Think the Unthinkable
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Think the Unthinkable is an audience sitcom about hapless management consultants, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001 - starring Marcus Brigstocke, David Mitchell, Catherine Shepherd, Emma Kennedy and Beth Chalmers. Each week the team of consultants inflict their unique brand of help on unsuspecting companies. Written by James Cary, it has been a popular show with audiences and is currently into its fourth series - making a total of 21 episodes. It won a Silver Sony Award for Comedy in 2002, for the first ever episode. It is produced by Adam Bromley.
The team consists of:
- Ryan Packer (Marcus Brigstocke): The keen and enthusiastic team leader, utterly clueless, and given to overblown metaphors. A running gag is that he usually describes the consultancy process with a metaphor that leads to an inadvertent insult to himself. Ryan is almost completely oblivious to any hostility in the people he meets, and always assumes the best about everyone. Despite this relentlessly positive outlook rarely working out, he claims to have only ever been depressed once in his life.
- Sophie Stott (Emma Kennedy series 1-2, Beth Chalmers series 3-4): Sophie has a direct and no-nonsense approach to most problems, and is probably sociopathic. She has little patience for anyone else in the team, and enjoys firing people. She would probably be the closest the team has to a normal person were it not for her violent temper and extreme mood swings, and often acts as the voice of reason in the group, although her suggestions are usually ignored or overruled, triggering another aggressive phase.
- Owen (David Mitchell): The team's technical expert, and Sophie's stalker. Owen is fond of online wargames, cracking computers systems, and video nasties. He is basically immoral and creepy. His catchphrase is "Morning, losers!" Owen was originally a freelance IT specialist who the team hired for one episode in series 1, but he had joined Unthinkable Solutions full time by series 2.
- Daisy (Catherine Shepherd): Relentlessly nice and deeply naive, Daisy is the team conscience, or would be if anyone listened to her.
- Jed: A fellow member of Owen's online Fraternity of the Sacred Goat, Jed joined the team for the latter part of series 3 after Owen was forced into hiding. Jed is very keen on obscure low-budget sci-fi and horror movies, which he frequently quotes and refers to.
- The Sacred Goat: Along with Owen and Jed, two further members of their online fraternity have appeared in the series- 'Clanger' (so called because he's considered the socially awkward one) in the Iota Credit campaign, and Colin who works in Barrington hospital. Other known members include 'Moley' and 'Captain Puke'.
April 2006 saw a repeat of series 3 in Tuesday's 6:30pm slot on BBC Radio 4.