Cabin Pressure by John Finnimore

One increasingly impoverished and therefore desperate owner of an airline who doubles as a flight attendant; her completely IQ free son who acts as her assistant ; a young captain who has taken seven go's at his pilot's license; a sardonic yet resourceful older first officer who everyone mistakes for captain because he “looks the part”.

What could possibly go wrong?

These are the people who man (or woman, as is the case of the owner) the airline that consists of a single aircraft, known as MJN Air. The initials stand for “My Jet Now” as it was part of the divorce settlement of Carolyn Knapp-Shappey, the aforementioned owner. Carolyn is trying to run a business that can often struggle to make ends meet. And the fact that she employs people who are, to be charitable, less than professional is certainly of no help.

The captain of this lone aircraft is Martin Crieff, a young pilot who, as it has already mentioned, took his pilot's license exam seven times before he was able to pass. As a result no one would employ him except some one who is in desperate need of a pilot, any pilot. Martin is very sensitive about his age and inexperience and would always like to remind everyone present that it is he who holds the rank of captain. This leads to frequent conflict between Martin and the more experienced First Officer, Douglas Richardson.

Douglas used to be a Captain himself in Air England but was fired for smuggling. He is a smooth operator who is worldly wise and can handle himself under pressure. Carolyn often relies on him to keep Martin from making rash and (more importantly) expensive decisions such as switching to airfields with high landing fees. Douglas' sardonic nature lives out by constantly needling both Martin and Carolyn.

Carolyn's son Arthur helps his mum attend to the passengers and the crew. Arthur is a true innocent whose behavior and point of view would drive the worldly wise up the wall. Even after flying on the plane for nearly half his life, he still thinks that it flies by means unknown to the human mind and all attempts at explanation fail. His antics and unintentional hi-jinx would leave you in stitches. And yet, he is a likable character because for all his gullibility and foolishness, he has no mean bones in his body.

Together these men and woman go from one disaster to another mostly as a result of the foolishness of either Martin or Arthur. It would usually fall upon Douglas to rescue the situation and Carolyn to verbally tick them off.

One of the really interesting way the show works is the naming of the episodes. It goes alphabetically, related to the destination the plane is flying to that episode. For example, in the first episode, they fly to Abu Dhabi and in the second they go to Boston, the third to Cremona and so on. You would not think it but it does add to the humor of the show.

There are two main themes of the show that creates the drama and humor. One is the conflict between Martin and Carolyn where Martin repeatedly tries to assert himself to gain respect from her and fails. Carolyn enjoys putting him in his place and often humiliating him. Martin stoically bears it all and yet cannot help but make himself look a fool by demanding respect. The second is between Douglas and Martin where Douglas consistently plays a game of oneupmanship that Martin repeatedly loses. The formers experience and worldliness poses a challenge to the latter. Douglas may technically be the junior officer but Martin has to turn to him for help every time he screws up. Douglas also engages him in bets that Martin loses all the time.

The funniest parts usually consist of either Douglas or Arthur making pronouncements over the public address system. The outrageousness of these comments would cause anyone flying as a passenger to never board MJN Air again. This is Douglas, in the first episode:

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, First Officer Douglas Richardson here, just to let you know that we are making our final approach now to what I'm fairly sure is Fitton Airfield. Unless it's a farm, or just possibly A-45. It's not the sea, because that's blue. I should perhaps explain that Captain Crieff and I have a sportsmanlike little bet on today about who can fly the best after drinking a liter of vodka through a straw. Captain went first. You may have noticed that the take off run was a little bumpy, particularly over the golf course. Now it's me to land: just as soon as I decide which of these tow runways to aim for. And I'm happy to tell you that I feel lucky! So on behalf of all your crew today, may I just say: Geronimo!

One of the interesting things about the show is the idea that pilots would do anything to avoid boredom. Hence we see many word games come to dominate the show. While they fly to Limerick, Ireland, the crew spends the time making up limericks. Other times they play games such as “Brian's of Britain” or naming people who are not evil but have evil sounding names such as Davina McCall or Russell Crowe.

If you liked Blackadder, you may find that the dynamics of the show are quite similar. They also resemble Blackadder in that the show is funny! And for those who are fans of Steven Moffat's Sherlock,Captain Martin Crieff is played by Benedict Cumberbatch! A little extra incentive, if you will. 

Cabin Pressure is aired on BBC Radio 7 and is available as a pod cast on BBC iPlayer.