The Lovecraft Investigations

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The Lovecraft Investigations
Presentation
Hosted by
Genrehorror podcast
Written byJulian Simpson
Directed byJulian Simpson
LanguageBritish English
Production
Production
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes32
Publication
Original release2 January 2019 – 29 November 2020
Cited forBest Fiction (silver), British Podcast Awards
ProviderBBC Radio 4
Websitewww.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06spb8w

The Lovecraft Investigations is a series of fiction podcasts produced for BBC Radio 4 based on stories by H. P. Lovecraft. The series was written and directed by Julian Simpson and produced by Sweet Talk Productions.

Premise[]

The Lovecraft Investigations is structured as a podcast-within-a-podcast. Matthew Heawood (voiced by Barnaby Kay) and Kennedy Fisher (Jana Carpenter) host Mystery Machine, a true crime podcast investigating witchcraft, the occult and secret government operations. Over the course of the trilogy, the pair delves into a series of mysteries based loosely on Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos that have been expanded and updated to modern times.[1][2] The investigation proceeds through versions of Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Whisperer in Darkness, and The Shadow over Innsmouth.

Production details[]

The series was written Julian Simpson and is loosely connected to his Pleasant Green Universe audio drama setting.[3] In particular, a version of The Department, a shadowy government agency monitoring supernatural threats, appears in both the Mythos trilogy of audio dramas and The Lovecraft Investigations.[4] Karen Rose produced all three series with sound design by David Thomas and music by Tim Elsenburg.[2] The "Mystery Machine" characters continue in BBC Radio 4's 2022 Limelight series Who Is Aldrich Kemp?,[5] which continues the Pleasant Green storylines without a Lovecraft connection. In developing the series, Simpson sought to modernize Lovecraft's stories while also tying in different folklore and actual unsolved unsolved mysteries.[6]

Series[]

The trailer for The Case of Charles Dexter Ward was released in November 2018 with the full series being released in January 2019. In November 2019, a teaser was released for The Whisperer in Darkness followed the rest of the series in December. The following November, The Shadow Over Innsmouth was released along with three bonus episodes.[2]

Title Episodes Bonus Eps. Original airing Production Company
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward 10 — January 2019 Sweet Talk Productions for BBC Radio 4
The Whisperer in Darkness 9 2 November 2019
The Shadow Over Innsmouth 8 3 November 2020

Voice cast[]

Reception[]

Critical reception for The Lovecraft Investigations has been positive.[7] The Verge called the first series "like Serial mixed with True Detective",[8] and it received praise from The Spectator for its use of audio effects.[9]

In 2019, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward won silver honors for Best Fiction Podcast at the British Podcast Awards.[10] In 2020, the Lovecraft Investigations trilogy was among the top-ten most-listened-to podcasts/broadcasts on BBC Sounds.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ McMahon, James (29 March 2021). "Fear in your ear: The unstoppable rise of the horror podcast". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "The Lovecraft Investigations". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b Woodger, Andrew (10 January 2021). "BBC HP Lovecraft trilogy: Suffolk location of mystery village revealed". BBC News, East. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  4. ^ Moore, Ian (20 June 2021). "Welcome to Pleasant Green". Secret Panda. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  5. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Limelight: Who is Aldrich Kemp?". BBC. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  6. ^ Bullough, Charlie (25 March 2020). "Exploring the podcast phenomenon with Julian Simpson who has produced hit shows for the BBC". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  7. ^ Sawyer, Miranda (21 November 2020). "The week in audio: The Shadow Over Innsmouth; Hunting Ghislaine and more". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  8. ^ Liptak, Andrew (27 January 2019). "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward podcast is like Serial mixed with True Detective". The Verge. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  9. ^ Jeffries, Stuart. "Radio 4's new H.P. Lovecraft adaptation will give you the chills". The Spectator. Retrieved 12 August 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ "Success for BBC Sounds at the British Podcast Awards". News on News. 19 May 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2022.

External links[]

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