Category: The Audio Dramas

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5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Jupiter Conjunction

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS lands on a comet which has been hollowed out and set up as a long-haul freighter making precisely-timed supply runs through the solar system. A life support system allows a community of humans to live and work within the comet, though much of their time is simply spent waiting and cultivating non-work-related pursuits. But someone has been stealing supplies from the comet’s cargo holds, and the newly arrived time travelers are obvious suspects. Nyssa and Tegan befriend a woman who is on the run from the security team, and meet her accomplice just before he dies in the vacuum of space. Turlough offers “testimony” against the Doctor, claiming that they have been stealing the comet’s supplies, to buy time and divert the attention of the security guards. Somewhere on the comet, a gaseous life form from Jupiter lurks, and some of the humans aboard the comet are making their own plans to spark a war between Earth and the Jovian life forms that Earth has yet to discover. Future history records a peaceful outcome, and the Doctor has to risk the lives of his traveling companions to ensure that it happens.

Order this CDwritten by Eddie Robson
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Richard Fox & Lauren Yason

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Rebecca Front (Patricia Walton), John Cummins (Anton Falcao), Ellie Burrow (Chica St. Jude), Zoe Lister (Violet Silvaner), Ben Porter (Major Nash), Simon Blake (Manny), Philip Pope (Jovians)

Timeline: for the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough: between Enlightenment and The King’s Demons; for Nyssa: 50 years after Terminus. This story takes place after The Emerald Tiger and before The Butcher Of Brisbane.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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4th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Oseidon Adventure

Doctor Who: The Oseidon AdventureThe Master’s allies are revealed to be the Kraal Second Army (their First Army having already been defeated by the Doctor), preparing for a second invasion of Earth at the evil Time Lord’s invitation. The Doctor tells Leela to run for her life, and the Master orders Singleton to pursue her, a task relished by the man who feels that he civilized a corner of Africa. The Doctor is handed over to the Kraals, but they turn the tables on the Master, not trusting his motives. And with good reason: the Master is merely using the Kraals for his own purpose – and now the Doctor and Leela have to escape their enemies and discover what that purpose is.

Order this CDwritten by Alan Barnes
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Louise Jameson (Leela), Geoffrey Beevers (The Master), Michael Cochrane (Colonel Spindleton), Dan Starkey (Marshal Grimnal / Captain Clarke), John Banks (Tyngworg / Warner / UNIT R/T Operator)

Timeline: after The Talons Of Weng-Chiang; after Trail Of The White Worm and before Night Of The Stormcrow

Notes: The Doctor confirms that his most recent encounter with the Master before now was on Gallifrey (see The Deadly Assassin). The Kraals’ only televised appearance took place in 1976’s The Android Invasion, Terry Nation’s last non-Dalek script for Doctor Who, which also identified their radiation-soaked home planet as Oseidon. Guest star Dan Starkey has appeared in both Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures as various Sontarans and other diminutive aliens.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Butcher Of Brisbane

Doctor WhoOnce again, the Doctor is trying to take Tegan to Brisbane, but not to leave the TARDIS; this time she wants to show off her home town to her friends. But interference in the time vortex nearly tears the TARDIS apart; the time machine is thrown off course, and Turlough and Nyssa vanish completely. The Doctor tries to follow them through time, but instead arrives in 51st century Brisbane. Tegan is horrified to see that Earth has become polluted, and the Doctor immediately suspects that the TARDIS has been thrown off-course by the time experiments conducted by Magnus Greel, a time-traveling serial killer he dealt with in his fourth incarnation. Nyssa and Turlough end up spending three years as part of the resistance trying to expose Greel’s corruption before they see the Doctor again, while Tegan and the Doctor arrive in time to see Greel at the height of his corruption and madness. They’re horrified to see that Nyssa is now posing as Greel’s fiancee (and Turlough as her personal assistant), and that Greel’s scientific advisor, an alien named Findecker, is continuing experiments with time travel that permanently disfigure the user and force him to drain life energy from others. At every turn, someone wants the Doctor to make sure Greel dies for his crimes – but the Doctor, knowing that Greel will die in another place and time, can’t keep that promise and can’t explain why.

