First 'satcom' for sat nav devices

The satnav software will automatically start episodes of 230 Miles of Love whenever a car passes specific points on the Birmingham to Manchester motorway – and each instalment will be relevant to the area the driver is passing through.

There are even different scenes depending on whether you take the original M6 or the toll section.

Creator Andrew Shanahan, who has branded the show Britain’s first ‘satcom’, enlisted stand-ups John Warburton, Louise Conran, John Thorp, Chris Rea and Mel Moon to voice the episodes.

Shanahan said: ‘The M6 is an ideal location and subject for comedy. Hundreds of thousands of people use the road every day, which gives you a ready-made audience and even better is that nearly every traveller wants to be entertained.

‘With the advances in satnav technology, it seemed like a natural progression to look at this as a new medium and explore what it could do to brighten up a long journey.

‘230 Miles of Love is the first show in a series of programmes I’m writing about transport and location. I’m aiming to deliver them all in different ways, so for example the series culminates in a show that will be broadcast into space.

The episodes can be downloaded free at www.230milesoflove.com from today and played on satnavs, PDAs and mobile phones, or at home on a computer.

Shanahan is currently looking for commercial backers for the project but in the meantime he hopes the ‘satcom’ will help raise £23,000 for The Motivation Charitable Trust, which provides wheelchairs to people in developing countries.

Published: 1 May 2008