Ian Potter
@ianzpotter.bsky.social
Writes, talks, listens, reads. Not always in that order.
Writer for BBC, Big Finish, Obverse Books, RiffTrax, Jim French's Imagination Theatre and money.
Writer for BBC, Big Finish, Obverse Books, RiffTrax, Jim French's Imagination Theatre and money.
Advice everyone needs earlier.
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 867:
Your authorial voice is the product of your background, your education, your experiences, all the books you have read. It may change with time, and depending on the narrative voice you adopt, but will keep the same range and register. Celebrate it. It's unique.
Your authorial voice is the product of your background, your education, your experiences, all the books you have read. It may change with time, and depending on the narrative voice you adopt, but will keep the same range and register. Celebrate it. It's unique.
December 2, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Advice everyone needs earlier.
Reposted by Ian Potter
It's December. Pay your freelancers.
That's it. That's the post.
That's it. That's the post.
December 2, 2025 at 9:04 AM
It's December. Pay your freelancers.
That's it. That's the post.
That's it. That's the post.
Got me in the feels.
December 2, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Got me in the feels.
I would watch an ill-matched buddy movie with Dickson and Madgwick.
December 1, 2025 at 9:02 PM
I would watch an ill-matched buddy movie with Dickson and Madgwick.
Just delighted spouse by pausing a show during a sad bit to say "This incidental score is ripping off 'An Ending (Ascent)' by Brian Eno and the scene was probably edited with it as a temp track." Reader, I was agreed with!
December 1, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Just delighted spouse by pausing a show during a sad bit to say "This incidental score is ripping off 'An Ending (Ascent)' by Brian Eno and the scene was probably edited with it as a temp track." Reader, I was agreed with!
Stop fancying me, you maniacs!
December 1, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Stop fancying me, you maniacs!
Someone posted up a column from the Revd. Marcus Morris- editor of The Eagle, Swift, Robin and Girl earlier. How sexist was the UK back then that we had just one comic for young ladies and three for bird species?
November 30, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Someone posted up a column from the Revd. Marcus Morris- editor of The Eagle, Swift, Robin and Girl earlier. How sexist was the UK back then that we had just one comic for young ladies and three for bird species?
I spent a long time trying to remember this.
Now it's your turn to suffer.
If I could have my time again I think I'd probably include footnotes
Aye*
*Sounds like I.
and
See?**
**Sounds like C.
for extra clarity, but life's too short for regrets.
Now it's your turn to suffer.
If I could have my time again I think I'd probably include footnotes
Aye*
*Sounds like I.
and
See?**
**Sounds like C.
for extra clarity, but life's too short for regrets.
🎵B I S C U (I T)
Singing
B I S C U (I T)
B is for biscuit
Aye, it's a biscuit
yeS, it's a biscuit
See? It's a biscuit
yoU are a biscuit
I am a biscuit
Teeeeeeea (and biscuits!)
B I S C U (I T)
etc.🎵
Singing
B I S C U (I T)
B is for biscuit
Aye, it's a biscuit
yeS, it's a biscuit
See? It's a biscuit
yoU are a biscuit
I am a biscuit
Teeeeeeea (and biscuits!)
B I S C U (I T)
etc.🎵
November 30, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I spent a long time trying to remember this.
Now it's your turn to suffer.
If I could have my time again I think I'd probably include footnotes
Aye*
*Sounds like I.
and
See?**
**Sounds like C.
for extra clarity, but life's too short for regrets.
Now it's your turn to suffer.
If I could have my time again I think I'd probably include footnotes
Aye*
*Sounds like I.
and
See?**
**Sounds like C.
for extra clarity, but life's too short for regrets.
The Edwin Drood musical primarily failed because no one knew what questionable cartoony face to make out of the 'o's in Drood.
November 30, 2025 at 10:19 AM
The Edwin Drood musical primarily failed because no one knew what questionable cartoony face to make out of the 'o's in Drood.
I think @MatthewJElliott and I considered riffing this but its ratio of planet to prehistoric women meant it was pretty hard to make entertaining. No one needs 15 minutes of "that's an amusingly shaped boulder" zingers.
Prepare for a VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN (1968) 11:10am #MamieVanDoren #MaryMarr sci-fi fantasy #TPTVsubtitles
November 30, 2025 at 9:53 AM
I think @MatthewJElliott and I considered riffing this but its ratio of planet to prehistoric women meant it was pretty hard to make entertaining. No one needs 15 minutes of "that's an amusingly shaped boulder" zingers.
I see parents checking their profanity counts and I see their results.
You've been domesticated.
You've been domesticated.
November 30, 2025 at 9:39 AM
I see parents checking their profanity counts and I see their results.
You've been domesticated.
You've been domesticated.
I've let the whole school down.
@ianzpotter.bsky.social has swears! They've used 86 profanities in their last 2,645 posts.
🥇 "bloody" (14 times)
🥈 "dick" (12 times)
🥉 "shit" (5 times)
🥇 "bloody" (14 times)
🥈 "dick" (12 times)
🥉 "shit" (5 times)
November 30, 2025 at 8:42 AM
I've let the whole school down.
@profanity.accountant I try to limit my effing and jeffing but fear I may have let myself down. How am I doing?
November 30, 2025 at 8:17 AM
@profanity.accountant I try to limit my effing and jeffing but fear I may have let myself down. How am I doing?
