Relationship Spotlight: Douglas Richardson & Martin Crieff (Cabin Pressure)

Pound for pound, Cabin Pressure might be the most engaging scripted radio program I’ve ever listened to – not that I’ve listened to tons of scripted radio programs, but still.  The characters are fantastic, the situational comedy is absurd, and the voice-acting is topnotch.  Honestly, it’s so good that I don’t have a single quibbling wish that it could be a live-action show instead.  It’s spectacular just the way it is.  I don’t need to see Benedict Cumberbatch or Roger Allam, for example, to count Martin and Douglas’s relationship among the best odd-couple duos around.

Their respective situations and personalities create a perfect storm for humor.  Martin, the captain, is eternally, insecurely nervous but just-shy-of-frantic to prove his mettle.  He’s fastidiously by-the-book, prone to losing his head in a panic, and desperate to be seen as a capable pilot and figure of authority.  Meanwhile, first officer Douglas is a seasoned (read:  jaded) veteran of the skies who’s a natural voice of reason and can pilot with ease.  He’s been flying long enough that he’s not overly invested in the rules, and he remains unflappable under almost any circumstance.  Nearly everyone who encounters Martin and Douglas automatically assumes Douglas is the captain and sometimes even argues the point with them, which of course delights Douglas and infuriates Martin.

So, we have an agitated stickler and a laidback rule-breaker, with the latter allegedly subservient to the former.  This leads to all manner of power struggles, with Douglas pulling countless stunts just to mess with Martin and watch him squirm, while Martin flails in his efforts to keep Douglas contained.  Douglas naturally responds by being uncontainable, and the more Martin pushes him, the more he pushes back – in one instance, he introduces Martin over the intercom as the French “Captain Martin du Creff,” forcing Martin to keep up the pretense in all his cabin addresses.

But they’re more than just two diametrically-opposed pilots trapped in the same cockpit.  They’re also friends, in a fashion, and their shared penchant for silly travel games helps the hours to pass by on long boring flights.  Whether they’re going as long as they can using words of only one syllable, cramming a cabin address with Hitchcock references, or wondering if they could fit 100 otters on the plane, they keep one another sharp and entertained.  Though they often complain about each other, I doubt either would have nearly as much fun with any other co-pilot. 

And despite the way they frequently antagonize each other (especially Douglas to Martin,) they usually come through for one another when it really counts.  For all of Douglas’s ribbing, he also gives Martin valuable advice that helps him to become a more self-assured captain; in these moments, he’s almost like a father figure to Martin.  No matter how hopelessly ridiculous a conundrum is, Martin has faith that Douglas will cook up a plan to fix it.  And let’s face it, he usually does.  We’re talking about a man who can figure out how to fake a flight to Timbuktu or determine which one in a group of identical geese swallowed one of Martin’s possessions (and how exactly did a pair of pilots get themselves into that last predicament?  Don’t ask – just listen to it and marvel at the glorious insanity.)  For Martin’s part, he sometimes manages to come through for Douglas as well.  He’s not often in as strong a position to do so, but whenever he can, he makes it count.  Both are excellent characters in their own right, but they’re indisputably so much better together.