Tag: Steven Taylor

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Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Chase

Doctor WhoIn this mostly comedic six-parter, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki are vacationing on the desert world of Aridius when they find themselves on the run from the Daleks, who have invented their own time vehicle. After a number of brief stops, ranging from the Empire State Building to the Marie Celeste to a haunted house full of robots, the Doctor is forced to make his last stand against the Daleks – at least for this season of the series – on the planet Mechanus, where he loses two companions and gains a new one.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Richard Martin
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Robert Marsden (Abraham Lincoln), Hugh Walters (William Shakespeare), Roger Hammond (Roger Bacon), Vivienne Bennett (Queen Elizabeth I), Richard Coe (TV announcer), The Beatles (themselves), Jack Pitt (Mire Beast), Gerald Taylor, Kevin Manser, Robert Jewell, John Scott Martin (Daleks), Peter Hawkins, David Graham (Dalek voices), Ian Thompson (Malsan), Hywel Bennett (Rynian), Al Raymond (Prondyn), Arne Gordon (Guide), Peter Purves (Morton Dill), Dennis Chinnery (Albert Richardson), David Blake Kelly (Captain Briggs), Patrick Carter (Bosun), Douglas Ditta (Willoughby), Jack Pitt (Stewart), John Maxim (Frankenstein’s Monster), Malcolm Rogers (Dracula), Roslyn de Winter (Grey Lady), Edmund Warwick (Robot Doctor), Murphy Grumbar, Jack Pitt, John Scott Martin, Ken Tyllson (Mechanoids), David Graham (Mechanoid voices), Derek Ware (Bus Conductor)

Note: Peter Purves plays the part of Morton Dill in an early episode of this serial, but then later joins the regular cast in the role of stranded astronaut Steven Taylor.

Broadcast from May 22 through June 26, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Time Meddler

Doctor WhoThe Doctor seems to calmly accept that Earth space pilot Steven Taylor, stranded on the planet Mechanus, has stowed away aboard the TARDIS following their harrowing adventure with the Daleks. The TARDIS arrives on 11th century Earth, and despite all evidence to the contrary, Steven refuses to believe that he is now traveling in a time machine. The Doctor receives a warm welcome from the locals and quickly determines that he has arrived in 1066 A.D., just prior to a Viking invasion of Northumbria. But something is amiss – the chanting of the monks in a nearby monastery seems to slow down, as if it has been recorded. Steven and Vicki have a run-in with another local, finding a 20th century watch on his wrist. It soon becomes apparent that someone else capable of time travel is here, someone who has no ethical qualms with a little bit of historical tampering. The Doctor sneaks into the monastery and finds that a tape player is indeed responsible for the music…but he is then trapped, a prisoner of a lone Monk who seems to have a wide array of anachronistic technology, including his own TARDIS. Now, in the shadow of a great historic battle, the Doctor and his friends must try to wrest the timeline back from the Monk’s machinations.

written by Dennis Spooner
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Peter Butterworth (Monk), Alethea Charlton (Edith), Peter Russell (Eldred), Michael Miller (Wulnoth), Michael Guest (Hunter), Norman Hartley (Ulf), Geoffrey Cheshire (Viking Leader), David Anderson (Sven), Ronald Rich (Gunnar)

Broadcast from July 3 through 24, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

Galaxy Four

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Steven and Vicki, exploring the latest destination to which the TARDIS has brought them, encounter a primitive robot which Vicki nicknames a Chumblie. While it seems harmless enough, it soon indicates that it wishes the time travelers to follow it – and makes its wishes even more clear by demonstrating its ability to vaporize a nearby bush. Two statuesque, armed women ambush the Chumblie, and then take the Doctor and his friends prisoner for themselves. The TARDIS travelers are brought before Maaga, the self-proclaimed leader of the Drahvins. Maaga tells the Doctor that the Chumblies are the robotic servants of the vicious Rills, another alien expedition visiting this planet. Ever since the Rills revealed that the planet is just fourteen dawns away from destroying itself, the Rills and the Drahvins have been at war. The Rills’ ship is the only vehicle capable of leaving the planet in time, and the Drahvins intend to take it for themselves – with the Doctor’s help, which they secure by holding Vicki hostage. When the Doctor visits the TARDIS to see how much time this planet has left, however, he discovers that the Rills and Drahvins have less time than they thought to settle their differences.

