bbc radio – A Damn Fine Cup of Culture

Six Damn Fine Degrees #282: The BBC Radio Lord Of The Rings Part Three: Stephen Oliver, The Composer For The King

Apr 17, 2026Apr 24, 2026Alan Kuhl GrahamLeave a comment

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

I think many people remember the first time that they discovered music that really fired the imagination. Music that wasn’t just the signature to a tale, but an integral part of the experience. If you wanted to imagine the other worlds of a tale – just a few bars of a theme and your mind begins to inhabit a whole new universe.

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: The ship sails ever, ever on

Mar 23, 2025Mar 23, 2025MattLeave a comment

Join us every week for a trip into the weird and wonderful world of trailers. Whether it’s the first teaser for the latest instalment in your favourite franchise, an obscure preview for a strange indie darling, whether it’s good, bad, ugly or just plain weird – your favourite pop culture baristas are there to tell you what they think.

What comes to your mind when you hear The Lord of the Rings and the name “Ian Holm”? For most, it’ll probably be Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy – but for Alan, it’s the BBC radio adaptation from 1981. Sadly, there are generally no trailers for radio shows, definitely not for ones that are 44 years old, so let’s instead do one better – and link to the actual episode. Enjoy!

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Poltercast: The Battersea Poltergeist (2021)

Apr 11, 2021Matt1 Comment

Ghost stories are a genre well suited to the audio format: they are, after all, about things going bump in the night. Fear is often generated more by what we imagine, how we fill in the blanks, more so than what we see with our own eyes. As such, BBC Radio’s The Battersea Poltergeist is a good fit for radio – and podcast, which is the format in which I listened to the series. Who wouldn’t want to hear all about ghostly goings-on while preparing dinner?