The drama, sub-titled ‘an alluring time travel romance’, tells the story of Tobias and Syd, how they meet, the role seduction plays in bringing them together, and how their relationship spirals, through a series of time-travel episodes, into smoke-filled darkness, exploitation and addiction.

Written and directed by multi-award nominated Elspeth Penny (Silva Lining’s Care Plan), and made by award-winning, Bristol-based 2BU Productions, was initially inspired by a talk given by Professor Andrew Russell on the Anthropology of Tobacco at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol in 2020, the play also contains tender and truthful ‘Letters to My Breath’, written by patients as part of research based around the real voices of people with respiratory conditions.

‘Letters to my Breath’ was conducted by Elspeth Penny and Dr Alice Malpass from the University of Bristol’s Centre for Academic Primary Care as part of the interdisciplinary, Wellcome-funded ‘Life of Breath’ project, between 2015 and 2020. The project was led by Professor Jane McNaughton (Durham) and Professor Havi Carel (Bristol).

So far, the play Tobias and Syd, which is available on Spotify and Podbean, as well as other major podcast platforms, has been awarded the following credits:

• Winner of the Best Audio Fiction Standalone, Apulia Webfest 2023;
• Winner for Best Audio Fiction Standalone, Sydney Webfest 2023;
• Winner for Best Narration for an Audio Fiction Podcast, Baltimore Next Media WebFest 2023: Ell Potter. 

Elspeth Penny said: “I am so proud of everyone who has contributed to Tobias and Syd - from our young advisory group to our creative team, to our academic collaborators, and most especially our international audience; all together we have created and grown a unique and beautiful play, which helps take down the smoke screen around commercial tobacco use.

Dr Alice Malpass said: “Podcast drama has been described as ‘the punk rock of audio’! I believe podcast audio-drama has the potential to open up new perspectives on contentious public health issues like tobacco. The success of Tobias and Syd points to the importance of the podcast audio-drama as a vehicle for enabling ideas contained in academic texts to be presented in creative, inclusive, enjoyable and collaborative ways.

“To the best of our knowledge tobacco and respiration (breath) have never been the direct subject of an audio-drama before, either on public radio or podcasting platforms. The play includes and commemorates the voices of people who struggled with breathlessness, many of whom have since died as a result of their respiratory condition, as well as giving ‘voice’ to tobacco itself.” 

Professor Havi Carel said: "This creative podcast emerged from work in the Life of Breath project that Elspeth Penny and Andrew Russell were both part of. The project collaborated with Elizabeth Blackwell Institute in 2016 to host the 'Feel it' festival, which commissioned and supported creative work on these themes. This podcast arose in part from that focused interest in arts and health, and has developed significantly in the time since. I'm delighted to see the success of this arts and health approach and of Elspeth's creative work."

You can listen to the full play on the Tobias and Syd website (1 hour, 6 minutes), where there are also interviews with the actors, feedback from listeners, and information on how the production team worked closely with young people to make the play relevant and accessible to a young audience.