Season 3 Regular Cast: William Hartnell (The Doctor), Maureen O’Brien (Vicki), Peter Purves (Steven), Jackie Lane (Dodo Chaplet)

written by William Emms
directed by Derek Martinus
music not credited

Cast: William Hartnell (The Doctor), Maureen O’Brien (Vicki), Peter Purves (Steven), Stephanie Bidmead (Maaga), Marina Martin, Susanna Carroll, Lyn Ashley (Drahvins), Jimmy Kaye, Angelo Muscat, William Shearer, Pepi Poupee, Tommy Reynolds (Chumblies), Robert Cartland, Anthony Paul (Rill voices), Barry Jackson (Garvey)

Notes: The master tapes of this episode were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and no video copies exist.

Broadcast from September 11 through October 2, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

The Myth Makers

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is suitably bemused when the TARDIS lands him in the middle of a fight on the plains of Greece, where his appearance fatally distracts one of the two combatants and convinces the other that he is Zeus. Vicki and Steven watch helplessly as the surviving warrior, Achilles, tries to recruit “Zeus” in his quest to topple the city of Troy. More of Achilles’ countrymen appear, led by Odysseus, who doesn’t believe that the Doctor is Zeus, and he is taken prisoner. Steven insists that Vicki, still nursing a sprained ankle, remain in the TARDIS while he goes to help the Doctor. Faced with no choice, the Doctor decides to masquerade as a god, proving his “powers” with foreknowledge of events to come in the Trojan War. The ruse works too well, though – his captors decide that he’s too valuable to let go, but at least they grant him some hospitality. When Steven tries to come to the Doctor’s rescue, he is captured and brought before Agamemnon; to save Steven’s life, the Doctor claims him as his own personal “sacrifice to Olympus”, promising to make him disappear at the dawn of the next day at his “blue temple”…but when the appointed hour comes, the temple – the TARDIS – has vanished. The Doctor and Steven are declared spies, and fast talking is required to save their necks from Agamemnon’s sword for impersonating a god. The TARDIS has in fact been spirited away, and now lies within the walls of Troy. Cassandra admonishes the Trojan soldiers for bringing an unknown object into the city, warning that she has foreseen that a “gift” from the Greeks will result in the fall of Troy. Vicki emerges from the TARDIS, where she too claims to have knowledge of the future. She is given the name Cressida, and Cassandra immediately objects to having competition in the prophecy field. To recover the TARDIS and Vicki intact, the Doctor must propose an outlandish plan that may just prove Cassandra’s grim predictions correct…

Order this story on audio CDwritten by Donald Cotton
directed by Michael Leeston-Smith
music by Humphrey Searle

Guest Cast: Cavan Kendall (Achilles), Alan Haywood (Hector), Ivor Salter (Odysseus), Francis de Wolff (Agamemnon), Jack Melford (Menelaus), Tutte Lemkow (Cyclops), Max Adrian (Priam), Barrie Ingham (Paris), Frances White (Cassandra), Jon Luxton (Messenger), James Lynn (Troilus), Adrienne Hill (Katarina)

Doctor WhoBroadcast from October 16 through November 6, 1965

Notes: The master tapes of this episode were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and no video copies exist. An audio recording of the entire story is available. Barrie Ingham has two unusual distinctions: for many years, he was the only actor to be seen in both the TV series and in one of the Peter Cushing Doctor Who movies. He also later guest starred in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This story marks the exit of Maureen O’Brien as Vicki – whose age is established as being in her late teens – and the introduction of Adrienne Hill as Katarina.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

