BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension has a specially commissioned anthology show starting on Monday. Blood Lines is a “dark and gripping collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror readings that showcases new and emerging short story writers.” To launch the series, a brand new story will lead off the series, written especially for BBC 7’s The 7th Dimension by award-winning author, Susanna Clarke! During this series’ two week run, you can listen for “intriguing conversations with mythical beasts; haunting tales of lost souls; dystopian visions of a future that’s just around the corner and demonic goings-on in internet chat rooms.” Blood Lines is being broadcast on BBC7 in the 7th Dimension slot between Monday 26th February – Friday 9th March, 2007 at 18:30 (repeated at 12:30am).
Programmes become available online from the first date of transmission. And should be available via the “Listen Again” service for 6 days following each broadcast. Here are the episode details:
WEEK ONE:
The Dweller In High Places
By Susanna Clarke; Read by Georgina Hagen
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: February 26th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
Across the water, the Napoleonic Wars rage but a young girl discovers a danger much closer to home when she encounters a mysterious visitor from Ancient Greece who has taken up residence in the attic of her London boarding school.
Ghost In The Mechanic
By Sarah Dobbs; Read by Clare Lawrence
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: February 27th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
A tragic accident atop Cherrybrook Hill leaves car-mechanic, Mickey-Joe, devastated. Unable to face up to his guilt he retreats into a world of rituals and habits as a way of keeping his emotions in check. When his dog dies during a dust storm, the memories come flooding back and Mickey-Joe finally goes to meet the ghost that calls out to him from the top of Cherrybrook Hill.
ID
By Phil Emery; Read by Sam Dale
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: February 28th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
Terror grips a man as he regains consciousness and discovers he’s lost his identity card. He’s lying in a deserted alleyway in the middle of a city with no memory of who he is. His only clue is a name and address on a scrap of paper in his pocket. He sets out to find this person, all the time, consumed by a fear that unless he tracks down his card, his very life is in danger.
Conviction
By Kate Scott; Read by Anthony Glennon
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 1st 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
The UK in the near future. The population is divided into the privileged that live in a sanitised “perfect” environment and the workers who live in polluted shanty towns, performing the menial jobs that sustain the lifestyles of the privileged. A runner, uneasy about his so-called “perfect” existence, likes to escape from his world and each day run through these off-limit shanty towns. When, on his run, he encounters a young boy scarred from polluted water, he’s forced to confront what is wrong with his way of life.
Expecting
By Catherine Mant; Read by Emma Noakes
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 2nd 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
Pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend, a young woman moves into a semi-derelict Georgian house in Whitechapel to housesit for friends. She starts hearing running feet and a baby crying and becomes obsessed with finding out whether in the past, a baby has died in the house. All she can think about is finding a way to stop the crying. Out of desperation, she triggers off a series of events that puts her own baby at risk.
WEEK TWO
Cthul-You
By Damien G. Walter; Read by Adam Sims
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 5th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
An occultist signs up to the website “Cthul-You” in the hope of meeting like-minded people. This is a demonic version of “My Space” where instead of attracting fellow humans, the desired outcome is to attract demons. Just who exactly is “Mark” who answers this lonely occultist’s call and what plans does he have for his new devotee?
The Quick and The Dead
By Nick Moulton; Read by Christine Kavanagh
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 6th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
The setting is Victorian London and a scientist has just discovered how to keep death at bay. The dead are brought to the Asylum of The Deceased where they are resurrected. An illicit romance begins to blossom between one of the new inmates and a young doctor. The plight of being brought back to life and forced to live in limbo is explored in all its complexity.
Elegy Underground
By Fiona McFarlane; Read by Bethan Walker
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 7th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
Angels arrive on Earth with an important message to impart, only to find that no-one knows who they are and what they represent. The world is greatly changed and humankind’s collective memory is failing. Death is no longer officially recognised, forcing it to go underground – travelling cemeteries arrive in the middle of the night to take away the dead and a thriving market in illegal elegy smuggling has emerged. Lachrimae Bird, circus performer and chief elegy writer, is the only one to remember angels and she wonders why they have chosen to make their presence felt now.
A Lasting Impression
By Alexandra Bayliss; Read by Rachel Bavidge
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 8th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
In a last ditched attempt to save their relationship a young woman persuades her boyfriend to come on holiday with her to Canada. Things get off to a bad start – they have a terrible row as soon as they book into the hotel. He storms off and she is left to contemplate her disastrous love life. Suddenly the ghostly apparition of a woman with half a face missing appears in the room. She has a chilling message for the young tourist.
Father’s Day
By Ian Dudley; Read by Jasmine Callan
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 9th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
The UK in the near future. This is a forbidding place where individuality is frowned upon and in extreme cases punished. Following the death of her mother, a young woman becomes estranged from her father. He unquestioningly embraces the new world order, whereas she remains stubbornly defiant, only just living on the right side of the law. He even undergoes a medical procedure to cut her out of his life. The daughter comes home one night to be greeted by a sinister official calling himself “Truth”. It would seem any hope of reconciliation between father and daughter is fading fast.
