DAVID K. BARNES - WRITER
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Wooden Overcoats - The Complete Season!

12/11/2015

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Our sitcom has reached over 15,000 downloads, and today picked up listeners in South Sudan and Syria. If you'd have told me at the beginning of the year that I'd later be able to type that sentence and have it actually mean something, I'd have told you to stop gibbering and get out of my bath. But here we are.

Wooden Overcoats.

All eight episodes of it.
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Picking up from last week's cliffhanger, Episode Eight finds Rudyard in a stumper of a situation - and it seems only Antigone and Georgie can save him! There's plenty of twists and turns in our season finale, and I wouldn't dream of spoiling them here, but the episode reaches back to the very beginning of Episode One to reveal its shocking secrets, and there are changes afoot for Funn Funerals... It's bursting at the seams with characters, with Reverend Wavering (Andy Secombe) popping back for probably his largest role in the series, and Agatha Doyle (Alison Skilbeck), Mayor Desmond Desmond (Steve Hodson) and weary secretary Marjorie (Elle McAlpine) present and correct to see us out in style. There's also a few quick cameos from some other old favourites, but I'll let you discover them for yourself.

Most of all, it's the last chance to listen to the quintet of characters who've been front and centre throughout all eight episodes of Wooden Overcoats. The twitchy frustration of Antigone Funn (Beth Eyre), the enraging cheerfulness of Eric Chapman (Tom Crowley), the unflappable spirit of Georgie Crusoe (Ciara Baxendale), and the soothing tones of Madeleine (Belinda Lang). And most of all, that gloomy, fussy, manic, self-sabotaging little undertaker, Rudyard Funn (Felix Trench). 

I'll probably write a few words about the season as a whole later on, and we've still got our fourth Live Show to come on Monday 16th November so it doesn't quite feel over yet. But for those of you who've been listening to us whilst we've been rolling along: thank you. And to those of you who haven't heard a word of it, you've got four hours of hopefully humorous funereal fun ahead of you. We're all so, so proud of what we've achieved with this series and we just want as many people as possible to hear it.

You can listen to all eight episodes of Wooden Overcoats on iTunes or your preferred podcast client, or stream them on the official website.

Enjoy yourselves!
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Team Wovercoats: John Wakefield, Ciara Baxendale, Tom Crowley, me, Felix Trench, Beth Eyre, Andy Goddard
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Wooden Overcoats - Episodes 6 & 7

7/11/2015

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By 'eck, I'm getting behind on these. Still, I can happily report that Wooden Overcoats continues to gain listeners every day, and that we're being listened to in over 72 countries! Christ. And if that wasn't enough, The Daily Telegraph gave us an absolutely stunning write-up and included us on their list of the world's best fiction and storytelling podcasts. "Quietly significant," indeed. I shall have that phrase inscribed on my tombstone one day.
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Episode 6: Georgina And The Waves is probably my personal favourite episode of the four I wrote, building on the simmering tensions between the main characters over the past five episodes. Here they start entirely boiling over, with Eric Chapman (a fine study of frustration from Tom Crowley) showing us the acerbic sides to his nature that we've only occasionally glimpsed before, and an especially heartfelt argument between Rudyard and Antigone which remains my very favourite scene in the entire series.

Yet all this drama unfolds against perhaps the silliest storyline in the show, as Funn Funerals and Chapman's go head-to-head to win the funeral of paranoid, drunken lighthouse keeper Captain Scott Sudbury (played by a startlingly manic Thom Tuck of The Penny Dreadfuls fame). There's also the inclusion of Georgie's nan - a barmy Julia Deakin (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, House of Anubis) - which adds an extra complication to Rudyard's plans. And a big hurrah to the introduction of Alison Skilbeck (Soldier Soldier, The Phantom of the Opera, and assorted teatime mystery dramas) as sweetshop sleuth Agatha Doyle, who'll be playing an important part throughout the remainder of this season's events.

Overall, though, this is an episode for the main four: Felix Trench, Beth Eyre, Tom Crowley and Ciara Baxendale. And they knock it out of the park. 
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And the emotional turmoil of that episode continues into Cordelia Lynn's The Cliffhanger, with Antigone making an especially dramatic decision, whilst Rudyard gets himself into the worst situation of his life so far. To say any more than that would be to spoil the story, but it's a rollercoaster of a narrative which'll only be properly concluded with next week's Episode 8. There's a relentlessly exciting ending too, thanks to superb sound design from producers Andy Goddard and John Wakefield and a rattlingly energetic score from Wooden Overcoats composer James Whittle.

Our guest stars this week are the three village hoodlums (Jason Forbes and Phil Wang of sketch troupe Daphne, and Ella Garland), the terrors of Piffling Vale, who assist Antigone with a spot of soul-searching.  There's also yet more fun to be had with an unnervingly cheery Mayor Desmond Desmond (Steve Hodson) and the investigations of Agatha Doyle (Alison Skilbeck). But the real star of Episode 7 is Cordelia Lynn herself, whose rich and intelligent dialogue - not to mention dynamic plotting - lends a uniquely personal perspective on the lives of the residents of Piffling (and grants Madeleine - Belinda Lang - some of her finest material). 

As before, you can subscribe to us on iTunes and download us to whichever device you choose, or do the same via your preferred podcast client. There's also the option of listening to each episode at the Wooden Overcoats website.

And if you're a London resident, or you fancy visiting for the occasion, our final Live Show has tickets on sale. It'll be on Monday 16th November, at the Horse & Stables Pub near Lambeth North tube station, 7.30pm, with tickets going for a mere £5 each. Two episodes of live radio comedy, with confirmed guest stars Alison Skilbeck, Jason Forbes, Phil Wang and Paul Putner. You've never had it so good.

Enjoy yourselves!

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    David K. Barnes

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