The Daleks’ Masterplan

Doctor WhoAs Space Security Agent Bret Vyon and a fatalistic colleague search for their missing comrade Marc Cory on the planet Kembel, little do they realize they’re about to become the first witnesses to the beginning of a Dalek invasion of Earth’s galaxy and solar system. Vyon escapes with his life, but his radio transmitter is destroyed, leaving him unable to warn Earth of the impending danger. The TARDIS lands on Kembel, and when the Doctor steps outside to explore, he is ambushed by Vyon, who takes the key to his timeship. Vyon enters the TARDIS and tries to coerce Katarina into operating the controls, but Katarina – still new to the TARDIS – can’t help him, and Steven attacks Vyon and lets the Doctor back in. The Doctor secures Vyon in a magnetic security chair which holds him immoble, and returns to his explorations outside, spotting Daleks nearby. Vyon helps Katarina cure Steven of his poisoning, while the Doctor infiltrates a nearby spaceport where the Daleks are gathering. He impersonates one of several visiting delegates, and discovers that the Daleks – with help from the traitorous Mavic Chen, guardian of the solar system – plan to unleash a weapon called the Time Destructor. When they find the TARDIS door ajar, the Daleks force Katarina, Steven and Bret Vyon out of the time machine, and the former TARDIS travelers have to steal a ship from the spaceport. Vyon intends to leave the Doctor behind, but the Doctor manages to get aboard as the ship takes off – having stolen the valuable taranium core that would power the Time Destructor. The Daleks pursue, forcing the ship down on the prison planet Desperus, where two prisoners hijack the ship as it takes off again. The criminals take Katarina hostage and barricade themselves into an airlock, but the girl bravely sacrifices her own life to open the airlock, killing the hijackers in the process. The Doctor and Steven are stunned, but continue racing toward Earth to warn humanity of the Daleks’ plan.

Mavic Chen beats them back to Earth and has the Space Security Service declare Vyon, Steven and the Doctor traitors to the human race, but the three travelers haven’t taken quite the path Chen expected, and elude capture. Chen assigns special agent Sara Kingdom to track them down and eliminate them, unaware that she is Vyon’s sister. Vyon leads the Doctor and Steven to a friend of his, only to discover that this friend is in Chen’s employ and is also in on the conspiracy to hand Earth over to the Daleks. Sara Kingdom arrives at the scene and guns down her brother in cold blood, continuing the pursue the other two. She pursues them into a laboratory where a matter-transmission experiment is taking place, and all three are transported through space to the planet Mira. The Daleks follow the travelers to Mira, where Sara experiences a change of heart as the murder of her brother sinks in. But her realization is almost cut short by a new threat – Mira’s invisible and lethal indigenous life forms. When the Daleks corner the time travelers, those creatures offer an opportunity to escape. The Doctor, Sara and Steven commandeer the Dalek ship and leave Mira. As the Dalek ship follows a pre-programmed course back to Kembel, the Doctor makes a fake taranium core. He uses it to bluff his way back into the TARDIS on Kembel, handing it over to the Daleks at the last minute. But despite the fact that the travelers still have the real taranium core, the TARDIS takes them someplace else inhospitable, with a poisonous atmosphere: 20th century Earth.

When the Doctor investigates, he is mistaken for a homeless man, discovering that the “poisonous atmosphere” is merely that of polluted 1966 London. Steven and Sara have to act fast to rescue the Doctor from police (who are, after all, merely looking after “their” police box) and escape back to the TARDIS. They then wind up materializing in a Hollywood studio during a film shoot, and a brief but maddening chase ensues between the time travelers and the filmmakers. The TARDIS then takes them to the volcanic planet of Tigus. Not only are the Daleks lying in wait, having discovered that they do not possess a real taranium core, but so too is the Meddling Monk, an interfering fellow Time Lord the Doctor and Steven left stranded in 1066 A.D.. The Monk tries to exact his revenge by locking the Doctor out of his own TARDIS, but the Doctor uses a special property of his ring to gain entry. With both the Monk and the Daleks in hot pursuit, the Doctor and his companions make a quick escape to ancient Egypt, but their reception is anything but friendly there – a possessive Pharaoh lays claim to the TARDIS.

Followed to Egypt by the Monk, the Doctor realizes that the stakes are now higher and he’ll have to use the real taranium core as a bargaining chip. When the Monk ensures that Steven and Sara are captured by the Daleks and suggests they use the two humans as hostages, the Doctor is forced to hand over the core to the Daleks. His friends returned to him (and having once again sabotaged the Monk’s TARDIS), the Doctor races back to Kembel, where Mavic Chen’s ambition grows to the point where the corrupt leader no longer thinks he needs the Daleks. They solve this problem by swiftly exterminating Chen and activating the Time Destructor. When the Doctor realizes how the Daleks’ ultimate weapon will work, he decides to run for the safety of the TARDIS to wait out its effects, for the weapon will quickly destroy itself and all those around it. Tragically, Sara does not live to see the Daleks’ grandiose plan fail.

