Peri (short for Hesperia) lives in a lighthouse. Or rather, it used to be a lighthouse. She broke the light. Now it's a house. She shared the house with Ace (short for Horace), her brother, until he went missing. Peri hunted for him everywhere she could. Unfortunately, she's agoraphobic, so "everywhere" is limited to the lighthouse, and on good days the post box.
Until, that is, the lighthouse began to move. Every time night falls on the lighthouse, it becomes shrouded in fog, and the next day the fog clears to reveal it's in a different part of the world, sometimes in the past or future. This has included deserts, swamps, Mars and mysterious labyrinths that hold answers to the riddle of Peri's life.
The series starts remarkably slowly, with the first half dozen or so being mostly philosophical ponderings on what life means for different people that Peri meets, with discussions about theft, romance, the difficulties of working a photocopier and the troubles with doubles. Interspersed with the current timeline are a series of flashbacks to Peri's life with both Ace, who she hunts, and Ruth, an old friend, possibly hunting for her.
These memories relate to what's going on with Peri's search through the universe, and parts of her old life keep reappearing in the background, teasing and testing. Her search is fairly haphazard, and the first few episodes are too, but I persevered and I'm glad I did. The story kicks in pretty hard when she acquires (kidnaps) a co-traveller, in the form of Benny, someone she (might have) saved from food poisoning. Their adventures start driving more dramatic, with troublesome weather, hints from the future and an encounter with Spider-Pig.
I'm trying to decide how many things in it are Doctor Who references, and how many are my imaginings due to my overexposure to popular culture. Peri and Ace were companions, and even Benny could be a nod to Bernice Summerfield. Given the time and space travelling lighthouse (it's a building that acts as a public safety feature with a big light on top), I really hope it's intentional. Otherwise I'm more of a geek than my website's name suggests.
It might take you a while to get into, but the first series certainly builds to a big finish, and even if it occasionally feels unfocused, it's very well delivered. Peri has a rambling style, but her odd sidesteps into doing voices for inaminate objects or having conversations with herself are entertainingly silly, and once she and Benny meet, the additional voice adds a nice degree of contrast. There's a certain spookiness to everything going on that makes it an excellent one to listen to at night.
It's a good time to binge the first series, as the second one is just starting. Give it a go.
Tagged: Audio fiction Drama Cast Dramatised Urban fantasy Serial