Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey

Welcome aboard the Nosferatu 2.5 for a rather special journey through the wider world of Sophie Aldred’s Ace Odyssey for August Bank Holiday weekend!

With no Hobbes or Mrs C in sight, Sophie is joined by the show’s writer, director and producer Paul Carmichael, arriving, naturally, via the Time Scoop. Together they take a look behind the scenes at how Ace Odyssey came into being, before opening the doors to some of the material usually reserved for the Ffantafolk over on Patreon.

First comes Signals From Sophie’s Sofa, as Sophie answers questions submitted by followers on Instagram and Bluesky. Nothing is quite off limits, and with questions ranging from the sensible to the unexpected, Sophie finds herself navigating territory rather different from the usual Sofa of Infinite Understanding.

Then it’s time for AceComms. Sophie settles down to watch Doctor Who, this time revisiting Episode One of Remembrance of the Daleks, but she isn't watching alone. Joining her is Dalek expert and Ace Odyssey sound designer Gavin Rymill, offering his own insights and observations as the episode unfolds. You can listen along while watching the episode yourself, turning an old favourite into something rather more like a guided tour through the making, monsters and minutiae of one of Doctor Who's most celebrated adventures.

And finally, we go where the main programme rarely dares to venture...
The Extended Quantum Quickfire!
On the regular show, Sophie has sixty seconds to tackle the questions. On Patreon, the clock is rather less tyrannical. Here, you get the full twenty-five-experience, with Peter Purves facing the complete Quantum Quickfire and, as usual, discovering that sixty seconds was probably never remotely realistic in the first place.

Into The Ffantaface! is a chance to spend a little longer aboard the Nosferatu 2.5, discover more about the people behind the programme, and explore the extra material that has grown around the series.

And if you enjoy what you hear, there is considerably more waiting for you among the Ffantafolk over at www.patreon.com/aceodyssey

Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey stars Sophie Aldred.
Special Guests- Paul Carmichael & Gavin Rymill

You can find us all over your social media.
Bluesky/Instagram/X: @aceodyssey63
Facebook: Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey

For listeners who want even more adventure, you can step inside the Ace Odyssey Patreon Community-
*Episodes released early and ad free
*Two exclusive podcasts every month
*Online meet-ups and interactive events
*Direct involvement in the evolving universe of the show
www.patreon.com/aceodyssey

Music by Graeme Allan
Sound Effects & Sound Design by Gavin Rymill
Programme Assistant Liz Whitmore
Produced by Paul Carmichael

You can follow Graeme Allan on Bluesky @graemeallan and listen to more of his music at www.youtube.com/brassbandit

You can follow Gavin Rymill on Twitter & Bluesky @themindrobber, and you can watch his superb Dr.Who series Terry Nation Army on www.youtube.com/dalek6388

You can follow Paul Carmichael on Bluesky @paulcarmichaeluk and on Threads @paul.carmichael.1213
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Something is shushing aboard the Nosferatu 2.5.
But who is shushing whom? And why has the Time Scoop delivered Sarah Sutton aboard the ship apparently carrying fragments of a story that never existed?

This week, Sarah joins Sophie on the Sofa of Infinite Understanding for a journey through a remarkable career that began when she was just nine years old, playing Baby Roo in Winnie the Pooh, and continued through Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Moon Stallion and, of course, her unforgettable time as Nyssa alongside the Fifth Doctor. Sarah also reflects on her continuing work in audio and her return to the Doctor Who universe through Big Finish.
But there is something decidedly strange about this particular visit. Sarah seems to have arrived from somewhere else entirely, and the boundaries between fact, fiction and memory are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish. As mysterious shushing sounds echo through the ship, Sophie and Hobbes begin to wonder whether the Neverwhen has started writing a story of its own.

Meanwhile, the Ffantaface welcomes Dr Adam Scovell, writer, filmmaker and author of Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange. A regular contributor to the BFI and Sight & Sound, Adam has made a particular study of the uneasy relationship between landscape, memory, folklore and horror, while his BFI work has taken him in search of the real locations behind some of cinema and television's most haunting stories. But how does Dr.Who figure in his story?

So what happens when a story that never happened starts behaving as though it did?
And, perhaps more importantly...
who is doing the shushing?

Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey stars Sophie Aldred with James Showers as Hobbes.
Special Guests- Sarah Sutton and Adam Scovell

You can find us all over your social media.
Bluesky/Instagram/X: @aceodyssey63
Facebook: Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey

You can see Adam's work at www.celluloidwickerman.com

For listeners who want even more adventure, you can step inside the Ace Odyssey Patreon Community-
*Episodes released early and ad free
*Two exclusive podcasts every month
*Online meet-ups and interactive events
*Direct involvement in the evolving universe of the show
www.patreon.com/aceodyssey

Music by Graeme Allan
Sound Effects & Sound Design by Gavin Rymill
Programme Assistant Liz Whitmore
Written, Produced and Directed by Paul Carmichael

You can follow Graeme Allan on Bluesky @graemeallan and listen to more of his music at www.youtube.com/brassbandit

