Pick of the podcasts: Atlantic: A Scottish Story, Tiffany Dover Is Dead*, Typecast

When it comes to Scottish podcasts, The Big Light are knocking it out of the park.

The production company, co-created by BBC Radio Scotland alumni Janice Forsyth, has developed Blethered with Sean McDonald, Unspeakable Scotland and The Tartan Noir Show to name a few.

As well as these factual shows they’ve also developed strong fictional productions, the pick of the bunch probably being Atlantic. It’s a mouthwatering journey in eight parts through the history of one of Scotland’s most remote locations, St Kilda.

The series was written by award-winning musical theatre partnership, Noisemaker – author and lyricist Scott Gilmour and composer Claire McKenzie.

The pair have penned a soaring score, and attracted a star-studded cast featuring Blythe Duff, Kate Dickie, David Hayman and Richard Rankin.

The podcast stemmed from a hit stage show written by Gilmour and McKenzie, both Royal Conservatoire of Scotland alumni. “When the pandemic hit, we, like so many artists working in live entertainment, were left wondering how we could continue to work,” said Gilmour.

“We were fortunate enough to know Janice already and it was on a very hopeful whim that we contacted them and asked, ‘have you ever thought about making a podcast musical?’ The answer, thankfully, was, ‘No…but we’d love to!’

The podcast, which was nominated at The Radio Academy’s prestigious Arias awards last week, has been so successful that Forsyth reckons it could be coming soon to a screen near you. “When Scott and Claire approached us, we said yes immediately as they are two of the UK’s brightest theatre talents and we always wanted to produce drama,” she said. “We’ve already had interest in the show from the film world. So watch this space.”

Tiffany Dover Is Dead*

The vaccine is finally arriving in communities across America. Tiffany Dover, the head nurse in her hospital’s Covid unit, proudly gets the shot, and then faints in front of news cameras. She returns to the podium 20 minutes later but a new bonkers conspiracy theory has been hatched: she had died and been replaced. Brandy Zadrozny sets out to trace those who started the theory.

Typecast

Join the girls from the Rare Birds Book Club for a fun dinner party game. They dive into favourite books and attempt to cast their film adaptations, making great observations and suggestions along the way. It’s the novels you love like you’ve never heard them talked about before; the first series includes Far From The Madding Crowd and Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster Riders.