Digital Garden: Audio Dramas

When I was a little boy my mother used tapes from “Benjamin Blümchen” and his female counterpart “Bibi Blocksberg” to lull my sister and me to sleep. As we grew older the themes became more mature. There were crime hörspiele from the German “TKKG” or the American “Die drei ???” until there were no more tapes and just TV.

I rediscovered them a few years ago, when I moved to Bottrop, because I needed something to occupy my head while I strolled through the forest. At first I used non-fiction podcasts; mostly Maron’s “WTF” and some tech-related stuff (TWiT.tv). After a quick dip into the troves of the public radio, I stumbled upon the Audiodrama subreddit, where to this day I occasionally head in to get new material. Although there is a tendency to always suggest the same ten shows, its main moderator – webmaster of the aptly relevant Audio-Drama.com – has a weekly list of new shows. If this won’t do, I check the latest issue of “The End“. (Sidenote: I’m aware of services like Podchaser and similar communities but never got the hang of them.)

7 Suspects
Whodunnit about a tech entrepreneur in ten parts.

A New Winter
We are in the UK, it’s the year 2000, a family has been brutally murdered and the narrator gets curious and in creepy shit.

Agent Stoker
A “special” agent with a drinking problem is tracking down rogue AIs.

Archive 81
In his new job as an archivist, Dan develops a faible for tapes. Supernatural tapes,

Blis-ta
An one hour play about two homeless girls. Heavy accents but one gets used to it.

Cabin Pressure
The funniest entry on this list! An airline crew flies from A to Z. All episodes are available on Archive.org (see link in title).

Corked
Scripted true-crime story about wine and characters with a peculiar note.

Dark Woods
Somebody dies in the forest and the game warden and his ex-wife, the mayor, get involved.

Drifter’s Symapthy *new*
Emil Amos retells how he became the musician he is today. Interspersed with music-heavy episodes.

Filthy ’47
In a short but funny series a pulp-author and her hero must prevent a continuation of the second world war.

Hunted
Entertaining hunt of a group of prison escapees.

I am in Eskew
Weird audio fiction about a guy who is in Eskew. How did he get there? How will he get away from there? Will he?

Knifepoint Horror
Uncanny stories about the not so mundane. Best enjoyed in small doses.

Lee-Ann’s Spare Fridays
The protagonist wants to enjoy her work-free fridays, her sister suggests otherwise. British narrated comedy.

Life.After // The Message
Two somehow related tech thrillers.

Limetown
Another fictional true-crime story. This time a whole town disappears.

Malevolent
Lovecraftian horror show about a private detective and his inner demon.

Mansfield Mysteries
Cosy crimes comedially decrypted by courteous crone.

Mirrors
Ghosts, different timelines, a nice blend of sci-fi and the eerie.

Ocean Dreams *new*
Space Dolphins and other talking animals and humans in an hilariously fun romp.

Old Gods of Appalachia
A horror western show. The voice of the narrator is “chef’s kiss”-material.

Passenger List
Yet another fictional true-show. This time a whole plane disappears.

The Deca Tapes
Whodunnit in space. Ten parts but with individual stories.

The Diary of Aliza Shultz
Magical reality anthology sprinkled with meditations about reading, writing, and the largest cat in the world.

The Great Chameleon War
Aural trip where chameleons go nuts and finally start killing people.

The Harrowing
It rains on a Scottish isle, as it does tend to happen. The perfect weather to summon the devil.

The Lovecraft Investigations
Modernized versions of Lovecraft stories. Start with “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”.

The Magnus Archives
Spooky stories narrated by an archivist. With a bloody red thread going through all of them.

The Milkman of St. Gaff’s
Howie gets a new job as a milkman. Things and people go udderly crazy after that.

The Program
Self-contained stories where technology meets sociology/philosophy in a world where the Program rules.

The Silt Verses
Spiritual successor to “I am in Eskew” in more than one sense. There are gods and water. So much water.

The Sink
Short BBC show about sleep and dreams.

The Storage Papers
Campy narrated stories where in the end it’s nazi aliens from the depths of hell.

This Thing of Darkness
Psychological dramas around a forensic psychologist (two series as of now) from the BBC.

woe.begone
It’s not easy being Mike Walter. First you cut your arm off, then you are time traveling.

Wooden Overcoats
They put the “fun” in funeral home. British show about the business of dying.