Order this CDwritten by Marc Platt
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Fool Circle Productions

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Angus Wright (Magnus Greel), Rupert Frazer (Dr. Sa Yy Findecker), Felicity Duncan (Ingrid Bjarnsdottir), Daniel Weyman (Ragan Crezzen), Daisy Ashford (Sasha Dialfa), John Banks (Eugene Duplessis / Chops)

Notes: The Doctor claims to be a Time Agent (The Talons Of Weng-Chiang, The Empty Child) to conceal his true identity. Findecker was established in – of all things – a Brief Encounters short story by Warren Ellis in a 1991 issue of Doctor Who Magazine; that story did not mention Findecker’s species or origins, only his surname, leaving Butcher Of Brisbane writer Marc Platt plenty of room to create a character. At the end of the story, Greel uses his time cabinet to escape (with Mr. Sin in tow), and his next stop is foggy Victorian London, where he will once again meet the Doctor (this time in his fourth incarnation, who has yet to experience this adventure), this time working with the formidable team of Jago & Litefoot, in The Talons Of Weng-Chiang.

Timeline: for the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough: between Enlightenment and The King’s Demons; for Nyssa: 50 years after Terminus. This story takes place after The Jupiter Conjunction and before Eldrad Must Die!.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Protect And Survive

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is missing from the TARDIS, which is particularly alarming since the TARDIS is in flight. While Hex takes what seems like the most reasonable course of action – panic – Ace tries to land the TARDIS, bringing the timeship down in England in 1989. Oddly, the TARDIS’ police box exterior has turned white, and Hex and Ace find a couple preparing their cottage for the unthinkable: the world is on the brink of nuclear war, and the government has sent out pamphlets describing how its citizens can build and stock their own fallout shelters within their homes. Ace and Hex discover that history is following a different course than the 1989 they remember, but when they try to go back to the TARDIS and leave, they discover that it has dematerialized on its own, leaving them trapped. Ace decides to “borrow” the couple’s car to drive to London to contact UNIT to help her reach the Doctor, but she’s caught red-handed… just as sirens signal the beginning of World War III. An uneasy alliance becomes a necessity, especially when Hex is blinded by the blast of the bomb, but survival becomes a luxury – one that won’t be afforded to all four of them… unless, of course, they do things differently the next time.

Order this CDwritten by Jonathan Morris
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Wilfredo Acosta

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), Ian Hogg (Albert), Elizabeth Bennett (Peggy), Peter Egan (Moloch / Announcer)

Notes: The radio announcements that recur throughout the story are based on real radio scripts and pamphlets that were prepared by the British government as part of the real “Protect & Survive” public information campaign to be deployed ahead of an imminent nuclear attack on British soil. The pamphlets mentioned were actually designed and printed, but not distributed until their existence was revealed by the newspapers, and public outcry forced disclosure of the campaign in 1980. This story shares that title with the first episode of Gerry Anderson’s Space Precinct (a space police series which played on the phrase’s similarity to “protect and serve”).

Timeline: after Lurkers At Sunlight’s Edge and before Black And White; possibly simultaneous with House Of Blue Fire

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Black And White

Doctor WhoNo sooner have Ace and Hex found refuge in the black TARDIS then they realize they’re not alone inside it: Captain Lysandra Aristedes, formerly of the Forge, seems to be in control, along with Private Sally Morgan, a soldier the Doctor once rescued from the Bluefire Project. Aristedes and Morgan claim to have been traveling with the Doctor for some time, hunting down and fighting the same kind of elder gods from which Ace and Hex have only just escaped. The black TARDIS then materializes within the white TARDIS, but neither pair of the Doctor’s companions trusts the other enough to let them take off with a working TARDIS. Aristedes allows Ace to accompany her, while Morgan is assigned to go with Hex. Each TARDIS, black and white, arrives several years apart on seventh century Earth; Ace and Aristedes meet a brash future warrior king named Beowulf, while Hex and Morgan meet Beowulf at the end of his reign (and his life). An alien arms dealer named Garundel is also on Earth in this time period, peddling wares beyond human understanding. With teams from the TARDIS at the beginning and end of his rule, King Beowulf’s life could become a tale beyond belief…

Order this CDwritten by Matt Fitton
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Jamie Robertson

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), Maggie O’Neill (Lysandra Aristedes), Amy Pemberton (Sally Morgan), Stuart Milligan (Garundel), Michael Rouse (Young Beowulf), Richard Bremmer (Old Beowulf), John Banks (Weohstan), James Hayward (Wiglaf)

Notes: The white TARDIS first appeared in The Angel Of Scutari, while the black TARDIS first appeared in Robophobia. Garundel recovers from this story and encounters the seventh Doctor much later in Starlight Robbery (2013).

