Info

The Family Tree

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.
RSS Feed
The Family Tree
2020
January


2019
December
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February


2018
December
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June


2016
December
November
October
September
May


Categories

All Episodes
Archives
Categories
Now displaying: Page 2
Mar 26, 2019

Dear Listeners,

I hope this finds you well. It truly is a pleasure to be writing to you again, and I’m delighted to be able to connect with you through The Family Tree.

It perhaps won’t surprise you to learn that I have faced many challenges since David and I had our little excursion to St James’s Park to visit the oak tree. I find I am quite changed, and I don’t mind telling you, I’ve found it rather difficult to process some of the thoughts and feelings I’ve had since I became a changeling, or a liminal person, as David likes to call us now.

David very kindly put me in touch with his friend Azariah, a fellow man of the cloth, and with him I talked through some of the difficulties I’m having. I found his counsel to be very valuable, and I want to share our conversation with you, with the hope that it may serve to help others as much as it helped me.

Yours Faithfully,

Philip

P.S. My parishioners have often preferred to address me as ‘Reverend Beech’, or simply ‘Beech’. I think it has allowed them a separation from me that they’ve found useful, and over time, I’ve found myself thinking of myself that way too. But I think I would like to try being a little less separate, and from here on will sign my letters to you with my Christian name, if that’s alright with you. I find it extremely poignant to see how I titled this episode; Azariah’s comfortableness with his first name while I shelter behind my surname.

---------------------------

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS Spotify

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Mar 12, 2019

In the first Cutting of Season 3, Dave talks to Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad and Philosophy Tube’s Oliver Thorn, discussing philosophical questions around transition, change and belief.

The Family Tree’s Cuttings discuss the real issues raised in the show with special guests from podcasting, journalism, religion and the arts.

Find our Guests!

Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad – publications - https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Chakravarthi+Ram-Prasad

Papers - http://lancaster.academia.edu/ChakravarthiRamPrasad

Lancaster University - http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/people/chakravarthi-ramprasad(02068fdc-a65d-4a1f-982f-659e6620190f).html

BBC Radio 4 – In Our Time - Hindu Ideas of Creation -  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03k289f

Oliver Thorn: Twitter - @OllyThorn, @Philosophy Tube  Philosophy Tube - https://www.youtube.com/user/thephilosophytube

Mar 5, 2019

In the aftermath of Nathan’s return, Dave catches up with Kora, Melissa, Nathan, Ben and Melanie as they all process their feelings about the change, and reflect on Ben and Nathan sharing a body.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS Spotify

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Feb 26, 2019

Leaving the others to process what just happened, Dave accompanies Nathan back to visit Jane and sets up his recording equipment. Jane and Nathan catch up and discuss their feelings about Nathan’s circumstances.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS Spotify

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Feb 19, 2019

Dave catches up with Melanie and Kora, and with Melissa and Ben after their journey to the rainforest. In a controlled experiment at Goldsmith’s, University of London, and with the help of Shajahan, they attempt to bring Nathan back.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS Spotify

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Feb 12, 2019

New information about changelings has surfaced. Dave speaks to previous Cuttings guest, Jackie Hagan and her partner, Klara, and learns information that will have a huge impact on the Sullivan family and other changelings he’s met while documenting The Family Tree.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS Spotify

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Dec 10, 2018

Season 3 is on its way, and Dave has an announcement. In this special mini episode, he gives an update and shares some clips showing the developments since Nathan's disappearance. 

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Apr 22, 2018

In the final episode of Season 2, Melissa calls Dave and asks him to meet her and Ben at Paddington Station. They share a worrying plan with him, and when he gets home and listens to his voicemail, things get even worse.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Apr 13, 2018

In the fifth Cutting of season 2, Dave tries to process recent developments on The Family Tree and get perspectives that will help with issues in his personal life by asking questions about how we deal with loss and with death.

Content Note: Death, bereavement, dementia, illness, suicide, euthanasia, violence, murder

The Family Tree's Cuttings discuss the real issues raised in the show with special guests from podcasting, journalism, religion and the arts.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Find our Guests!

