Meet Catherine O'Flynn and Peter Fletcher . Cath's first novel, What Was Lost was set in a shopping centre much like the one where we did this interview. Husband Peter has been documenting his sneezes , and spills the beans (and elastic bands) on what it was like working as a postie. What with magma dragons and volcano (shipping) forecasts , we've developed quite a thing for vulcanology lately, so imagine our excitement when Eyjafjallajoekull spewed forth this week. Is it safe to go outside? Wil...
Apr 22, 2010
Author Naomi Alderman drops in this week. You might recognise her name from her award-winning work Disobedience and a new but already highly-acclaimed novel The Lessons , currently 'Book at Bedtime' on Radio 4. But not just that! She's a gee-eek. She really is. She was the lead writer on Perplex City , she's a high-flying games journalist and, we learn - not entirely to our surprise - a Doctor Who fan. Mainly though, she's brilliant fun. Dave's with us again, and we're back in China on our journ...
Apr 15, 2010
"I look for aliens" is how high-flying young astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell describes his work, and we hear the wheres and hows of that search in this week's episode. During the fascinating chat Lewis explains how aliens might resemble anything from bacteria to "sky whales", Roo has a question about methane, and Leila jumps at the chance to defend Spock. Elsewhere this week, a generous listener supplies us with some very exotic snackfood from China, and Dave joins us to review it in possibly most...
Apr 08, 2010
Comedian and columnist Shazia Mirza drops in for a chat this week and we have a great time hearing about her former life as science teacher, her experience of playing the Edinburgh Festival, and what her parents think about what she does... Dave's similarly-voiced brother Simon joins us too, fresh from the Games Developer's Conference in San Francisco and reviews 2012 from a fluid renderer's point of view, while Dave finds out what the Easter Bunny has... brought? Laid? Don't miss what's arguabl...
Apr 01, 2010
It's 25 years of Back to the Future! To celebrate, we're joined by the geeky and innovative stand-up comic, Paul Kerensa , whose 2005 Edinburgh show "Back to the Futon" involved a real-life DeLorean and a Gray's Sports Almanacful of in-jokes. Since then Paul's been focused on collecting and comparing every moment in time from every film ever between gigging, script-writing, podcasting , and working on a new, free , Edinburgh show for 2010. He even brings some BTTF props in to show us. Great Scot...
Mar 25, 2010
Our guest this week is comedy writer and cartoonist Andy Riley , the twisted mind behind the Bunny Suicides books and the Observer's comic strip Roasted , as well as loads of great TV and radio comedy . While we were chatting, Andy drew some amazing cassette cards for us (watch a video of him drawing them and a photo of the inlay cards he drew and signed), and you can order one of his sick-brained designs over on our tapes buying page now. Be quick - they're bound to go really fast. And remember...
Mar 18, 2010
We chatted with artist Sydney Padua this week. Sydney's animated creations appear in loads of blockbuster movies, but she's a star of the small screen too - you might have seen her extremely funny web comic Babbage and Lovelace doing the rounds lately. With Ada Lovelace Day coming up very soon, Sydney tells us about the great lady herself, her struggles and achievements, and her unique relationship with Difference Engine-inventing eccentric Charles Babbage. Sydney even drew some stunning designs...
Mar 11, 2010
You might recognise Zeb's voice from Radio 4 news, continuity announcements and the iconic Shipping Forecast . He's also very funny and, unexpectedly, looks like he should be in a boyband . We also hear about Roo's hobbity holiday in the New Forest and Leila's trip to Decode Lab at the V&A. Dave comes back from India loaded up with imported Turkish snacks, Roo invents a system for randomly allocating seats at any future Shift Run Stop party, and an address in an old comic leads Leila to the ...
Mar 04, 2010
Pepys blogger, Pretend Office worker and former Aardman animator Phil Gyford was kind enough to not only bring himself to Shift Run Stop towers, but also his Mega Drive . We natter with the Internet's Dave Green about the BAFTA Film Awards (which Roo also went to ) and dorkbotlondon (which Leila also went to). Leila meets a previous SRS guest at The Story and Dave nearly answers a listener's question about biscuits. We try out some exciting recent Cadbury launches with varying success and, as ev...
Feb 25, 2010
What if you could play a game of Friends? Or The Wire? What would that be like? We saw Duncan at Playful 09 and were instantly hooked by his idea that dramatic storytelling and video games could merge in a new interactive concept called "Fictive Worlds" . Duncan also shares his experience of developing the first PMOG (Passively Multiplayer Online Game), The Nethernet , and learning to program in COBOL (without a computer!) You should most certainly add him on Twitter. Meanwhile, Leila reports fr...
Feb 18, 2010
We love a bit of tech abuse on this podcast, so it's a real pleasure to bring you James Larsson , mad scientist extraordinaire. James hit the headlines on the BBC news site with his most recent project, Boot Fetish Pong, but old-skool listeners might remember seeing his prawn sandwich BBC micro clock back when Dave and Danny were still a couple, at Notcon 04 . We also read out some of your letters, greet our new listeners, road test Britain's spiciest crisps, and come up with an infallible new b...
