Aliens land with an offer that simply can’t be turned down, and a letter home from far away.

The second batch of Future Shocks maintains the high standard of the Christmas special, with two terrific tales. Grawks Bearing Gifts, taken from the Alan Moore strip, sees Al Murray and Lizzie Roper’s Australian-sounding aliens arrive in the UK, and Prime Minister M******** T******* blithely accepting what’s on offer. The aliens travel the globe, and seem to be exceptionally gullible… or are they? Steve Nallon revives (I’m sure some would say disinters) his rendition of the Iron Lady leading  to a fun tale that has the Mighty Tharg chortling at the ending.

The second piece is much shorter, based on John Richardson’s story, and is a monologue enlivened by some suitably chilling sound effects – and Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor adding a sepulchral set of notes to proceedings. Ruth Bratt delivers an equally chilling performance in a story that goes for the short sharp shock.

Nathaniel Tapley’s scripts recreate the central themes and ideas for audio – and suitably updating for 2021 (see our interview with him here regarding this), and Rick Blything’s sound design and Pete Dennis’ edits create the very different worlds involved.

Verdict: Another… shocking pair of tales. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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