You can follow Gavin Rymill on Twitter & Bluesky @themindrobber, and you can watch his superb Dr.Who series Terry Nation Army on www.youtube.com/dalek6388

You can follow Paul Carmichael on Bluesky @paulcarmichaeluk and on Threads @paul.carmichael.1213
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the Time Scoop performs another of its increasingly unpredictable acts of temporal mischief, bringing aboard Tracey Eddon ,stunt performer, stunt double and one of the remarkable, often unseen figures behind some of cinema and television’s most memorable moments. Tracey’s extraordinary career includes doubling for Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, as well as stunt work across productions including An American Werewolf in London, Labyrinth, Superman III, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Johnny English and Paddington 2. Her work on Return of the Jedi extended beyond doubling for Leia: she also doubled for Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and performed other stunt and character work during the production.

Joining Sophie on the Sofa of Infinite Understanding, Tracey looks back across a career spent quite literally stepping into other people’s stories. Falling, fighting, flying, running and occasionally doing things that most sensible people would regard as a particularly poor use of an afternoon. For Sophie, however, this is also a reunion with someone who occupied a very special place in the world of Doctor Who: the woman who doubled for her as Ace. The conversation explores the peculiar relationship between actor and double, the extraordinary demands of stunt work and the strange business of being present in some of cinema’s most famous moments while remaining, deliberately, almost invisible.

Meanwhile, the Ffantaface opens its doors to Laura Burns, whose own journey demonstrates that sometimes the things we love when we are young can take us somewhere wonderfully unexpected. A lifelong Doctor Who fan, Laura found that fascination with science fiction becoming part of a much larger journey into science, technology and space, ultimately leading to a career connected with the world of NASA. Her professional life has encompassed engineering, technology and the development of ideas for the future, while her involvement in speculative fiction communities has included work with the Parsec Awards.

With Sophie, Laura talks about the remarkable path from being inspired by imaginary worlds to helping shape real ones: the science, the work, the possibilities and the enduring power of Doctor Who to make a young person look upwards and wonder what might be possible. It is a particularly fitting conversation for a series in which the impossible is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from reality.

And aboard the Nosferatu 2.5, something else has appeared.

A library containing every book ever written or, perhaps, every book that ever will be written. Its shelves seem to stretch beyond the dimensions of the ship itself, its stories appear to know things they shouldn’t, and its sudden disappearance may be more troubling than its arrival.

Sophie and Hobbes have discovered that stories within the Neverwhen may possess a power of their own.

Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey stars Sophie Aldred with James Showers as Hobbes.
Special Guests- Tracey Eddon and Laura Burns

You can find us all over your social media.
Bluesky/Instagram/X: @aceodyssey63
Facebook: Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey

For listeners who want even more adventure, you can step inside the Ace Odyssey Patreon Community-
*Episodes released early and ad free
*Two exclusive podcasts every month
*Online meet-ups and interactive events
*Direct involvement in the evolving universe of the show
www.patreon.com/aceodyssey

Music by Graeme Allan
Sound Effects & Sound Design by Gavin Rymill
Programme Assistant Liz Whitmore
Written, Produced and Directed by Paul Carmichael

You can follow Graeme Allan on Bluesky @graemeallan and listen to more of his music at www.youtube.com/brassbandit

You can follow Gavin Rymill on Twitter & Bluesky @themindrobber, and you can watch his superb Dr.Who series Terry Nation Army on www.youtube.com/dalek6388

You can follow Paul Carmichael on Bluesky @paulcarmichaeluk and on Threads @paul.carmichael.1213
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are some mysteries that announce themselves with explosions. Others arrive much more quietly.

The Nosferatu 2.5 continues its impossible voyage, where the familiar laws of time and space have become little more than polite suggestions. Echoes now arrive before the sounds that create them, corridors remember places they have never been, and Hobbes' increasingly concerned scans suggest that the boundaries between memory, story and reality are becoming dangerously indistinct. Somewhere, something is rearranging the order in which events happen.

Returning to the Sofa of Infinite Understanding is the incomparable Sylvester McCoy. When he first stepped aboard the Nosferatu 2.5 there simply wasn't enough time to explore a career as extraordinary as his. This time, however, there is a rather unexpected complication: Sylvester has absolutely no recollection of ever having visited before. As Sophie and Hobbes grapple with the implications, conversation drifts effortlessly through a lifetime of remarkable adventures. From his gloriously anarchic early years with the legendary Ken Campbell, where theatrical convention was joyfully abandoned in favour of organised chaos, to memories of spectacular pratfalls, ferrets where no ferrets were ever intended to be, and the sheer delight of discovering that making people laugh could become a career, Sylvester proves once again why he remains one of Britain's most captivating storytellers.
Along the way come touching recollections of his dear friend and colleague David Rappaport, reflections on friendship, loss and creativity, and the unmistakable warmth that has endeared Sylvester to audiences for decades. There is, of course, some discussion of a certain Time Lord... although whether Sophie and Sylvester ever quite manage to reach Doctor Who before events intervene once again is another matter entirely.

