A Frytful Scare, Part 1
Curious Cases
BBC
4.8 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 October 2019
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It was a dark and stormy night around the time of Halloween. A secret message arrived addressed to Rutherford & Fry from a mysterious woman called Heidi Daugh, who demanded to know: "Why do people like to be scared? For example, going on scary amusement park rides and watching horror movies that make you jump.”
What followed was an investigation over two chapters, which would test our intrepid duo to their very limits. In this first instalment, they explore the history of horror, starting with its literary origins in the Gothic fiction classic 'The Castle of Otranto'.
Adam challenges Hannah to watch a horror film without hiding behind a cushion. She quizzes horror scholar Mathias Clasen to find out why some people love the feeling of terror, whilst it leaves other cold.
Sociologist Margee Kerr and psychologist Claudia Hammond are also on hand to explore why scary movies are so powerful and popular.
Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford Producer: Michelle Martin
FIrst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2019.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.6 | MUSIC |
| 0:10.6 | I'm Dr Adam Rutherford. And I'm Dr Hannah Fry. |
| 0:13.6 | And you are going to send us your everyday mysteries. |
| 0:16.4 | And we are going to investigate them. |
| 0:18.4 | Using the power of... |
| 0:19.8 | Science! Science! |
| 0:22.2 | I like it. |
| 0:23.4 | MUSIC |
| 0:26.4 | Season 14, Curios, we are back with a super scary double bill with my special Vincent |
| 0:33.4 | Price voice. You waited for the light correctly that time. |
| 0:37.2 | Yeah, so it's not. Yeah, to do two takes at that because there's a little queue light |
| 0:40.8 | that comes on in the studio when we're allowed to talk. And Adam was so excited about |
| 0:45.7 | saying he's Vincent Price voice that he just talked all over it. |
| 0:49.0 | Yeah, so if that wasn't very good, it's because the best one wasn't recorded. |
| 0:54.8 | I blame the BBC for that. Me too. I think this is Melbourne Braggsport. |
| 0:59.9 | Most things are Melbourne Braggsport. Anyway, we are back. It is series 14. We start with just one |
| 1:06.9 | of the most joyous, curious cases. I think it ever done. Was it joyous? I loved it. |
| 1:11.8 | Was it joyous, Adam? Was it? I don't remember this being joyous. |
| 1:15.8 | In the first two episodes, I got to watch a horror film and go on some roller coasters. |
| 1:20.8 | You didn't have a great time doing that. No, you know what, right? |
| 1:24.4 | Okay, I had you stamped. Okay, I made you get your backwax and it's a habit that you've now |
... |
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