The Sofa of Time


The Sofa of Time is a BBC Radio 4 fantasy comedy drama written by and starring Nick Frost and Matt King. It was first broadcast in 2002.

Concept

Milford and Parker get sacked from their jobs in a soft furnishings factory in Crouch End. As they are clearing out their lockers, they fall into the magical world of Gravy. Frost described Gravy as a "Tolkien-esque world with supermarkets and banks".
There they meet Marmite the Dwarf, who believes that Milford is "the chosen one" and has come at last to save the people from the evil emperor warlock Raamen Bod, who plans to find the Sofa of Time, the most magical and powerful item of furniture in the entire universe, and use it for evil purposes.

History

The series features Spaced regulars Mark Heap, Julia Deakin, Peter Serafinowicz, and Simon Pegg as well as Kevin Eldon, Daisy Jones and Joseph Marcell. The series was produced by Mario Stylianides, for Talkback.
The BBC offered King and Frost a second series, but they declined as King had moved back to Australia. The series has never been made commercially available, but over the years it has been repeated several times on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Episode list

EpisodeTitleFirst broadcast
1There's a World in My Locker24 October 2002
2Where The Brave Go Shopping31 October 2002
3And the Hackett March On...7 November 2002
4Captain Chapel and the Crabs14 November 2002
5Night of the Sexicle21 November 2002
6Here Comes Bod28 November 2002

The soundtrack borrowed heavily from Maurice Jarre's score for Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth