Cabin Pressure

John Finnemore: blog about St Petersburg episode

Well, I thought it was about time I did an exciting final episode. Both the final episodes of the first two series were 'shut-in' ones...

John Finnemore: blog about Ottery St Mary episode

I have to say, I do like this episode. It might be my favourite this series, or that might be St Petersburg; but for very different reasons. This one I like because it's silly and cheerful and fun; and for most of it, everyone gets on rather well and enjoys one another's company.

John Finnemore: blog about the Newscastle episode

The morning before the recording, we got the call from Benedict's agent saying she was terribly sorry, but he simply had no voice left at all (you can hear he's suffering a bit in some of the other episodes).

Cabin Pressure is one of the best written, cast, acted and directed comedies on anywhere.

Although only radio can make us picture exactly the single old plane on which this little airline depends, only John Finnemore's pen plus the sublime talents of Stephanie Cole, Roger Allam, Anthony Head and Anna Crilly could, last Friday, raise a salutary barrier between the turbulent real world on either side of their glorious fiction. Produced and directed, brilliantly, by David Tyler for independents Pozzitive.

Stage direction: [DING] Ding! [DING] Ding! [DING] Ding!

Did I fool you? I hope so. I love whodunnits, they are my trashy fiction of choice, especially the 'golden age' thirties and forties ones, and I've wanted to do a whodunnit episode of Cabin Pressure for ages...

Another new episode of a refined sitcom that bathes in a ridiculously good cast: alongside writer John Finnemore are Stephanie Cole, Benedict Cumberbatch and the man I refer to simply as 'The Guvnor', Roger Allam. This one's a bit special, boasting as it does the sort of tricksy, quadruple-crossing story that comedy writers often like to attempt but don't usually have the sheer plotting muscle to pull off. Finnemore has those chops. When Carolyn (Cole) entrusts Martin (Cumberbatch) to stop Douglas (The Guvnor) stealing some expensive whisky, a mystery worthy of Miss Marple unfurls. Sadly, Martin's investigating it instead.

I must admit that this is the first time I've listened to Cabin Pressure, despite all of the reviews and praise that has been lauded on it.

For those who, like me, still haven't got around to listening, this show is about MJN Air, the world's smallest airline, managed by Carolyn (Stephanie Cole) and flown by Captain Martin Crieff (Benedict Cumberbatch) alongside First Officer Douglas Richardson (Roger Allam). The service on the plane is provided by Carolyn's over-enthusiastic son Arthur (played by John Finnemore, who also writes the show).

The first episode of the third series saw MJN flying some people to Qikiqtarjuaq (near the North Pole) to look at polar bears, which got Arthur both excited and annoyed - excited about the bears, and annoyed about that none of the Q's in "Qikiqtarjuaq" are followed by a "U".

Elsewhere, the highlight for the show for me was Douglas making an announcement to the passengers while smuggling in as many Alfred Hitchcock references as possible. Also, Douglas forces Martin to pretend to be French and recount to the plane how he fought off a polar bear using nothing except an egg whisk and a pogo stick.

Having listened to the show I feel slightly ashamed by the fact that I missed the first two series and now feel a desperate need to catch up - which I'll have to do at some point in the future when I'm not writing these reviews.

A welcome return for the comedy series where the writing and acting are so tight they're in danger of cutting off your blood supply. The least attentive and most dangerous budget airline in the world - tag line: no job is too small but many, many are too difficult - is flying a party of adventurous tourists to the North Pole. Never has a tiredness for life been so malevolent as in the heart and mind of First Officer Richardson, played with sanguine vitriol by Roger Allam. Not known for his love and admiration of Captain Crieff (portrayed with suitably browbeaten desperation by Benedict Cumberbatch), this flight sees Richardson annihilate any morsel of dignity that the Captain had stored away. And, my goodness, is it funny to witness.

John Finnemore: 'Ours Blanc'. Or 'Ours Polaire'

'Qikiqtarjuaq', the first episode in the new series of Cabin Pressure, wasn't written as the first episode, but unfortunately Benedict Cumberbatch lost his voice for the recording of the one that was meant to be first.

Here's a diamond in radio's crown, John Finnemore's comedy about a small airline. He plays Arthur, daft son of Carolyn the doughty owner (Stephanie Cole, funny and sharp here in a role that suits her perfectly, unlike the ghastly one she struggles with in Coronation Street). Roger Allam and Benedict Cumberbatch play (superbly) the first officer and pilot who fly the plane. Today they're off to a little place called Qikigtarjuag, with a party of tourists who want to look at polar bears. Group leader Nancy rubs Carolyn up the wrong way. She'll be sorry!