Imam Monawar Hussain: https://www.theoxfordfoundation.com

Reverend Azariah France-Williams: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-shapeshifters/id1100385786?mt=2

Rabbi Charley Baginsky: http://www.liberaljudaism.org

Wasi Daniju: http://wasidaniju.com/

Against Borders For Children: https://www.schoolsabc.net/

Shaun Attwood: http://shaunattwood.com/

Marlo Mack: http://www.howtobeagirlpodcast.com/

Tony Pickering: Pick-Art.com

Peter Wohlleben: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-hidden-life-of-trees/peter-wohlleben/9780008218430

Peter Pickering: Dave's essays about his father: Down to a sunless sea: memories of my dad

 

Previously on The Family Tree Cuttings:

http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/cuttings/cutting-6-the-big-questions/

 

Mar 27, 2018

In the aftermath of Nathan’s death, Reverend Beech comes to talk to Dave. Together, they share their grief and talk about an important change to Melissa’s understanding of herself as a changeling.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Mar 22, 2018

An anonymous caller leaves a series of panicked messages for Dave. Is The Family Tree putting the Sullivan family in danger?

Content Note: This episode touches on issues around homophobia, rape and child sexual abuse

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Mar 11, 2018

After receiving some tragic news, Dave talks to Thought Adventures co-host, Nigel, about what has happened to Nathan.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Feb 25, 2018

Dave meets Violita, who views it as a blessing to have become a changeling. She clearly has a lot more story to tell than she shares in this conversation, but nonetheless, her very particular lineage has a lot to tell us about what happens to someone when they take on the memories of other creatures.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

Tunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Feb 8, 2018

Dear Listeners,

David tells me that you like me writing to you, so it has come to feel very right that I accompany these recordings with a short note. I’m afraid I don’t know much about podcasting, so I’ve been leaving all the music to David, who has much more experience and has made the last two sound jolly good. Melanie and I should probably work on introducing ourselves properly; I’m afraid we just jump straight in again. However, I think regular listeners to The Family Tree might be very happy to hear the recording this time – Melanie is really beginning to remember a few things now, and is increasingly comfortable with trying to talk about it.

Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoy Episode 3 of ‘Conversations’.

Yours Faithfully,

Reverend Phillip Beech

P.S. We did think about calling the episode ‘Roger and Olaf’, but I think it’s best to keep it simple. Do write to David if you have any better suggestions for a name for us.

 

 

-----

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Feb 4, 2018

Dave talks to Reverend Beech and Kora at Jane’s house before a special party for Mia to say goodbye to the oak tree: they’re going to plant a sapling grown from one of its acorns.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Jan 26, 2018

Dear David (or should I say, Dear Listeners?),

I’m delighted that people enjoyed reading my email on your website last time. How funny! I’m not sure I can write anything that will live up to their expectations this time, I’m afraid. But anyway, I attach the latest recording of myself and Melanie talking about our experiences as changelings. Well, I say ‘our’; really it seems to be mostly mine again. Teenagers are very good at steering conversations, I find. As you will hear, we still haven’t come up with the right name for our podcast. Melanie doesn’t seem to think it’s very interesting, but we’ll stick with ‘Conversations’ for now. I should say, we didn’t really introduce it properly like you do: we were in the middle of discussing a book when we started recording, so listeners may want to know that the book we’re talking about is The Hidden Life of Trees, introduced to me by your fascinating Cuttings episode with the author, Peter Wohlleben. If I could trouble you to put some more music around our conversation again, that would be wonderful.

I hope your listeners enjoy our second episode.

Yours,

Phillip

 

-----

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Jan 21, 2018

Dear David,

Further to our chat about the possibility of you sharing my research with your listeners, I am sending you the first of my recordings with Melanie. She thinks we should be calling them a podcast, but I think that perhaps that’s more your domain. As you can see, we haven’t yet decided on a name for it… I was thinking maybe we should call it simply, ‘Conversations’. Until we settle on something more permanent, at least. I think to properly be a podcast, we’d really need some music, but I’m afraid we don’t have anything like that. Perhaps you would frame it nicely with a piece of the delightful music you use on The Family Tree.

Anyway, I hope your listeners will find it valuable. I’m afraid there’s rather more talk of me in there than I imagined there might be!

Yours,

Phillip

PS You can use this email if you need some text to go on the website in order to fit your format.

 

-----

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Jan 13, 2018

In this episode, Dave talks to Shajahan, a friend of a friend, who is considering the hypothesis that her late mother was a changeling. If what her mother told her is true, Shajahan may still have her mother with her after all.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

 

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Dec 21, 2017

As a favour to Nathan, Dave is still putting out episodes of Nathan's podcast, Thought Adventures, on The Family Tree podcast feed.

