Will-of-the-Dump
Seriously...
BBC
4.1 • 885 Ratings
🗓️ 3 December 2021
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Will Self tells the story of his black bin bag... from his back door... to its final destination. It's the story of a modern-day dump - an extraordinary, alien, nauseating world - where, instead of being buried, the rubbish will go up in smoke. Voices of waste workers intermingle with the rubbish in a go-round of garbage, scored by Jon Nicholls. There are the bin men who believe 'you just gotta get in the groove' as they walk ten miles a day, to 'pick up a bit of crap, sling it in the back of the lorry and take it down the dump'. There's the weighbridge clerk at the sorting facility taking pride in separating the 'sheepy recycling from the goatish garbage' to load it onto enormous steel containers. Boatmen on the Thames steer these huge barges, bright orange in colour, past the great landmarks of London in 'a cockney pas-de-deux danced with detritus'. Downriver, the bag arrives at its destination - a giant industrial incinerator where ten thousand tonnes of waste are going up in flames, at temperatures of 850 degrees. 'Some people are mesmerized by it', we hear. Will's black bag meets its 'fiery and apocalyptic end'. It's a raw, unnerving look at our relationship with our waste. Sound designer: Jon Nicholls Producer: Adele Armstrong
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 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 | All right there, fellow podcast lovers. |
| 0:42.0 | This is seriously from BBC. All right there, fellow podcast lovers. |
| 0:42.6 | This is seriously from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:46.2 | And I'm your host, Vanessa Casile. |
| 0:48.8 | This podcast brings you true stories |
| 0:51.0 | for curious minds and wild imaginations. You've never heard anything |
| 0:55.9 | quite like this. We normally start with do Crowley Road, then we go into the Bessel Road, |
| 1:02.4 | down Brixton Road, up Grove Way, down Lawn Road, |
| 1:08.0 | back down the other side of Brixton Road. |
| 1:11.2 | It depends on what day at a week it is. We go around the cricket ground or we take Clapham Road. |
| 1:17.0 | Let me stop and have a cup of tea. |
| 1:20.0 | I want to take you on a journey. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

