A BBC sci-fi thriller

Forest 404

Forest 404: 9-part thriller, 9-part talk, 9-part soundscape and exclusive bonus documentary 
 
Can you feel loss for something you've never known? 
 
Meet Pan. She lives a few centuries from now, in a future beyond a data crash that wiped out most records of life from before the 23rd century: The Cataclysm. Her job is to sort through the old sound recordings that survived from before the crash - from The Slow Times. When winters were still cold. When the USA still had people in it. 
 
All day she listens to sounds from The Slow Times, and she decides which noises live, and which can just...finally die. Deleted to make space. Because data costs. 
 
But when she finds an old recording of a rainforest, she has no idea what it is. Because forests no longer exist. And the sound of it haunts her - she is compelled to hunt down the truth about how the forests of the old world died. But the agents of new world have other ideas... 
 
A sci-fi thriller starring Pearl Mackie (Doctor Who), Tanya Moodie (Sherlock, Motherland) and Pippa Haywood (Green Wing, Bodyguard). 
 
Each episode is accompanied by a talk which looks at the issues raised by the drama, featuring a diverse range of speakers: musicians, bio-futurists, anthropologists and tree-climbers. They explore questions ranging from 'Why should I listen to trees?' to 'Would you vote for an AI government?' and 'What is death in the digital age?' 
 
Each episode also comes with an immersive soundscape of natural world environments, mixed in binaural sound for a 3D headphone experience. You can hear the sound of the Sumatran rainforest, the songs of whales, a chorus of frogs, and a full playout of Bonobo's specially-composed theme music. 
 
Lastly, this release includes an exclusive bonus documentary episode, which looks at the making of the series, featuring interviews with writer Timothy X Atack and director Becky Ripley. It also shares the findings of The Forest 404 Experiment: a related project in collaboration with Exeter University and the Open University, about the effects that different natural sounds have on our moods and mental health. 
 
Credits: 
Pan - Pearl Mackie 
Daria - Tanya Moodie 
Theia - Pippa Haywood 
With theme music by Bonobo 
Directed by Becky Ripley 
 
Track listing: 
1. Episode 1: Life in the Fast Times 
2. Talk 1: Why should I listen to trees? 
3. Soundscape 1: Rainforest Symphony 
4. Episode 2: The Fumetown Priest 
5. Talk 2: How is the sound of the world changing? 
6. Soundscape 2: Frog Chorus 
7. Episode 3: Into the Inner 
8. Talk 3: Could I live in darkness? 
9. Soundscape 3: Whale Songs 
10. Episode 4: Of Earthly Delights 
11. Talk 4: Why do trees live so long 
12. Soundscape 4: Woodland Walk 
13. Episode 5: Last Days of the Slow World 
14. Talk 5: Will we all become cyborgs? 
15. Soundscape 5: Theia's Hometown 
16. Episode 6: A New Leaf 
17. Talk 6: What is death in the digital age? 
18. Soundscape 6: Pan's Dwindling 
19. Episode 7: Dreams of the Autopilot 
20. Talk 7: Would you vote for an AI government? 
21. Soundscape 7: Daria's Nightmare 
22. Episode 8: Future Conditional 
23. Talk 8: How will humans die out? 
24. Soundscape 8: The Memory Transfer 
25. Episode 9: Enigmata 
26. Talk 9: Love Letter to the Forest... 
27. Soundscape 9: Bonobo's Theme 
28. Exclusive bonus 'making of' documentary

Forest 404: 9-part thriller, 9-part talk, 9-part soundscape and exclusive bonus documentary 
 
Can you feel loss for something you've never known? 
 
Meet Pan. She lives a few centuries from now, in a future beyond a data crash that wiped out most records of life from before the 23rd century: The Cataclysm. Her job is to sort through the old sound recordings that survived from before the crash - from The Slow Times. When winters were still cold. When the USA still had people in it. 
 
All day she listens to sounds from The Slow Times, and she decides which noises live, and which can just...finally die. Deleted to make space. Because data costs. 
 
But when she finds an old recording of a rainforest, she has no idea what it is. Because forests no longer exist. And the sound of it haunts her - she is compelled to hunt down the truth about how the forests of the old world died. But the agents of new world have other ideas... 
 
A sci-fi thriller starring Pearl Mackie (Doctor Who), Tanya Moodie (Sherlock, Motherland) and Pippa Haywood (Green Wing, Bodyguard). 
 
Each episode is accompanied by a talk which looks at the issues raised by the drama, featuring a diverse range of speakers: musicians, bio-futurists, anthropologists and tree-climbers. They explore questions ranging from 'Why should I listen to trees?' to 'Would you vote for an AI government?' and 'What is death in the digital age?' 
 
