Bafflegab, out April 27

When Frank Cotton acquires a fabled puzzle box, he gets more than he bargained for, because the box is a doorway to Hell, ruled over by the sadistic Cenobites.

Clive Barker’s 1986 novella, and the basis of his directorial debut Hellraiser, becomes an audio play with a great guest cast. Paul Kane is a true Hellraiser aficionado (he wrote the definitive book on the series The Hellraiser Films and their Legacy) and translates Barker’s 186 pages into a respectful and authentic 75 minutes.

The cast is headed up by Alice Lowe (Prevenge) as Kirsty – she’s Frank’s friend here rather than daughter – Tom Meeten (The Ghoul) as both Cotton brothers, and Neve McIntosh (Doctor Who’s Madame Vastra) as Julia. There’s also a welcome connection to the original movies with Nicholas Vince (Chatterer) as a Cenobite and sleazy Businessman, and even Big Finish’s Bernice Summerfield (Lisa  Bowerman) makes an appearance.

Because there’s no third party narration to contextualise what people are thinking or what’s happening visually, the script has to do all the heavy lifting in the dialogue, and Kane does a great job in giving us enough understanding without shoehorning in clunky exposition. Having Kirsty as the third wheel in the relationship with Rory (no longer Larry) also adds a new dynamic to the story, Alice Lowe impressing here.

Producer and director Simon Barnard gets good work from all around him, Edwin Sykes’ synth score not trying to ape Christopher Young’s movie soundtrack, and the gruesome sound design by Simon Robinson is very effective at covering off the bone crunching, stabs and soul tearing.

Verdict: Come to daddy! You might think you know Hellraiser, but finally here’s an authentic British version of The Hellbound Heart without those annoying Americanisms that crept into the movie. These are also very different Cenobites, and movie poster boy Pinhead is a very different beast. 10/10

Nick Joy