Convention-breaking Drama Podcast Launches Final Season

Season 3 of The Family Tree launches on February 12th 2019, and will be available across all major podcast distribution platforms. It is a fictional show: a magical realist drama podcast told through conversation, and is supplemented by documentary episodes with real-life guests, discussing themes and issues raised in the show. These episodes reflect on the drama and feed back into it, expanding the world. The Family Tree is unlike other drama podcasts, in that it is presented as if it were true, and the majority of the action happens off-mic, spanning comedy, tragedy, adventure and interpersonal drama. Recording environments are as natural as possible in order to ground the magic in reality. An iTunes reviewer has described the show as being ‘so authentic, you forget you’re listening to fiction.’ The show is a collaborative creation with a diverse cast working closely to develop plot and character. Co-creator and host Dave Pickering has been nominated for multiple radio awards and has been featured on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 5.

Season 3 will conclude the story, addressing all the questions raised in the preceding series through a rich and exciting plot and the introduction of several new characters.

In Season 1, host Dave Pickering uncovered a mystery about a man whose body had been found with an arm that he supposedly lost in a car accident. Through interviewing Mark Sullivan’s family, Dave soon unearthed a bigger story: the Mark who had lost his arm was not Mark at all, but a ‘changeling’, who later took the form of his unborn daughter Melanie. Season 1 revealed this phenomenon not only to the audience, but to Melanie herself, who had not been aware that she was anything other than a 15-year-old girl.

In Season 2, the world expanded as Dave talked to other changelings and the Sullivans discovered more about their family secret, learning that more of them than just Melanie were affected. Reverend Beech, a favourite character of the audience, successfully experimented with becoming a changeling himself, and central character Nathan Sullivan embarked on a mission to become a jaguar. The season ended with his success, with his brother and sister on their way to The Amazon Rainforest to retrieve him.

Season 3 will follow up with the Sullivans and explore what exactly happened to Nathan, introducing exciting new plot and changing what we thought we knew about changelings. We will meet several new characters, who shed light on new developments and help to shape the future of changelings. A central theme throughout the show investigates Dave grappling with the morality of being an independent podcaster telling other people’s stories in the time of S-Town, Serial and Missing Richard Simmons.