Nicola has a new radio project. She will be the reader of a series of 3 stories featuring a new fictional detective, Annika Stranded. Here’s what we have found out from the BBC Radio 4’s webpage
Annika Strandhed is a leading light in the murder squad of the Oslo police. Her neuroses – and she has a few – are mostly hidden by a boisterous manner and a love of motor boats. And she thinks she’s funny – although her colleagues aren’t so sure.
Commissioned specially for Radio 4, these three stories by Nick Walker introduce us to a new Scandinavian detective: not as astute as Sarah Lund or Saga Norén perhaps, but probably better company.
Episode 1 (of 3): A Body Of Water
Duration: 15 minutesFirst broadcast: Sunday 20 January 2013
A sound is a body of water narrow enough for a man to swim across. But on the island of Oscarsborg, Annika finds the body of a man who clearly didn’t make it.
Episode 2 (of 3): Deep Six
Duration : 15 minutes
First broadcast: Sunday 27 January 2013After a tip off from a witness on a passing train, police divers bring up a mysterious crate from the depths of the Oslofjord.
Episode 3 (of 3): An Echo
Duration: 15 minutes
First broadcast: Sunday 3 February 2013A body is found in a metro carriage – but Annika’s judgments are being clouded by personal matters.
Nick Walker is part of the Coventry-based mixed media experimentalists Talking Birds whose work has been presented extensively in the UK as well as in Sweden, Ireland, and the USA. He has worked with some of the country’s leading new work theatre companies both in the UK and abroad, including Stan’s Cafe, Insomniac, and Theatre Instituut Nederlands.
He is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels ‘Blackbox’ and ‘Helloland’. His plays and short stories are often featured on BBC Radio 4 including: Arnold In A Purple Haze (2009), the First King of Mars stories (2007 – 2010), the Afternoon Play Life Coach (2010), and the stories Dig Yourself (2011) and The Indivisible (2012) – all of them Sweet Talk productions.
Reader: Nicola Walker
Sound Design: Jon Calver
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
Annika Stranded is a Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.
You can listen to this programme, wherever you are in the world, via the BBC Radio iPlayer, which does not have any geographic restrictions. The programme will remain available on the BBC Radio iPlayer for seven days after the original broadcast date, so if you are unable to tune in at the designated time, you can still catch up on the iPlayer.
A big THANK YOU to Ana from Oz who gave us the heads up on this project! 😀
This comment was taken from producer Jeremy Osborne’s blog
Fans of Spooks, and lately, Last Tango In Halifax, will need no introduction to Nicola Walker. TV casting has tended to put her in victim or generally-put-upon roles – and since Nicola is good in all she does it’s a safe bet – but radio has so far provided more scope to show how warm, versatile and funny she is. In Annika Stranded she is all these things, and inhabits the character so completely that it would be easy to believe she’d written the stories herself.
Repeats
22 February 2015 repeated on BBC Radio 4. Episode 1 will remain available for 29 more days. Listen in from anywhere in the world.
Six degrees
Nick Walker is the writer of these three stories. Nicola was featured in one of his stories, Life Coach [Audio] in 2010. Nicola is not related to Nick Walker.
Hello, is Annika the TV series available on DVD?
Yes, but only as a Region 4 DVD available from Australia.
So much enjoy Annika Stranded. Hope there are many more.
I’ve just listened to all online episodes of the current series. Frankly, I’d be prepared to part with money to purchase them via iTunes or the BBC app. Inspired and inspirational – and I need no introduction to Nicola Walker whose talents are myriad.
Well done to all involved in this project.
Please can you tell me who the artist is and song that accompany the programme?
Great story and brilliantly read…
Please see our response to a similar request from Steve on this page.
I do happen to have all three episodes on my computer (only because I like to listen to radio programs on a device away from my computer and I haven’t deleted them yet). I don’t want to upload them to YouTube but I could email the mp3 files to a couple of people here, as long as you promise not to sell them, etc.
You can send me a line at [Ed : deleted]
Of course, if the moderator doesn’t think I should be offering this, then they can delete this message. I know how frustrating it can be to miss a program but I don’t want to make a fuss.
I’m sorry, Amanda and Jeff, we cannot afford to be known as a place where fans can trade copies of Nicola’s performances in whatever format it is. As a fansite, we are often not taken seriously enough by the media companies and that makes it difficult for us to obtain pics and info to share with other fans. We simply have to stay on the good side of these media companies.
If Amanda and Jiff were somehow able to find each other in some social media setting, like Twitter, then that is something beyond our control. 🙂
In future, any comment asking for, or offering, copies of these performances will not be approved. I hope fans will understand the difficult position we are in.
DEEP SIX….Oh! I so enjoyed that too…..both the story and Nicola Walker’s delivery of it
…..so rarely are we touched and amused – rapt and wrapped within an engaging and absorbing narrative……..fifteen minutes of broadcast heaven!
Sadly the monolith that is the BBC does not allow for me to clasp it to my bosom……and I was even too late to catch it on iplayer……
I’ve just listened to the 2nd episode of Annika Stranded on the R4 website and really enjoyed it – so I wish I’d caught the 1st episode too. I visited Norway a few years ago so it had extra interest for me – plus the nautical themes. And Nicola shows her versatility again!