Ben. Rock

I'm really starting to get into Audible Original's audio dramas. They're like movies for the ears, especially if you listen to them with headphones on. 'Catchers' is a classic Creature Feature. Lots of action, really scary monsters (even if you can only hear them) and humour that somehow raises the tension of the scenes while making the main characters more engaging.

'Catchers' is told partly as an interview with Blair, the young first-day-on-the-job Dog Catcher, strapped to the bed and being asked to give an explanation for widespread death and destruction to an investigator who does not believe in monsters, and partly as a sequence of live-action flashbacks showing how the death and destruction comes about.

All of the cast deliver good performances but the show was stolen by the chemistry between Collins, the I've-been-doing-this-for-thirty-thankless-years-and-I'm-outta-here grumpy guy on his last day on the job, played by Eddie Gardell and Blair, the Gen Z-doing-this-while-I'm-waiting-to-finish-vet-school woman who is taking over from him, played by Hertizen F. Guardiola. The two of them start off at each other's throats and end up covering each other's backs.

The sound effects are LOUD but they work. Some of the music I could have done without. I think this was originally put together as a set of podcasts. The good news is that the breaks have been edited out and there are no annoying Previously, on 'Catchers' bits to put up with but some of the gaps between sections are so long, I thought I'd lost my Bluetooth connection.

I had a lot of fun with this. I hope Audible Original will produce many more of them.… (meer)