A podcast created by University of Brighton lecturers Lance Dann and Phil Connolly is the top arts podcast in the UK – knocking BBC’s The Archers off its seemingly permanent Number 1 position.

Last weekend’s podcast also broke into the Top 40 of all UK podcasts, briefly giving Russell Brand a run for his money, and hit the Top 20 in the US charts.

Blood Culture, a techno thriller addressing issues of the commodification of the body combines music, humour and bleeding edge science to create a digital whodunnit.

Dann, who is course leader for Television and Digital Media Production, developed the story of Blood Culture “so that it feels like a work of science fiction but is actually science fact.  Everything presented in the series is possible, feasible and probably happening now”.

He and Digital Film course leader Connolly talked with experts and researchers across the country including colleagues at the University of Brighton Dr Claire Marriott, Senior Lecturer in Biology, and Simone Weeks, Lecturer Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences.

Dann said: “We wanted to make something that addressed development in stem cell science and the ethics of bio-technology while at the same time including a fair few fist fights, some tough female protagonists, a series of related web-sites and even an interactive SMS game.

“It’s fantastic to see the podcast take off like it has – and it’s about time something a little bit different and exciting reached the top of the iTunes charts … with apologies to fans of The Archers.”

Blood Culture was produced in conjunction with Resonance 104.4FM, the University of Brighton,  the University of Sussex, and The Wellcome Trust.

To watch a trailer, go to: https://youtu.be/YD3WDwhxnNc

To subscribe via iTunes, go to: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/blood-culture/id1227191869?mt=2