Keeping the Zoo

Hey folks!

Let's talk about Beck's End and why you should support it!!

In the UK historically, Northern voices and rural voices are too often left out of the conversation. A lot of this is just straight up classism - for Americans, think Appalachia or the Deep South.

It also has very deep historical roots here in the UK - the Northerners resisted the Norman invasion after 1066 and were punished for that by having all their woodlands and farmlands burned and then sown with lime (the mineral) to poison the soil so that they had to be dependent on southern agriculture for food. You can still see the effect this scarring of the landscape had on the land today (it's why we have the Yorkshire moors that Kathy and Heathcliffe are so fond of).

Much like the way this phenomenon plays out in many countries, even today Northerners are thought of as violent, small-minded and stupid: regardless of our contributions to culture (hi, The Beatles). The North of England is profoundly and unfairly underfunded by the government for things like state infrastructure - from transport to healthcare.

So for me, (Ella), as someone who lives in the North, making Beck's End isn't any old audio drama project. It's really meaningful to me that it's a series that's set in the North of England, starring a cast from the North and working with a crew from the North. That's actually kind of a big deal.

Right now we're 69% (nice) funded with 8 days to go. If you're able to lend us some financial support, please consider doing so. If you can't for any reason, please consider giving us a signal boost.

The people behind it are great and have made great things

Folk horror is at its best when it's voices you've not heard before (it makes the folk more folk and the horror more horror)

We had such a great time at the Golden Lobes the other night. Well done to all the winners, commiserations with all the non-winners (but really, we make or listen to audio shows so we're all winners).

What Happens When Zookeepers Have Too Much Time On Their Hands

Dia dhaoibh agus Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh! It’s St.Patrick’s Day and I wanted to share some Irish media with you that I have fallen in love with recently! So here are some audio dramas that I wanted to shout out some shows that I’ve started listening to, or have been recommended!

This House Will Devour You

“Kilphaun Hall sits high on a ridge overlooking the Blackwater river in County Waterford. Abandoned and silent for so long, it echoes now to the cheerful sounds of renovation and preparations for the coming social season of winter 1925. But Kilphaun Hall has its secrets and some places are best left to rot, forgotten.”

(For more by them) https://www.citeogpodcasts.com/

Citeog Podcasts is a small Irish-based indie producer of quality original audio drama. Other shows of their include: Witchpunk (2026) and Ten Appocalypses (2025).

The Last Dance

“The Great South was alone. A small rock formed atop the bones of dead gods and leviathans, drifting within an endless ocean. People left to their own petty wars and dogmas. But now, from that same ocean, comes a wave of death in the form of savage invaders, striking without cause against the Eightfold House of Holy Ichors and its 8 Bleeding Monks. In the wake of their eradication, a battlefield scavenger by the name of Jericho Raeke goes picking through the remnants and discovers something that puts him, and his unlikely allies, at the centre of the conflict.”

Last Dance is produced in Belfast and has a full cast of Northern Irish voices, with guest stars including David Morrissey (The Walking Dead) and James Mackenzie (CBBC’s Raven).

Petrified

“Petrified is a horror audio drama anthology from a darker Ireland. Petrified tells the chilling tales of ordinary people encountering the supernatural, and their terrifying fates.”

It is written and directed by Peter Dunne. Produced, edited and sound design by Liam Geraghty.