Download Your Copy Cabin Pressure: A-Z: The BBC Radio 4 Airline Sitcom Originated By John Finne Available In Audiobook
in Australia I first came across Cabin Pressure Sas an audio download These are things I usually listen to while I'm travelling I uickly learned that it's not possible to listen to any of this wonderful show in public without making an embarrassing spectacle of yourself by laughing hysterically at something no one else can hearThe A Z collection I listened to in my car driving to and from work It made commuting a pure pleasure The only downside was the strange looks I got from people who were unfortunate enough to pull up next to me at traffic lights who clearly thought I was losing it I was Over and over I succumbed to helpless laughterIt was wonderful All the performances are wonderful and listening to the whole collection the consistency of the writing is even impressive The inventiveness involved in the endless games they play on board from the Travelling Lemon game to Brians of Britain alone deserves accoladesCan't recommend it highly enoughPersonal highlights for me were the toffee bomb incident the unfortunate passenger who succumbed to death by fire extinguisher and Caroline's battles with the paranoid bassoon player Ich bin damals mehr zufällig auf diese Radioserie gestoßen weil ich mir angesehen habe was einer meiner Lieblingsschauspieler Ben noch so gemacht hat und was soll ich sagen Ich war schon nach derEpisode vollauf begeistertDie Stimmen gefallen mir sehr gut allen voran natürlich Bens aber auch Roger Allams welcher eine großväterliche Ruhe ausstrahlt und sie sind so beruhigend dass man diese Serie auch super zum Einschlafen hören kann Nebenbei verbessert sich natürlich auch das Gehör für die englische SpracheDa ich den Britischen Humor und den dazugehörigen Sarkasmus als sehr anziehend empfinde war dies die perfekte Serie für mich Es gab eigentlich keine fünf Minuten in denen ich nicht wenigstens einmal gelacht oder zumindest geschmunzelt habeDas dazugelieferte Booklet ist sehr liebevoll gestaltet und macht einen richtig hungrig die ganzen Episoden durchzuhören Ich hab die komplette Serie jetzt schon fünfmal durchgehört und sie wird mir immer noch nicht langweiligFazit Eine rundum gelungene humorvolle Serie die für jeden Fan von britischem Humor und Ben sehr zu empfehlen ist Die CD ist absolut genial total lustig und typisch englisch etwas verschroben Man braucht keine perfekten Englischkenntnisse um die CD anzuhören Wieder einmal zeigt sich die BBC als ein Garant für gute Unterhaltung denn Cabin Pressure ist ein echtes Juwel britischen Humors Man trifft auf herrliche und mit wunderbaren Sprechern besetzte Figuren die sich in spitzzüngigen Dialogen wahre Wortgefechte liefern Die Folgen stehen jeweils für sich ein unterschwelliger roter Faden mündet jedoch in ein köstlich skurriles Finale Mit dieser Serie vergeht die Zeit wirklich no pun intended wie im Fluge Richtig genial wäre eine Ausgabe bei der alle Folgen auf einer Scheibe vorliegen etwa als DVD oder im MPFormat Dann könnte man sich alle Folgen einmal in einer durchgehenden binge listening Sitzung anhören und müsste nicht jede Stunde eine CD enthältFolgen à caMinuten die Scheiben wechseln Cabin Pressure is one of the funniest and possibly THE funniest sit com I have ever come across All of itsepisodes are gems funny clever sometimes moving The acting is never less than top notch The timing is impeccable It makes me laugh out loud from beginning to end Set in a small charter airline with just one plane in each episode the characters fly to a different location and face a different challenge Whether it's flying a cat in a hold they forget to heat getting into arguments with an air traffic controller in a remote desert airport or pushing a piano along Devon lanes there is no situation that does not go hilariously wrong for the teamThe show is written by John Finne a little known comedian outside of Radiowhich is a shame as he is a comic genius He also plays the relentlessly cheerful but dimwitted air steward Arthur He is the son of the company's owner Carolyn who got the plane in her divorce settlement Always on a shoestring budget she hired the two most affordable pilots she could find Captain Martin newly ualified and covering up his lack of confidence with prissiness and pomposity and First Officer Douglas a stereotypically posh and arrogant former captain who was fired from a prestigious airline for smuggling silk kimonos These four diverse characters interact brilliantly throughout the show and across theepisodes they gradually become friendsThe acting is second to none Benedict Cumberbatch is perhaps the best known star but my favourite is veteran actor Roger Allam whose voice is so lovely I'd happily listen to him read out the phone book Stephanie Cole has perfect timing and inflection as Carolyn The supporting cast is full of top names such as Timothy West Anthony Head Prunella Scales Alison Steadman and Helen Baxendale Actors as famous as these can afford to pick and chose their work so their participation in relatively small roles in a radio sitcom therefore demonstrate just what high uality listening Cabin Pressure isAs a slightly nervous flier I'd resisted listening to this show despite having heard the rave reviews of others as I was worried it would worsen the problem But in actual fact I've found it has helped reduce my fear of flying It makes flying seem normal and routine it's the passengers cargo and situations they find themselves in that are anything but The pilots are competent and there is only one 'incident' in the whole series and that is dealt with professionally by the two pilots who land the plane safely So bizarrely it's actually made me a lot less scared about flying Finne explains in the interview on this CD that he always wanted the show to be about a safe airlineThis CD boxset not a type of product I'd ever expected I'd buy again in the digital age to be honest containsCDs Allepisodes are here two to CD and there is also an interview with John Finne which includes outtakes from some of the episodes deleted scenes and the prologue introductions to the four main characters not heard before It's this bonus material that is not available anywhere else that made me buy this and not simply download the episodes There's also a CD booklet with images from John Finne's notebooks examples of unused episode ideas and some excerpts from the notebooks of the characters which are uite funnyFor fans of the show particularly if you don't already own the episodes in another format it's worth getting this for the bonus material If you already own
some of the episodes it may be less financially sensible although I suspect I'd still have bought it if I'd been in that position because I like the show that much If you're not a fan of the show ie you've not heard it yet you might as well buy it in this format It would make a great present for someone especially those always hard to buy for male relativesDo make sure that whatever you play the episodes on doesn't leave a gap between tracks otherwise it can make the show disjointed with strange breaks right in the middle of lines You can usually alter the settings on a device to remove the gap between tracks All the CDs are on one spindle in the box so you have to lift them all off to find the one you want which is a bit annoying Those are the only downsides I can findIn summary if you love the show buy it If you don't love the show buy it and you will love it I'm probably setting it up for a fall with the title of this review but I honestly don't think I can oversell Cabin Pressure John Finne's wonderful writing coupled with stellar performances from the cast and the perfectly pressured main setting of an aircraft pun intended make this whole series a delight I have been a fan for many years but I'm getting to enjoy it all over again with myandyear old children who can enjoy much of the show and would even choose this over an in car DVD I thought their favourite character would be the nice but dim Arthur played by Finne but they completely gravitated towards Roger Allam's witty and devious DouglasYou'll find plenty of other detailed descriptions of what the sitcom is about but if you enjoy comedy on TV or radio this is for you If you're an aspiring comedy writer then consider this a masterclass in sitcom writing and take solace in the fact that as talented as John Finne is he finds writing comedy just as hard as most others For some reason knowing how hard he has worked to write the shows makes me appreciate them all the The extra stuff in the accompanying booklet is nice and interesting my boys are keen to play the silly games often played by the crew on long tripsForget that Blu Ray boxset you're looking at get this and enjoy aroundhours of laughter.