Judge Dredd - Pre-Emptive Revenge

"a brilliant production… essential listening'
- 2000ad Review

"Fans of Back to the Future will love the time-travel elements in this story… a very fine audio production."
- Sci Fi Online

Big Finish wanted a team-up story between Judge Dredd and Johnny Alpha, but I couldn't bring myself to engineer yet another crossover through time. Instead, I pitched the untold story of how Johnny and Dredd got home again after the Judgement Day story arc. Last time we saw them together in the comic, they were heading home, but how? The sensible thing would be to wait for pick-up, but how would they know anyone was looking for them? With Samuel Beckett spinning in his grave, I imagined two men, waking up in a ditch, waiting for someone who never comes. The actors Toby Longworth and Simon Pegg really loved this one, because they got to shout at each other for a whole day, with only minimal fanatical Chinese interference. Which was good, because they were pretending to be in a freezing Manchurian wilderness, and the studio was climbing above eighty on a hot August day with no air conditioning. Simon did complain, however, that he "couldn't believe he had to deal with more zombies."

The concept of "pre-emptive revenge" is lifted from Parfum de la Jalousie, one of my favourite serials on Japanese TV.

Buy Pre-Emptive Revenge here.

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2114. Judgement Day Plus One. Billions of human beings and former human beings have perished in a nuclear holocaust that destroyed the zombie menace of Sabbat the Necromagus. In China's dangerous Radlands of Ji, Judge Dredd must begin the long walk home. All he has is a short-range radio, a chip on his shoulder, and a very reluctant travelling companion called Johnny Alpha.

Dredd is hundreds of miles from home, marooned with a mutant he can't stand. They've got unfinished business, but so have the vengeful survivors of the nuclear strike on Sino-Cit One.