Melancholy Mentor Podcast
Welcome to Melancholy Mentor where classic literature meets the vibrant world of radio plays.
Melancholy Mentor Podcast
Delving into Roald Dahl's "The Way Up to Heaven"
Explore the enchanting and mysterious world of Roald Dahl's storytelling with us, as we unravel the layers of his macabre short story "The Way Up to Heaven."
Join Fran from Melancholy Mentor and Evan from Mystery Mythos as we take you on a captivating journey through Dahl's Welsh heritage, his prolific career in children's literature, and his intriguing past as a squadron leader in the RAF during World War II.
We'll discuss the suspenseful adaptations of Dahl's work, particularly on the British TV series "Tales of the Unexpected."
Send us an email to let us know your thoughts or if you have anything to add at ⏬⏬
info@melancholymentor.com
You can watch the radio drama episode we are discussing on our YouTube channel :
https://youtube.com/@melancholy_mentor
Hello everyone and welcome to Melancholy Mentor, where classic literature meets the vibrant world of radio plays. I'm Fran and I'm joined by Evan from Mystery Mythos. Together, we're your guides on this creative journey. During each episode, we'll dive into stories featured on the Melancholy Mentor mental channel, allowing fresh ideas to flourish, inspiring you to dream big and unlock your creative potential. Get comfy, open your mind and embrace curiosity.
Speaker 2:Let's get started hello, I'm fran and I'm Evan, and today we're going to highlight another episode on the Merlin Collie Mental YouTube channel. So the next episode that we're highlighting is called the Way Up to Heaven, and the Way Up to Heaven is a macabre short story by Roald Dahl. Now have I pronounced that right?
Speaker 3:I think it's right. Yeah, roald Dahl.
Speaker 2:So the actual spelling of Roald Dahl's name is R-O-A-L-D and then D-A-H-L, so Roald Dahl. It's an unusual name, isn't it? Yeah, so Roald Dahl was a British author called one of the greatest storytellers Think of children's literature actually of the 20th century, and he was born in 1916. Have a guess where he was born?
Speaker 3:I think he was born in Wales. I think I relate him to Wales. Did you look that up? I think I relate him to that. Did you look that up? No, I used to read, I kind of. I kind of used to read like quite a lot of his books.
Speaker 2:I like the stuff yeah, yeah, yeah, I didn't read Roald Dahl when I was younger, I'll be honest with you, so when some of the children's book adaptations came out, I hadn't actually read the books okay you've got things like um because did he do bfg?
Speaker 2:and bfg big, friendly giants the witches yeah I liked the witches so much now I've seen the riches. Yeah, I never read it. Yeah, yeah, I did um. So, yeah, you're right, he was born iniff and he actually passed away in 1990. And he was aged 74. So you know, and that was in Oxford, he passed away. Now look this up. Apparently he passed from a rare cancer of the blood. So I was going to say I'm not too sure about 1990. I still feel that even in 1990, that's relatively young as such. Yeah, 74. So yeah, he had a rare cancer of the blood.
Speaker 2:And another thing I found out about roald dahl is that he was actually in the air force. So he was a squadron leader. That's not easy to say. Squad, squadron, squadron. Yeah, he was a squadron leader of number 80 squadron in the RAF and I think he actually um was with the RAF during the second world war. So I don't actually know a lot more about that um, but maybe some people listening to and you'd like to comment on that if you're a Roald Dahl fan, and we'd love that, wouldn't we?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah definitely, because a lot of this is just that we're putting together things on the channel that we actually enjoy and stories that we think other people will enjoy as radio plays, and we're not professing to be experts about either the recordings or the, the, the office that originally wrote the stories, and stuff like that. So we're just bringing to you highlights of things that we've got together and some facts that we've kind of found out yeah so, um, the way up to heaven is a short story, so that's the short macabre I love that word macabre story.
Speaker 2:And it was actually featured on Tales of the Unexpected, which is a British TV series, and the creator of the series was Roald Dahl and it run from 1979 until 1988. Quite a long time. Yeah, it was quite a long time. So I was going into my teens then when that was on, because I actually remember Tales of the Unexpected when it first came around and I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I just never realised until more recently that it was actually created by Roald Dahl. See, I knew, yeah, I didn't know, you've got another little fact about this particular episode, haven't you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, this was adapted. There was like an adaptation by Alfred Hitchcock that was on his television show called Suspicion in 1957. So, yeah, so like the original story was like published in 1954 um, that was in the new yorker and then obviously then after that it was adapted by alfred hitchcock, so that's pretty cool that would have been.
Speaker 2:So if that was aired on tv, that would probably have been in black and white, wouldn't it? Rather than yeah, I would have thought so in 1957, the other show that alfred hitchcock done, because I wondered whether it was that alfred hitchcock presents.
Speaker 2:That's it now I've seen some of those when they've kind of um re-aired those on tv. I've seen some of those, yeah, but I didn't actually know that he'd featured this story, yeah, so thank you for that. And so, obviously said already, the creator of towns of the unexpected is roald dahl, famous author, famous for children's books and adult fiction, and the stories featured on tells of the unexpected, which was, you know, the tv show, were stories with a twist ending which I love. So these are short stories, aren't they?
Speaker 3:and I think maybe they were like half an hour episodes yeah, I think it was up to like half an hour quite.
