The Ballad of the Fix
Seriously...
BBC
4.1 • 885 Ratings
🗓️ 27 September 2019
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The story of Scotland's deadly drug crisis narrated by the voice of the narcotic itself. Scotland has the highest rate of reported drug deaths in the European Union. There has been a rapid rise of cheap, imported synthetic drugs - especially Etizolam, an illegal tablet similar to Valium but with an unpredictable potency often many times higher. But why do so many people, especially young men, feel drawn towards this dangerous self-medication? Scottish poet Niall Campbell explores the lives and deaths of a small number of drug users and of their families in Dundee. Using original music by Jon Nicholls and found sound, Niall’s poem weaves through first-hand accounts of the addictive process to create an elegy to the lost and those they leave behind. The Ballad of the Fix is a companion piece to The Ballad of the Blade (2018) in which Momtaza Mehri listened to the voices of young people involved in knife crime. Producers: Monica Whitlock and Liza Greig If you’ve been affected by addiction, help and support is available. https://www.bbc.co.uk/actionline/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This was an impregnable fortress. The only way you get out was in a wooden box. |
| 0:05.0 | The controversial maximum security prison impossible to escape from. |
| 0:09.0 | And one of the duties of a political prisoner is the escape. |
| 0:12.0 | The IRA inmates who found a way. of a political prisoner is the escape. |
| 0:12.5 | The IRA inmates who found a way. |
| 0:14.5 | I'm Carlo Gableer and I'll be navigating a path |
| 0:19.5 | through the disturbing inside story of the biggest jailbreak in British and Irish history. |
| 0:25.0 | The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by them. |
| 0:28.5 | Escape from the maze, listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:35.0 | BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:39.0 | Hello, the BBC doesn't have adverts, |
| 0:42.0 | so here's an advert for a show that I do. My name's Robin Ince. |
| 0:45.0 | And my name's Brian Cox and you can subscribe to the Infinite Monkey Cage podcast on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:51.0 | It's the kind of show where we talk about the periodic table, the behavior of ravens. |
| 0:54.0 | Stop the 20 seconds you have to shut up now because the proper podcast, the one that they want to listen to is coming on. |
| 0:58.4 | That's a pity. |
| 1:00.4 | Hi, I'm Riana Dillon, and this is seriously. |
| 1:05.0 | Each week we feature interesting stories told a little sideways, |
| 1:10.0 | and we have a real treat for you this week. |
| 1:13.0 | I could tell you stories. I could tell you stories. |
| 1:23.0 | I could tell you stories. |
| 1:26.0 | I could tell you stories. |
... |
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