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The Amelia Project

The Amelia Project is a comedy fiction podcast created, written, directed, produced and edited by Philip Thorne and Øystein Ulsberg Brager for Imploding Fictions and The Fable and Folly Network. The series stars Alan Burgon as "The Interviewer", an employee of the Amelia Project, an institution dedicated to helping individuals fake their deaths, as he interviews potential clients to decide if and how he would make them disappear and give them a new life.

The Amelia Project
Running time19-56 min
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Language(s)English
Starring
  • Alan Burgon
  • Julia C. Thorne
  • Julia Morizawa
  • Benjamin Noble
  • Torgny G. Aanderaa
  • Jordan Cobb
  • Erin King
  • Hemi Yeroham
Created byPhilip Thorne
Øystein Ulsberg Brager
Written byPhilip Thorne
Øystein Ulsberg Brager
Directed byPhilip Thorne
Øystein Ulsberg Brager
Produced byPhilip Thorne
Øystein Ulsberg Brager
Original releaseDecember 8, 2017
No. of series5
Opening theme"The Amelia Project Theme" by Fredrik Baden
WebsiteOfficial website

Julia C. Thorne and Julia Morizawa co-starred alongside Burgon since the series' launch, with Benjamin Noble, Torgny G. Aanderaa, Jordan Cobb, Erin King, and Hemi Yeroham later joining the main cast. Although it originally heavily focused on episodic comedy, the series later developed longer story arcs, while also including mystery, fantasy, and more dramatic elements, notably diving into the elusive origins of the organization.[1][2][3][4] The series also has material made available only to supporters on Patreon, including several exclusive episodes and two prequel miniseries, The Alvina Chronicles and The Arthur Archives.

Cast

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Main

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  • Alan Burgon as The Interviewer, the Amelia Project employee tasked with interviewing potential clients and planning their disappearances and new lives. Obsessed with cocoa and hearing stories, he is moody and only willing to help clients he finds interesting. Very little is originally known about him, but the series later extends on his past, revealing that he is an ageless being who has been alive for three thousand years, and whose birth name is Maine Móepirt Arthur, son of Athramail. Season 5 reveals that he's had many false names and identities in the past, including that of John Watson, and that he is the true author behind the Sherlock Holmes books; the chronicles of he and Holmes' adventures, depicted in the prequel miniseries The Arthur Chronicles, were later adapted and published as fiction by The Interviewer's friend Arthur Conan Doyle to allow the duo to remain anonymous.
  • Julia C. Thorne as Alvina Wright, another employee of the Amelia Project and The Interviewer's closest associate, who often has to indulge his mood swings and keep him focused; she is in charge, among other things, of outreach. She is later revealed to be a former client of the company, whose original name before her fake death was Julia Thorpe.[5]
  • Julia Morizawa as Amelia, the leader of the Amelia Project. Morizawa is technically featured in the first two seasons via the opening message featured in the intro of every episode; instead of being credited for portraying a specific character, she is simply credited as "Julia Morizawa on the answerphone". The character of Amelia eventually makes her actual debut in the season 2 finale, in which she is revealed to be the voice on the interphone. She is the granddaughter of Martha Plum, a famous pilot the company is named after, and its former leader.[6]
  • Benjamin Noble as Agent Haines (guest season 1; main season 2-present), an MI5 agent and Cole's partner, tasked with investigating the Amelia Project. The two become increasingly obsessed with the case as they investigate it.
  • Torgny G. Aanderaa as Agent Henry Cole (guest season 1; main season 2-present), an MI5 agent and Haines' partner.
  • Jordan Cobb as Jackie Williams (season 3-present), a CIA agent and Fox's partner; they often butt heads with Haines and Cole, having also been tasked with investigating the Amelia Project.
  • Erin King as Mia Fox (season 3-present), and CIA agent and Williams' partner.
  • Hemi Yeroham as Piotr Kozlowski (guest season 3; main season 4-present), the mysterious, infinitely skilled surgeon of the Amelia Project, capable of seemingly impossible feats. Although an important part of the team since the series' debut, he is only directly featured starting with season 3, and does not speak until the season 3 epilogue episode. A cryptic man who constantly mixes fact and fiction, he is a native of Tyre, Lebanon, and a being thousands of years old like The Interviewer, with whom he shares a long and rich history, having also gone through many false names and identities.[7][8]

Recurring guests

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  • Gianluca Iumiento as Joey, one of The Interviewer's assistants.
  • Ravdeep Singh Bajwa as Salvatore, Joey's friend and The Interviewer's second assistant.
  • Alex Scott Fairley as Ant (season 2-3), a scientist fascinated with bugs and microtechnology, originally introduced as a client of the Amelia Project.
  • Andrei Zayats as Boris (season 3), a man overseeing The Interviewer's stay in a Russian prison.
  • Alexander Mercury as Oleg (season 3), an uncommunicative Russian tasked with putting The Interviewer's interviews into text form during his time in prison.
  • Federico Trujillo as Pablo Perez Garcia (season 3)
  • Lory Martinez as Savannah (season 3)

Reception

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Wil Williams wrote in The A.V. Club that the podcast is "bizarre, hilarious, and energetic."[9] Natalie Zutter wrote on Tor.com that the podcast is like a "comforting mug of cocoa to curl your hands around."[10] Sean Keeley wrote in The Comeback that the podcast has an "old-timey tone and intriguing premise."[11] Sarah Hemming wrote in the Financial Times that "This droll black comedy is best consumed with a cup of cocoa."[12] The podcast had a 4.8 out of 5 stars on Apple Podcasts in December 2021.[13]

Awards

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Award Date Category Recipient Result Ref.
The One Voice Awards UK 2022 Audio Drama Best Performance - Male Benjamin Noble Won [14]
Audio Verse Awards 2021 Original Compositions in an Existing Production "Amelia Theme S3 Mashup" by Fredrik Baden Won [15]
"Marcha de l'ascension" by Fredrik Baden Won
Vocal Direction of an Existing Production Philip Thorne and Oystein Brager for The Amelia Project Won
Performance of a Guest Role in an Existing Production Antigoni Spanou as Alexandra Won
Performance of a Supporting Role in an Existing Production Alex Scott Fairley as Ant Won
Performance of a Leading Role in an Audio Play Production Julia Morizawa as Amelia Won
Existing Audio Play Production The Amelia Project Won
2020 Instrumental Composition in a Production "The Amelia Variations" by Fredrik Baden Won [16]
Writing of an Audio Play Production Philip Thorne and Øystein Ulsberg Brager for The Amelia Project Won
Performance of a Supporting Role in an Audio Play Production Julia C. Thorne as Alvina Won
Performance of a Leading Role in an Audio Play Production Julia Morizawa as Amelia Won
Cover Art for a Production Anders N. Pedersen for The Amelia Project Won
Audio Play Production The Amelia Project Won
2019 Instrumental Composition in a Production "The Amelia Theme Variations" by Fredrik Skaare Baden Won [17]
Performance of a Supporting Role in an Audio Play Production Felix Trench as Bartholomew Fuckface Chucklepants Knuckle-Cracker Won
2018 Best Original Composition for a New, Comedic Production "The Amelia Project Theme" by Fredrik Skaare Baden Won
Best New, Comedic Production The Amelia Project Won [18]
Discover Pods Awards 2020 Best Audio Drama or Fiction Podcast Won [19]
Best Overall Podcast Runner-up
British Podcast Awards 2019 Best Fiction Nominated [20][21]
Parsec Awards 2018 Best New Speculative Fiction Podcaster/Team Finalist [22]
Austin Film Festival 2017 Fiction Podcast Finalist [23][24][25]

References

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  1. ^ Hines, Morgan (March 27, 2018). "Audio Drama Podcast, the Amelia Project, Helps Fake Deaths". Discover Pods. Elite Cafe Media. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  2. ^ Atienza, Shane. "Back to bus rides part 2: Fiction podcast recommendations for your campus commute". The Ubyssey. Archived from the original on 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  3. ^ Nystøyl, Karen Frøsland (2021-03-29). "Podkastar med påskekrim-stemning". NRK (in Norwegian Nynorsk). Archived from the original on 2022-10-28. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  4. ^ Vartanian, Talin (July 17, 2020). "This Podcast Puts the Funny in Faking Your Own Death". Vurbl for Audio. Vurbl Media. Archived from the original on October 7, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  5. ^ "Alvina transcript". ameliapodcast.com. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  6. ^ "Season 1 credits". ameliapodcast.com. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  7. ^ "The Amelia Project". The Directory of Independent Audio Drama. Archived from the original on February 17, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  8. ^ "Dear Child Has Many Names transcript". ameliapodcast.com. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  9. ^ Williams, Wil (2019-07-22). "Remember self-destructing DVDs? Water Cooled Potato examines the biggest tech failures in recent history". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  10. ^ Zutter, Natalie (December 3, 2020). "6 Comforting SFF Podcasts". Tor.com. Macmillan Publishers. Archived from the original on December 3, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  11. ^ Keeley, Sean (December 21, 2017). "The 10 Best New Audio Drama Podcasts of 2017: When We Needed Escape More Than Ever, 2017 Was a Breakout Year for Audio Dramas". TheComeback.com. Comeback Media. Archived from the original on December 24, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  12. ^ "Fiction podcasts: immersed in a world of stories". Financial Times. 2020-04-17. Archived from the original on 2022-10-28. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  13. ^ "10 Fiction Podcasts to Listen to on a Dew-Soaked Morning Walk". Zoella. December 23, 2021. Archived from the original on December 23, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  14. ^ "One Voice Awards UK 2022". www.onevoiceconference.com. Archived from the original on 2022-10-28. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  15. ^ "2021 Winners". The Audio Verse Awards. 17 April 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-04-17. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  16. ^ "2020 Winners". The Audio Verse Awards. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-05-17. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  17. ^ "2019 Winners". The Audio Verse Awards. 22 December 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-08-18. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  18. ^ "2018 Winners". The Audio Verse Awards. 13 January 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-10-07. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  19. ^ Goldberg, Kevin (2020-11-09). "Announcing the winners of the 2020 Discover Pods Awards". Discover Pods Awards. Archived from the original on 2022-02-17. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  20. ^ "Nominations 2019". British Podcast Awards. 2019. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  21. ^ "Chris Moyles nominated in the British Podcast Awards". RadioToday. 2019-04-08. Archived from the original on 2022-10-09. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  22. ^ "2018 Parsec Award Finalists". Parsec Awards. 2018. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  23. ^ Ducker, Carolyn (February 27, 2018). "Podcast Review: The Amelia Project". Geek Girl Authority. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  24. ^ "2017 Script Competition Finalists". Austin Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  25. ^ "2017 SCRIPT COMPETITION SEMIFINALISTS & SECOND ROUNDERS". Austin Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
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