Press Kit

Tales from the Aletheian Society is a serialised comedy-horror audio drama about the misadventures of a society of Victorian occultists.

Download the complete press kit as a ZIP file (8.4MB)

Season One

Doctor Cadwallader doesn’t want much out of life - just a civilised environment in which to enjoy his many and varied vices and continue his half-baked investigations into the occult. Instead, he’s been given the unenviable task of reopening the Aletheian Society’s least desirable Chapter House. With only an assortment of hapless aristocrats and incomprehensible provincials to aid him, he finds himself drawn into a murky conspiracy of vicious street gangs, cursed artefacts, inhuman monstrosities and a powerful load of haggis.

Can the bickering team of misfits unravel the legacy of Hunter House in time to save Glasgow? What is living under the stairs? And what really happened to Cadwallader in Bhutan?

Season Two

What’s the connection between a missing train, Bonnie Prince Charlie and a cholera epidemic in Edinburgh? The Aletheian Society don’t know, but Miss Cadwallader — Hieronymus’s elderly maiden aunt — is determined to find out.

Dragged to the perilous lands of the east, the Society find themselves plunged into a murky conspiracy that threatens the peaceful future of the United Kingdom — to say nothing of their own lives…

Format and Schedule

Each season consists of six half hour episodes, released weekly on Fridays at noon BST (UTC +1) over a 5 week period. Season 1 was released between 25th May and 29th June 2018, while season 2 was released between 31st October and 7th December 2018. We are presently preparing Season 3 with plans to launch later in 2019.

Scripts are uploaded to our website at the end of the season, with the complete season one and season two scripts already available. Tales from the Aletheian Society is recorded in stereo, and some listeners who are hard-of-hearing may prefer to set their devices to mono for best results.

You can download episodes directly from our website, as well as subscribing to our mailing list to hear when new content is available. Alternatively you can find us on iTunes, Stitcher and Pocket Casts.

Content Notice

Most episodes contain actual or implied violence, frequent mild swearing and reference to dark occult themes. Specific content warnings are posted for episodes containing additional potentially upsetting content.

Statistics

We have a current 5 star rating on iTunes and on our Facebook page and a rapidly growing audience primarily from the UK, US, Canada and Europe. Our initial listening figures were around 200 individuals for episode one, growing to 1,000 weekly listeners by the end of the first season.

About the Creators

Writers

Jude Reid and Christopher Edwards have a long history of creating exciting worlds together. They have written and organised a series of highly successful LARP events, including Project Ragnarok and Incarceration. Their decades of running table-top sessions have taken their players on countless new and interesting adventures filled with inspiring, despicable and captivating characters. The Aletheian Society is their newest joint venture, and their first audiodrama.

Audio Engineer and Composer

Stoo Goff is a writer, musician and programmer hailing from Norwich and now living in Glasgow. When not buried beneath a mountain of programming code or torturing guitars he can be found creating strange new lands and conjuring dreams from nothing.

He is heavily influenced by a number of writers and musicians, including: Tom Waits, Ursula Le Guin, Trent Reznor, Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer, Gene Wolfe, Frank Miller and a host of Finnish Folk Metal.

Website: www.hunterhoose.co.uk
Email: theincident@hunterhoose.co.uk
Patreon: www.patreon.com/aletheiansoc
Facebook: www.facebook.com/aletheiansoc
Twitter: @aletheiansoc

Cast

Jude Reid

Jessie Gordon

One of the cast’s few actual Glaswegians, Jude creates things to unwind in the gaps between full time work, chasing after her kids and trying to wear out a border collie. She is an avid Zombies! Run fan, a keen student of ITF Tae Kwon Do and drinks a powerful load of coffee.

Chris Edwards

Dr. Hieronymous Cadwallader

Chris has written plot for multiple LARP systems (most notably Profound Decisions and Shadow Factories), but has no real-world achievements of any note, aside from amassing an (arguably) impressive collection of roleplaying books. He lives in continual hope that someday his creative talents will allow him to escape wage slavery and do something he actually enjoys for a living.

Lindis Kipp

Lady Sophia Roxburgh

German by birth, Scottish by choice, Lindis is an English teacher and passionate lover of fiction. When she’s not recording for the Aletheian society, she is an active member of the Glasgow Madrigirls and enjoys Larping.

Henry Sullivan

Lord Arthur Roxburgh

Henry sadly has neither the title nor the money of Lord Arthur but does have the accent at least. This helps him in all sorts of interesting ways in Glasgow, where he lives with his wife, kids and dog. He is the city archivist for Edinburgh and enjoys travel, food and gaming of many varieties.

Rhiannon Swann-Price

The Tribune / Cressida Cadwallader

When she’s not doing world-class monkey impressions, Rhiannon enjoys conquering hills and arguing about Star Wars.

Ritch Keeling

Godalming

When not assisting esoteric societies, seasoned reality ignorer Ritch spends his time videoing, documenting and talking nonsense over games of Guild Ball.

Catherine Ramsay

Clootie

Catherine spends her days trying to teach mathematics to unwilling teenagers, and her evenings trying to squeeze in as much tabletop roleplay as is humanly possible. Her favourite things are beer, drawing and lifting heavy objects.

Graeme Jamieson

Gillespie / Robbie

Graeme works for Profound Decisions, where he is a member of the design team for Empire LRP. He spends his time making numbers dance, telling people no and pretending to know what he’s talking about.

