Host Vaya Pashos and Night Terrace producer and co-star Ben McKenzie discuss “Things That Go Bump in the Night Terrace” by David Ashton – who joins in as a special “off the Terrace” correspondent!

The house refuses to land, stuck in the void outside space and time, leaving the housemates stranded without water, power, or excuses to get away from Eddie’s terrible ghost stories. It also seems to be disintegrating, and there’s a creepy voice coming from…somewhere. Is the house haunted? And how will they make tea without running water?

Vaya and Ben run us through the spooky goings on in Night Terrace’s first ghost story, joining the dots back to season one, explaining some of the very Australian 1980s references, and talking about guest star Lawrence Leung. Plus David Ashton fills us in on his inspirations for the episode, some of his sound design secrets, and why Schrodinger’s cat is always good for a laugh.

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Episode four of Night Terrace series two, “Things That Go Bump in the Night Terrace”, is available on BBC Radio 4 Extra for 30 days after broadcast. You can listen to the very first episode, “Moving House”, and purchase both series and a variety of Night Terrace extras via nightterrace.com or the Splendid Chaps Bandcamp store. Find Vaya on Neighbuzz at neighbuzzpod.com.

Show Notes

• The “Life. Be in it.” campaign started in Victoria in 1975 before going national across Australia in 1977. Federal funding only lasted until 1981, but the program ran independently for a while and has been revived a few times. It still exists, though it seems to have gone quiet; you can find out more at lifebeinit.org.
• We previously explained quantum foam in “Breaking Free“, the episode accompanying the final episode of Night Terrace series one, “Home”.
• Lawrence Leung is a well-known Melbourne-based comedian, actor and writer. As well as performing live comedy across Australia and round the world, Lawrence has written and starred in the television series Lawrence Leung’s Choose Your Own Adventure, Lawrence Leung’s Unbelievable, and Maximum Choppage. He also appears as Dr. Elvis Kwan in the Australian comedy-drama Offspring.
• We previously talked about Harold Holt in “Heading Back“, the On the Terrace episode discussing series one episode two, “Starship Australis”. There’s actually only one swimming pool named after him – the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre in Glen Iris, Melbourne – but honestly, one is probably too many.
• Tim Tams are chocolate-covered malted biscuits with chocolate cream in the middle (though there have been many variations and flavours), made by the Australian company Arnott’s Biscuits (now owned by the American private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts). Created by Ian Norris in 1964, Tim Tams were named by company owner Ross Arnott after “Tim Tam”, the winning horse in the 1958 Kentucky Derby. It remains one of the most popular biscuits in Australia, and is well-remembered for a 1990 television campaign in which pre-fame Cate Blanchett finds a genie and wishes for “a packet of Tim Tams that never runs out”.
• John Barrowman is an American actor best known for playing time traveller and immortal Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and its spin-off Torchwood. Perhaps the easiest way to understand the “Tim Tam slam” is to watch him do his first one.
• Pratchat is a monthly Terry Pratchett book club podcast hosted by our own Ben McKenzie and writer Elizabeth Flux. They plan to read and discuss every one of Pratchett’s books, including not just his famous Discworld series, but also his lesser known ones. That includes 1989’s The Unadulterated Cat, a guide book to “real cats”. You can find out more about the book in episode 22 of Pratchat, “The Cat in the Prat“.
• David mentioned the Night Terrace live episode, “Situational Awareness“; this was a stretch goal from our season two Kickstarter, an extra-long episode recorded live in front of an audience at the Union House Theatre at Melbourne University.
• Breaking Bad is a drama series following Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a chemistry teacher who learns he has cancer and uses his scientific know-how to make meth to cover his medical bills, spiralling ever deeper into a life of crime and violence. The episode “4 Days Out” is from season two.
• We previously told you how glorious Jane Badler is in our episode “Breaking Free“.
• We’re pretty sure you know what Friends is, but just in case, it was a long-running 1990s American sit-com about six friends living in New York. The episode discussed by Vaya is the second of season three, “The One Where No-one’s Ready“, first broadcast on September 26, 1996. It should be readily available online. It’s the only episode of Friends which takes place in real time.
• We briefly mentioned Ghostwatch in “Killing Time“, the On the Terrace episode discussing “Time of Death”. It’s pretty hard to get a hold of but well worth it if you can track it down – try not to read too much about it beforehand!
• One Foot in the Grave is a 1990s BBC sit-com starring Richard Wilson as Victor Meldrew, an unlucky security guard forced into early retirement. His attempts to keep himself occupied and out of trouble always lead to complications. The episode mentioned by Ben is “The Trial“, the fifth episode of series four. It’s the only episode in which Victor’s wife Margaret (Annette Crosbie) does not appear, but there are other bottle episodes which do feature her, including one entirely set in their bed as the two suffer insomnia.