Get The Quanderhorn News Posted by Ian Symes on 16th June 2018, 14:05 It’s always the way, innit? You hang around Rob Grant for ten years and you don’t see one new project. Then all of a sudden, three of them turn up at once. More accurately, one new project turns up, but released in three different ways. The Quanderhorn Xperiment, in its various forms, will be with us before the month is out, so let’s take this opportunity to summarise what we know about the three individual products and their release schedule. THE RADIO SERIES – Starts Monday 25th June at 11:30am on Radio 4. Six episodes, co-written by Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall, and produced by Hudzen 10. James Fleet from off of The Vicar of Dibley stars as the eponymous Quanderhorn, with Ryan Sampson (who was the annoying wonderkid in that rubbish Doctor Who Sontaran two-parter) and Cassie Layton as the male and female leads. The ensemble is rounded out rather impressively by Freddie Fox, John Sessions and Twentica‘s The Actor Kevin Eldon. THE NOVEL – Released on Thursday 28th June, just three days after the first episode airs, and therefore between 0.5 and 4.5 weeks ahead of the rest of the series. It’s a whopper as well, clocking up 480 pages and with an impressive girth, as seen in the picture above, which was tweeted by Rob himself. I’m currently about two thirds of the way through, and can exclusive reveal that it is GOOD, but any further insights are strictly embargoed until the release date. THE AUDIOBOOK – Released alongside the book, read by series stars Cassie Layton and Ryan Sampson, and – according to the Amazon listing – lasting for a whopping ten hours. That’s over three times longer than the radio series it’s based on. Bloody hell, there really is a lot of Quanderhorn on the horizon. We’re pretty optimistic about all this, and we’ll be providing a much-coveted “Let’s Talk About” post to discuss the radio series on the day it launches. Our spoiler-free review of the book will be posted on the day that launches, and we’ll decide what to do about reviewing the radio series once we’ve determined what the appetite for that sort of thing is. With 2018 being the first year in three to not boast a new series of Red Dwarf, this really does feel like the next best thing.
It’s referencing The Quatermass Xperiment, Hammer Films’ proudly X-rated remake of the TV serial. I’ll probably read the book before going back and listening to any of it and getting the voices imprinted, since that was the way around I did early Red Dwarf and Hitchhiker’s (no pressure).
we’ll be providing a much-coveted “Let’s Talk About” post to discuss the radio series on the day it launches. Our spoiler-free review of the book will be posted on the day that launches, and we’ll decide what to do about reviewing the radio series once we’ve determined what the appetite for that sort of thing is.
Oo, this sounds like fun, particularly with James Fleet, John Sessions, and Kevin Eldon on board. Not to mention Ryan Sampson may have been annoying on Doctor Who (can’t remember his part off the top of my head), but he’s hilarious on Plebs. And for what it’s worth, I listen to a lot of Radio 4 and 4 Extra, so I’d personally be interested in a review of the radio series, though I’ll be checking it out regardless.
we’ll be providing a much-coveted “Let’s Talk About” post to discuss the radio series on the day it launches. Our spoiler-free review of the book will be posted on the day that launches, and we’ll decide what to do about reviewing the radio series once we’ve determined what the appetite for that sort of thing is. I enjoy reading.
There are a couple of official Twitter accounts to follow: https://twitter.com/quanderhorn https://twitter.com/Guuuurk They’ve both been active since March 2017 – although hardly anyone would have seen those tweets at the time, they represent the first Quanderhorn material ever to be published.
The British Comedy Guide has an interview with Rob and Andrew. https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/the_quanderhorn_xperimentations/interview/rob_grant_and_andrew_marshall/
Just to say that the “fellow fan of your work” mentioned in that article is a really great guy with a massive cock.
Re the Q&a/interview link above. Did anyone else read something “negative” into this bit: Jem: I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything from your ‘exes’ on your new joint venture? Rob: No, no. Andrew: That’s not true, David wishes us both perfectly well, so that’s wonderful. I infer from this that not only are Rob and Doug not speaking, but there is also a degree of bad blood between them. David (Renwick) wishes them well. Doug has not… I am gossiping!
Well there was nothing out by that point I assume so Doug can’t exactly say “well done” or “it’s shit mate”, can he?
Or “good luck” or “looking forward to it” or anything. Fucking hell, who’d have thought gossiping would be such hard work.
The audiobook’s now available from Audible free with their 30-day trial (which I think you can just cancel before the month’s out if you’ve had enough?) If you prefer that hybrid approach and like free things.