Things Unseen takes an irreverent look at the knotty issue of Christmas and commerce, in a return to fiction for the podcast normally associated with powerful factual storytelling.

The Assassination of Santa imagines an Angel Gabriel who’s gone rogue in a bid to deal with the over-commercialisation of Christmas. He plans to retire, permanently, its figurehead – Santa. The cast includes vocal virtuoso Kerry Shale as Santa, comic genius Philip Fox as Gabriel, and star of Radio 4’s ‘Hudson and Pepperdine Show’, Mel Hudson, as the put-upon Lori. “I have to confess”, says Lori in a prayer that frames the action, “…punching Rudolph in the nose was a low point”.

CTVC’s Alastair Collinson wrote the script. Despite winning awards for his writing and having had short films produced, he’s predominantly worked on commissioned but as yet unfilmed screenplays, so he was thrilled to hear his work come to life in this new medium of audio.

This production was broadcast on Premier Christian Radio on Christmas Day 2017.