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The Portal is a major 12-part fictional podcast that has just launched.

The original score and story is by Martin Green, a 2019 Ivor Novello award-winner and part of Scottish award-winning folk group, Lau, and although the dark tale is not a true story, it is inspired by moments from his childhood.

The plot follows Etteridge and Angela, two obsessive sound recordists and lovers torn apart by circumstance, who left behind an incredible collection of 20th Century documentation. From 1947 to 1988, they recorded all aspects of London nightlife, from post-war dance halls to the legendary M25 raves.

The recordings never saw the light of day until they were discovered in 2016, and the reason the tapes were kept hidden was because the lovers had been leaving messages for each other in the recordings – a dark story left for the listener to piece together.

It’s directed by Wils Wilson, who has created work for both the National Theatre and National Theatre of Scotland, as well as Bristol Old Vic and The Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh. Dramaturgy is by David Greig, the writer and artistic director of The Royal Lyceum.

An accompanying album will be released made up of the music from The Portal, and sales of the album will support the free-to-access podcast.

Martin Green said:“the Portal began as a little daydream that spiralled out of control. The opportunity to be making a piece of work of this size, with these remarkable collaborators, is beyond exciting.

“Audio has always been the world I feel most at home, and I love stories. Podcast is a perfect medium for me. It is a halfway house between reading a book, where you get to decide what characters look like for yourself, and film, where you are able to present so much detail.”