Tom's Last Wooden Overcoats Episode
Season Four, the final outing for critically-acclaimed podcast sitcom Wooden Overcoats, has begun! In fact, today sees the release of Season 4, Episode 3: The Big Cheese, written by Tom Crowley. Hey, that’s me!
As the title and the episode image suggest, The Big Cheese focuses on Overcoats’s unsung hero, its narrator, Madeleine the mouse, but that’s all the detail I’m going to give you here. To find out more, look for the episode on your podcast app or stream it from woodenovercoats.com. I’m very proud of the episode, and immensely grateful for all the work from our producers and directors, Andy Goddard and John Wakefield, and the as-ever stunning music from series composer James Whittle and the Piffling Philharmonic Orchestra.
Just like every season, it’s also an honour to hear my writing performed by the phenomenal actors we tend to get in, excluding myself for reasons of modesty, of course. Naturally my co-leads Felix Trench, Beth Eyre and Ciara Baxendale never fail to pump life and imagination into even the simplest line, and working alongside them has been one of the greatest joys of my life, but I’m spoilt with the guest stars as well. I’m delighted to have got to write for our beloved and brilliant Mayor Desmond Desmond, played by Sean Baker, and for our frequently terrifying regular villagers, Bill and Tanya, also known as actors Pip Gladwin and Emily Stride.
There’s also a heaping helping of newspaper hack Sid Marlowe, played by Paul Putner. It’s a particular thrill to write for Paul as he’s one of the reasons I got into comedy. Almost every one of the hundreds of British television comedies he’s graced with his presence over the last twenty years can be counted among my favourites, and he’s one of those regular players that I, a young comedy geek, began to identify very quickly as a personal favourite and an indicator of quality, starting all the way back with the Curious Orange. I’ve never quite been able to believe that Paul is in Wooden Overcoats, let alone that he’s become a regular guest.
There’s also a deep cut cameo from my old and dear friend (and fellow Overcoats scribe) Rosie Fletcher and mouse squeaks from squeaking pro Holly Campbell, and, perhaps most significantly, lots and lots of Madeleine’s narrator voice, Belinda Lang. Belinda is another member of the British Comedy Royal Family, perhaps best known for her leading role in enormously-beloved British family sitcom Two Point Four Children. We were amazed when she agreed to be our narrator for Season One, back when the show hadn’t even launched yet. Since then, Belinda has been the first voice heard in every single episode, and her perfectly mischievous and fond delivery has set the ideal tone for a visit to Piffling Vale every time. It’s been a joy to give Madeleine a more active role and an emotional journey in an episode’s plot, and Belinda shines in the spotlight as we all knew she would.
The response to our final season so far has been enormously gratifying and not a little humbling, and the entire production team, myself included, is immensely grateful to everyone who has ever given an episode of Wooden Overcoats a listen. If you’ve yet to do so, jump in with Season One, Episode One! All four seasons, plus a number of fun mini-episodes, are available for free on all good podcast apps and at woodenovercoats.com - and you’d better catch up quick, because there’s a tidal wave of thrills, spills and moments of deep emotional poignancy still to come in Season Four. And if that sounds like something you’d like to experience close-up, you might consider booking a ticket for our Season Four Live Shows! We’re performing two episodes per show starting this Sunday 30th January and tickets are available for all performances, both to see the show in person at Kings Place in Kings Cross in London, and to stream the show online via the venue’s live streaming platform, KPlayer! As you can see from the schedule below, my episode, The Big Cheese, is part of the bill on Sunday 6th February 2022, so I hope to see you there, or at least, to wave at you down the lens of a camera, through the Internet pipes. Enjoy yourselves!
