大象传媒

In this new literature series, a trio of comedians explode and unravel their most cherished cult books, paying homage to the tone and style of the original text - and blurring and warping the lines between fact and fiction.

As our hosts shine the spotlight on strange, funny and sometimes disturbing novels by Flann O鈥橞rien, Jean Rhys and Kurt Vonnegut, listeners are invited to inhabit their eccentric worlds - gaining a deeper understanding of their workings and the unique literary minds that created them.

Featuring the comedic voices of Mark Watson, Josie Long and Daliso Chaponda, and created by award-winning producers Steven Rajam (Tim Key and Gogol鈥檚 Overcoat) and Benjamin Partridge (Beef and Dairy Network), this is an arts documentary series like no other.

In the first episode, comedian Mark Watson circles the strange, fantastical and hilarious world of The Third Policeman by the Irish author Flann O鈥橞rien (Brian O鈥橬olan). Written in 1940, and riddled with strange philosophical ideas and fake - or are they? - footnotes, the book was described by one critic as 鈥渁 nightmarish piece of Irish rural sci-fi where people turn into bicycles and policemen talk in non-sequiturs about quantum physics鈥�.

It鈥檚 a book that鈥檚 always entranced Mark with its combination of laugh-out-loud absurdist humour and genuinely disturbing terror. But what was the author trying to do? What the is it really about - nuclear science, post-colonial identity, surrealism? And what鈥檚 going on with all the bicycles?

With contributions from writers Julian Gough and Roisin Kiberd; "Flannophiles" Maebh Long and Art Riordan, and writer on sci-fi Jack Fennell, Mark saddles up to discover whether, as the author of the Third Policeman once put it, 鈥渉ell goes round and round鈥�.

Presenter: Mark Watson
Producer / Series Producer: Steven Rajam
An Overcoat Media production for 大象传媒 Radio 4