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.

Cabin Pressure (2008-2014)

bbc.co.uk

I’ve been into audiobooks for a while – it started with Whoniverse stuff, and I like listening to novels when I’m on walks – but radio plays are a fairly new development for me.  I’ve never been a big radio person in general, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually heard an American-broadcast radio play.  Until recently, the most I’d heard were a handful of Torchwood plays and the radio dramatization of the awesome Donmar Warehouse production of Othello.

 

Well, as I started getting more into Benedict Cumberbatch’s work, I finally listened to the radio version of Neverwhere, in which he and about a bazillion other fabulous British actors recreate the wonderful Neil Gaiman story.  I enjoyed it so much that, when I discovered that Cumberbatch has an affinity for BBC Radio productions, I decided to start tracking down some more of them.  I’m still not a radio person overall, but I’m now definitely a radio-play person.

 

The best program I’ve come across so far is easily Cabin Pressure, a radio sitcom that began before Sherlock made Cumberbatch a celebrity.  The premise – the exploits of a tiny, run-down charter plane business – is deceptively simple.  Excellent characters, spot-on performances, and sublime writing make the show one of the best comedies I’ve found recently, in any format.

 

MJN Air is a microscopic operation.  Carolyn (Stephanie Cole) is the long-suffering owner of GERTI, the company’s lone plane.  She’s proud, penny-pinching, and thoroughly unimpressed.  Martin (Cumberbatch) is MJN’s by-the-book captain.  His position is everything to him, despite his adequate piloting skills and inability to convince clients that he really is the captain.  Douglas (The Thick of It’s Roger Allam) is Martin’s jaded first officer.  Considerably older than his captain, he’s a former Air England pilot who makes a habit of chronic rule-breaking.  Finally, Carolyn’s adult son Arthur (John Finnemore, also the show’s writer) is MJN’s sunshiny steward.  What he lacks in competence and basic common sense, he makes up in unbridled enthusiasm.

 

Each episode, listeners are treated to a new helping of troublesome clients and aviation-related mishaps.  When it comes to MJN, there’s no such thing as smooth sailing (or the flying equivalent thereof.)  Whether it’s a snag at customs or a live cat trapped in the unheated cargo hold, this crew has an extraordinary talent for getting into messes.

 

The absurd scrapes are funny enough, but Cabin Pressure is all about the character interactions.  I love Douglas’s dry sarcasm, Carolyn’s incredulous scolding, Martin’s panicky indecision, and Arthur’s incurable optimism.  I love the way they all look out for each other when the chips are really down.  And most of all, I love the endless string of games they invent to endure the boredom of long flights.  My favorites include “Book Titles that Sound More Interesting with the Last Letter Knocked Off” (such as The Da Vinci Cod,) “Rhyming Journeys” (like “From York to Cork,”) and “The Traveling Lemon” (in which one has to find a lemon hidden somewhere in the cabin, unbeknownst to passengers.)  My only complaint is that the show will be ending soon (the last episode, “Zurich,” will air later this year;) it’s a winner all around.

 

Warnings

 

Just a little drinking (not by the pilots while in flight!) and a few imperiled animals (like the cat mentioned above.)