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Favourite audio dramas/fiction podcasts?
Over the last year, I've found myself listening to quite a few audio dramas. I've never been one for traditional podcasts so it was pretty surprising to me that I loved them so much the moment they went from nonfiction to fiction. It's pretty similar to watching TV, except you can still use your eyes for other tasks! Audio books are nice too, but they don't quite scratch the same itch. So with all that, here's an unordered list of some of my favourite audio dramas (along with a small synopsis and some personal opinions), and I invite you to post your own in the comments!
| Title | Official Synopsis | Personal Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ars PARADOXICA | When an experiment in a time much like our own goes horribly awry, Dr. Sally Grissom finds herself stranded in the past and entrenched in the activities of a clandestine branch of the US government. Grissom and her team quickly learn that there's no safety net when toying with the fundamental logic of the universe. | Along with everything in the official description, this one also has secret codes at the end of each episode so you can play along at home, and has a cast with quite a bit of diverse representation. |
| The Imperfection | Charlie and Amber suffer from a disorder that causes a constant stream of hallucinations. When they discover that their psychiatrist is missing, they rally together with the other patients to search for him. Along the way, they encounter secret societies, half-human half-spider centaurs, and a hidden borough of New York under the East River. But how can you find the truth when you can’t tell what’s real? | This one is mostly a comedy with a rather absurdist sense of humour, but it has some really heartfelt moments. The creators are professionals as well, so the sound design is very nice to listen to. |
| Wooden Overcoats | Rudyard Funn and his equally miserable sister Antigone run their family’s failing funeral parlour, where they get the body in the coffin in the ground on time. But one day they find everyone enjoying themselves at the funerals of a new competitor – the impossibly perfect Eric Chapman! With their dogsbody Georgie, and a mouse called Madeleine, the Funns are taking drastic steps to stay in business… | A British comedy through-and-through, I've had to stop listening to this one in public for fear I look totally crazy, giggling like a hyena. It's also totally family friendly, so you can listen to it with your kids/parents/neighbour's dogs as well! |
| NORA | These recordings were emailed to us without explanation. The sender has not responded to any questions. We cannot confirm the veracity of the information contained within, but believe that the creator of these recordings is acting in good faith. The woman, who calls herself NORA, is investigating a strange series of events that wander between the boundaries of perception and reality. There is some suggestion of organized crime, paranormal influence, or perhaps simple madness. We will continue to make these available as they are sent to us. They present no danger to the listener and seem to provide a source of support for the creator. | Ok, this is a strange one. It's pretty short (only 7 episodes of about a half-hour each), but I was left thinking about it for days afterwards. If you like more weird, interpretive stories, this one is up your alley. It kind of reminded me of House of Leaves, which is a book I love a lot, so take that as you will. |
All of these can be found on basically any podcast app (I use AntennaPod on Android), so if any piqued your interest, do give them a shot!
I really enjoyed The Magnus Archives
"A horror fiction anthology podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organisation dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join new head archivist Jonathan Sims as he attempts to bring a seemingly neglected collection of supernatural statements up to date"
Each episode is a standalone short horror story that over time starts to have a more of an overarching story. The sound production and narration is great, and I really loved the creativity that went into each story.
This podcast literally almost killed me.
For some reason the audio mixing in the bunch of episodes is extremely quiet. I was on an 8 hour drive through northern Alberta late at night while listening to it. This is the sort of drive where you go in the same direction for hours in a straight line.
Overtime I was gradually cranking the volume higher and higher to hear it better. The problem is I had Google maps on and had forgotten about it since it had been a few hours since it had mentioned a direction. It's pitch black out, I'm in the middle of nowhere completely invested in this spooky story.
"IN 500 METERS TURN LEFT ONTO..."
The Google maps voice is deafening and scares the absolute shit out of me. I swerve wildly and it's a good thing there were no other cars on the road.
Had a similar experience driving back home and listening to the season 1 finale. The voices felt so low in volume and kinda muffled, while the sound effects were comparatively LOUD. At least it kept the driver awake.
Anyway, glad your incident didn't end with any collisions! The stories where someone almost dies tend to be the best to tell later.
