Long before Ben Hammersley coined the portmanteau “podcast” to describe the “webcasting” of audio files through digital syndication — and before true crime, current events and talk shows seemed to colonize the fledgling industry — audio was used to tell a good fictional story.

The medium requires the listener’s imagination, giving one the furniture to outfit a personalized theater of the mind. Today’s audio drama, industry speak for fiction podcasts, is built on lessons from the golden age of radio’s best tricks. But the digital airwaves provide creators a freedom that radio couldn’t, namely in geographical reach and weekly hours to fill (not to mention the language constraints of the Federal Communications Commission).

If self-isolation has you tired of looking at screens but still hungry for engrossing plot twists to lose yourself in and endearing protagonists to fall in love with, here are some lesser-known dramas for your ears.