Timeline: after Protect And Survive and before Gods And Monsters

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Burning Prince

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS arrives aboard a starship carring Prince Kylo of the Sorsha family to his wedding with Princess Aliona, a union that promises to end war between the Sorsha and the rival Gadarel families. Contact has been lost with the ship carrying the princess, and Kylo is en route with a full military rescue detail to find her. But the mission isn’t going well, and the Doctor is quickly suspected to be a saboteur. Before long, problems both technical and otherwise – including a captive beast who breaks free and manages to eliminate much of the crew – force Kylo’s ship down on the same planet where contact was lost with the princess’ entourage. A number of close calls with death convince the Doctor that the real saboteur is still at large, and even the miraculous recovery of Princess Aliona only serves to intensify those suspicions. The Prince, believing his betrothed to be dead, reveals his true power as a psychokinetic who can light fires with his mind, particularly when under great stress. When Aliona reveals the true reason for the royal wedding, Kylo will have tremendous difficulty keeping his fiery temper under control.

Order this CDwritten by John Dorney
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Toby Hrycek-Robinson

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Caroline Langrishe (Shira), George Rainsford (Prince Kylo), Clive Mantle (Tuvold), Dominic Rowan (Corwyn), Derek Hutchinson (Altus), Caroline Keiff (Riga), Tim Treolar (Tyron), Kirsty Besterman (Princess Aliona)

Timeline: This story takes place during the TV story Arc Of Infinity, occurring after the audio story Omega (which takes place in the same interval).

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Gods And Monsters

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is trapped in an unfamiliar realm with Fenric, once again playing chess against the elder god. The TARDIS, once again its original shade of blue, materializes with Ace, Hex, Aristedes and Private Morgan aboard, and they promptly run into trouble: a Persian prince with an enchanted hammer, pursued by Fenric’s hordes of haemovores. Ace, familiar with Fenric’s games, goes rogue with the help of the prince’s hammer, while Hex finds himself protecting Weyland’s shield. Fenric sends Aristedes and Morgan away with a time storm, isolating the Time Lord from his small army of pawns. But only when the blacksmith to the gods, Weyland himself, appears, does the Doctor realize that he isn’t one of the players in this game. He isn’t even one of the pieces critical to the game, but Hex is – and the bearer of Weyland’s shield may become a sacrifice in the endgame.

Order this CDwritten by Mike Maddox and Alan Barnes
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Howard Carter

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), Maggie O’Neill (Lysandra Aristedes), Amy Pemberton (Sally Morgan), John Standing (Fenric), Blake Ritson (Hurmzid), Gus Brown (Weyland), Tim Treloar (The Ancient One)

Notes: Fenric was first encountered on TV in 1989’s The Curse Of Fenric, though the Doctor claimed to be aware of Fenric’s manipulations as early as Dragonfire (1987) and Silver Nemesis (1988). The novels carried forward the idea of the Doctor battling Lovecraftian “elder gods” and established the notion that they were powerful beings left over from a previous iteration of the universe; in the Missing Adventures novel Twilight Of The Gods, such enemies as the Great Intelligence (known by its elder god name, Yog-Sothoth), the Gods of Ragnarok (The Greatest Show In The Galaxy) and Fenric were part of a pantheon of enormously powerful beings. Big Finish has carried that idea forward from there: the seventh Doctor’s recent series of battles with elder goes include the Karnas’Koi (Lurkers At Sunlight’s Edge), the Mi’en Kalarash (House Of Blue Fire), Moloch, “Albert”, and “Peggy” (Protect And Survive), and arguably earlier stories could be part of this long battle between the Doctor and the gods, all the way back to Primeval (2001), which implied that the fifth Doctor’s defeat of the godlike being Kwundaar at Traken had “sounded a dinner bell” for other ancient and powerful beings.

Timeline: after Black And White and before Afterlife

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Big Finish Spinoffs Doctor Who The Audio Dramas UNIT

UNIT: Dominion

Doctor WhoOn Earth, a seashell-like organic mass appears in London, burrows its roots into the city’s power grid, and slowly begins growing in size as it feeds. UNIT has been called in to deal with it, though UNIT’s scientific advisor, Dr. Elizabeth Klein, is unable to discover much about it.

The Doctor’s TARDIS follows a telepathic trail into an alternate dimension, landing on the world of the Tolians. They, too, are dealing with a seashell-like organic mass draining their power, though this one has taken things to a more advanced stage: having brought Tolian civilization to its knees, it now drains the life force from the Tolians themselves for lack of a more potent power source. The Doctor recongizes it as an interdimensional node, but when another TARDIS materializes and a younger, more brash incarnation of the Doctor strides out, the “new” Doctor warns the seventh Doctor not to help the Tolians. The Doctor ignores the future Doctor’s warning and tries to help, only to find himself ensnared in a trap: the Tolians force the Doctor to use the interdimensional node to drain energy from other dimensions.

The Doctor and Raine escape with their lives, emerging through a dimensional gateway to Earth, where they discover that the future Doctor has been helping Klein and UNIT battle a series of alien incursions in rapid succession. Klein is less than thrilled when the “Umbrella Man” returns to her life, and UNIT’s Major Wyland is concerned that the two Doctors don’t appear to be getting along very well – the “new” Doctor seems concerned only with getting back to his TARDIS as soon as possible, and seems to have an unusual rapport with nearly every interdimensional invader to appear. The Doctor discovers, far too late, that the man claiming to be his future self is acting only in his own interests, and has already taken steps to turn Klein against him… and every living thing on Earth may pay the price.

Order this CDwritten by Nicholas Briggs and Jason Arnopp
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Martin Johnson

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Tracey Childs (Dr. Elizabeth Klein), Beth Chalmers (Raine Creevy) Alex Macqueen (The Other Doctor), Julian Dutton (Colonel Lafayette), Bradley Gardner (Sergeant Pete Wilson), Miranda Keeling (Sylvie/Liz Morrison), Ben Porter (Private Phillips/John Starr), Sam Clemens (Major Wyland-Jones), Alex Mallinson (Private Maynard/Arunzell), Sophie Aldred (Ace)

Notes: Alex McQueen played Julius in the British political comedy The Thick Of It; fellow cast member Peter Capaldi was cast as the Doctor just a few months after the release of UNIT Dominion.

Timeline: after Animal and before the 1996 TV Movie

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Love And War

Doctor Who: Love And WarThe Doctor, having taken Ace to a funeral for one of her Perivale friends, takes her to the planet Heaven to recuperate as he goes on an abrupt quest to retrieve the Papers of Felsecar. Ace encounters a band of gypsy-like Travelers, some of whom hide extremely dark secrets; she begins to fall in love with Jan, their ringleader. During a group linkup to a virtual reality mechanism, Christopher, the most mysterious of the Travelers, is apparently killed as his comrades see their first glimpse of an enemy who is closer than they think. The Doctor, growing increasingly aware of a grave threat to Heaven and everyone on it, meets archaeologist Bernice Summerfield, who currently holds the Papers of Felsecar. At the center of the growing danger is Ace, confused by her love for Jan and her intense loyalty to the Doctor, and determined to bring the two together. But by the time the Hoothi – an enormous, self-contained necrosphere consciousness who reanimate and absorb the dead – are finished with Heaven, Ace will have lost both.

Order this CDadapted by Jacqueline Rayner
from the novel by Paul Cornell
directed by Gary Russell
music by Steve Foxon

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield), James Redmond (Jan Rydd), Riona O Connor (Máire Mab Finn), Aysha Kala (Roisa McIlnery), Ela Gaworzewska (Christopher), Bernard Holley (Brother Phaedrus), Maggie Ollerenshaw (Audrey McShane), Christopher Allen (Clive Aubrey), James Unsworth (Julian Milton), Scott Handcock (Piers Gavenal), Charlie Hayes (Death), Peter Sheward (Eros)

Timeline: placement among other Big Finish audio stories uncertain; after the New Adventures novel “Nightshade” and before “Transit”

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Acheron Pulse

Doctor WhoThirty years after the tragic betrayal of Prince Kylo by Princess Aliona, the Doctor returns – one regeneration later – to the Drashani Empire, intending to return the crown jewels that survived that horrific event. Since he was the only surviving witness, and has never bothered to tell the true story of Kylo’s betrayal, the Doctor finds that their story has now become a legend of a doomed romance without a hint of the true treachery between them. The late Ambassador Tuvold’s daughter, Cheni, is now the Empress of an empire fending off constant attacks from a masked warlord named Tenebris, leading a horde of faceless warriors called the Wrath. Only by unmasking Tenebris can the Doctor learn where the Wrath come from and how to stop them, but doing so will also reveal that the Doctor himself may bear some blame for how history has unfolded.