Each episode also comes with an immersive soundscape of natural world environments, mixed in binaural sound for a 3D headphone experience. You can hear the sound of the Sumatran rainforest, the songs of whales, a chorus of frogs, and a full playout of Bonobo's specially-composed theme music. 
 
Lastly, this release includes an exclusive bonus documentary episode, which looks at the making of the series, featuring interviews with writer Timothy X Atack and director Becky Ripley. It also shares the findings of The Forest 404 Experiment: a related project in collaboration with Exeter University and the Open University, about the effects that different natural sounds have on our moods and mental health. 
 
Credits: 
Pan - Pearl Mackie 
Daria - Tanya Moodie 
Theia - Pippa Haywood 
With theme music by Bonobo 
Directed by Becky Ripley 
 
Track listing: 
1. Episode 1: Life in the Fast Times 
2. Talk 1: Why should I listen to trees? 
3. Soundscape 1: Rainforest Symphony 
4. Episode 2: The Fumetown Priest 
5. Talk 2: How is the sound of the world changing? 
6. Soundscape 2: Frog Chorus 
7. Episode 3: Into the Inner 
8. Talk 3: Could I live in darkness? 
9. Soundscape 3: Whale Songs 
10. Episode 4: Of Earthly Delights 
11. Talk 4: Why do trees live so long 
12. Soundscape 4: Woodland Walk 
13. Episode 5: Last Days of the Slow World 
14. Talk 5: Will we all become cyborgs? 
15. Soundscape 5: Theia's Hometown 
16. Episode 6: A New Leaf 
17. Talk 6: What is death in the digital age? 
18. Soundscape 6: Pan's Dwindling 
19. Episode 7: Dreams of the Autopilot 
20. Talk 7: Would you vote for an AI government? 
21. Soundscape 7: Daria's Nightmare 
22. Episode 8: Future Conditional 
23. Talk 8: How will humans die out? 
24. Soundscape 8: The Memory Transfer 
25. Episode 9: Enigmata 
26. Talk 9: Love Letter to the Forest... 
27. Soundscape 9: Bonobo's Theme 
28. Exclusive bonus 'making of' documentary

Two BBC Radio 4 full-cast thrillers

Tracks: Series 3 and 4

Dr Helen Ash returns in two more series of the award-winning conspiracy thriller

One of the best dramas – on television or radio – currently on offer

'One of the best dramas - on television or radio - currently on offer' Radio Times 
'The most brilliant drama' and 'really, really well produced' Dolly Alderton 
 
Tracks: Chimera 
 
A tower block collapses in London. Hundreds are killed. 
Except a man standing alone on the roof, who walks out of the rubble unscathed. 
 
And things are about to get stranger, because Dr Helen Ash is pregnant. But she hasn't had sex since her husband died 18 months ago. 
 
What connects her unexplained pregnancy, a mysterious phone message from a woman who died in the building collapse, and the man on the roof of the high-rise? 
 
The gripping conspiracy thriller and winner of Best Sound (BBC Audio Drama Awards) and Best Fiction (British Podcast Awards) returns for a third series. 
 
 
Tracks: Indigo 
 
Dr Helen Ash is involved in a road accident. But where was she going in such a hurry? And why can't she remember? 
 
The answer lies in the riddle of Helen's daughter, Frances, who's older than she should be. And a mysterious 'child-mother', who's younger than she should be... 
 
Romola Garai returns as Helen Ash in the compelling fourth series of Tracks. 
 
 
Cast of Tracks: Chimera 
Helen.... Hattie Morahan 
Freddy..... Jonathan Forbes 
Rachel.... Fiona O'Shaughnessy 
Other parts played by Rhodri Meilir, Eiry Thomas, Zahra Ahmadi, Clare Cage, Marc Danbury, Stewart Wright, Richard Elfyn, Kerry Shale, Elina Alminas, Carys Eleri, Morgan Watkins, Jeanette Percival, Matthew Gravelle, Richard Nichols, Amerah Saleh, Adam Deacon, Bijan Daneshmand, Emma Handy, Lea Mornar, Francois Pandolfo, Simon Armstrong, Saffron Coomber and Sean Murray 
 
Lead writer.... Matthew Broughton 
Episodes written by Matthew Broughton, Matt Hartley, Lucy Catherine, Caroline Horton and Timothy X Atack 
Directed by James Robinson, Rebecca Lloyd-Evans and Carl Prekopp 
Produced by James Robinson 
A BBC Cymru Wales Production 
 
Cast of Tracks: Indigo 
Helen.... Romola Garai 
Freddy.... Jonathan Forbes 
Other parts played by Andrew Gower, Georgia Henshaw, Sally Orrock, Carys Eleri, Sion Pritchard, Joanna van Kampen, Scarlett Courtney, Adam Courting, Lucy Reynolds, Ashleigh Hadadd, David Hounslow, Sinead MacInnes, Juliet Cowan and Marc Danbury 
 