Jamie Stewart

Dr. Paterson

Jamie has exploded over 5 cars by his mere presence. He poses atmospherically every Christmas and brings a scholarly realism to the good Dr Paterson as he is regularly drunk. He is colloquially known as Jamie The Man due to his house moving skills.

Daisy Abbott

Ava O’Hara / The Regent

Daisy loves accordions, LRP, singing, running, and drinking beer. She has used her finely honed skills of ‘staying at home with the kids so Chris can record’ and ‘knowing what #hashtags are’ to further the goals of the Aletheian Society.

Gerard Kurth

Dr. Pritchard / Clootie

Gerard is an amateur stand up comedian, occasional larp writer, gamer, militant film nerd and literally the worst. His role in the cast is shrieking like he stepped on a plug and silly accents. Ger’s favourite things are Music, being opinionated about 90’s computer games, cooking and the sound of his own voice.

Paul McKie

Mortimer

Paul is originally from the North of Scotland, but was tempted away by the bright lights of Glasgow in the mid–90s, due to being The Only Gay In The Village. Working as a wage slave for a global corporation, what limited social time he has is well spent slapping biscuits from the mouths of orphans, and the occasional game of cards.

Megan Rose Thomas

Hilda

Megan Rose Thomas is an actor, writer, magician and puppeteer. She lives in a flat filled with far too many sewing materials and a large number of musical instruments, hardly any of which she can actually play.

Phill Burnham

Babbage

Phill is originally from Merseyside though you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the accent unless he’s been around other scousers. He migrated to the land of gingers for University and has stayed ever since. He enjoys playing most heroic heroes and vilest villains and got the opportunity to chew the scenery as a guest in season 3.

Simeon Ewing

Banjo

The class, grace and elegance Simeon brings to the part of Banjo is born of a proud Glasgow upbringing. When not at the microphone he makes films happen and has just completed production on Chris Bogle’s short film The Rocket Ship. He likes salt and vinegar on his chips.

Reviews

The writing is sharp and interesting, making the jokes but also advancing the plot. I found myself looking up places and people to find out if they had been real with how well the story was being told. History and fiction are blended together that well so far that you might not be sure which is which either.
— (Yet Another) Podcast Reviewer

This is a comedy podcast about cultists in Victorian Scotland and oh, my goodness, I think my sides split. The main character is given lead of the hopeless chapter of Glasgow, which they call “Hell’s Darkest Pit”. The acting here is impeccable, each character bringing to life their quirks and habits, and the plot is simply rollicking good fun — if you can have fun dealing with occult forces.
— Elena Fernández-Collins, Audio drama writer at Bello Collective

This podcast is so enthralling. I tend to listen to podcasts at my desk and I’ve been completely drawn in, abandoning my tasks. A+ acting, accents, characters, and sound effects. Quality all around. Will definitely recommend.
— Anti-Matters Podcast

what a Great Show!!! can’t say enough good things about it!
— TDMR Podcast

Cultish shenanigans in the Highlands!

Really enjoyed this podcast! Creators did an excellent job of bringing each of the characters to life and providing them with interesting quirks and personalities. Story was great and I eagerly anticipated each new episode. The overall humour left me lol’ing on several occasions. I’m really looking forward to season 2! Highly recommend!
— Adam says yes!, via Apple Podcasts

A Uniquely Scottish Take on the Cthulhu Mythos

By turns darkly hilarious, Carry-On level slapstick, genuinely spinechilling and evocatively sad. Highly recommended.
— Red Claire, via Apple Podcasts

A twisted and hilarious joy

If Terry Pratchett had written a show about an occult society battling the forces of darkness, it would probably sound a lot like this. Somewhere between Cthulhu and Flashman, Tales from the Aletheian Society is hugely funny and massively entertaining. Give it a listen!
— D in Es, via Apple Podcasts

Hilarious and fun!

I so enjoy this show!! There is so much to love about this Audio Drama! Great actors, amazing writing, so much fun! A must listen for anyone!
— Big Tree, via Apple Podcasts

Victorian occult shenanigans

A unique mashup of Cthulhu mythos and dysfunctional workplace comedy! Laugh out loud funny in places with some proper horror. Great theme tune too!
— Squinty witch, via Apple Podcasts

Brilliant!

Fabulous performances matched with fantastic research and wicked dark humour! Only gets better and better from episode 1. If you love gothic horror, this is the podcast for you!
— joosetta, via Apple Podcasts

Victorian Horror with a side of Comedy…

Strong performances from the entire cast and excellent gags had me glued to my inner imaginings as I listened on the Tube, eyes shut, spreading grin on my face. Bravo, I say!
— Maleghast, via Apple Podcasts

Great work

An absolutely brilliant production made me laugh a lot, enjoyed the setting and the cast.
— Big daddy phat, via Apple Podcasts

Hilarious and sometimes very scary!

I love the clever writing in this show - makes great use of very slightly fictionalised history to tell a great story and the acting is brilliant!
— DazorBellis, via Apple Podcasts

Good plot, great characters… what’s not to love?

Some great writing and a truly entertaining plot! Prepare for some good laughs and great characters :)
— Frustratedandangry_022, via Apple Podcasts

Great stuff

Good voice acting, solid script, cheeky dialogue, excellent production values! Capital choice old bean!
— TheManofNor, via Apple Podcasts

Excellent atmospheric show

Really good voice cast and high quality sound design lifts this into my favourite podcast!
— WeeRed Hurricane, via Apple Podcasts