Order this CDwritten by Rick Briggs
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Toby Hrycek-Robinson

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), James Wilby (Tenebris), Joseph Kloska (Dukhin), Jane Slavin (Teesha), Chris Porter (Vincol), John Banks (Boritz), Chook Sibtain (Athrid), Carol Noakes (Olerik)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Voyage To Venus

Doctor WhoReunited with his old friends, theatre impresario Henry Gordon Jago and Professor George Litefoot, the sixth Doctor whisks them away in the TARDIS for a brief adventure, landing on the planet Venus in that world’s terraformed future. The Venusians – mostly women – who inhabit the second planet of the solar system are distant descendants of humanity, having fled ecological disaster on Earth. The Venusians are in turmoil, their chief scientist having died under mysterious circumstances. When her replacement continues her work, she too finds herself in the crosshairs of the Venusian Empress, Vulpina. The Doctor discovers that the future of the Venusian transplants from Earth is in peril, and offers his help, only to find that anyone who has discovered this secret is marked for death.

Order this CDwritten by Jonathan Morris
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Fool Circle Productions

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Christopher Benjamin (Henry Gordon Jago), Trevor Baxter (Professor George Litefoot), Juliet Aubrey (Vulpina), Catherine Harvey (Felina), Charlie Norfolk (Ursina), Hugh Ross (Vepaja)

Notes: “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” is revealed to be the musical inspiration for a Venusian lullabye (sung by the third Doctor to Aggedor in The Curse Of Peladon). The Doctor says that he learned Venusiain Aikido – a martial art that was a trademark of his third incarnation – toward the end of his second incarnation. A Venusian crystal pocketed by Jago becomes instrumental in the fifth Jago & Litefoot box set.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Great War

Doctor WhoStricken with grief and rage from the losses suffered in the fight to free future Earth from the Daleks, the Doctor sets the TARDIS on a course for the end of everything, so he can “see how it all turned out.” The sudden appearance of Time Lord agent Straxus in the Doctor’s TARDIS does little to alleviate his rage. Straxus has a job for the Doctor, to investigate a massive shakeup in Earth’s timeline, an assignment the Doctor almost refuses to take until it becomes apparent that the Time Lords will allow the TARDIS to go nowhere else.

The Doctor finds himself on the battlefield in the first World War, and almost succumbs to a gas attack. He awakens in a triage tent, tended to by an overworked Irish VAD named Molly O’Sullivan. But soon the combat hospital has to be evacuated when the sound of bombing nears – but the Doctor recognizes that it isn’t the sound of any kind of earthly ordnance. The Daleks have returned again, but this time, his old enemies don’t seem to be after him – and it would appear that they have allies among the human race in this time period.

Order this CD written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Ruth Bradley (Molly O’Sullivan), Peter Egan (Straxus), Toby Jones (Kotris), Laura Molyneaux (Isabel Stanford), Jonathan Forbes (Dr. Sturgiss), Alex Mallinson (Tucker), Beth Chalmers (Matron / Kitty Donaldson / Nurse Harriet), Tim Treloar (Lord President), John Banks (Hodgeson), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks)

Notes: Though he is pictured on the cover of the individual CD for The Great War in his new costume, the Doctor is said to still have long hair and “fancy dress” for this story, and his sonic screwdriver is still said to resemble a pennywhistle. Straxus has regenerated since last seen in The Vengeance Of Morbius (though between that story and the Dark Eyes box set, yet another incarnation of Straxus appeared in the audio spinoff Bernice Summerfield and the Diogenes Damsel).

