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Meet Dick Dixon in the 21st Century
It’s time to meet Dick Dixon, a space astronaut from the 1970s who has found himself in a version of the 21st Century almost, but not entirely, unlike our own. […]
It’s time to meet Dick Dixon, a space astronaut from the 1970s who has found himself in a version of the 21st Century almost, but not entirely, unlike our own.
Dick Dixon in the 21st Century is a new ‘disco SF’ audio sitcom in the vein of Police Squad, Blackadder and ‘Allo ‘Allo written by Jonathan Morris (Doctor Who) and directed by Toby Hadoke (Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf) .
It’s the first venture of Average Romp, a new production company dedicated to scripted audio comedy. So far one episode has been produced as a ‘pilot’ to gauge market interest and promote a Kickstarter to fund additional episodes. If it works, more series will follow; there are plenty of comedy writers with brilliant unmade sitcoms and it would be great for more of them to see the light of day.
It came about because Jonathan, who has had numerous TV sitcom scripts optioned and piloted over the years, thought he would write a sitcom to amuse himself. He sent it to his friend Toby, who also found it amusing, and who suggested that as lots of actors now have their own studios for remote recording they could produce it themselves.
Morris told Sci-Fi Bulletin: “I spent most of the first few months of lockdown watching endless episodes of the ‘disco SF’ TV series Buck Rogers, Space 1999 and Battlestar Galactica, and found that I spent most of my time making up my own jokes and comedy plots. Until I had so many jokes and plots that I had enough for a whole sitcom. Not just one episode, a whole series. It’s a tribute to all those shows, and every other science fiction TV show and film from the late 1970s, but it’s also about what it’s like to have been brought up with 1970s culture and attitudes, only to suddenly discover that you are in a world where times have changed. So it’s very silly, non-stop jokes, but also with a satirical point about the world today.”
The sitcom stars:
Kieran Hodgson as Dick. Kieran is a comedian, actor, writer and, most recently, impressionist in his ‘Bad TV Impressions’ online videos. He has been nominated three times for Best Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and is a regular in BBC 2 sitcom Two Doors Down.
Allyson June Smith as Gina. Allyson has received multiple nominations for Best Female Stand-up at the Canadian Comedy Awards, has taped her own hour long Comedy Now special, and has appeared at high profile festivals across the world.
Terry Molloy as Professor Disco. Terry has won several prestigious Radio and Audio Drama Awards and is best known as Mike Tucker in The Archers and Davros in Doctor Who.
Dan Starkey as B-G. Dan is an actor best known as Strax in Doctor Who and for the CBBC sketch show Class Dismissed.
Sooz Kempner as Fox. She is an actress, singer, stand-up comedian and internet sensation.
The pilot episode will be free to listen to and download on YouTube and SoundCloud from midday Monday 22nd March 2021.
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