Judge Dredd - 99 Code Red

audio drama by Jonathan Clements

"comedy as black as night"
-- Sci Find

"fantastic… well-acted, written and directed"
-- Sci Fi Online

For 99 Code Red, I wanted to redress what I saw as an imbalance in the Big Finish audios. Too many took Dredd away from his home city, too many leaned too much on British actors, and too many had virtually all-male casts. So I ended up writing my tribute to Steve Bochco and John Wells - Judge Dredd in the style of Hill Street Blues and E.R. And while I was at it, I threw in references to The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, and Henry V. Even the rap song "Umpty Got Some Sugar" is actually by Shakespeare; it's the Passionate Pilgrim, although the original didn't have me shouting "Pump Up the Dolphin" at the end of each line. You can find out more about 99 Code Red in this interview.

Buy it here from Big Finish.

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There's a big new attraction at the White Cliffs, a Brit-Cit theme park where the inhabitants of Mega-City One can blow off steam. But the local law enforcement officers have got a grudge, because the famous Judge Dredd is patrolling on sector rotation, and that means they can't be as easy as usual on the tourists.

When Dredd finds arch-snitch Max Normal running for the radioactive hills, he suspects that there's more to a recent laboratory break-in than meets the eye. Someone has stolen three precious vials of a lethal plague, and they intend to release it in a public place.

But as the barometer rises and tempers fray, Dredd has to call in a Code Red - the signal for a wounded Judge in need of immediate assistance. With Mega-City One in the grip of a fearsome tempest and all aerial vehicles grounded, Dredd must brave the overcrowded, understaffed squalour of Mega-City General, soon in the grip of a viral outbreak. Dredd must lock the hospital down before the occupants take the disease outside. But there are several patients who will do anything to escape, even if it means carrying a lethal virus into the streets of Mega-City One!

Things are just about to get Ugly. And we mean that.