Timeline: after To The Death and before Fugitives and Night Of The Doctor

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Fugitives

Doctor WhoWith the Daleks closing in on his heels on a World War I battlefield, the Doctor leads Molly back to the TARDIS, but rather than gaping at the console room and stating the obvious, Molly surprises the Doctor by simply saying that she’s been here before. Through various eras of Earth history, the Doctor tries to evade the Daleks, and yet every time they lie in wait for him. Even when the Doctor decides to open Molly’s eyes to the universe by taking her to the planet Halalka, they are not safe – the Daleks are never more than a few steps behind them. And then Molly further surprises the Doctor by flying the TARDIS out of harm’s way…

Order this CD written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Ruth Bradley (Molly O’Sullivan), Peter Egan (Straxus), Toby Jones (Kotris), Natalie Burt (Dr. Sally Armstrong), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks / VSAI 001), John Banks (Dunkirk Sergeant / Halalkan Policeman / Srangor Herder / Window Cleaner), Alex Mallinson (Cab Driver / Baker Street Security Guard)

Notes: The Doctor’s house on Baker Street was previously occupied by his fifth incarnation during the 1850s in the audio story The Haunting Of Thomas Brewster; he later bequeathed it to Brewster in the 21st century. (The Doctor has also owned two other homes: Nest Cottage, the setting of much of the Hornets’ Nest pentalogy starring Tom Baker, and a house on Allen Road, visited semi-frequently in the 1990s comics and novels.) Actor Toby Jones, playing Dalek ally Kotris, has also appeared in TV Doctor Who as the Dream Lord in Amy’s Choice (2010); the two characters don’t appear to be related.

Timeline: after The Great War and before Tangled Web and Night Of The Doctor

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Tangled Web

Doctor WhoFleeing from a Dalek strike force on Halalka, the TARDIS is piloted to momentary safety, but not by the Doctor. He checks and discovers that Molly seems to have more than a passing acquaintance with the operation of a TARDIS, which seems highly unlikely for a girl plucked from a World War I battlefield. The Doctor probes Molly’s memories and discovers that she first found herself in a Gallifreyan time machine on her second birthday, when she went missing from home for a time and was found by a man named Kotris. Still pursued by the Daleks, the Doctor and Molly take refuge on another planet, but the Daleks are only a step behind them… and claim they want to help the Doctor, just as they have helped themselves to overcome their warlike tendencies.

Order this CD written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Ruth Bradley (Molly O’Sullivan), Peter Egan (Straxus), Toby Jones (Kotris), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks), John Banks (Thelus / Mezcoranis 2 / Srangor Herder), Alex Mallinson (Mezcoranis 1), Tim Treolar (Lord President / Sandum), Beth Chalmers (Catherine O’Sullivan), Jonathan Forbes (Patrick O’Sullivan)

Notes: The “future Daleks” claim to be descended from the few survivors of a “great war” that wiped out most of the Daleks and all of the Time Lords.

Timeline: after Fugitives and before “X” And The Daleks and Night Of The Doctor

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

“X” And The Daleks

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is now more certain than ever that Molly is the central pawn in a deadly game playing out between the Daleks and the Time Lords thanks to a traitorous Time Lord. The trail leads back to the planet Srangor, which has been enslaved by the Daleks, and also serves as their base of operations with their Time Lord ally Kotris. The Doctor befriends one of the natives at Srangor, enlisting his help to break into the Daleks’ base, but the Daleks and Kotris are seemingly a step ahead of him at every turn. Kotris has planted something in Molly’s DNA, designed to ensure a permanent Dalek victory over the Time Lords. But Kotris has already been outmaneuvered by an old adversary who knows him intimately. In the meantime, the Doctor simply wants to put an end to the Daleks’ killing… but this time, will he wipe them from history for good to achieve that?

Order this CD written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Ruth Bradley (Molly O’Sullivan), Peter Egan (Straxus), Toby Jones (Kotris), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks), John Banks (Thelus / Mezcoranis 2 / Srangor Herder), Alex Mallinson (Mezcoranis 1), Tim Treolar (Lord President / Sandum), Beth Chalmers (Catherine O’Sullivan), Jonathan Forbes (Patrick O’Sullivan)

Notes: The Dalek Time Controller was introduced in the sixth Doctor audio story Patient Zero, reappearing in the final two episodes of the eighth Doctor’s previous adventures, Lucie Miller and To The Death.

Timeline: after Tangled Web and before Night Of The Doctor

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green