Upvoting this! I will say, I super enjoyed the magnus archives initially and tampered off eventually as it got more and more complicated further on. It's excellent writing but it's definitely a case of 'get immersed into it and focus' rather than 'light listening' the further you get.
Yeah I agree with this. I enjoyed the last season the least, but it's still well worth the listen to me.
Some of my favorites:
Wolf 359 - Initially a scifi sitcom, but pretty quickly it gets more serialized and develops a very interesting plot. Amazing writing, characters and acting. It is funny, sad and witty. Easily my favorite audio drama. I have no idea how many times I have listened to it, but it is excessive. If you pick any show from this list to listen to, please pick this one. I don't react much to events in stories, but this one has made me both laugh out loud and cry.
The Once and Future Nerd - I'm not typically into fantasy, but this is still near the top of my list. It is a lot of fun, while also having discussions about issues present in both the real world and the fantasy genre. This is one of the few still active audio dramas that I listen to and I get excited every time I see new content from them.
The Strange Case of Starship Iris - Another scifi favorite. If you like Becky Chambers, this is pretty much a mandatory listen. I have gone through it at least 5 times. Notable for being almost entirely recorded remotely. There are only a few bits where the audio sounds off because of it.
Under Pressure - Don't be turned off by inital poor audio quality, it improves very quickly. Great characters and an interesting concept.
Dreamboy - Pretty NSFW. I typically avoid anything so explicitly sexual, but I still very much enjoyed this. It has some of the best sound design of any audio drama I have listened to - the background noises, sound effects and music create an amazing surreal experience. I wish it had gotten a second season - I want more of the fascinating story that was written here.
Expedition Sasquatch - Extreme low budget audio drama at it's best. It's a lot of fun and the main person behind it is awesome too.
Solutions to Problems - A scifi call-in advice show. I love this one for roadtrips because it doesn't require a ton of focus to enjoy, but still provides loads of entertainment.
SAYER - Experience the day to day lives of employees of a vague, yet menacing corporation and the horrors they face while trying to do their jobs. I consider it comedy, my friend considers it horror. Make of that what you will.
The Magnus Archives - Mostly a horror anthology, but there is an overarching plot that comes to a head toward the end. Horror podcasts are not at all my thing and I usually stop listening out of boredom. Not the case here.
Victoriocity - A wacky detective story set in a steampunk future victorian England.
Alice Isn't Dead - The story of a truck driver searching for her wife and the horrors that happen beneath the surface of our country. Fantasy/horror podcast with a gripping story, great atmosphere and fantastic actors.
Arden - Fictional true crime show where the hosts hate each other.
The Hyacinth Disaster - The audio recorded by the black box of an asteroid mining ship prior to its destruction. It does a great job of creating unique characters despite how short it is.
No Bad Ideas - Not audio drama, but it is a great show from the people behind Wolf 359. Gives some fun insight into how they create stories and is a lot of fun. I queue up a few episodes whenever I have a long drive/bus/flight/whatever.
I need to go back and listen to Starship Iris. Too much time passed between two of the season, and by the time I listened to it again I had no idea what was going on.
I did the same thing. Very much worth it.
I don't listen to podcasts or audio dramas much but I absolutely loved Dreamboy for the sound design. I've gone back and listened to it a few times just for the music, especially the main theme.
I haven’t heard it yet, but I’ve heard amazing things about the Sandman radio drama from audible! The Sandman comics are probably my favorite of all time, and I really enjoyed the Netflix adaptation, so I’m excited to finally get to the audio plays.
It's extremely good, I've bought them all. They are full-on audio dramas with an excellent cast of voice actors, sound effects, great music - I've listened to them each two times, and will listen again in the future.
Most of the ones I've listened to have been mentioned, but "Welcome to Night Vale" hasn't. So I'll vouch for that. It's a surreal radio broadcast for a strange desert town where anomalous... things are just a fact of life. It starts out with the various reports, stories, community bulletins, and interviews not looking to be very connected, but eventually story and character arcs will start to emerge. For as surreal and silly as it can be, sometimes they drop some really poignant lines. There are also a couple of standalone novels that take place in Night Vale, I've read Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel and really enjoyed it.
