''The Sofa of Time'' is a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

fantasy comedy drama written by and starring

Nick Frost Nicholas John Frost (born 28 March 1972) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He has appeared in the '' Three Flavours Cornetto'' trilogy of films, consisting of '' Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz'' (2007), and '' The World's ...

and Matt King. It was first broadcast in 2002.

Concept

Milford (King) and Parker (Frost) get sacked from their jobs in a soft furnishings factory in

Crouch End Crouch End is an area of North London, England, from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district (N8). It has been described as one of "a new breed of urban villages" in London ...

. As they are clearing out their lockers, they fall into the magical world of Gravy. Frost described Gravy as a " Tolkien-esque world with supermarkets and banks". There they meet Marmite the Dwarf (

Mark Heap Mark Heap (born 13 May 1957) is a British actor and comedian. Television credits include '' Ghost Train'' (1991), '' Smith & Jones'' (1997–1998), '' Brass Eye'' (1997–2001), '' Kiss Me Kate'' (1998), '' The Zig and Zag Show'' (1998), '' Ho ...

), who believes that Milford is "the chosen one" and has come at last to save the people from the evil emperor warlock Raamen Bod (

Peter Serafinowicz Peter Szymon Serafinowicz ( ; born 10 July 1972) is an English actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. His film roles include the voice of Darth Maul in '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1999), Pete in '' Shaun of the Dead' ...

), who plans to find the Sofa of Time, the most magical and powerful item of furniture in the entire universe, and use it for evil purposes.

History

The series features ''

Spaced ''Spaced'' is a British television sitcom created, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright, about the comedic, and sometimes surreal and action-packed, misadventures of Daisy Steiner and Tim Bi ...

'' regulars Mark Heap,

Julia Deakin Julia Margaret Deakin (born 20 May 1952)Clarke, Gemma (5 September 2016)"Grand Re-Opening of Gainsborough Heritage Centre" ''Gainsborough Heritage Association''. Retrieved 10 August 2021. is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the ...

, and

Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. He and Wright co-wrote the ...

as well as

Kevin Eldon Kevin Eldon (born 2 October 1959) is an English actor and comedian. He featured in British comedy television shows of the 1990s including ''Fist of Fun'', ''This Morning with Richard Not Judy'', ''Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge (TV ...

, Daisy Jones and

Joseph Marcell Joseph Marcell (born 14 August 1948) is a Saint Lucian-British actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Geoffrey Butler, the butler on the NBC sitcom ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' from September 1990 until the show ended in May 19 ...

. The series was produced by Mario Stylianides, for

Talkback Talkback or talk back may refer to: *Talkback (album), ''Talkback'' (album), a 1983 album by the Canadian band the Spoons *Talk Back (Kembe X album), ''Talk Back'' (Kembe X album), 2016 *Talkback, an alternate name for Marvel Comics superhero C ...

. The BBC offered King and Frost a second series, but they declined as King had moved back to Australia. The series has never been made commercially available, but over the years it has been repeated several times on

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

(and that channel's earlier incarnation,

BBC Radio 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

Episode list

*Some sources (e.g. epguides.com) also list the alternative title "A Lovely Day in Tangleton" for episode two. *The web page maintained by BBC Radio 4 Extra lists the first episode as "There's Gravy in My Locker".BBC Radio 7 page for the series
/ref> This was clearly an afterthought, and can be regarded as an administrative error, since the unchanged announcement within the episode still entitles it "There's a World in My Locker".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack borrowed heavily from

Maurice Jarre Maurice-Alexis Jarre (; 13 September 1924 – 28 March 2009) allmusic Biography/ref> was a French composer and conductor. Jarre is best known for his film scores, particularly for his collaborations with film director David Lean composing all of ...

's score for

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (; 12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019) was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post–World War II e ...

's ''

Jesus of Nazareth Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the central figure of Christianity, the world's largest religi ...

References

External links

BBC page for the seriesepguides.com
BBC Radio comedy programmes {{UK-radio-show-stub