Professor Dunning is stuck in his university rooms – with just Digby the dog, and a cricket ball named Wilson…

I’ve missed The Scarifyers. Simon Barnard and Paul Morris’ offbeat genre series has run for a long time now – it originally starred Nicholas Courtney, who passed away nearly a decade ago – and Terry Molloy’s Professor Dunning has often been the “straight man” in the stories. It’s great therefore to have a story that focuses pretty much entirely on him.

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention, and after the initial shock has begun to pass, a lot of creative people have found new ways to express themselves within the confines of lockdown. This half hour adventure features Molloy, David Benson and Lisa Bowerman (both the latter in multiple roles), and while it uses a lockdown as its starting point, this isn’t trying to say something deep and meaningful about the current situation. Instead, it riffs on a story that may be familiar to Bafflegab listeners from another range…

All the actors are on fine form – Molloy in particular has plenty of fun in his Castaway moments – and Barnard’s direction, Mark Henrick’s sound design and Edwin Sykes’ music complement their work.

Verdict: An enjoyable half hour with one of the least likely investigators you’ve come across. And it’s free! 8/10

Paul Simpson

 

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