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The Listeners centres around secondary school teacher Claire (Rebecca Hall – Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire), who’s hearing a mysterious hum, similar to those in Omagh and County Tyrone have done, lately. And it’s not a hum from someone farting.
I wondered in which period this was set, as she thinks it might be the TV, and puts on BBC1, but whereas now you’d get BBC News simulcast overnight, Claire gets an old-style BBC1 symbol, but against a picture of the planet Earth, which certainly wasn’t something around at the time. However, everything else in the programme points to the present day.
Although, despite being set in Manchester, the opener of this four-parter also takes in an impromptu visit to Jodrell Bank in Cheshire, which is a bit of a trek, even if you could technically get there in under an hour.
As it’s 2024, Claire’s in a mixed-race relationship, but aside from the obvious, these days, it turns out that she’s not the only one who can hear it! Ooh, the plot thinnens!
Yes, the longer the first episode went on, the less I cared.
She’s probably left the hoover on.
The Listeners begins tonight on BBC1 at 9pm, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release date TBA.
You can also buy the novel on which it’s based in paperback, hardback, and Kindle.
All episodes are now on the BBC iPlayer.
Director: Janicza Bravo
Producer: Ed King
Writer/Novel: Jordan Tannahill
Music: Devonté Hynes
Cast:
Claire: Rebecca Hall
Kyle: Ollie West
Ashley: Mia Tharia
Rory: Akai Coleman
Paul: Prasanna Puwanarajah
Cassandra: Franc Ashman
Raina: Romy Kelleher
Sophie: Lucy Chambers
Audiologist: Anne Hornby
Siobhan: Niamh McCann
Aldo: Delroy Brown
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.