Order this story on audio CDwritten by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Tristram Cary

Guest Cast: Jean Marsh (Sara Kingdom), Brian Cant (Kert Gantry), Nicholas Courtney (Bret Vyon), Pamela Greer (Lizan), Philip Anthony (Roald), Kevin Stoney (Mavic Chen), Michael Guest (Interviewer), Julian Sherrier (Zephon), Roy Evans (Trantis), Douglas Sheldon (Kirksen), Dallas Cavell (Bors), Geoffrey Cheshire (Garge), Maurice Browning (Karlton), Jack Pitt (Gearon), Roger Avon (Daxtar), James Hall (Borkar), Bill Meilen (Froyn), John Herrington (Rhynmal), Terence Woodfield (Celation), Peter Butterworth (Monk), Roger Brierly (Trevor), Bruce Wightman (Scott), Jeffrey Isaac (Khepren), Derek Ware (Tuthmos), Walter Randall (Hyksos), Bryan Mosley (Malpha), Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, Gerald Taylor, John Scott Martin (Daleks), Peter Hawkins, David Graham (Dalek voices), Clifford Earl (Sergeant), Norman Mitchell, Malcolm Rogers (Policemen), Kenneth Thornett (Inspector), Reg Pritchard (Man in mackintosh), Sheila Dunn (Blossom Lefavre), Leonard Grahame (Darcy Tranton), Royston Tickner (Steinberger P. Green), Mark Ross (Ingmar Knopf), Conrad Monk (Assistant Director), David James (Arab Sheik), Paula Topham (Vamp), Robert G. Jewell (Clown), Albert Barrington (Professor Webster), Buddy Windrush (Prop Man), Steven Machin, Jack le White (Cameramen), Paul Sarony, Malcolm Leopold (Keystone Cops), Harry Davies (Make-up Man), William Hall (Cowboy), Jean Pastell (Saloon Girl), M.J. Matthews (Chaplain)

Broadcast from November 13, 1965 through January 29, 1966

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

The Massacre

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Steven arrive in Paris, 1572. The Doctor is eager to visit apothecary and scientist Charles Preslin, whose early research into germs fascinates him, but doesn’t want to bring Steven along. Steven is loathe to stay in the TARDIS, and promises not to mingle with the locals, but is alarmed when he thinks he sees a man following the Doctor. Steven tries to follow, but runs afoul of the tavern keep (whom he has forgotten to pay). A man helps Steven out of his predicament and then brings him up to speed on the events into which the time travelers have emerged: the bloody fighting between Catholics and Protestants. Steven becomes very worried indeed when the Doctor vanishes, and is even more alarmed when a servant girl named Anne Chaplet bursts into the home of Admiral de Coligny, where he is staying. Anne claims to have overheard what could be a large-scale plot to rid Paris of all Protestants by any means necessary. Steven sees a man he believes to be the Doctor, but his new friends suddenly regard him coldly – they know this man as the Abbot of Amboise, one of the most fanatical Catholic crusaders in France. Not only does Steven not know whether the Doctor is safe, but he now has no backup. He’s a foreigner in a decidedly hostile situation, trapped between fanatical elements among both the Catholics and the Hugenots, and if he can’t find the Doctor, he’ll be stuck there.

Order this story on audio CDwritten by John Lucarotti
directed by Paddy Russell
music not credited

Guest Cast: Eric Thompson (Gaston), David Weston (Nicholas), John Tillinger (Simon), Edwin Fenn (Landlord), Christopher Tranchell (Roger), Eric Chitty (Preslin), Annette Robertson (Anne Chaplet), Clive Cazes (Captain), Reginald Jessup (Servant), William Hartnell (Abbot of Amboise), Andre Morell (Tavannes), Leonard Sachs (Admiral de Coligny), Cynthia Etherington (Old Lady), Barry Justice (Charles IX), Joan Young (Catherine de Medici)

Notes: The master tapes of this episode were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and no video copies exist.

