History Radio / Ectoplasm

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ectoplasm.jpg]]

-> ''Where do mysteries come from? Nobody knows. But they end here. This is England, and this magnificent pile is Bluebell End. It is the ancestral seat of the famous occult investigator Lord Zimbabwe. His is the realm of the unknown, the field of twilight and the tenebral. He is a walker in the ether, a lord of the [[TitleDrop ectoplasm]].''
-->'''Opening narration'''

''Ectoplasm'' was a short-lived BBC radio sitcom written by and starring Dan Freedman and Nick Romero. It featured the adventures of Lord Zimbabwe, a paranormal investigator, his colleague Doctor Lilac, and his butler Theremin.

The series ran from 11 July 2000 to 1 August 2000. It can be found online [[http://www.danfreeman.co.uk/ectoplasm/ here]].

Not to be confused with {{Ectoplasm}}, a trope about the slime associated with ghosts and the supernatural.
----
!!This show provides examples of:
* AdventurerArchaeologist: Mary casually mentions escaping from a cursed tomb down a tunnel with "all darts and a massive stone ball rolling down it".
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: "This bears all the fiendish, terrible and not-nice hallmarks..."
%%* AssShove: Implied.%%Quotes aren't context.
%%-->'''Doctor Lilac:''' Ja, I agree, Schrodinger. I also did not think a violin would fit up that orifice.
%%* BaitAndSwitch:%%Quotes aren't context.
%%-->"Where I grew up, there were only two ways a man could go: he could become a priest, or a bandit. I enjoy the freedom to break the law, and to lie, and rob people - so I became a priest."
* BattleButler: Theremin, though unlike most examples he'd just as readily kill his master as the enemy.
-->'''Theremin:''' I shall take my blunderbuss, sir. For a blunderbuss [[ShapedLikeItself is like a blunderbuss]], and I shoot people in the ''arse'' with it.
%%* BolivianArmyEnding
%%* BrickJoke:
%%** In episode 1, [[spoiler:the car-stealing guinea pig]].
%%** In episode 2, [[spoiler:the murderous wardrobe]].
%%* BritishBrevity: Only four episodes were made.
* CurseOfThePharaoh: The first episode, appropriately titled "The Curse of the Mummy's Curse", deals with Lord Zimbabwe's attempt to lift a Pharaoh's curse on the AdventurerArchaeologist who disturbed his tomb.
%%* FlashbackEffects: Parodied.%%Quotes aren't context.
%%-->'''Mary:''' Well, it all started a year ago. \\
%%''(Harp scale)'' \\
%%'''Lord Zimbabwe:''' Please... don't touch the harp.
%%** Ten seconds later, played straight with both a harp scale and a FlashbackBackBack.
%%* HerrDoktor: Doctor Lilac.
* IntelligibleUnintelligible: Schrodinger. Also Franchise/SherlockHolmes, when at the other end of a telephone.
%%* LampshadeHanging: All over the place.%%Quotes aren't context.
%%-->'''Abdul:''' Effendi, the men will not go on. They are afraid! \\
%%'''Mary:''' Afraid? Why? \\
%%'''Abdul:''' They are foreign and brown -- it is their role in this type of thing.
%%* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn
%%* LowerClassLout: The Pharaoh [[PunnyName Tutancommon]].
%%* OccultDetective: Lord Zimbabwe.
* OnceAnEpisode: Schrodinger makes a crude innuendo to the GirlOfTheWeek, which Doctor Lilac doesn't understand.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When Theremin passes up an easy opportunity to call his employer an arsehole, something's very wrong.
%%* PsychoSidekick: Theremin.
* RunningGag: Several:
** Doctor Lilac's tendency to go off on megalomaniacal rants (accompanied by the ''Deutschlandlied'').
*** The [[AgentScully extreme lengths]] he goes to to find a scientific explanation for any occult events he's involved in.
*** His long-winded scientific explanations sending everybody listening to sleep.
** Theremin's implacable refusal to perform any order Lord Zimbabwe gives him.
--->'''Theremin:''' Certainly, sir. Oh, I am most dreadfully sorry. I mean 'Get stuffed'.
** Evil shape-changing pixies.
** Lord Zimbabwe's one-sided telephone conversations with Franchise/SherlockHolmes.
* ServileSnarker: Theremin varies between this and outright abuse.
* ShaggyDogStory: In at least half the episodes, the GirlOfTheWeek ends up no better off for having sought Lord Zimbabwe's assistance.
* ShoutOut: To the opening of the 1964 film of ''Film/FirstMenInTheMoon'': A FlashForward shows a 1960s American moon expedition discovering evidence that Lord Zimbabwe's expedition got there decades before. Though in this version, the note they find reads "[[SoundEffectBleep [static]]] off, signed Theremin."
* SimilarSquad: In episode 4, the team's [[TransatlanticEquivalent transatlantic equivalents]] show up: General Alberquerque, his loyal butler Hammond, Doctor Cactus, and Pavlov the dog.
* SomethingWeForgot: Episode 2 ends with Doctor Lilac sure that they've forgotten something. [[spoiler:They never did get round to retrieving the Contessa's lost soul.]]
%%* TheStinger
%%* TalksLikeASimile: Lord Zimbabwe.
* TarotTroubles: Lord Zimbabwe's Tarot pack contains the Jack of Getting Run Over and the King of Piles. [[spoiler:The first one is the one that comes true.]]
* TeleFrag: In episode 1, Lord Zimbabwe and his colleagues travel back in time to Ancient Egypt to lift a Pharaoh's curse. Their time machine materialises ''inside'' the Pharaoh, with [[LudicrousGibs messy consequences]].
* TemptingFate: "I'm gonna live forever!" -- said by the Pharaoh immediately before the above TeleFrag.
%%* VisualInnuendo: The shape of Dr Lilac's spaceship, the ''Bismarck''.
* WackyAmericansHaveWackyNames: Mary-Lou Coyotecock and Cletus Q Washingmachine IV.
----