*

We think it's important not to believe everything we're told without thinking about it from all angles, even the ones that might not work the way we think angles work. That's why we've created the new podcast, Thought Adventures. In Episode Four, we exchange seasonal gifts, discuss the interesting new developments that came out last week on The Family Tree, and compare the our attempts to be abducted by aliens. We also announce our most exciting investigation yet!

We do apologise for the severe delay in getting Episode Four out to you, Thought Adventurers. Nigel has promised that we'll be more frequent from now on. But fear not: now it’s time for a Thought Adventure! It's just like a thought experiment, but it's fun!

Festive wishes,

Nathan and Nigel

*

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Dec 19, 2017

In the fourth Cutting of season 2, Dave tries to make sense of recent developments on The Family Tree by talking to an Imam, a Priest and a Rabbi about death, change, transition, faith and belief.

The Family Tree's Cuttings discuss the real issues raised in the show with special guests from podcasting, journalism, religion and the arts.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Find our Guests!

Imam Monawar Hussain: https://www.theoxfordfoundation.com

Reverend Azariah France-Williams: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-shapeshifters/id1100385786?mt=2

Rabbi Charley Baginsky: http://www.liberaljudaism.org

Previously on The Family Tree Cuttings:

http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/cuttings/cutting-1-podcasts-and-priests/

http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/cuttings/cutting-8-stories-and-more-stories/

 

Dec 14, 2017

Dave and Reverend Beech have returned after their trip to St James’s Park. There’s a lot of processing to do as they drink cocoa and go over the events of a very long night.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

 

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

 

Dec 11, 2017

Reverend Beech has a plan so drastic that Dave has decided to split this episode into two parts. In Part I, they discuss what they plan to do and why that will involve a drill, a sleeping bag and a freezer.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

 

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Nov 30, 2017

Ben is eager to come on the show to talk about his new organisation, ‘Change of Heart’, dedicated to researching and protecting changelings. Accompanied again by Kora, Dave begins to see tensions within their relationship. Meanwhile, the threat posed by information disappearing online looms ever-larger.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Nov 23, 2017

***CONTENT NOTE: This episode generally deals with interpersonal, systemic and state violence but the section from 9.29 min to 26.10 min involves the experience of living in prison and includes graphic descriptions of violence.***

In the third Cutting of season 2, Dave looks at the ways that systems and structures hurt people considered different, other or lesser, in order to contextualise the ways that society might treat Changelings.

We hear from Schools ABC about their work fighting to keep immigration checks out of UK schools (1.55-9.29); from writer, activist and ex-prisoner Shaun Attwood about his experience in the Arizona Prison system (9.29-26.10); from intersectional feminist, therapist and equality consultant, Guilaine Kinouani, who reflects on how the mental health system operates for marginalised people (26.10-48.33); and from Marlo Mack from the How to Be A Girl podcast, who considers how being a parent of a transgender child feels in Trump’s America (48.33).

The Family Tree's Cuttings discuss the real issues raised in the show with special guests from podcasting, journalism, religion and the arts.

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Find our Guests!

Against Borders For Children: https://www.schoolsabc.net/

Schools ABC crowdfunder: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/againstbordersforchildren

Wasi Daniju: http://wasidaniju.com/

Shaun Attwood: http://shaunattwood.com/

Guilaine Kinouani: https://racereflections.co.uk

https://twitter.com/KGuilaine

Marlo Mack: http://www.howtobeagirlpodcast.com/

On Getting Better Acquainted:

https://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/gba-314-wasi

https://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/gba-218-shaun-attwood

https://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/gba-274-guilaine-kinouani

Previously on The Family Tree Cuttings:

http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/cuttings/the-family-tree-season-2-cuttings-1-flesh-and-blood-bark-and-seed/

 

Nov 19, 2017

Many years ago, Mark recorded stories for Ben and Nathan to listen to on a car journey. The cassette has turned up in Jane’s loft. But perhaps there’s more to these stories than the family ever realised: from what Melanie has revealed about her pre-Mark history, it would seem that in one of them, Mark may have been subtly telling his family what had happened to him.

The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity.

 

iTunes RSS

Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

« Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »