The Lovecraft Investigations

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.

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

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. "The Lovecraft Investigations". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  3. 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.
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