I'm about to start one called "The Department of Variance of Somewhere, Ohio" which is about a mysterious shadowy organization that specializes in supernatural research/containment. One new employee and one mid-level employee are caught up in a sudden lockdown and need to team up to survive the unique hazards of their workplace.
Night Vale was one of the shows that got me into podcasts. I listened to a lot of it for a while, but ultimately felt like it got a little stale. I loved it, but felt like episode 100 would have been a good time to wrap things up.
Ooh thank you for this! I've listened to "The Dead Letter Office of Somewhere, Ohio" and didn't realize there were more stories (presumably) in the lore! If you haven't listened to that yet, it's also fanatic. Another in the vein of Magnus Archives that starts as an anthology and progresses to a connected story.
Nightvale was where I started with my love of fiction podcasts. It's honestly gotten me into podcasts period. I have to confess it was hard to follow over a super long time but it was so fantastic to get into, especially in the beginning. I still have a t-shirt that says 'if you see something, say nothing, and drink to forget'.
I'm not sure if I ever finished it, but one of the ones I used to listen to a couple of years ago was We're Alive. It's a zombie drama that is very well produced, with a lot of mystery! Would recommend
I've heard great things about it, and it's for sure on my "to listen" list... which unfortunately tends to grow longer instead of shorter with each day. The only thing that makes me a bit hesitant is how long We're Alive is, but with so many positive recommendations I may have to bump it up on the priority chart...
it's definitely really long but honestly the production value makes it worth it!
We're Alive was the first audio drama I listened to. Super high production value, especially with how early they were in that space. It is very long - It took me a few false starts to get through it. I finally did though - years after I listened for the first time. I pretty much listened all day for a few days. Finals were done and I had a lot of time to kill.
If you haven't yet, check out The Bright Sessions, by the same people who did Ars PARADOXICA. A therapist that specializes in people with super powers.
Bright sessions yes!! Also the AM Archives as the follow up, some were restricted I think but quite a few are available for free. Definitely Bright sessions first, AM archives next.
The Fourth Ambit
https://www.ambitgroup.com/
…“And, if the rumors are true, a Fourth Ambit, built and controlled by a virulent AI.”
“The Fourth Ambit is a nine-part science fiction radio play, drawing you into a detailed and fully-immersive world of the near future.”
This is the first audio drama I ever discovered and what got me hooked. I’ve listened to it multiple times and enjoyed every run.
The level of production is top if it’s class, for its time. You May experience high levels of nostalgia due to the 80’s/90’s sound effects.
The website suggests it’s at least 22 years old, yet it’s plot is eerily similar to a plausible future we are heading towards.
If anyone wishes to share 4th Ambit related excitement, I’m here.
This story is truly AMAZING. I don't even think it's a podcast technically, I think it predates them, but it is wonderful. I've listened to it at least three times over the years. It's in the creme de le creme of original fiction that's been handmade by a single person, right up there with 'The Terrible Business of Salmon and Dusk' by Myke Bartlett, and 'Underwood and Flinch' by Mike Bennett. (Underwood is still going currently, btw, well worth the Patreon bucks)
Thank you so much for posting this! I'm on episode 7 right now. I haven't enjoyed an audio drama this much since DUST's season three CHRYSALIS.
Welcome to the Ambit my friend.
One of my all-time favorites was Mission to Zyxx. It’s technically a sci-fi themed improv comedy podcast, but while it’s largely episodic the things they come up with usually become canon and they have to stick them in future episodes. They start with general story beats for an episode and then edit the session to make a satisfying story. Each season has a story arc and everything eventually led to an epic finale.
The highlight of the series to me was the sound design. Careful use of sound effects in a 3D sound space really made for an immersive experience, especially with headphones. The music was great too, and after a year or two they eventually had an actual orchestra playing it.
Also, it was just plain hilarious.
I’m returning to this topic to say I’ve just subscribed to a new audio drama called The Last City. The trailer sounded great and I’m excited to see if I enjoy it.