Reposted by Ian Potter
A story Stoppard told several times, in several places:
November 29, 2025 at 6:10 PM
A story Stoppard told several times, in several places:
This saves you a few quid and the Nighy audio version of Arcadia's the one to get.
libro.fm/audiobooks/9...
With Stoppard's death it's worth mentioning that you can get the BBC radio versions of pretty much his entire body of work for a single audiobook credit (also available on Audible, but Libro.fm is far better)
With Stoppard's death it's worth mentioning that you can get the BBC radio versions of pretty much his entire body of work for a single audiobook credit (also available on Audible, but Libro.fm is far better)
Tom Stoppard: A BBC Radio Drama Collection Audiobook on Libro.fm
The collected BBC radio productions of the internationally renowned playwright Tom Stoppard One of the giants of British theatre, Sir Tom Stoppard has been writing for the stage and screen for over 50...
libro.fm
November 29, 2025 at 5:46 PM
This saves you a few quid and the Nighy audio version of Arcadia's the one to get.
Radio 4 Extra should dust this set off. Do not look up the price it currently goes for and rob my house.
November 29, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Radio 4 Extra should dust this set off. Do not look up the price it currently goes for and rob my house.
Arcadia remains magnificent and the best bits of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade are almost certainly his.
I wondered if something was in the air when Arcadia and Indian Ink revivals were announced. Had hoped it wasn't this.
Try his radio work or the TV play, Professional Foul, they're terrific.
I wondered if something was in the air when Arcadia and Indian Ink revivals were announced. Had hoped it wasn't this.
Try his radio work or the TV play, Professional Foul, they're terrific.
November 29, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Arcadia remains magnificent and the best bits of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade are almost certainly his.
I wondered if something was in the air when Arcadia and Indian Ink revivals were announced. Had hoped it wasn't this.
Try his radio work or the TV play, Professional Foul, they're terrific.
I wondered if something was in the air when Arcadia and Indian Ink revivals were announced. Had hoped it wasn't this.
Try his radio work or the TV play, Professional Foul, they're terrific.
That "Cats domesticated later than you think" story in full: Wildcats found and exploited a tiny ecological niche living around humans ages ago, them modern house cats came along later and sat in the same niche, claiming it as theirs like it was a cardboard box that was a bit too small for them.
November 28, 2025 at 8:41 AM
That "Cats domesticated later than you think" story in full: Wildcats found and exploited a tiny ecological niche living around humans ages ago, them modern house cats came along later and sat in the same niche, claiming it as theirs like it was a cardboard box that was a bit too small for them.
I met a bunch of young and diverse theatre-makers on Wednesday. They all seemed left leaning, clever, amusing and socially attuned. However, they all use Instagram because their faces haven't collapsed into decrepitude yet and none of them are on BlueSky. This makes me feel terribly old.
November 28, 2025 at 12:16 AM
I met a bunch of young and diverse theatre-makers on Wednesday. They all seemed left leaning, clever, amusing and socially attuned. However, they all use Instagram because their faces haven't collapsed into decrepitude yet and none of them are on BlueSky. This makes me feel terribly old.
I hate The Grinch being on adverts. This is not Grinchy.
November 26, 2025 at 10:48 PM
I hate The Grinch being on adverts. This is not Grinchy.
Love Jack Shepherd, as at home in the intense Griffiths work as he is being hilarious as a sort of modern day Malvolio in Tony Sarchet's Trust Me.
Brand is, of course, sensational.
Brand is, of course, sensational.
RIP Jack Shepherd. One of the greats. He’s most famous for Wycliffe, but his legacy goes way beyond that, particularly with his performance as the eponymous Bill Brand in Trevor Griffiths’ brilliant series, and also for being the original Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross.
November 25, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Love Jack Shepherd, as at home in the intense Griffiths work as he is being hilarious as a sort of modern day Malvolio in Tony Sarchet's Trust Me.
Brand is, of course, sensational.
Brand is, of course, sensational.
Catching up on me late period (1975) Z-Cars. What on Earth made them think this new version of the theme was a good idea and were Steeleye Span happy to get an on screen credit for it?
November 24, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Catching up on me late period (1975) Z-Cars. What on Earth made them think this new version of the theme was a good idea and were Steeleye Span happy to get an on screen credit for it?
#WhoBote I have no proof of causation but I still find it remarkable that the names of the Salonu and the Laan, two prominent alien species featured in Big Finish's 2016 series of Tom Baker Doctor Who audio adventures, are anagrams of Anusol and Anal.
November 24, 2025 at 9:13 PM
#WhoBote I have no proof of causation but I still find it remarkable that the names of the Salonu and the Laan, two prominent alien species featured in Big Finish's 2016 series of Tom Baker Doctor Who audio adventures, are anagrams of Anusol and Anal.
#WhoBore No, you've written over 2,000 words today about a Graham Williams authored Doctor Who text adventure for the BBC Model B.
You're the weird one.
You're the weird one.
November 24, 2025 at 7:53 PM
#WhoBore No, you've written over 2,000 words today about a Graham Williams authored Doctor Who text adventure for the BBC Model B.
You're the weird one.
You're the weird one.
Friends fear I have been up for over 25 hours and am now reading an essay on Half Man Half Biscuit.
November 23, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Friends fear I have been up for over 25 hours and am now reading an essay on Half Man Half Biscuit.