Feb 11, 2010
This week we are lucky enough to be joined by technology broadcaster Aleks Krotoski , known for her work at the Guardian (particularly the Tech Weekly podcast) and most recently for her new four-part prime time BBC Two series, Virtual Revolution . Aleks tells us about some of the leading lights she spoke to on this innovative show and explains why she believes we live in such exciting times. Still, we can't resist reminding her of some of her more dedicated followers . Virtual Revolution is on S...
Feb 04, 2010
In this week's fun-packed edition of Shift Run Stop we hear the sounds of ponies, meet real life author, Guardian columnist and dad Chris Cleave , learn about the San Francisco weather system from our foreign correspondent Anna Pickard , get a topical confectionery newsflash from our snacks expert Dave Green and more besides! Something for everyone, surely? Links: Chris Cleave: blog , twitter Chris's books: Incendiary , The Other Hand (aka Little Bee ) Anna Pickard's blog plus her new tellywonk ...
Jan 28, 2010
This week we chat to Nick Pope, the former head of the MOD's UFO project (recently released into the public domain ). Nick is a well-respected broadcaster who speaks on all aspects of the unexplained, so it was very nice of him to put up with our incessant questions about the Government's contingency plans for alien invasion (hey, it's good to check). It was great fun of course, and we really enjoyed meeting him. You can find Nick's website here . Dave Green looks back on significant snack event...
Jan 21, 2010
This week we were really honoured to talk to two fantastically clever artists who make use of technology in their work. Artist/performer Sarah Angliss has been researching the Uncanny Valley, and we hear about some of the eerie musical experiences she has created, for the Adam Curtis "It Felt Like A Kiss" piece and elsewhere. Sarah plays everything from the piano to the theramin and frequently makes use of automata and robots in her witty and evocative shows. Paul B Davis is an artist and lectur...
Jan 14, 2010
This week's episode was tremendous fun. Journalist and comedy writer Ariane Sherine tells us about her new book which features original pieces by everyone from Richard Dawkins to Josie Long. Ariane's now-familiar slogan "There is probably no God, now stop worrying and enjoy your life" was first displayed on London buses in 2008, after thousands joined her campaign to match religious advertising with an atheist message. We also learn about her TV comedy writing career, working with Seinfeld and L...
Jan 07, 2010
So farewell then, 2009. We've had a great time over the last few months and are thrilled to be ending the year with what must be our most thought-provoking episode to date. Film maker Adam Curtis joins us to talk about his latest project, ' It Felt Like a Kiss ' and has some brilliant theories on all of Shift Run Stop's favourite subjects: humour, games and the computer age. Rising star of the internet and Twitter comedy powerhouse Avery Edison shares some of her work so far, and Dave Green is b...
Dec 31, 2009
We have an unprecedented number of guests for you in the mystery Christmas package with airholes that is this special festive episode of Shift Run Stop. Maggie Philbin and Click presenter LJ Rich join us to talk about tea, t-shirts and the days of three-channel TV, while comedy writer-performer Daniel Maier regales us with showbiz anecdotes and shows off his Pocketeers collection. Noted anosmic Alice Bartlett knows the best ice creams for people who lack the sense of smell, and writer Anna Picka...
Dec 24, 2009
This week we are joined by Russell Davies (the author and organiser of the Interesting conferences) and discover that he was once in a band. We also hear from Karen (wife and nightly documenter of the infamous Sleep Talkin' Man ) and eat some festive snacks with Dave Green. Links: Russell Davies ( blog public twitter ) Egg Bacon Chips and Beans Russell's Interesting conference ( 2007 , 2008 , 2009 ) Chris Heathcote's blog, anti-mega blog Sleep Talkin' Man ( blog , twitter ) Roo's Lego talk at In...
Dec 10, 2009
This week we meet the popular internet and TV stars Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann and ask them about their Answer Me This podcast , Robert Brook and Dave Green taste more South African Snacks with us, Leila, Dave and Tom discuss a film (warning: there might be spoilers, though only if you can work out what the film is) and we discover what the insides of some things sound like. Links: Helen and Olly's Answer Me This podcast YouTube: Olly Mann Cinnamon Challenge Fail Flickr: In the Fridge Tom Stua...
Nov 26, 2009
In episode three we meet that royalty of the comedy and music worlds, lovely David Quantick and ask him about Doctor Who, Morrissey and making the world's first internet sitcom . We hang out at Playful 2009 and talk to James Bridle about his noughts and crosses calculating matchboxes . We chat to internet personality Robert Brook , a nice man in a suit who worked on the Hansard archives and therefore works for you , and hear his opinions on swearing. And we eat South African chocolate while SRS ...
Nov 12, 2009
We get to know comedy legend David Schneider, play a game of Scribblenauts and taste some more seasonal snacks with Dave Green. David Schneider on Twitter , IMDb and Wikipedia Scribblenauts snackspot.org.uk - Dave's snack blog...
Oct 29, 2009
In this episode: we chat with Adam Tandy (producer of The Thick Of It and In the Loop ), Leila sees How It Is at the Turbine Hall in Tate Modern, we try some really dreadful games and Dave Green introduces us to some of his favourite seasonal snacks. Links: Adam Tandy on Twitter and IMDb The Thick Of It In the Loop The Armando Iannucci Shows (2001) How It Is at the Tate Modern EZi Entertainment Zone and EZi console wiki snackspot.org.uk - Dave's snack blog...
Oct 29, 2009
