BBC Radio 4, 5 April 2017, 24 April 2018

A podcaster discovers that truth is considerably stranger than fiction when he is press ganged into assisting into an investigation…

I’m not quite sure how I missed Julian Simpson’s highly enjoyable paranormal thriller when it was first broadcast last year, but it’s repeated this week with two new sequels following on Wednesday and Thursday. Nicola Walker stars as the mysterious Mary Lairre who works for “the government” investigating fractures – not of the bodily kind, but the temporal. When podcaster Hicks learns things he shouldn’t, she persuades her bosses that he could be of use to them – although we quickly realise that she’s a pragmatist at heart, and there are lots of uses that he could serve.

The incidental music at the start may make you think that we’re in similar territory to the much-missed Pilgrim, but although I suspect that this may well appeal to a similar audience, Mythos is very different in outlook. You could be cynical and say that it’s a meld of various previous series, but that would be unfair to Simpson (no relation, as far as I know!) who deftly builds a world where you can accept houses in different time periods and an intriguing explanation for ghosts.

Walker is adept at audio work – her long running role as Liv Chenka in Big Finish’s Eighth Doctor range has demonstrated that on many occasions – and Jonathan Bailey’s Hicks makes a good foil, with Tim McInnerny adding some gravitas as her superior.

Verdict: A solid and engaging play with considerable potential. 8/10

Paul Simpson