Choices - Comedy Series

Comedy drama series, sitcoms and sketch shows produced over the past five years by Gareth Stack and Dead Medium Productions. 

Dead Medium is an award winning radio production company in Dublin. We create dramas, documentaries, podcasts and reports for local and national Irish stations.

Radio Comedy

The world of mental health is a crazy place. I should know, I spent six years studying psychology and psychotherapy. Not to say my new series is autobiographical, but you couldn’t make up some of the things that go on in the world of soul surgery. ‘Choices‘,  tells the story of a young psychotherapy student, at sea in a bizarre world of frauds and fanatics.

Ainesh Sharma is an under confident, over intellectual Indian-Irish twenty something. Ainesh has always been a victim of circumstance; working jobs he didn’t enjoy and failing to live up to his potential. Now, sacked from his factory job and thrown out of home by his disappointed parents, Ainesh is forced to train as a psychotherapist. His course is in ‘Choosing Therapy’, the philosophy that we choose our own destiny, and that everything that happens is our fault. With nowhere to stay, Ainesh is forced to live with two of his bizarre classmates. We follow him as he learns whether there really is such a thing as choice, and if so, how he can make his own destiny.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what really goes on after your shrink smiles, pats you on the rump and closes the door behind you, tune in to find out.

Choices (Radio Sitcom) - Episode 1

Ainesh learns cushion counselling from his eccentric lecturer Sean. After Emma Jane’s flirtation makes him run for the safety of his cinema books, Stillman hassles him about getting a job. Ainesh starts to realise the course might be more than he bargained for when a puppet role-play goes out of control. Ainesh goes house hunting, barely resisting the advances of an older lady, and just avoiding baptism by an over-enthusiastic priest. A mysterious dog saves the day. Dragged clubbing by his classmate Sally, Ainesh runs into Emma Jane, but before he can romance her she meets his much cooler motorbike-riding cousin, Krishna.

The world of mental health is a crazy place. I should know, I spent six years studying psychology and psychotherapy. Not to say my new series is autobiographical, but you couldn’t make up some of the things that go on in the world of soul surgery. ‘Choices‘, tells the story of a young psychotherapy student, at sea in a bizarre world of frauds and fanatics.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what really goes on after your shrink smiles, pats you on the rump and closes the door behind you, tune in to find out.

Choices - Episode 2 – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Ainesh and Stillman attend a hipster funeral, where Stillman makes a horrible scene. Stillman is heartbroken over Emma Jane’s affair with Krisha. Natalie continues her persecution of Ainesh, as he begins his own expensive psychotherapy. Stillman is left a mysterious package by his deceased friend.

The world of mental health is a crazy place. I should know, I spent six years studying psychology and psychotherapy. Not to say my new series is autobiographical, but you couldn’t make up some of the things that go on in the world of soul surgery. ‘Choices‘, tells the story of a young psychotherapy student, at sea in a bizarre world of frauds and fanatics.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what really goes on after your shrink smiles, pats you on the rump and closes the door behind you, tune in to find out.

Choices - Episode 3 - Maguffin

A flashback reveals Stillman’s origin, and his unusual relationship to Emma Jane. Cut to today – Ainesh is deeply sceptical about Stillman’s unlikely story. A guided meditation session becomes a strange psychedelic experience in the hands of Esmeralda. The cult like aspect of the course is revealed when two higher ups from the Alfred Himmler Institute arrive, seeking a successor for the ageing guru.

The world of mental health is a crazy place. I should know, I spent six years studying psychology and psychotherapy. Not to say my new series is autobiographical, but you couldn’t make up some of the things that go on in the world of soul surgery. ‘Choices‘, tells the story of a young psychotherapy student, at sea in a bizarre world of frauds and fanatics.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what really goes on after your shrink smiles, pats you on the rump and closes the door behind you, tune in to find out.

Choices - Episode 4 - Yippie Ki Yay

An encounter group led by Sean becomes deeply personal. Ainesh seeks help from his therapist. He finds his therapist is going out of business due to a glut of newly trained psychotherapists. Ainesh takes on a humiliating and poorly paid job at a fast food restaurant. Stillman arrives to try to convince Ainesh to help him save Emma Jane.

The world of mental health is a crazy place. I should know, I spent six years studying psychology and psychotherapy. Not to say my new series is autobiographical, but you couldn’t make up some of the things that go on in the world of soul surgery. ‘Choices‘, tells the story of a young psychotherapy student, at sea in a bizarre world of frauds and fanatics.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what really goes on after your shrink smiles, pats you on the rump and closes the door behind you, tune in to find out.

