Listen in terror

British horror radio from the advent of broadcasting to the digital age

By (author) Richard Hand

Hardback - £85.00

Publication date:

30 April 2014

Length of book:

232 pages

Publisher

Manchester University Press

Dimensions:

234x156mm

ISBN-13: 9780719081484

This groundbreaking book is the first full-length study of British horror radio from the pioneering days of recording and broadcasting right through to the digital audio cultures of our own time. The book offers an historical, critical and theoretical exploration of horror radio and audio performance examining key areas such as writing, narrative, performance practice and reception throughout the history of that most unjustly neglected of popular art forms: radio drama and ‘spoken word’ auditory cultures.

The volume draws on extensive archival research as well as insightful interviews with significant writers, producers and actors. The book offers detailed analysis of major radio series such as Appointment with Fear, The Man in Black, The Price of Fear and Fear on Four as well as one-off horror plays, comedy-horror and experimental uses of binaural and digital technology in producing uncanny audio.

"Listen in Terror provides a lively, enjoyable and in places provocative overview of its subject. One hopes that others will be encouraged to explore further what has been established here as a rich seam in British popular culture."

(Peter Hutchings, Times Higher Education, 19/06/2014)