Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity of being introduced to some things that were a little obscure or hard to find. Some of these have been going for years and friends helped me to realize that I had been living in ignorance of something awesome. In order to keep you from doing the same, I wanted to create a venue to share these as they have given me great pleasure. So I hope you find as much fun in these as I have!
One of my friends recently borrowed an audio book that was read by Benedict Cumberbatch. When she returned it to me, she asked me if I have ever heard of the BBC radio show called "Cabin Pressure". I told her no, and she asked me if I liked British comedy and I said, "Of course!". We spent the next few weeks missing each other, but eventually we caught up and she gave me the four seasons that had already run for "Cabin Pressure". While radio shows in the US stopped being popular a long time ago, they are still being produced in the UK. As someone who has borrowed the local library's copy "The War of the Worlds" in the original radio show format, they really are quite amazing and completely unique format of story-telling. That one in particular was so much more powerful than the book. But onto Cabin Pressure!
Cabin Pressure is a well-written, witty comedy about a single plane charter airline company and the characters employed by it. I know - huge surprise that I am calling a British comedy called witty, but it's really good! The episode title's are alphabetical with the intended destination to where they are flying people or cargo (no job seems to be to small for this crew!). The owner of the plane is Carolyn Knapp-Shappey who is never afraid to let people know she is in control (voiced by Stephanie Cole). The new captain, Martin Crieff (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) is always eager to assert himself which is often to his detriment. The first officer, Douglas Richardson (voiced by Roger Allam) is the elder co-pilot whom everyone goes to in order to find the solutions to the conundrums they inevitably find themselves in. And Arthur Shappey, the owner's dimwitted son is brilliantly voiced by the writer of the series John Finnemore.
Together, they make for some hilarious fun and a great way for me to laugh my way up and down the 405! I am only into the third season, but some of the episodes are so funny and I do wonder how much of it is true...like are pilots really as bored as people driving long distances in cars and coming up with all sorts of word games to play with or on each other? And the hilarious issues they find themselves getting into are really something that those who enjoy British comedy should not miss!
