new at the festival is Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell 2.0, which is a remix of the original film, replacing all of the backgrounds and some of the characters with new visuals. Whether Oshii’s interference with his own film is on the level of George Lucas’s endless tinkering with Star Wars – making it worse each time – or Ridley Scott’s various re-edits of Blade Runner – all equally as good and as unneeded – remains to be seen.
A longer version of this article first appeared in Electric Sheep Magazine online
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons on Panel Borders
March 8, 2009
— 6 Comments
Panel Borders:
Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and his other collaborators
Doctor Manhattan by Dave Gibbons
If you’ve just watched the Watchmen in the cinema and would like to hear interviews with the creators, here’s a list of my interviews with Alan Moore and various artists who have illustrated his scripts including Dave Gibbons and David Lloyd…
Alan Moore
… talks about The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the highs (Kev O’Neill) and lows (Rob Liefeld) of collaborating with comic book artists, his notions of magic and ideaspace and just what giant bald men in nappies had to do with American paranoia in 1950s movies! (Originally broadcast Jan 25th 2007 on Resonance FM)
… talks about magic, Swamp Thing, movies and saving the comics industry.
(Originally broadcast 7pm, Jan 30th 2007 on Resonance FM)
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… talks about animation, history and DNA….
(Originally broadcast 7.30pm, Jan 30th 2007 on Resonance FM)
Click on the image to watch the video, which was filmed by Oli Smith
… talks about his epic graphic novel Lost Girls, from its beginnings – serialised in the horror anthology Taboo – to its final printing 16 years later as a beautiful three volume slipcased hardback published by Top Shelf.
(Originally broadcast 5pm, Feb 14th 2008 on Resonance FM)
… talks about The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier and depictions of procreation in Swamp Thing and Miracleman.
(Originally broadcast 5.30pm, Feb 14th 2008 on Resonance FM)
… talks about collaborating with Eddie Campbell on his masterpiece From Hell and the two comic book adaptations of his performances Snakes and Ladders and The Birth Caul..
(Originally broadcast Oct 23rd 2008 on Resonance FM)
Alan Moore and Pat Mills talk about their favourite cartoonist, the late Ken Reid who drew Roger the Dodger in the 1950s Beano and a variety of underrated strips in children’s comics such as Wham! and Whoopee! including the creepy classics Faceache and Frankie Stein, up to the 1980s…..
(Originally broadcast Jan 29th 2009 on Resonance FM)
Click on the image to watch a video of the interview, which was filmed by Oli Smith
Dave Gibbons talks about his career so far, working on more personal projects such as The Originals and his thoughts on the current Hollywood adaptation of Watchmen…
(Originally broadcast at 5pm, June 10th 2008 on Resonance FM)
Read an abridged transcript of the interview in Wheel Me Out magazine
Alex Fitch talks to David Lloyd
David Lloyd talks about working on V for Vendetta and about the challenges of illustrating graphic novels such as The Horrorist and Kickback….
(Originally broadcast at 5.30pm, June 10th 2008 on Resonance FM)
Captain Britain by Alan Davis and Alan Moore
Alan Davis and Paul Cornell talk about writing and in Alan’s case, also drawing Captain Britain, a character whose appearance in comics in the early 1980s by Alans Davis and Moore gave the strip a lasting appeal that endures to the current day. Paul Cornell talks about his recent revamp of the character in the new comic Captain Britain and MI:13 which sees the Captain get a 21st Century make-over while encountering such nefarious characters as Count Dracula and Gordon Brown!
(Originally broadcast March 5th 2009 on Resonance FM)
Panel Borders: Captain Britain
March 5, 2009
— 15 Comments
Panel Borders:
Captain Britain by Alan Davis and Paul Cornell
Originally broadcast 05/03/09 as an episode of Strip! on Resonance 104.4 FM
Excalibur by Alan Davis featuring Captain Britain and X-Men
It’s the start of ‘classic heroes’ month on Panel Borders and to kick off, Alex Fitch is talking to two of the creators of the UK’s very own superhero – Captain Britain. Alex talks to Alan Davis, the artist and writer of the strip in the early 80s, who together with help from writers Alan Moore and Jamie Delano rescued the character from oblivion with esoteric storylines, a great supporting cast and a terrific new costume. Alex also talks to author Paul Cornell about his recent revamp of the character in the new comic Captain Britain and MI:13 which sees the Captain get a 21st Century make-over while encountering such nefarious characters as Count Dracula and Gordon Brown!
