Radio interviews with Warren Pleece, Denise Mina, Garen Ewing and Simon Barnard

I'm ready for my close-up: The Scarifyers

As we enter Doctor Who's 50th anniversary year, I'm ready for my close-up investigates a radio drama series tangentally connected to the franchise. The Scarifyers is a horror / black comedy series, with new installments broadcast each year on BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC 7) and released on CD and concern the adventures of an elderly horror writer and his retired police sidekick as they investigate supernatural crimes and occurances in 1950s Britain. The cast includes Terry Molloy (Doctor Who's Davros), Nicholas Courtney (Doctor Who's Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) and David Warner (Time Bandits et al.) with supporting cast including actors famous for roles in Doctor Who and other Sci-Fi dramas such as Gabriel Woolf, Philip Madoc, Gareth David-Lloyd and Brian Blessed.

Alex Fitch talks to series writer and producer Simon Barnard and CD cover artist Garen Ewing about the genre crossing narrative, their love of old SF and horror and the use of iconic actors in new serialised roles.

5pm, Friday 25th January 2013, repeated 8am, Tuesday 29th January, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Panel Borders: Around the country with Constantine

In the third of our trilogy of shows looking at the 25th anniversary of John Constantine: Hellblazer, Alex Fitch talks to creators of the comic book from opposite ends of the UK. Scots novelist and playwright Denise Mina discusses her year long tenure as writer of the title from 2006-07 and remembers the challenges of penning her first comic book scripts; Brighton based artist Warren Pleece talks about pencilling and inking 9 issues of the comic in 1997 and '98, plus collaborating with Philip Bond for SF spin-off Bad Blood at the turn of the century.

6pm, Sunday 27th January, repeated at 4.30pm, Tuesday 29th January, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / extended podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

The Scarifyers jumps from audio adventure to comics

(with thanks to Matt Badham): Artist and illustrator Simon Gurr, whose credits include 2000AD and Brunel: A Graphic Biography, has announced he is working on The Scarifyers, a brand new comic based on the audio series aired by on BBC Radio, written by series co-creator Simon Barnard and sporting a very handsome cover from ligne claire legend Garen Ewing.

Set in 1936 London, the comic follows Detective Inspector Lionheart’s investigation of a mysterious death at the home of academic and ghost author Professor Dunning.

"The spookiness is laced with plenty of humour and witty cultural references," says Gurr, "and, as you would expect from an audio play, the dialogue sparkles."

The Scarifyers audio adventure series is produced by Cosmic Hobo Productions and based on stories written by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris. Set in 1936 and 1937, it follows the exploits of DI Lionheart and ghost-story writer Professor Dunning, as played by Nicholas Courtney and Terry Molloy.

Each adventure is a self-contained story and is released on CD and direct download. The first two stories, The Nazad Conspiracy and The Devil of Denge Marsh, were broadcast on BBC7 in 2007. Guest stars have included Brian Blessed, Leslie Phillips and Nigel Havers.

In 2011, after the death of actor Nicholas Courtney, David Warner joined the series with The Magic Circle, centred around the disappearance of Lionheart, and introduced new lead character Harry Crow, Lionheart's former police colleague. It was released in November 2011 and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra earlier this year. The seventh Scarifyers story, The Horror of Loch Ness, will be released in June 2012 and features the final performance of the late Philip Madoc.

"The Scarifyers is already a successful audio adventure series," Simon notes on his blog. "The comic adapts part one of the first audio adventure: The Nazad Conspiracy, and Simon has skilfully re-written it for a visual form."

Garen Ewing has drawn all the covers for the seven Scarifyers audio releases so far.

- Both Simons will be selling copies of #1 at the Bristol Comic Expo on 12th-13th May and at Kapow on Saturday 19th May, so look out for the Scarifyers banner if you are at either of these events.