Last summer, I submitted three story proposals to Big Finish Productions. Big Finish is officially licensed by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) to produce Doc- tor Who adventures, as well as other shows. You can hear cast members performing stories not only from Doctor Who, but other British favorites such as The Prisoner, Blake’s Seven, The Avengers, and even Dark Shadows. I didn’t expect much, but after a long wait I got an email response saying they liked two of the proposals and wanted to record one of my stories for their Doctor Who Short Trips range. Adventures in Time and Space by Stephen Osborne, QA Wetlab B-Shift
The next step was writing up a detailed proposal to be sent to the BBC. The story at that time was called War Zone. After a couple of weeks, I heard back from Ian Atkins, the producer of the Short Trips stories, and he informed me that BBC approved my story with no changes. After making some changes to my first draft, Ian asked me to come up with a different title, as he thought War Zone was too generic. I sent several possible titles to him, and between us we chose The Smallest Battle. Once Ian approved the final draft, a recording date had to be found, and an actor to read the story. Ian chose Ste- phen Critchlow, who does a lot of work for Big Finish. The recording date chosen was December 6th, and Ian invited me to come hear my story being recorded. This gave me very little time to get a passport and arrange a trip to London, but somehow I managed it. Before I knew it I was on a long plane journey across the Atlantic to Great Britain! I had several days before the recording, so I did the usual tourist things. I went to Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Hyde Park, and other attractions. Being a big Phantom of the Opera fan, I had to see the London pro- duction at Her Majesty’s Theatre, which has been playing there for 26 years! Finally, I took the subway train (which is called the Underground there) to the studio. Not only was it thrilling to hear Mr. Critchlow read the words I’d written, but Ian gave me more good news. He wanted me to do another story for next year’s Doctor Who Short Trips range, and there’s the possibility that the story will be read by a Doctor Who cast member! I haven’t been given a release date for The Smallest Battle yet, but I’m sure I’ll wear out my Samsung tablet listening to it! Editor’s note: Steve gave me a copy of the manuscript to read. It was very good and thoroughly held my attention even though I am not a sci-fi fan so that says a lot about Steve’s story telling ability!
Rob Roath’s 60th
Rob Roath (Warehouse A) turned 60 in Decem- ber. His wife, Candy, decided to hire a bagpipe player to come into the Crest Foods Warehouse and play a few songs to surprise Rob for his birthday. You could hear the strains of Amazing Grace, Oh Danny Boy and Happy Birthday throughout the entire warehouse that morning! Happy belated birthday Rob!
14 Crest Ink April, May & June 2018
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