Popular Reviews of The Lovecraft Investigations

I almost listened to the entire series back to back, I just couldn´t stop. It´s realistic and convincing acting, so much so that you almost forget that it IS acting. The story is complicated, entertaining and full of surprises and it takes you on a wild ride, where nothing is what it seems.Intrigue, suspense, action, drama, fantasy, scifi - it´s all there in a perfect mix that is absolutely addictive and impossible to stop listening to.

WOW! i dont how i missed this podcast, everything the BBC puts out is top notch. Really entertaining story keeps you gripped and entertained. Never really sure where the story will lead. If you like this then yoy must check out TRACKS also from the BBC just as good if not better

A tasty cross between the X-Files and The Black Tapes! I saw this show on a couple of Reddit recommendations, and my goodness it did not disappoint. I love the concept of ARG-ey audiodrama, a mystery "documentary" framed like real events. However, I've never been able to get into the ones with more grandiose stakes, and I'm normally very picky about my shadowy conspiracy stories. This show has both, and I've been unable to put it down since I started listening.

The platonic ideal of a Lovecraftian horror updated for modern times. I love the skeptic professor who sideeyes all the conspiracy craziness. Please keep her.

Absolutely loved this. Brilliantly acted and fiction cleverly interwoven with fact

Scary

I think this is the first podcast where I genuinely couldn't stop listening. The story is masterfully crafted, adapting Lovecraft classics so seamlessly to the present day that you can't help but respect what is a distinctly new and thrilling thing. As a mystery, as a thriller, as a work of eldritch horror, this performance is at the top of its genre.

(Season 1) Lovecraft story delivered as a modern-day true crime investigation.

The first two seasons build slowly then speed up in the middle half, while the third season is paced more quickly, building up from the momentum of the first two. As each season builds, the horror escalates and there are some spooky moments, helped by the excellent foley. The story combines elements from Lovecraft's stories pretty well, with the first season including the most plot elements from the story it's based on. The history included is interesting and adds to the cosmic horror element of ancient beings, though I'm not a huge fan of "eldritch cults are why we have Nazis." The character delivering exposition dumps is charismatic enough for me to enjoy listening to them; there's a twist at the end of the third season with her character that confused me and led me to discover that this story fits into a larger universe. The two main characters have good chemistry and a believable friendship, with enough balance between information that is shared and information that is left out to nearly make this show believable as an in-universe podcast, especially in the first couple seasons. Many of the twists revolve around a character not being who they say they are, which gets unfortunately less exciting when you reach season 3. There's a healthy dose of skepticism without the characters getting too annoying about it. There should be a fourth season and hopefully that will address some loose ends.

Went in expecting a straight HPL adaptation, but got so much more out of it. Loved it from the first season, and am still holding on, waiting for more to come.

Really really good podcast, extremely addictive, I've binge-listened to it in a few days.It has some flaws, hence it is "only" 4 stars for me, not 5.Here's my review.The story is a re-imagination and re-telling of some of H.P. Lovecraft's works, mixed with original concepts and new plotlines. I read some of Lovecraft's works and I liked them, but it was a long time ago and I'm no expert, so I was able to catch only the most obvious references, I'm sure that the true fans will find and enjoy many more hidden callbacks and Easter eggs.I really like the idea of a podcast about a fake podcast, because it gives the writers the opportunity to make some clever and funny self-parody of the media. It's very well done, and at some point in s. 1 I actually wondered "is this real...? or not?".I had some issues with the plot: I think season 1 (The Case of Charles Dexter Ward) is the best, because the plot is more straightforward and focused, and also it has very good jumpscares and moments of tension.Going forward, though, the plot keeps getting more and more complicated, not much gets fully explained because they keep adding new layers of mystery, and I didn't like the fact that they conceived this world-wide conspiracy that would basically explain all of human history (I rolled my eyes at the inevitable Nazi reference). The plot gets so complicated that there's a character (Dr Eleanor Peck) who's tasked to deliver all the necessary, but endless and, quite frankly, boring, infodumps to the listener, and every time she starts one of her monologues the episode comes to a grinding halt. Less of her in Season 4*, please.In this, there is maybe an intent of parody of today's malicious and dangerous conspiracy theories, but if that's the case it's too subtle to be really funny (there are bits of comedy mixed with the horror, especially in seasons 2 and 3, but it seems that this super powerful cult society is meant to be taken seriously).A lot (and I mean A LOT) of the twists rely a bit too much on the revelation that "character X is not who they say they are and suddenly switches sides"): it is shocking the first few times, at the 10th iteration of the theme it just gets repetitive and in the end meaningless (and I thought that the SPOILER................................................................... Matthew/Melody team was fun, why they had to abort it almost immediately?).But you want to know what I LOVED about this podcast? The 2 main characters. They're just amazing, the chemistry is perfect, and the 2 actors (Barnaby Kay and Jana Carpenter) are simply great. I fell in love with Matthew and Kennedy completely. I actually regret the fact that for most of the series these 2 characters are in different places, investigating on different threads of the case, and they mostly speak on the phone: it's a pity because I would have loved more scenes with the 2 of them together (at their favorite cafe, or like at the start of season 2 at Henry's house).The rest of the cast is ok too, but these 2 are something else, I would welcome a prequel series for the "Mystery Machine" cases any day.The universe in which this podcast is set includes other stories (you can find a list here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Simpson#Pleasant_Green_Universe ) that are loosely connected or referenced in passing in this one: I've read from the web that it's not necessary to listen to them all to understand the plot of the Lovecraft's Investigations (personally I'm not interested, I care only about Matthew and Kennedy's story), but other listeners might enjoy diving more deeply into the mythology.So in conclusion I think a more straightforward plot would have been better, but I enjoyed this podcast very very much, excellent production values and amazing characters.* After an hyatus of a few years, a season 4 has recently been officially announced, coming in 2023.

