Nebulous

Nebulous

The front cover of the first series audiobook of Nebulous, featuring (from left to right) Graham Crowden, Rosie Cavaliero, Mark Gatiss and David Warner
Genre	Comic science fiction, sitcom
Running time	28 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
Home station	BBC Radio 4
Starring	Mark Gatiss Rosie Cavaliero Graham Duff Paul Putner Julia Dalkin Graham Crowden David Warner
Written by	Graham Duff
Produced by	Ted Dowd
Recording studio	The Moat Studio
Air dates	6 January 2005 to 19 June 2008
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	18
Audio format	Stereophonic sound
Opening theme	Created by Malcolm Boyle.
Website	Official website

Nebulous is a post-apocalyptic science fiction comedy radio show written by Graham Duff and produced by Ted Dowd from Baby Cow Productions; it is directed by Nicholas Briggs. The series premiered in the United Kingdom on BBC Radio 4. Set in the year 2099 AD, the show focuses on the adventures of the eponymous Professor Nebulous, director of operations for the eco-troubleshooting team KENT (the Key Environmental Non-Judgmental Taskforce) as they combat various catastrophes and try to set the world back on the right path following a worldwide environmental disaster known as "The Withering". As well as being a parody of a number of famous science fiction programmes, including Doctor Who, Quatermass and Doomwatch,Nebulous is considered a cult radio programme, attracting a number of guest appearances from famous actors.

There have been three series of Nebulous; the first was broadcast between 6 January and 10 February 2005. The series was well received by critics, and a second series was broadcast between 5 April and 10 May 2006, with a third series commissioned by the BBC which began broadcasting on Thursday, 15 May 2008 at 23:00 BST. The first series was released on compact disc on 5 February 2007 by BBC Audio. Since 2009 all three series have been broadcast on BBC Radio 7. Duff has also announced that he is planning to make an animated series of Nebulous.

The development of the series began with the production pilot episode, written by Graham Duff and produced by Baby Cow Productions in March 2003. The episode, which eventually became "Night of the Vegetarians", featured much of the final cast, but with a number of differences: a different actor played Rory, and Sir Ronald Rolands was voiced by Duff, while Gemini originally had two voices: a female voice played by Julia Dalkin, and a male voice by Nicholas Briggs. Malcolm Boyle - who wrote the Nebulous theme and edited the pilot - had written an entire original score for the show. However, due to BBC radio budget limitations, this was not used in the completed series. Nicholas Briggs had also originally created a very deep, realistic soundscape, similar to those he had created for the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audioplays, but was advised that "it's likely the listener will have distractions and will not listen to it more than once; therefore, the soundscape must be totally accessible from any point in the episode", toning down the sound effects to match the series' comic nature.