Written by Matthew Broughton 
Produced and Directed by James Robinson 
A BBC Cymru Wales Production

Timothy X Atack

'Dark and strange and wonderful . . . A marvellous piece of world-building, a celebration of care and a condemnation of the blindness of organised religion'

‘Father Alberto is hilarious, moving, and delightfully weird. A timeless portrait of humanity in its very real darkness, counterbalanced with a passionate sense of hope. I thought it was brilliant’

'I've rarely read anything so vivid and empathetic, so gentle and yet utterly heartbreaking. It's historical fiction with a modern message, but not in a way that feels trite. It's religious but in a firmly human way. And it's about love, but there's no twee romance in sight'

'I love historical fiction in which the route to the pre-modern – as a place, a time, and an earlier way of seeing and being – is furrowed through language. Father Alberto and the Flying Girl is one of these books. I was absorbed by every sight and sound on the page. Maybe not since Alan Garner or Peter Ackroyd has a word-dream of the past been conjured with such moving and brilliant magic'

'Boldly written, richly physical and brilliantly inventive, Father Alberto and the Flying Girl lets us inhabit a beautiful, cruel medieval world made resplendent with a memorable cast of strange and wondrous characters, both human and animal. A moving and spiritual debut novel. I look forward very much to what Timothy X Atack does next'

'The thing that struck me about this book (aside from its pitch-perfect, super-consistent tone, and the sharpness of the writing line-by-line) was its relevance. It’s about care, compassion and kindness, in the face of an unforgiving world. The story is as strange as it is universal, as dark as it is joyous, as hilarious as it is heartfelt: it's a truly special book'

Christopher Wakling, author of What I Did

[Father Alberto and the Flying Girl] skilfully combines antic comedy with serious moral themes… This novel is gratifyingly absorbing, with well-paced…action and carefully revealed plot, gesturing towards larger mysteries outside the margins of the tale

'Dark and strange and wonderful' MARK HADDON, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time'Hilarious, moving, and delightfully weird... I thought it was brilliant' JO HARKIN, author of The Pretender 
 
In a backwater parish somewhere in medieval Europe, new priest Alberto finds himself protecting those deemed insane. Yet Alberto must also contend with the vicious Abbess – and the terrifying Inferrant Brethren, with whom he has history... 
 
Under the reign of the Abbess, the Abbey of Saint Particular imprisons the mad – and therefore godless. Only once each year are the inmates set free for a day, on the drunken Feast of the Holy Fool. Idealistic Alberto is given the thankless task of returning them to the dungeons once the day is over, but soon starts to see that he could help the ‘fools’ and even learn from them. 
 
There is just one who escapes his grasp: the Flying Girl, a mysterious child who leaps from tree to tree, refusing to speak sense or stay on the ground. 
 
As Alberto grows braver in his defiance of the Abbess, everything comes to a head when the Inferral are called. A terrifying brotherhood of religious inquisition and torture, they are come to rid the parish of evil. The Flying Girl must be caught once and for all - and Alberto’s unorthodox kindnesses put him more and more at risk... 
 
Bold, vivid and blackly funny, Father Alberto and the Flying Girl is a fiercely imaginative story about kindness, society and so-called madness; about getting things wrong - and hope.

Timothy X Atack

Praise for Father Alberto and the Flying Girl

'Dark and strange and wonderful . . . A marvellous piece of world-building, a celebration of care and a condemnation of the blindness of organised religion'

‘Father Alberto is hilarious, moving, and delightfully weird. A timeless portrait of humanity in its very real darkness, counterbalanced with a passionate sense of hope. I thought it was brilliant

'I've rarely read anything so vivid and empathetic, so gentle and yet utterly heartbreaking. It's historical fiction with a modern message, but not in a way that feels trite. It's religio ...

'Dark and strange and wonderful . . . A marvellous piece of world-building, a celebration of care and a condemnation of the blindness of organised religion'

‘Father Alberto is hilarious, moving, and delightfully weird. A timeless portrait of humanity in its very real darkness, counterbalanced with a passionate sense of hope. I thought it was brilliant

'I've rarely read anything so vivid and empathetic, so gentle and yet utterly heartbreaking. It's historical fiction with a modern message, but not in a way that feels trite. It's religio ...

'Dark and strange and wonderful . . . A marvellous piece of world-building, a celebration of care and a condemnation of the blindness of organised religion'

‘Father Alberto is hilarious, moving, and delightfully weird. A timeless portrait of humanity in its very real darkness, counterbalanced with a passionate sense of hope. I thought it was brilliant

'I've rarely read anything so vivid and empathetic, so gentle and yet utterly heartbreaking. It's historical fiction with a modern message, but not in a way that feels trite. It's religio ...

Books by Timothy X Atack

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