Broadcast from February 5 through 26, 1966

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

The Ark

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS arrives in a verdant forest, which the Doctor, Dodo and Steven assume must be on Earth. They are soon proven wrong when alarms sound in the “forest,” which turns out to be part of a vast spaceship carrying the last remnants of the human race away from a doomed Earth, ten million years in the future when the sun is slowly edging toward its nova stage. The Doctor and his friends also meet the one-eyed alien Monoids, peaceful creatures which seem to languish in a benevolent servitude to the ship’s human crew. But the travelers’ arrival becomes a bad omen when Dodo, suffering from the common cold, accidentally transmits it to the commander of the ship – unaware that the human race ten million years hence lacks her immune system. Condemned for what is perceived to be biological warfare, the Doctor races to immunize the future humans against the cold. Having cleared his name, the Doctor and his friends depart in the TARDIS – but accidentally return to the same place seven centuries later, finding the Monoids in control and the last of the human race in the chains of slavery.

written by Paul Erickson & Lesley Scott
directed by Michael Imison
music by Tristram Cary

Guest Cast: Eric Elliott (Commander), Inigo Jackson (Zentos), Roy Spencer (Manyak), Kate Newman (Mellium), Michael Sheard (Rhos), Ian Frost (Baccu), Ralph Carrigan (Monoid Two), Terence Bayler (Yendom), Edmund Coulter (Monoid One), Frank George (Monoid Three), John Caesar (Monoid Four), John Halstead, Roy Skelton (Monoid voices), Stephanie Heesom, Paul Greenhalgh (Guardians), Terence Woodfield (Maharis), Brian Wright (Dassuk), Eileen Helsby (Venussa), Richard Beale (Refusian voice)

Broadcast from March 5 through 25, 1966

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

The Celestial Toymaker

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS arrives in a verdant forest, which the Doctor, Dodo and Steven assume must be on Earth. They are soon proven wrong when alarms sound in the “forest,” which turns out to be part of a vast spaceship carrying the last remnants of the human race away from a doomed Earth, ten million years in the future when the sun is slowly edging toward its nova stage. The Doctor and his friends also meet the one-eyed alien Monoids, peaceful creatures which seem to languish in a benevolent servitude to the ship’s human crew. But the travelers’ arrival becomes a bad omen when Dodo, suffering from the common cold, accidentally transmits it to the commander of the ship – unaware that the human race ten million years hence lacks her immune system. Condemned for what is perceived to be biological warfare, the Doctor races to immunize the future humans against the cold. Having cleared his name, the Doctor and his friends depart in the TARDIS – but accidentally return to the same place seven centuries later, finding the Monoids in control and the last of the human race in the chains of slavery.

written by Brian Hayles
directed by Bill Sellars
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Michael Gough (Toymaker), Campbell Singer (Joey the Clown, Sgt. Rugg, King of Hearts), Carmen Silvera (Clara the Clown, Mrs. Wiggs, Queen of Hearts), Peter Stephens (Knave of Hearts, Kitchen boy, Cyril), Reg Lever (Joker)

Broadcast from April 2 through 23, 1966

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 03

The Gunfighters

Doctor WhoHis tooth broken by a booby-trapped piece of candy leftover from his struggle with the Celestial Toymaker, the Doctor seeks dental help in the old west – from none other than Doc Holliday himself, in Tombstone Arizona. But when the Doctor, Steven and Dodo go to seek his help, the Doctor is mistaken for Holliday…and this may plunge the time travellers into the legendary, bloody shootout at the OK Corral, not as observers, but as participants.

written by Donald Cotton
directed by Rex Tucker
music by Tristram Cary / vocals by Lynda Baron

Doctor WhoGuest Cast: William Hurndell (Ike Clanton), Maurice Good (Phineas Clanton), David Cole (Billy Clanton), Sheena Marshe (Kae), Shane Rimmer (Seth Harper), David Graham (Charlie), John Alderson (Wyatt Earp), Anthony Jacobs (Doc Holliday), Richard Beale (Bat Masterson), Reed de Rouen (Pa Clanton), Laurence Payne (Johnny Ringo), Martyn Huntley (Warren Earp), Victor Carin (Virgil Earp)

Broadcast from April 30 through May 21, 1966

Notes: Actor Anthony Jacobs’ son Matthew, still a young boy, was in the studio watching his father film his scenes for this story. Almost exactly 30 years later, Matthew Jacobs would write the script for the one-off Doctor Who TV movie starring Paul McGann.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