It can be found online [[http://www.danfreeman.co.uk/ectoplasm/ here]].

* AssShove: Implied.
-->'''Doctor Lilac:''' Ja, I agree, Schrodinger. I also did not think a violin would fit up that orifice.
* BaitAndSwitch:
-->"Where I grew up, there were only two ways a man could go: he could become a priest, or a bandit. I enjoy the freedom to break the law, and to lie, and rob people - so I became a priest."

* [[spoiler: BolivianArmyEnding]]
* BrickJoke:
** In episode 1, [[spoiler:the car-stealing guinea pig]].
** In episode 2, [[spoiler:the murderous wardrobe]].
* BritishBrevity: Only four episodes were made.
* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn

* FlashbackEffects: Parodied.
-->'''Mary:''' Well, it all started a year ago. \\
''(Harp scale)'' \\
'''Lord Zimbabwe:''' Please... don't touch the harp.
** Ten seconds later, played straight with both a harp scale and a FlashbackBackBack.
* HerrDoktor / MadScientist: Doctor Lilac.

* LampshadeHanging: All over the place.
-->'''Abdul:''' Effendi, the men will not go on. They are afraid! \\
'''Mary:''' Afraid? Why? \\
'''Abdul:''' They are foreign and brown -- it is their role in this type of thing.
* LowerClassLout: The Pharaoh [[PunnyName Tutancommon.]]
* OccultDetective: Lord Zimbabwe.

* PsychoSidekick: Theremin.
* RunningGag: Several:

* TheStinger
* TalksLikeASimile: Lord Zimbabwe.

* VisualInnuendo: The shape of Dr Lilac's spaceship, the ''Bismarck''.

Not to be confused with {{Ectoplasm}}, a trope about slime associate with ghosts and the supernatural.

