Liam Rudden: Scarify yourself on CD adventure

ORSON Welles’ classic radio broadcast of War of The Worlds created mass panic in the United States when millions tuned in on Hallowe’en 1938.

The Scarifyers - The King of Winter. Pic: Comp

In the forties, Dick Barton: Special Agent on the BBC Light Programme regularly attracted a daily audience of more than 20 million listeners.

Over the decades series such as The Goon Show, The Navy Lark and The Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy opened the imaginations of millions.

More recently shows like Old Harry’s Game, Cabin Pressure and a host of prog-rammes by Graham Fellows’ alter-ego John Shuttle-worth have proved the popularity of radio drama lives on in the digital age.

This week, the latest Scarifyers adventure dropped onto my desk, on CD. An audio drama, previous escapades have been broadcast on Radio 4 Extra, it draws inspiration from all of the above, creating a irreverent, somewhat tongue-in-cheek drama that epitomises the beauty of well-done radio drama - the ability to picture the action in your head.

The only limit is your imagination, as they say.

The latest case for The Scarifyers - MI-13 investigators Harry Crow (David Warner) and Professor Dunning (Terry Molloy) is The King of Winter, which finds the pair investigating a train porter found frozen to his living room chair.

Released by Bafflegab Productions, The Scarifyers’ tales of comedic supernatural intrigue are set in 1930s Britain, which is fitting, for many the decades was the golden age of radio.

Created by producer Simon Barnard, MI-13 first materialised in 2006 and their adventures have starred such well known names as Brian Blessed, Leslie Phillips and Nigel Havers.

A good pedigree if ever there was one. So, if good escapist radio drama is your thing, grab a copy of The King of Winter and see what you think.

Give www.bafflegab.co.uk a visit now.