The Savages

Doctor WhoThe Doctor brings the TARDIS in for a landing on a world whose inhabitants have, according to him, achieved peace and balance. As the Doctor surveys the planet, Steven grows impatient and goes to look for him, but he and Dodo run into stone-age primitives – hardly an advanced civilization. The TARDIS travelers are saved by the Elders, who welcome them to their city and offer the Doctor a seat among their most revered leaders. The Doctor is honored, but continues to ask questions about his hosts. But the more questions he asks, it becomes clearer that there’s trouble in paradise. The Elders and their guards capture the “Savages” and drag them into the city, where they are subjected to a process that extracts their life energy and transfers that vitality to recipients in the city. When Dodo discovers the process, the time travelers are suddenly less welcome, and instead of a place of honor, the Doctor becomes the next in line to
have his life force drained.

Order this story on audio CDwritten by Ian Stuart Black
directed by Christopher Barry
music by Raymond Jones

Guest Cast: Ewen Solon (Chal), Patrick Godfrey (Tor), Peter Thomas (Edal), Geoffrey Frederick (Exorse), Frederick Jaeger (Jano), Robert Sidaway (Avon), Kay Patrick (Flower), Clare Jenkins (Nanina), Norman Henry (Senta), Edward Caddick (Wylda), Andrew Lodge, Christopher Denham, Tony Holland (Assistants), John Dillon, John Raven (Savages), Tim Goodman (Guard)

Notes: The master tapes of this episode were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and no video copies exist.

Broadcast from May 28 through June 18, 1966

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Companion Chronicles Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Mother Russia

Doctor Who: Mother RussiaThe TARDIS brings the Doctor, Steven and Dodo to Russia in 1812, not long before Napoleon Bonaparte’s disastrous attempt to take over the country. They stay for a while, making friends, even taking up jobs, and Steven looks forward to being the best man at a wedding for one of his new friends. But then the locals are terrified by blinding lights and the sound of thunder – not the French advance, but a spacecraft exploding moments after it ejects an escape pod, though of course only the time travelers realize this. Steven and his friend rush off to see if there are any survivors, but the unfortunate answer is yes – Steven is attacked and knocked out, and his friend, the groom-to-be, is killed and replaced by a “shape-stealer,” though it’s some time before anyone realizes this. The creature assumes numerous guises to allow it to move freely among the villagers, until finally it impersonates the Doctor and sets off to steal the TARDIS – until it spots someone in a more obvious position of power which will allow it to further its mission: Napoleon himself.

Order this CD written by Marc Platt
directed by Nigel Fairs
music by David Darlington

Cast: Peter Purves (Steven Taylor), Tony Millan (The Interrogator)

Timeline: after The Gunfighters and before The Savages

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Five Companions

Doctor WhoThe Doctor’s companions find themselves united and in deep trouble. Steven and Ian barely have the time to reintroduce themselves before they are pursued through a mazelike structure by a Dalek, while Polly and Sara Kingdom get to know each other while being pursued by dinosaurs. Nyssa, imprisoned in a cell, has only Daleks for company. The Doctor’s friends and allies join forces, certain that their time-traveling old friend is involved. When the Doctor finally makes an appearance, having just escaped from a platoon of Sontarans, his friends who knew his first and second faces are startled by his youthful appearance, and explanations ard in order. The Doctor has just escaped from the Death Zone on his home planet, Gallifrey, and believes that this place and its combatants – former companions and enemies alike – were also intended to be taken there, but were misplaced by whoever controls the Time Scoop. Now the Doctor must find a way to help his friends escape… without also releasing his enemies.

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

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Peter Purves (Steven Taylor), Jean Marsh (Sara Kingdom), Anneke Wills (Polly), Dan Starkey (Sontarans), Nicholas Briggs (Daleks)

Notes: The Five Companions was the subscriber-only exclusive released in 2011 alongside the audio story Army Of Death. Dan Starkey has played numerous Sontarans since they began appearing in the current Doctor Who TV series, as well as playing the part of the imp Randall Moon in Russell T. Davies’ series Wizards vs. Aliens, but most Who fans know him best as the Doctor’s Sontaran ally, Strax.

Timeline: from the Doctor’s perspective, this entire adventure happens during The Five Doctors, between the Doctor’s escape from the Cybermen and his appearance in the transmat in the Time Lords’ capitol.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green