For mopre info about this podcast and a variety of formats you can stream or download, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.org
Links: Wikipedia pages on Captain Britain, Alan Davis and Paul Cornell
For Paul’s blog, please click here
Buy Captain Britain and MI:13 from Forbidden Planet International
More info about The Bristol International Comics Expo (May 9th / 10th 2009) and D.R. and Quinch
Alan Davis’ website
Star Wars: the comic book by Alan Davis and Alan Moore
Today / Tomorrow’s shows: Captain Britain by Paul Cornell and Alan Davis / State of the art adaptation
March 5, 2009
Today on Resonance FM:
Strip!: Captain Britain by Alan Davis and Paul Cornell
Excalibur by Alan Davis featuring Captain Britain and X-Men
It’s the start of ‘classic heroes’ month on Strip! and to kick off, Alex Fitch is talking to two of the creators of Britain’s very own superhero – Captain Britain. Alex talks to Alan Davis, the artist and writer of the strip in the earlier 80s, who together with help from writers Alan Moore and Jamie Delano rescued the character from oblivion with esoteric storylines, a great supporting cast and a terrific new costume. Alex also talks to author Paul Cornell about his recent revamp of the character in the new comic “Captain Britain and MI13” which sees the Captain get a 21st Century make-over while encountering such nefarious characters as Count Dracula and Gordon Brown!
5pm 05/03/09, repeated 11.30pm 08/03/09, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com
Links: Wikipedia pages on Captain Britain, Alan Davis and Paul Cornell
For Paul’s blog, please click here
More info about The Bristol International Comics Expo and D.R. and Quinch
Alan’s website
Tomorrow on Resonance FM:
Micro Clear Spot: State of the Art adaptation
Iain Banks and Paul Cornell at Newcon 4
Alex Fitch talks to writer Paul Cornell about dramatising Iain M Banks’ novella “The State of the Art” for the afternoon play on Radio 4 (to be broadcast 2.15pm 05/03/09) with a cast including such luminaries as Anthony Sher and Patterson Joseph…
7.30pm 06/03/09, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / / extended podcast online now at http://www.sci-fi-london.com/audio
Links: For more info about BBC radio’s SF season, please click here
For Paul’s blog, please click here
Wikipedia pages on Paul Cornell, Iain Banks and The Culture
For more podcasts with Paul Cornell, as guest and interviewer, please click here
Reality Check: State of the Art adaptation
February 27, 2009
— 1 Comment
Reality Check:
State of the Art adaptation
Originally broadcast 03/03/09 on Resonance FM as a “Micro Clear Spot”
Iain Banks and Paul Cornell at Newcon 4
Alex Fitch talks to writer Paul Cornell about dramatising Iain M Banks’ novella “The State of the Art” for the afternoon play on Radio 4 (to be broadcast 2.15pm 05/03/09) with a cast including such luminaries as Anthony Sher and Patterson Joseph… Alex and Paul also discuss the author’s adaptations of his own work – novelising the internet cartoon Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka and conversely dramatising his novel Doctor Who: Human Nature for TV.
For more info, please visit the home of this podcast at Sci-Fi London
Links: For more info about BBC radio’s SF season, please click here
For Paul’s blog, please click here
Wikipedia pages on Paul Cornell, Iain Banks and The Culture
For more podcasts with Paul Cornell, as guest and interviewer, please click here
In association with: 
Reality Check: Terrance Dicks’ 40 years of Doctor Who part 2
July 17, 2008
— 3 Comments
Reality Check: Terrance Dicks’ 40 years of Doctor Who part 2
The second half of a two part ‘feature length’ podcast in which former Doctor Who producer and script editor Terrance Dicks talks about his career in conversation with Tim Phipps (Strange Horizons) at a meeting of The British Science Fiction Association. The podcast picks up with Tim and Terrance talking about the latter’s Doctor Who books in the 1990s and includes questions asked by Paul Cornell, Graham Sleight and Alex Fitch.
Edited by Alex Fitch.
(more…)
Reality Check: Eastercon ’08, part two
April 7, 2008
— 4 Comments
Reality Check: Eastercon ’08, part two
The second of two shows looking at this year’s Sci-Fi literary convention Orbital ’08 which was held last month in Heathrow. Alex Fitch is talking to Graham Sleight about the BSFA, Jetse de Vries & Aliette de Bodard about Interzone, John Coxon about ZZ9 – the Douglas Adams appreciation society and author Neil Gaiman about why he loves conventions (with a brief cameo by Paul Cornell)…
(more…)
Podcast: 15 years of Professor Bernice Summerfield part 1
October 28, 2007
— 1 Comment
As the hour long version of this show may not be something listeners want to download in one go (and to alleviate the strain on the server), Wednesday’s Clear Spot is available to download – this is part 1 of 2…
(mp3 format, 28.8mb)
For more info and a selection of different file formats you can download or stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com
Podcast: Fifteen years of Professor Bernice Summerfield
October 24, 2007
— 2 Comments
Last night’s Clear Spot is now ready to download…
Please Note: THE COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.