-> ''Where do mysteries come from? Nobody knows. But they end here. This is England, and this magnificent pile is [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Bluebell End]]. It is the ancestral seat of the famous occult investigator Lord Zimbabwe. His is the realm of the unknown, the field of twilight and the tenebral. He is a walker in the ether, a lord of the [[TitleDrop ectoplasm]].''

* SchrodingersCat: Doctor Lilac's cat is actually called Schrodinger. True to the trope, he is simultaneously alive and dead.

* YouLookFamiliar: All the [[GirlOfTheWeek girls of the week]] are voiced by Creator/SophieAldred.

* ActorAllusion:
--> '''[[Creator/SophieAldred Mary Cockroft]]:''' "Oh, come on, that's impossible! [[Series/DoctorWho Time travel!]]"

* IntelligibleUnintelligible: Schrodinger. Also SherlockHolmes, when at the other end of a telephone.

** Lord Zimbabwe's one-sided telephone conversations with SherlockHolmes.

** Ten seconds later, played straight with both a harp scale and a FlashBackBackBack.

* YouLookFamiliar: All the [[GirlOfTheWeek girls of the week]] are voiced by SophieAldred.

--> '''[[SophieAldred Mary Cockroft]]:''' "Oh, come on, that's impossible! [[Series/DoctorWho Time travel!]]"

* ShoutOut: To the opening of the 1964 film of ''TheFirstMenInTheMoon'': A FlashForward shows a 1960s American moon expedition discovering evidence that Lord Zimbabwe's expedition got there decades before. Though in this version, the note they find reads "[[SoundEffectBleep [static]]] off, signed Theremin."

* BattleButler: Theremin.

* OnceAnEpisode: Lord Zimbabwe receives a telephone call from SherlockHolmes.

** Also, the [[AgentScully extreme lengths]] he goes to to find a scientific explanation for any occult events he's involved in.

** SherlockHolmes and Hercule Poirot's obsession with evil shape-changing pixies.

''Ectoplasm'' was a short-lived BBC radio sitcom written by and starring Dan Freedman and Nick Romero. It featured the adventures of Lord Zimbabwe, an occult investigator, his colleague Doctor Lilac, and his butler Theremin.

''Ectoplasm'' was a short-lived BBC radio sitcom written by and starring Dan Freedman and Nick Romero. It featured the adventures of Lord Zimbabwe, an occult investigator, his colleague Doctor Lilac and his butler Theremin.

* BrickJoke: In episode 1, [[spoiler:the car-stealing guinea pig]].

* IntelligibleUnintelligible: Schrodinger. Also SherlockHolmes.

* OnceAnEpisode: Lord Zimbabwe receives a telephone call from SherlockHolmes, who seems to believe that evil shape-changing pixie creatures are the cause of his current case.

* TeleFrag: In episode 1, Lord Zimbabwe and his colleagues travel back in time to Ancient Egypt to lift a Pharaoh's curse. Their time machine materialises ''inside'' the Pharaoh, with messy consequences.

''Ectoplasm'' was a short-lived BBC radio sitcom written and performed by Dan Freedman and Nick Romero. It featured the adventures of Lord Zimbabwe, an occult investigator, his colleague Doctor Lilac and his butler Theremin.

* IntelligibleUnintelligible: Schrodinger.

''Ectoplasm'' was a short-lived BBC radio sitcom featuring the adventures of Lord Zimbabwe, an occult investigator, his colleague Doctor Lilac and his butler Theremin.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Mary casually mentions escaping from a cursed tomb down a tunnel with "all darts and a massive stone ball rolling down it".

* TarotTroubles: Lord Zimbabwe's Tarot pack contains the Jack of Getting Run Over and the King of Piles.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Mary Cockroft casually mentions escaping from a cursed tomb down a tunnel with "all darts and a massive stone ball rolling down it".

* BritishBrevity: Only four episodes exist.

-->'''Mary Cockroft:''' Well, it all started a year ago. \\

'''Mary Cockroft:''' Afraid? Why? \\