Anastasia Black, science hero, in the vein of Professor Nebulous or Doctor Who, has retired and so is happy to be finally able to ignore the desperate calls from her prior colleagues about mind worms and catastrophic disaster.
A shame then that a confluence of strange weather and solar flares throws her, her nice new house and a hapless delivery boy called Eddie Surname through time and space.
This is, as you may have guessed, a spoof. The aliens of this first episode come from Tranquillos, a pleasure planet and have a cheery disposition about the spa, the pleasant climate, the fires caused by relentless shelling from space, and the free buffet. Being the only person of competence who happens to be about, it will of course be up to Anastasia to save the day, which as a bit annoying given she thought all of this faff was behind her.
It's very silly, but does a decent amount of character work such that even though the traditional tropes of the genre get the required poking, the attitudes of our main two are the most prominent source of laughs. Anastasia in particular, just being done with this entire scenario is gleeful, and nicely balanced by Eddie as the companion who is a bit less awed than they usually are.
Plus there's naturally hints of a wider plot to come, with advice from a mysterious stranger, and one of the most amusing cast lists I've seen in a while.
Went on the "keep listening" list fairly quickly.
Tagged: Radio Comedy Cast Sitcom Science fiction