The Masterson Inheritance
The Masterson Inheritance was an improvised comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 1993 to 1995 billed as "an improvised historical saga of a family at war with itself." There were three series and two Christmas specials. It was broadcast from 1993 to 1995. From time to time, repeats of the show are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
In each programme, the cast members – Josie Lawrence, Phelim McDermott, Paul Merton, Caroline Quentin, Lee Simpson, and Jim Sweeney – would be given a particular historical setting, and, incorporating suggestions from the audience, would improvise that episode in the saga of the Masterson family. One episode, The Marooned Mastersons, was never broadcast but is available on Jim Sweeney's website.
Music
Each episode of the saga was introduced by and ended with Erich Korngold's Hollywood-style title music to the 1946 film noir Deception.
Critical reaction
The Independent reckoned the show was genuinely improvised, due to the "air of suppressed panic", even if the improvisation revolved around a small number of choices. It questioned the longevity of the format once people got bored of listening to their mistakes.
Podcasts:
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by Subrosa
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by Dear Hunter
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by Self Made Soul
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by Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
The Inheritance
by: SubrosaSubgenus lace
A chain-linked fate
The bees fly North
They can feel the hangman coming
Millions of machines
Never before seen
Unstitched, unraveling
Laid to rest in a dying world
Oh sister/brother, we're all burning high
I see white dust against the sky
This genocide rivals Dachau
In it's endless march of victims
They say the meek
Shall inherit the earth
But all I see are the helpless
Crushed by the wheel of man
They look away
They hide their face
Black market backwash
You see, in this world, money kills