Summer in the TARDIS

A round-up of my recent Doctor Who audios...

The sun is out, but it’s also been in, and then out again, and in and out and etc, etc. This is, of course, a typical summer in Manchester. But it’s completely thrown me temporally askew and I’ve forgotten to tell you all about my exciting DOCTOR WHO stories of recent times! Don’t worry, I’m all over it now.

The Last Light of HOOKLIGHT

The second part of this epic 12-parter is finally out. The Season 19 team are stuck in the realm of Morning trying to destroy a mythical substance.

I hope enough time has passed for me to post the REAL cover…

Yes, that is Paul McGann. Yes, that is an eye-patch. Honestly, credit to the Big Finish marketing department for keeping quiet for SO LONG. And it was really cool to be part of a ‘fake out’ cover, all credit to Rafe Wallbank there. (We were never going to be allowed to keep Paul a secret forEVER, but I hope those of you who listened when it came out had a nice surprise!)

If you read my announcement post about Hooklight, you’ll see I often ponder on the push-and-pull between Era Authenticity and Doing New Stuff. And here, obviously, Eight could never have met Five (though imagining JNT casting a ‘future Doctor’ for a big story like this is juicy). Even so, I hope I use the Eighth Doctor to help distill some of my thoughts about this period of the show. You may disagree, but I don’t actually see this as a multi-doctor story - it’s very much a Fifth Doctor story. It just so happened that we’re sometimes seeing him through the prism of a future incarnation.

For such a HUGE story, there is lots and lots I could talk about in terms of its development. Maybe I’ll do a standalone missive one day… But I could tell you about the vampires that never made it in! The Tremas cameo I scripted! And the original name of the menace the team were facing…

The wonderful producer David Richardson has announced he’d be departing from the range with this box-set. He did blooming fantastic things for these Fifth Doctor box-sets - giving the writers space to tell standalone, thoughtful, exciting stories. What a legend, I’m honoured to work with him.

So I will also take this chance to say this is my last Fifth Doctor story too. Look, I’ve done five of his box-sets now, so that feels apt. I’ve given words to all of the TV companions, I got to do a historical and a ‘present day’ and a space epic and a space chamber piece and old monsters and cackling villains… I hope you’re as happy with my adventures for Old Fivey as I am, it was truly an honour. And I already know the future is in safe hands - I’ve script-edited an incredible 5DA story from an incredible writer - so I look forward to listening to the range as a fan once again!

My first Tom Baker - banshees ahoy!

Another recent release is CRY OF THE BANSHEE, in the 4DA RUINS OF KAREULA box-set, feat. Leela, K9 and the Brigadier! This is the story that got me working with David Richardson and John Dorney in the first place, so I hope it makes for an interesting curio - and a fun story in its own right! You get the Brig in the TARDIS, banshees on a boggy space station, the gorgeous Rakie Ayola as an Adjudicator… Thinking about this story I wrote so very long ago is like reminiscing about an old friend. And it’s just the beginning of my adventures with Tom Baker. You may have already heard my second story, THE GHOST OF MARGARET… but let me tease and say there’s plenty more to come from me and the Fourth Doctor.

And for proof of that, here we are hanging out:

wowowowowow!! (Look how happy he is to see me again.)

Starter for Nine. And Thirteen.

I’m the luckiest writer of the whole of the Whoniverse, because not only do I get to hang out with TOM BAKER, I get to kick-off two new ranges with two debuting duos later in the summer! In July, I’ve written VAMPIRE WEEKEND for 13 and Yaz, and in August you’ll be listening to SNARE with 9 and Rose.

It can be a daunting to fire the starting gun. You want to get the tone right, you want to hit the ground running, you want to tell your own story whilst setting up stuff for the future… Most of all you want it to be A Bloody Good Time, you know? A hand sticking out of a blue box saying ‘yeah come with me, we’re gonna have a blast’. The greatest DOCTOR WHO series opener for me on the telly box was probably PARTNERS IN CRIME. I don’t think I consciously channel that into either of these stories… but there’s something about its mad-cap energy and its rollicking pace that’s inescapable.

So VAMPIRE WEEKEND is a riot, and there was much hilarity in the studio when making this one. It’s a story a bit like a game of ‘Werewolf’, where people are being picked off one-by-one and you’ve got to figure out who’s the wrong’un. Jodie and Mandip are going to become BF legends, I just know it. More on that one another time.

And SNARE… okay, there are plenty of lively bits, but this one also gets to be a lil quieter, a lil more personal. It’s snuggled after TV’s FATHER’S DAY and set in the Powell Estate. And also an alien jungle. There’s a wonderful central performance from actor Alex Austin in this, so listen out for that. I really like the scenes set in the playground. I love the 90s Virgin Missing Adventure books, and I hope this story feels a little like one of those… just for the modern era. Extended Universe stuff doing what it loves to do - going deeper, going different.

Actually, I think I can sum up SNARE’s vibe in a picture - I’ve always loved this artwork by Tim Doyle, I find it so evocative…

“Magic Box” by Tim Doyle. We do love a Tim.

Looking to the future…

I’m entering another gelatinous writing period where I’m focusing mainly on theatre stuff (as you’ll hear about next week! Probably. Possibly) so there won’t be a lot of DOCTOR WHOing from me for a wee while. As ever though, I suspect you’ll not be able to tell the difference, there’s enough from me in the BF vaults to make an ‘orse sick, that would. But I’m finishing a jolly script or two. And already I have an idea bubbling away for one last unusual box-set… so hopefully I get to keep the TARDIS door ever-so-slightly ajar.

Enjoy your summer listening. If you see me in a beer garden, please do say hello. I still haven’t met many Big Finish listeners in person. I’m sure there are some of you out there. If you don’t know what I look like, scroll up. I’m the one who’s Not Tom Baker.

Lots of audio covers featured today! HOOKLIGHT 2 and VAMPIRE WEEKEND was the work of Rafe Wallbank, SNARE was the work of Soundsmyth Creative. Such talented people!

I don’t know who to credit for the Tom Baker pic but it was WhatsApped to me by Mr Carley.