Choices - Episode 5 - The 7th Seal

Meet Bernard Noonan, in many ways a typical Dubliner. In the first episode of our six part series, we follow Bernie as he struggles with life and romance after the boom.

Bernie is a former property developer, who served a brief sentence at Portmarnock prison for an unspecified offense, after his company went bust during the construction industry crisis. He’s now attempting to get his local community gardening scheme off the ground as a business – but is facing opposition from the volunteers who founded and run the scheme. Bernie believes social entrepreneurship is key to ‘getting us out of this mess’, and faces an uphill struggle to convince others of his vision. After the collapse of his company, Bernie’s marriage ended, and he now lives with his former personal assistant, Wiola. The pair struggle with adjusting to the changed power dynamics of their new relationship circumstances.

Any Other Dublin - Episode 1 - Bernie in the Community

Oisin Kylemore is a pick up artist, a pro-gamer, and a troubled young man. Join him as he shows you another side of Dublin.

Oisin works for one of the ‘big three’ financial services firms in the IFSC. With no time for relationships, ‘love is just another transaction’. Oisin frequently visits his mother (his only surviving parent) at her nursing home – but seems unable unable to forge a meaningful emotional connection to her. When not working 50 – 60 hours a week at his high pressure job. Oisin indulges his hobbies: Martial Art ‘Jeet Kune Do’, and the video game Team Fighter 2. Oisin is in some ways a ‘new man’, putting great emphasis on his appearance, health and fitness; and is a follower of the currently trendy Paleolithic ‘cave man’ diet. Oisin is also part of the men’s rights movement, and considers himself an able ‘pick up artist’. Oisin has a court date approaching, resulting from a violent incident which arose out of his issues with alcohol, and it appears as though his carefully managed life might not be all that it seems.

Any Other Dublin - Episode 2 - In the Company of Oisin

Jolita Grīnberga a young Irish writer. Jolita struggles with a lack of creative recognition and the caprices of an unappreciative universe.

Jolita is young creative woman, originally of Latvian origin, who writes and performs on top of her day job. She’s currently attempting to become the next Kindle publishing sensation. Jolita is active member of the Dublin live action role play and burlesque communities. Despite her many creative outlets, Jolita struggles with low self-esteem and weight issues. Jolita works by day in a call centre, doing surveys for the Dept of Agriculture, and lives with her best friend Sebastian, and her cats Lord British and Noroku. She has a second job in a craft market – selling her own hand-made corsets. Jolita’s parents are members of a new religious group. Although warm and supportive, they’re eager for Jolita to marry and settle down. Jolita’s dream is to emigrate to London, to live in Camden and write for Coilhouse magazine and publish her first novel.

Any Other Dublin - Episode 3 - A Joli Good Writer

The Muse Unbidden is an exciting one off drama from one of Ireland’s most influential radio dramatists. The play, a success on stage at the Collaborations festival in Smock Alley theatre in 2012, follows a group of would-be poets enrolled in a performance poetry workshop led by a charismatic and unconventional teacher. Using music and dream diaries, the participants are cajoled into finding and surrendering to their personal muses. As the workshop progresses they travel a rollicking odyssey of confession and self-revelation, giving voice to their obsessions, desires, wit, pain, and memories. For some their uninhibited self-expression leads to joyous catharsis, for others to grief and loss. The play satirises the world of performance poetry, blending music and poetry to create an original and entertaining programme. This satire on modern poetry and self-discovery, written and directed by Roger Gregg features original musical score performed and recorded by a cast of multi-talented actor-musicians.

The Muse Unbidden

The A.R.T of Television is a historical comedy about censorship, set in the early years of Irish TV broadcasting. A time when government and church fought young broadcasters struggling to innovate on the nation’s fledgling television channel. American writer Claude Chabert lands a job on the early Irish soap opera ’Home Farm’. Claude finds himself trapped between the political pressures and rigid censorship of late 1960’s Ireland. Attempting to kill the show, he resorts to improbable storylines rooted in Irish mythology, creating an unexpected hit. Now Claude must balance the demands of crafty civil servants, a meddling church and an unruly cast.

The Art of Television

Producer / Writer / Director at Dead Medium Productions.

Check out my comedy series, documentaries and other sound stuff - http://garethstack.com/radio