BBC Radio 4 Programme Analysis "The Lovecraft Investigations"

 Programme Analysis "The Lovecraft Investigations"

This episode of "The Lovecraft Investigations" is about how Robert Blake who was in the previous season of this radio drama. He was attached to an ancient evil entity which was hidden. This episode is about people searching for this item that Blake was searching for. Because he had disappeared. The episode explores how if you know to much there can be consequences.

The target audience of this episode or entire series would be male and female between the ages of 30-50 years, who are predominantly white and live in the UK. I assume this because the characters are British and it is broadcasted on the BBC which is a British broadcasting service.

There are different narrative devices that are used throughout the radio drama. There is a lot of dialogue in this drama a lot narrative speech as well from the one of the main characters at the start of the show. Another narrative device would be the framing of the story, of how the story before about Blake and his journey which then frames and helps create a path for this journey.

"Reality is going to stop them" "Reality doesn't care" "Oh God not the catchphrase" This piece of dialogue shows how the team of people care about what is going on and who could get hurt looking for the ancient object, especially how Blake someone who went looking for the evil object 3 years ago disappeared.

At the very end of the episode (15:42-15:43) there is a sound effect of a punch being thrown at Matthew. The punch was thrown because he was recording the conversation and it could have been used as evidence against the women he was talking to because she had got rid of all his evidence to expose her. In the end the punch probably knocked out Matthew.

At time code 0:18 the narrator Matthew who was take note of everything said how Kennedy and him were going to the coffee shop across the road, which would give them space away from Byron and Eleanor. But it also gives a chance for other people to find them or listen in to their conversations because they are in public. In the back while they are talking you can hear chatter of people, because they are in a coffee shop, but they could also be doing this to not stand out too much and blend in a little.

All of these sounds help merge everything together from the ambient atmospheric sounds of the background to give more visual image to the audience about where the characters may be. Also the sound effects help out a lot, especially with the punch. It was very effective as it brought action into the podcast even though there are no visuals in it. 

There are some techniques that are used in this episode which I would take and put into my own drama such as the ambient and atmospheric sounds which give the audience a better understanding of the circumstances and the background. Another technique I would consider would be the sound effects as they would be really good to give something extra to the audience.