(mp3 format, 60mins, 57.2mb)
For more info and a selection of different file formats you can download or stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com
Tonight’s show: 15 years of Professor Bernice Summerfield
October 23, 2007
— 2 Comments
Tonight at 8pm on Resonance 104.4FM in an hour long Clear Spot, Alex Fitch investigates the best science fiction heroine most people have never heard (of) – Professor Bernice Summerfield, Benny to her friends.
Starting off as a Doctor Who companion in the novels published by Virgin books after the original TV series was cancelled in 1989, Benny has since appeared in over a hundred books, over 60 without the Doctor and 40 full cast ‘radio’ plays released on CD in specialist shops. Alex talks to the actress who plays Benny – Lisa Bowerman – the actor who plays her fictional husband – Stephen Fewell – and outgoing producer of the series, Simon Guerrier. Simon in turn interviews actress Sophie Aldred who appeared alongside Lisa in a few of the dramas and Gareth Roberts (Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Code) who has written Benny adventures. Finally, Sci-Fi critic and writer Graham Sleight interviews the character’s creator Paul Cornell plus there’s even a preview of Benny’s next adventure and a competition as well…
Links: Wikipedia entry on Bernice Summerfield
Read the Doctor Who novels: Human Nature and The Dying Days which feature Benny
Buy Benny books and audio CDs from Big Finish
Simon’s blog
Graham’s website
Paul’s blog
Today’s show: Comic book writers
October 18, 2007
Today’s Strip! at 5pm on Resonance FM is comprised of three interviews with comic book writers…
In a repeat of Monday’s clear spot, Alex Fitch interviews renowned author Neil Gaiman about the big screen adaptation of his illustrated novel Stardust which was originally serialised by DC Comics.
Then, Alex interviews Zan Christensen about his homoerotic vigilante comic The Mark of Aeacus which looks to Greek Myths for its inspiration.
For the second half of the hour long show, we’re broadcasting the previously podcast interview author Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, Xtnct) conducted with prolific comic book writer Peter David (The Incredible Hulk, Fallen Angel) about his career…
Links:
Neil Gaiman – Neil’s website
Wikipedia entries on Neil, Stardust and Anansi Boys
Official movie website
Dreamhaven’s online book shop
Zan Christensen – Zan’s company, Northwest Comics
Article on Greek myths which influenced The Mark of Aeacus
Peter David – Wikipedia entries on:
Peter David, Paul Cornell, The Spectacular Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man
IDW page on Fallen Angel
Marvel pages on Peter’s The Dark Tower and Paul’s Wisdom
Uncut interview: Peter David part 2
July 17, 2007
Continuing our occasional series of hour long uncut versions of the interviews that were recorded for I’m ready for my close-up and Panel Borders, we have the second half of Paul Cornell’s complete interview with Peter David regarding his career in comics, sci-fi novels and the small screen.
This selection (which is in the chronological order it was recorded) represents the second half of yesterday’s PB plus three quarters of an hour of additional material.
Paul and Peter talk about writing Doctor Who and Star Trek: The next generation novels respectively, Americans doing British accents (and vice versa) on TV, Babylon 5 and the shock of having written 1000 comics (with interjections by Alex Fitch).
(mp3 format, 48.5mb / 53 mins)
Uncut interview: Peter David part 1
July 17, 2007
Reviving our occasional series of hour long uncut versions of the interviews that were recorded for I’m ready for my close-up and now Panel Borders, we have the first half of Paul Cornell’s complete interview with Peter David regarding his career in comics, sci-fi novels and the small screen.
This selection (which is in the chronological order it was recorded) represents the first half of last week’s IRFMCU followed by the whole of last week’s PB, the first half of yesterday’s PB and then the second half of IRFMCU as well as additional material.
Paul and Peter talk about writing Doctor Who and Star Trek: The next generation novels respectively and Peter’s run on comics such as Spider-man, The Hulk, Captain Marvel and The Dark Tower.
(mp3 format, 45.9mb / 50 mins)
Podcast: 1001 comics by Peter David pt.2
July 16, 2007
This afternoon’s show is now available to download… (mp3 format, 13.8mb)
For more info and a selection of different file formats you can download or stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com
Panel Borders and other podcasts 
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