Elsewhere, the Ffantaface welcomes Abbie Foster, whose thoughtful and beautifully crafted social media work has introduced a new generation to the joy, comfort and creativity of Doctor Who. Through TikTok and other platforms, Abbie has built a community founded not simply on nostalgia but on optimism, kindness and imagination, sharing the ways in which the series has helped shape her own life during both its brightest and most challenging moments. Joining Sophie within the ever-shifting currents of the Ffantaface, she reflects on fandom in the digital age, finding your voice through creativity, and how stories have the remarkable ability to arrive precisely when we need them most. In a series where stories are beginning to rewrite reality itself, that feels less like coincidence... and rather more like destiny.

Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey stars Sophie Aldred with James Showers as Hobbes.
Special Guests- Sylvester McCoy and Abbie Foster

Abbie's TikTok: abbieinthetardis

You can find us all over your social media.
Bluesky/Instagram/X: @aceodyssey63
Facebook: Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey

For listeners who want even more adventure, you can step inside the Ace Odyssey Patreon Community-
*Episodes released early and ad free
*Two exclusive podcasts every month
*Online meet-ups and interactive events
*Direct involvement in the evolving universe of the show
www.patreon.com/aceodyssey

Music by Graeme Allan
Sound Effects & Sound Design by Gavin Rymill
Programme Assistant Liz Whitmore
Written, Produced and Directed by Paul Carmichael

You can follow Graeme Allan on Bluesky @graemeallan and listen to more of his music at www.youtube.com/brassbandit

You can follow Gavin Rymill on Twitter & Bluesky @themindrobber, and you can watch his superb Dr.Who series Terry Nation Army on www.youtube.com/dalek6388

You can follow Paul Carmichael on Bluesky @paulcarmichaeluk and on Threads @paul.carmichael.1213
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Nosferatu 2.5 continues its strange journey beyond the ordinary boundaries of space and time, where corridors refuse to stay in the same place, impossible libraries appear and disappear without warning, and memories seem capable of taking root as though they were living things. As Sophie and Hobbes continue their search for a way home, they discover that the Neverwhen is no empty void. It listens. It remembers. And, perhaps most unsettling of all, it has begun to tell stories of its own.

While Hobbes attempts the impossible task of sending a message across the gulf between universes, Mrs C remains gloriously unconvinced that any amount of tinkering will improve matters. Yet even the smallest signal offers a glimmer of hope. Sometimes the quietest sound can become the beginning of an extraordinary journey.

This week the Time Scoop reaches back to retrieve one of television's true pioneers, Peter Purves. First appearing in Doctor Who as the ill-fated Morton Dill before returning almost immediately as the courageous space pilot Steven Taylor, Peter became one of William Hartnell's most enduring companions, helping establish the adventurous spirit that would define the series for generations to come.

Settling into the Sofa of Infinite Understanding alongside Sophie, Peter reflects on a lifetime of adventures both on and off screen: travelling with the First Doctor, the remarkable chemistry of those early days at the BBC, the enduring appeal of Steven Taylor, and why the greatest journeys are often the ones you never expected to take. It is a conversation filled with warmth, humour and the quiet wisdom of someone who has spent a lifetime exploring, whether by spaceship, climbing rope or children's television camera.

No voyage aboard the Nosferatu 2.5 would be complete without a descent into the shimmering landscape of the Ffantaface, where fandom itself becomes part of the adventure. This week's guide is Erica Lear, founder of the much-loved Fans Like Us community and a familiar, welcoming presence on the convention circuit for more than a quarter of a century. Through countless events, gatherings and charitable endeavours, Erica has helped create spaces where friendships flourish, newcomers become lifelong fans, and the shared love of Doctor Who transcends generations. Joining Sophie within the ever-changing currents of the Ffantaface, she reflects on the simple truth that fandom is about far more than television programmes. It is about people, community, kindness and the extraordinary families we sometimes discover for ourselves. In a universe where stories are beginning to reshape reality, that may prove to be the most powerful story of all.

Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey stars Sophie Aldred with James Showers as Hobbes.
Special Guests- Peter Purves and Erica Lear

Perer's Facebook: Peter John Purves

Erica's Instagram: tony_slattery_official / erica_lear_

You can find us all over your social media.
Bluesky/Instagram/X: @aceodyssey63
Facebook: Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey

For listeners who want even more adventure, you can step inside the Ace Odyssey Patreon Community-
*Episodes released early and ad free
*Two exclusive podcasts every month
*Online meet-ups and interactive events
*Direct involvement in the evolving universe of the show
www.patreon.com/aceodyssey

Music by Graeme Allan
Sound Effects & Sound Design by Gavin Rymill
Programme Assistant Liz Whitmore
Written, Produced and Directed by Paul Carmichael

You can follow Graeme Allan on Bluesky @graemeallan and listen to more of his music at www.youtube.com/brassbandit

You can follow Gavin Rymill on Twitter & Bluesky @themindrobber, and you can watch his superb Dr.Who series Terry Nation Army on www.youtube.com/dalek6388

You can follow Paul Carmichael on Bluesky @paulcarmichaeluk and on Threads @paul.carmichael.1213
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.