The Treacle People

Still Sticky

By: Jonathan Trueman

Narrated by: Caroline Bernstein, Glynn Mills, Jim Norton, Elizabeth Plant

Six brand-new full-cast audio adventures for The Treacle People!

Welcome to Sabden, home of the mines that produce fully half of Britain’s treacle–the sticky stuff that goes into golden syrup, ginger beer and parkin cake. In this picturesque spot, where moobarks roam the fields and mischievous boggarts scamper around every corner, a proud industry flourishes–or rather, used to flourish. Because once again, the mines have run out of treacle, and the villagers find themselves in a decidedly sticky situation…

But hope is at hand! A mysterious message in a bottle leads Tapper, Lil and the rest of our friends on an epic quest to retrieve riches beyond their wildest dreams. With the help of their trusty Treacle Tracker, they’ll descend to the very depths of the earth, cross the Molasso Sea, tame the Great White Mallard, Moby Duck, and enter the fabled Mines of King Habbakuk. Will they find the treasure? Will they make it out alive? And will we find the budget for some decent locations now we’re doing this on audio? Find out the answers to all this and much, much less in The Treacle People: Still Sticky.

Full credits:

Rosie, Lil, Bert the Boggart—Caroline Bernstein

Tapper, The Narrator—Glynn Mills

Brendan, Silas—Jim Norton

The Boggart Queen—Elizabeth Plant

Written by Jonathan Trueman

Produced and directed by Joseph Russell

Sound design by Russell Smithson

Recorded by Wilfredo Acosta at The Soundhouse

Music by Simon Webb

Theme by Iain Russell & Simon Webb

Music recorded and mixed by Martin Russell

Created by Iain Russell & Mike Furness

Based on an idea by The Dewhurst Family

©2025 Fire Mountain Productions Ltd (P)2025 Fire Mountain Productions Ltd

Not a connoisseur of British humor, but i had fun

Fun story. Episodes are short, but fun. Loved the topology joke in first episode. Even knowing what is coming did not diminish the fun.

I am not good at leaving reviews. It is fun, short and it made me laugh. What more could I ask for?

British Humor for Whom?

A product of 90s children’s television in the UK, the “Treacle People” weren’t a household name outside of England, Scotland and Wales. While arguably not as popular as the Muppets or other Jim Henson properties, the method of creating an episode was a dying mode of animation. Now, roughly 30 years later, the “Treacle People” are once again playing with the old and making it fresh.

Producer — Joseph Russell — not only revived the show, but changed the medium to something more suitable for adults than children. We’re seeing this happening more and more as audio stories become more mainstream. If you tell the same story in multiple ways, you can diversify your income without much upfront cost. A story going from a visual to an audio medium generally won’t work as well as going the other way.

As technology evolves and replaces the old, the question of which was more impactful overall becomes something people dwell on during the tail-end of a technologies life cycle. Nowhere is the more apparent than audio. From 8-track cassette tapes to the digital downloads in a lossless format, music hasn’t died, despite what the song “Video Killed the Radio Star” might imply. This audio continuation of the “Treacle People” pokes fun at budgetary considerations common in a movie or television set, like beautiful set design and fancy camerawork. Obviously this is something audio dramas don’t need to consider as the imagination fills in the blanks.

While computer graphics made stop-motion animation obsolete, audio dramas have seen and are continuing to see an increase in popularity in the media landscape as a whole. It’s not at the level of Hollywood where you’re more likely to know about a movie coming out than another medium, but A-list movie stars have been showing up in fiction podcasts more frequently as the medium has evolved from the golden age of radio.

Ending on a bitter sweet note, one of the show runners for the original series passed away. The producer’s name was Iain Russell. His son—Joseph—put together this passion project in memory of his father. It’s available on audible* and stars much of the original cast returning to their respective roles.