{"id":57365,"title":"Summer of Strange","description":"Welcome to the #SummerOfStrange. This season, we are stepping away from the usual Hammer, Amicus, vampires, and monsters to bring you a selection of weirdness \u2013 perfect listening while the UK sizzles. We kick off with James exploring the rise of parapsychology in the 1970s with Department X: Mysterious Powers and Strange Forces","content":"

Welcome to the #SummerOfStrange. This season, we are stepping away from the usual Hammer, Amicus, vampires, and monsters to bring you a selection of weirdness \u2013 perfect listening while the UK sizzles.<\/p>

We kick off with James exploring the rise of parapsychology in the 1970s with Department X: Mysterious Powers and Strange Forces<\/u><\/strong><\/a>. Why did that decade see such a dramatic rise in the cultural obsession with ESP, telekinesis, and psychic premonitions? He has been digging into the archives, and he thinks he has the answer.<\/p>

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Ross has built an atmospheric soundscape for this episode. If you prefer your speech uninterrupted by music, a voice-only version is also available.<\/u><\/a><\/p>

\"cplz5sumnllgaz0ictpdqjgqjsw8idhrmx5qiwuijeyg5amj.jpg.jpg?w=1140&project=general-witchfinders-253396&v=2\"Next in the main podcast feed, all three of us are looking at Penda\u2019s Fen<\/em>. Originally broadcast in 1974 in the fourth series of the BBC anthology Play for Today<\/em>, it was written by David Rudkin and directed by Alan Clarke.<\/p>

Vertigo<\/em> magazine described it as \u2018One of the great visionary works of English film\u2019, and Time Out London<\/em> named it one of the 100 best British films. It is exactly the kind of challenging television they simply do not make nowadays, let alone place in a prime-time slot on national television. Spoilers: we loved it.<\/p>