This was a great reimagining of Lovecraft's works. Stylish, tense, funny at times, and with great character development and plot. You will be on the edge of your seat waiting for the next reveal.

This podcast wins massively on two unexpected fronts: being a good lovecraft adaptations, being a good fictional, "found audio" podcast. Absolutely brilliant.Peaks in the first series before the plots gets messier but it is always great!

This podcast is so creepy and so good, it is on par with The Black Tapes in my mind, possibly even better. Paranormal investigations from a Scully & Mulder team you love to hear bicker and non stop twists that chill you to the bone. My whole algorithm is BBC 4 Radio recommendations now and I don't hate it!

A fictional mystery podcast. When Matt Heawood and Kennedy Fisher start investigating the mysterious disappearance of Charles Dexter Ward, they are lured into a world of witchcraft, the occult and secret government operations. Adapted from (or loosely based on – I’m not sure which) the works of H.P. Lovecraft.It seems that 90 percent of all Audio Dramas out deal with the supernatural. Nothing wrong with that, but I like a bit of variety, so I was doubting whether to invest time in this one. I’m so glad I did. Yes, it certainly deals with the supernatural, but it does so in a way that is grounded in reality. The protagonists are suitably skeptical of all they encounter, which makes the whole thing much more believable. Plus it incorporates a lot of historical characters and real life events from the world of magic (from John Dee’s experiments with Enochian Magic, to Madame Blavatsky’s theosophians, to the Rendlesham Forest incident) into the narrative, making this more than a mindless story about ghosts and monsters and things that go bump in the night.As always with the BBC, the dialogue, the acting and the sound design are superb and truly immersive. Don’t be fooled by the fictional podcast framing device. This is a full cast audio drama with a truly immersive sound design.

Wonderfully produced and edited. As far as investigative podcasts go, this is very good.

I bounced off this show the first time I tried it. Revisited it a year or so later and just gobbled it up. Terrific writing and acting. These are part of a sort of shared universe, the other parts of which are hard to hunt down. While waiting desperately for word of a series 4, you can dip your toes back into this world via BBC's Limelight feed, specifically "Who Killed Aldrich Kemp?" and its fun sequel called something similar.

One of the best productions out there. Edit: On a re-listen, my one complaint is that I can't stand all the mouth sounds directly into the mics. Like, whole conversations while people are eating and slowly gulping liquids, wtf?? It's disgusting and ruins entire sections of some episodes.

Very good rewriting of the classical Lovecraft stories. Serves to prove that good stories stay good throughout the ages.

Currently the keystone in writer Julian Simpson's Pleasant Green universe. To get the most from 'The Lovecraft Investigations' you'll need to do some investigating on your own; there are frequent - and not always signposted - references to previous audio dramas. As the title suggests, these are adaptations of twentieth century master of horror H P Lovecraft's short stories, in a modern setting. Some are more heavily adapted than others, so listeners looking for straight re-tellings of the stories might be disappointed. There's a strong narrative thread through the first three seasons, which sees the show's two central characters - Matthew Heawood, played by Barnaby Kay, and Kennedy Fisher played by Jana Carpenter - coming into contact with a shadowy occult conspiracy. It's a bumpy ride for the characters, but an enthralling one for us; performances throughout are top-notch, and the writing sizzles, making the patently implausible completely believable, aided by the "true crime podcast" reportage presentation, and great production values. If you're not familiar with the series, I thoroughly recommend it.