“ In the climate-ravaged year of 2072, Pura stands as a miraculous green haven, a geoengineered paradise that protects lucky residents from the global catastrophes of heat domes, fires, floods, and droughts.”
But evidently everything is not as it seems.
If you liked Wooden Overcoats (possibly my all time favorite original fiction comedy podcast), then I highly suggest 'Who Exploded Vivien Stone? ' and 'Stellar Firma'. They aren't just funny, they are well written (stellar Firma is half improvised, though) and superbly acted. I wish I could listen to them both again for the first time!
Ghostwriter with Kate Mara and Adam Scott.
A few that I've enjoyed recently:
QCODE has really good thrillers with surround sound. I really liked:
I keep hearing good things about the Amelia Project, it's for sure on the list! And total agree on Left Right Game! I was a huge fan of the original nosleep story and I'd say the QCODE adaptation did it justice. My only complaint is that they sometimes relied a bit too much on the sound design and it was hard to tell what was going on, but the ending made up for it for sure.
Amelia project is the perfect mix between funny humour and over arching story lines that pull you in, super addictive and easy to follow.
There's recs in here for both the Bright Session and the Amelia project, I would recommend doing both since they share some voice actors - Amelia and Dr Bright are both done by the same person!
It's no longer active, but I really liked Metamor City while it was running. It was this cool urban fantasy about psychics, vampires, wizards, and mortal men all trying to live together in the same city and the stories come from there. It's somewhat fetishistic and not for everyone, but it hit my sweet spot of fantasy, scifi, and mental trauma. There was this Baltimore podcast scene it was a part of which pooled voice actors, so if you followed any others you'd get a nice kick out of recognising them.
http://www.metamorcity.com/
A lot of my favourites have already been posted, so just adding a few I also liked:
Lime Town - older but excellent sci fi esque thriller about an entire town that goes missing. It's not as scary as the Magnus archive in terms of jump scares, but really draws you in.
We fix space junk - cute hijinks in a space ship with the space equivalent of a mechanic. It's light hearted and mostly fun
The bullet catcher - intriguing drama set in a futuristic cowboys style dystopia where bullet catchers and sharp shooters are pitted against each other
Passenger List - I have only listened to season one so I can only vouch for that but it was excellent
If you are into fiction but like short stories more:
Fiction that falls less into story and more other genres:
I discovered these because an AM radio station played a couple old time radio shows every night when I was younger, so I fell asleep pretty much every night listening to them.
A little shameless self-promotion here, but as a result of growing up with these one of my side/passion projects is Radiostasis, which used to be an Android app but has transitioned to a web streaming platform. It's a (very slowly) growing curated library of old time radio shows that can be listened to for free (since they're all probably public domain).
Currently you can only stream through the browser, but I have plans to eventually add podcast support where you'll be able to subscribe to shows as podcasts as well as maybe build custom podcast feeds by selecting episodes ad-hoc.
Wow.. That is an impressive site. What series do you personally recommend?
I have too many favorites to list, but some good ones to jump into are probably the anthologies like Dimension X and X Minus One (sci-fi), Suspense and The Whistler (horror/mystery), as well as Escape (adventure).
I vaguely recall listening to The Shadow when I was a child, too (it starts "Who knows what evil lurks in the heartsof men? The Shadow knows..." right?). It may have been on public radio. ETA: Thank you also for the site! (ETA2: Removed some personal info.)
Nope, I listened on QR77 in Calgary, Canada. Since all those old shows are (probably) public domain I imagine they get air time all over the place though, especially on public radio and late at night.
And yeah that Shadow intro is classic. The weed of crime bears bitter fruit! The Shadow knows...
Radio serials is a great idea, I'd add the Goon show to the list - still hilarious and a lot of the episodes are available on the BBC website
If you enjoy Lovecraft's stories, look up Dark Adventure Radio Theater. It's an audio range that frames audio plays in a 1920's style of American radio drama. I've tried a couple so far and I'm enjoying them (my normal go-to for audio productions would be British comedies like 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' and 'Cabin Pressure'.
Some of my favorite old time radio setups if you have to have a live setup is Relic Radio and the Late Late Horror Show, always nice to have around when you're doing laundry or whatever.