Speaker 2:I think they were just done like quite short yeah, I'm quite invested in the story because it's, because it really does grip you quite early on and take you through a story and then, with those twist endings, it's. I just found it, um, quite fascinating. Yeah, tales of the Unexpected itself was put together as a as an anthology series, so each um episode features a different story, which I like as well, because it was kind of under the same theme and the same kind of theme music and the same kind of short stories with a twist, but you've got different characters and a different story each time.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So which I like. So there's trademark twists apparently often left the viewers shocked.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah, which I like that it's kind of like that suspense and then shock, ending Exactly the suspense, that's it.
Speaker 2:That's the word I was trying to get to, the suspense of the story, so you're kind of hanging on the suspense of it. And then there's this little shocker of an ending, and the themes covered in the short stories were often of greed, revenge, that darker side of human nature.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, and it kind of explored that. So it's like a real look into how people behave in different situations or, you know, under different circumstances. So the Way Out to Heaven demonstrates this beautifully. I think it's a short story about a wealthy married couple, um, mr and mrs foster. So, and I didn't actually know about this story until we featured it on the melancholy mentor channel, um, but I wasn't aware of this one, although I do wonder whether or not I've seen the episode and not actually realized. Yeah, maybe it seems to kind of have some familiarity in my mind. So I wonder if I've actually seen it as part of um towns, of the unexpected tv series. So, Mrs Foster, I like this a lot.
Speaker 2:Mrs Foster suspects her husband of purposely exacerbating now there's a word purposely exacerbating her pathological fear of tardiness.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's quite a thing, isn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's quite a thing, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, and so tardiness is in being late, um, and with all phobias as such, they've got names, haven't they? So I actually looked this up. So, again, you know, anybody listening can correct me if if it's. If it's not correct this, try and read it. It's allegorophobia, okay. So I don't know whether that's actually true, because I don't know. I just know that a lot of um, well, all phobias have got a name and they're quite often quite long sort of names, aren't they? Yeah, yeah, there's like the fear of being late, um, the way it's presented in this story is the, the pathological fear of tardiness. So just for the added dramatic effect, isn't it? Yeah?
Speaker 3:yeah um.
Speaker 2:So mrs foster is preparing for a six week trip to paris by herself. I think it's something to do with going to see her daughter or grandchildren, or something yeah yeah, so what can the twist be?
Speaker 2:So she's got a husband who she's suspecting of like ramping up her fear. She's preparing for a trip and her fear is lateness. So she's going to want to be on time, she's going to want to leave on time, yeah so, yeah, there's a twist in there. Some way. You'll have to listen to the episode to find out what the twist is.
Speaker 3:I love that.
Speaker 2:I do.
Speaker 3:You've listened to it already, yeah I know, but it makes me want to listen to it again I know, I know, and I'll tell you why.
Speaker 2:Um, there's an added reason to listen to it it's actually narrated. The episode that we've got is a radio play and it's narrated by Patricia Rutledge or routeledge. Um, I'll pronounce it, but how would you say it?
Speaker 3:I could call her route ledge, yeah, patricia routeledge.
Speaker 2:So her actual name, because I again I looked heratherine patricia routledge. Cool, it's very impressive. She's an english actress and singer absolutely stupendous, um, talent, very talented, very talented, and I actually so I think. She's been in a lot of plays and, like her body of work is extensive and she's got an incredibly distinctive voice, so her narration of this story is just perfection would be perfect, yeah it's perfection, like I.
Speaker 2:That's why I like listening to it. So her voice is so um, the way she kind of uses her expressions and the tone of her voice, it's just so listenable. Um, and I first encountered her as an actress in a tv c you know what I'm going to say, don't you? Yeah, yeah, tv series which run I believe it run from 1990 to 95, kind of the early 90s. So I wasn't really aware of her works until then. And what TV series am I referencing, evan?
Speaker 3:It's, oh God, it's gone, it's gone, and I know You're a fan of this show, I know.
Speaker 2:Shall I remind you. It's Mrs, shall remind you. It's Mrs Bouquet. It's Mrs Bouquet, I know it's Mrs.
Speaker 3:Bouquet, that's what I've got in my head. I've got the whole thing on Onslow and everything, and then the name is gone the characters of the show. It's keeping up appearances that's it it went, I had it, and then it went it went.
Speaker 2:So a lot of people listening, you know, will recognise her voice and I'm sure they've been fans of the British TV show Keeping Up Appearances. She's so funny.
Speaker 3:Very funny.
Speaker 2:Comedic timing is perfect.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Her voice is amazing. She's just like. That's why I love her voiceover work and her kind of voice acting. It's just like. That's why I love her voiceover work and her her kind of voice acting. It's just just incredible. And, of course, mrs bouquet was actually mrs bucket and it's just so funny I know it was funny, her poor husband, her poor husband, I know, I think. I think there was some very deep love there, though, so yeah, richard, I mean he loves her so he's just yeah, very much so.
Speaker 2:So it's actually patricia routledge who who narrates the story that we've got on the melancholy mental channel which is the way up to heaven, um, a story about Mrs Boster and her husband, who she thinks is exacerbating her pathological fear of tardiness and the whole thing is wonderfully narrated and very, very worth a listen and we're gonna go so hopefully that's kind of you know inspired you to to look these people up, look the short stories up and the you know the references there and if you know any more facts about what we've referenced during today's episode, then please join in. And you know any more facts about what we've referenced during today's episode, then please join in and let us know. We'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:Go and take a listen to it on our channel.
Speaker 3:Yeah, bye, bye, bye.
