The incredible skulk
A Fox’s Guide To Deurbanisation review
Rating – 
I grew up in a very rural area, literally the middle of nowhere. I never saw a fox, and I only ever heard one twice. As an adult, I moved to a busier area. Certainly not an urban environment, but a large village, and I see foxes all the time.
When I was in primary school, we did a project called “Suburban Fox”, about how foxes survive in, yep you guessed it, suburban areas. My group actually made a boardgame about it that was so good, my teacher actually got all the other groups to make one too, and never credited us with the idea. That only further cemented my distrust of authority figures.
Not that this has much to do with anything, but they were the only observations I could make about our vulpine friends. And as you may have guessed from the title, this week’s review is a show about foxes.
So what’s it about?
Rusty is a young fox who has grown up in the middle of London. After his father is killed by a taxi, he yearns to return to the countryside where his parents had lived, so he charts his adventure as a podcast (yes, really), for all the other urban foxes, that’s us (yes, really). Is the dream of giving up chicken korma, streetlights and traffic for the unknown of the forest all it’s cracked up to be though?
Initially, his friends tag along, but as they get further from home, Rusty is left alone. The countryside brings many new dangers, and the naive fox is soon out of his depth. Thankfully there are plenty of unlikely allies to help him with his mission.
Is it any good?
This has taken a lot of thought to write. Yes, it is good. Unfortunately it isn’t great. The only way I can describe it, is like watching the pilot episode of a sitcom that got cancelled. All the worldbuilding was done, the characters fleshed out, and then nothing happens to develop the show. It just ends with a shot of everyone laughing, the credits roll and that’s that.
The voice acting is very good, with the young streetwise foxes using all the slang my kids use to confuse me. Think of it as a cross between The Animals Of Farthing Wood and Skins (or Disney on drugs as it was pitched in the introductory email I received).
The sound design is outstanding. It’s perfectly balanced, and gives a very immersive experience. I will usually overlook such things in indie productions, but when it is there, it’s a real treat. I’m not sure how Lisa Emily Petersen (the creator of the show) managed to pull all this together so well. As a first podcast, I can’t really fault anything technical.
Even as I type these last paragraphs to finish the review up, I am conflicted as what to score the show. I have lost count of the number of times I have gone from four brains, to three and back again. Ultimately though, for what is here, it is a very good piece of work, so it gets the benefit of the doubt and secures four out of five. This is a token of encouragement as much as anything, because I really hope Lisa has more podcasts up her sleeve.
Final thoughts
This is an outstanding first effort. Lisa has hit on some kind of alchemy here, and this is a perfect example of how to create an immersive, entertaining show without relying on AI.
For all its faults, I hope they do another series. I feel like there is a lot to expand on in this crazy world they’ve built. This is a show that is well worth listening to. It’s such a crazy concept, that you will really enjoy being taking along for the ride.
You can get A Fox’s Guide To Deurbanisation here:
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