More 2000AD Audio Dramas Announced: ‘Future Shocks’ Podcasts Exclusive To Subscribers
by Richard Bruton
Following on from announcements of future 2000 AD audiobook adaptations of the likes of Judge Dredd The Pit, Brink, and Halo Jones, we also get the announcement of a new audio adaptation, available right now, exclusive to 2000 AD subscribers – Future Shocks Radio.
The new half-hour audio dramatisations feature voice talent including Konnie Huq, Rufus Hound, Al Murray, and Janet Ellis and will be adapting a series of classic Future Shocks, a staple of 2000 AD since 1977 when writer Steve Moore pioneered the idea of the done-in-one tales with a twist.
However, these new adaptations – Future Shocks Radio – are only available to current and future 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine subscribers to listen to for free through the 2000 AD app.
It’s an interesting new sweetener for subscribers, providing extra free material to go along with their copies of 2000 AD and/or the Megazine. Certainly, in these difficult times and following a particularly difficult year, publishers are looking long and hard at increasing their subscriber numbers, getting as much of a profit from what they produce and it’s extras like this that may well turn a number of undecided readers into subscribers.
This from Ben Smith, head of publishing at Rebellion:
“Subscribers are a vital part of 2000 AD and we are always looking for ways to reward them. This year more than any has been incredibly tough for everyone including our own readers, so to be able to give them these podcasts which have been made with such humour and enthusiasm by Natt and his team who have proven themselves to be long-standing admirers of 2000 AD is a real treat. We can’t wait to hear what they make of these first episodes and the rest of the series over the next few months.”
The Future Shocks Radio audio adaptations are produced by two-time BAFTA winner Nathaniel Tapley (Have I Got News For You, The News Quiz) and will feature vocal talents including former Blue Peter presenters Konnie Huq and Janet Ellis, comedians Rufus Hound and Al Murray, Eastenders actor Nitin Ganatra, Hollyoaks actor Lizzie Roper, and Spitting Image voice actor Steve Nallon, as well as compelling new voices like 2020 BAFTA-winner Gbemi Ikumelo.
The first episode is live on the 2000 AD app now and features something suitably seasonal with adaptations of One Christmas During Eternity (from 2000 AD Prog 271, 1982) by Alan Moore and Jesus Redondo and The Star (from 2000 AD Prog 297, 1983) by Chris Lowder and Massimo Bellardinelli. These first couple of adaptations feature the vocal talents of Katherine Jakeways, Nitin Ganatra, Steve Nallon, Thomas Tapley, Darren Strange, Lisa Bowerman, and Zoe S Battley.
Future episodes of Future Shocks Radio will be released in 2021 and will feature plenty of classic Future Shocks, including – [deep breath now] – Grawks Bearing Gifts by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson, Long Live the Queen by Kelvin Gosnell and Eric Bradbury, The English/Phlondrutian Phrasebook by Alan Moore and Brendan McCarthy, The Sacrifice by Alan Hebden and Mike White, A Cautionary Fable by Alan Moore and Paul Neary, Burping Hitler by Rob Williams and Simon Gurr, Beware the Men in Black by David Perry and Jesus Redondo, Robot Repairs by Robert Flynn and Brett Ewins & Jim McCarthy, Drive He Said by Al Ewing and Edison George, Spaceland by Al Ewing and Edmund Bagwell, Blast Barclay by Grant Morrison and Mike White, Sunburn by Alan Moore and Jesus Redondo, and The Armageddon Game by Peter Milligan and Anthony Jozwiak.
Producer Nathaniel Tapley has this to say on the project:
“It’s been a real honour to get to work with some of the treasured holy texts of British sci-fi. It’s been incredibly exciting to be able to find some of the most exciting talents at work today, combine them with stories and characters of extraordinary writers and artists, and to get them all to record the whole thing under their duvets as the world outside falls apart.
Bringing these stories to a new medium with its potential for new audiences feels like a tremendous responsibility, and it’s been amazing to see how the cast and crew have done frankly extraordinary work under difficult conditions. We hope we’ve created something both respectful of the past and new and unique in its own right. Where else can people hear Al Murray as an Australian alien in a story by Alan Moore, Janet Ellis as Nadia, futuristic companion of Blast Barclay in a story by Grant Morrison, or Rufus Hound vigorously pretending to be a car? We’d like to thank Tharg for the opportunity and request that he release our families now.”
