Listen to My Stories:
The Podgoblin’s Hat: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
The Podgoblin’s Hat is a Moomins read-through show. Tune in for weekly synopses, discussions, analysis and feelings by Dave, who has been reading Tove Jansson their whole life, and Nina, who’s just started. We’ll be wending our way through the peaks and troughs of the stories, discussing, thinking and feeling about Tove Jansson’s books for children. Listen in if you like stories about soft round creatures being brave and flawed. Write in if you’ve ever wondered, What Would Snufkin Do?
Down to a sunless sea: memories of my dad: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
An 18 part podcast series part funded by by the British Podcast Awards and the Wellcome Trust.
Is the brain the key site of selfhood? If our intelligence fails, are we still here? In this fascinating and moving series, Dave Pickering weaves conversations with his dad, who suffers from dementia, with those of neuroscientists, religious believers and others. Pickering’s music is also with us throughout. “Until I was 87, I lived the same life,” says his dad. “Then I became demented, as my neurons began to collapse, and I moved into a second life... I do feel I am a different person.” In another episode, when he can’t remember his own dad: “Your love stays, regardless of your memories.” Wonderful.
The Family Tree Podcast: RSS | iTunes | Website
Finding drama through conversation.
When podcast producer Dave Pickering is approached by his dad with a mystery from the life of a long-forgotten friend, he decides to investigate it in the only way he knows how: by having conversations.
Mark Sullivan, who went missing 15 years ago, has been found dead. His body still has the arm he should have lost in a car accident and seems to have died eight years before he disappeared.
In a series of 12 episodes, Dave tries to uncover this mystery through conversations with Mark’s family and friends. As he gets to know them, his questions lead to more questions… the mystery runs deeper than anyone imagined.
The Family Tree is a magical realist drama about family, belonging, change and identity.
What About the Men? Mansplaining Masculinity
Listen to the follow up/extension: BBC Radio 4: Four Thought - Liberating Men
Dave Pickering takes us on a personal journey through gender as he tries to explain masculinity both to you and to himself. Part true storytelling, part TED talk and part apology, the show looks at how the patriarchy hurts men too; how the patriarchy has hurt him, and how he has hurt people because of patriarchy. Drawing on an anonymous survey of 1000 men, feminist theory, internet memes and his life experience, Dave will explain the conclusions he has come to to after 33 years of trying to make peace with being a man.
Restart Podcast: RSS | SoundCloud | Website
The Restart Project is a London-based social enterprise that encourages and empowers people to use their electronics longer, by sharing repair and maintenance skills. Through community and workplace events they create engaging opportunities to extend the lifespan of electronics and electrical equipment.
I produce a monthly half hour documentary style podcast which combines audio recorded at Restart Parties with conversations with experts that focus on different topics and themes that chime with what The Restart Project are trying to achieve. In between these documentaries we share recordings of The Restart Project's weekly tech news show that goes out live on Resonance 104.4 FM.
Getting Better Acquainted: iTunes | SoundCloud | Stitcher
Join Dave on his weekly journey to get better acquainted with the people he knows. There are lots of shows about famous people. This is a show about the rest of us.
Part interview show, part oral history project, the show was won a British Podcast Award in 2017, was nominated for a 2012 Radio Production Award, went out for 2 years on Resonance 104.4 FM and was featured on BBC Radio 4's In Pod We Trust, Radio 5 Live podcast special Helen and Olly's Required Listening and has been recommended by Time Out, The Guardian (Podcasts to listen to now / Why are Americans so much better at making podcasts than the British?) and The Financial Times.
Stand Up Tragedy: iTunes | SoundCloud | Stitcher
“Stand Up Tragedy is a variety night and podcast where people stand up and tell tragedy. We aim to make you cry until you laugh and laugh until you cry and create a safe space to talk about unsafe things. Expect music, comedy, fiction, spoken word, true stories and more, all playing up to the tragic form but not always taking it seriously. The night ends, not with a whimper, not with a bang, but with a cathartic singalong.”
The live show was recommended in The Guardian (10 great storytelling nights) and has been reviewed, profiled and featured by sites and publications that include Brixton Blog, John Feming's So It Goes blog, The London Word and The Independent. Performers at SUT have included Stewart Lee, Sara Pascoe, Josie Long, Grace Petrie, Robin Ince, Rob Auton and Andy Zaltzman.
Spark London: iTunes | Acast | Website
Spark London is a podcast and live night that explores true stories told from the stage. Expect the unusual, the hilarious, the tragic and the heartwarming. I host the Hackney Attic open mic for Spark London on the 2nd Monday of every month. I also produce other live events, run workshops, and make occasional podcast episodes for Spark. The podcast gets over 50,000 listens per month. The Spark London team played a major role in producing BBC Radio 4's Truth Be Told. The podcast has been recommended by many websites and publications including The Telegraph (The best podcasts for true stories, books and fiction), The Guardian (The 10 best holiday podcasts), Buzzfeed (The 14 Most Addictive Storytelling Podcasts Of 2015 / 14 British Podcasts You Need To Start Listening To) and Mashable (16 British podcasts you should be listening to).
The Ministry of Stories:
In December 2012, CBeebies Radio launched Ministry of Stories. The premise of the series was to convince the Chief of the Ministry (voiced by BBC Radio 4's Woman’s Hour presenter Jenni Murray) that children can create fantastic stories.
Children from Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Islington primary schools, helped by Two, The Chief’s trusty aide, worked hard to produce and perform a wonderful new story worthy of the Chief’s stamp of approval. The series is aimed at helping listeners aged 3-6 and their parents explore the magic of storytelling, and the workshops featured in the recordings involved primary school classes attending the Ministry of Stories' regular story making workshops.
Produced by Ignite Creative
Executive Producer: Kary Stewart
Producer: Matt Hill
Assistant Producer: Dave Pickering
Written by Dave Pickering and Matt Hill with the help of Ministry of Stories
You can listen to the entire first season on the Cbeebies Website.
Other places:
I performed a true story for the Risk! podcast: Live From London!
Guest blog for Girl on the Net
An example of my fiction writing
An example of my comment pieces
Stories I have made that you can't find online:
I have written for theatre, radio, podcast, page and screen.
From October to December 2014 I produced, wrote and directed Forty Hall by Candlelit for Enfield Council, an interactive theatre tour performed and part devised by it's cast of volunteers gathered from the local community. This project was funded by the Arts Counccil and the final tours received very positive responses from the audiences who came to see it. Enfield Council asked me back to do a second tour from October to December 2015, this time writing, directing and producing the show rather than devising but still with a cast of volunteers. Most of the tours were sold out and all the feedback we received from audiences was highly positive.
Past stories that I have made include the drama podcast Numbers which was nominated for a Sony Radio Award in 2009 and 9 months of doing the social media interaction for Ampersand Media's STORYLINES project.