Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Shadow Of The Scourge

Doctor Who: The Shadow Of The ScourgeThe Doctor, Ace and Bernice arrive at a hotel in Kent which is playing host to three simultaneous conventions: one for a cross-stitch club, another for a con artist holding a seance, and the third for the demonstration of a physics experiment that could lead to time travel. But the seance actually does make contact with something otherworldly – an alien group consciousness hell-bent on emerging into Earth’s dimension to feed upon the despair and guilt of the human race. The time travel experiments provide a convenient interdimensional conduit through which the Scourge travel. The Doctor, of course, has orchestrated all of this very carefully…but this time, whether he’s planned it or not, whether he wants it or not, the Scourge have him, and can consume his mind on their whim. With the Doctor out of the way, only Ace and Benny stand in the way of the Scourge…but they, like everyone else on the doomed Earth, have their own personal demons which will render them helpless to the power of the Scourge.

Order this CDwritten by Paul Cornell
directed by Gary Russell
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Lisa Bowerman (Bernice), Michael Piccarilli (Doctor Michael Pembroke), Holly King (Annie Carpenter), Nigel Fairs (Gary Williams), Lennox Greaves (Michael Hughes), Caroline Burns-Cook (Mary Hughes), Peter Trapani (Scourge Leader)

Timeline: between the New Adventures novels “The All-Consuming Fire” and “Blood Harvest”

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor

Last Of The Titans

Last Of The TitansThe seventh Doctor, traveling alone, is looking forward to a holiday on the planet Armelia. The TARDIS doesn’t quite get him there, however, landing instead inside an enormous spacecraft. The Doctor becomes stranded there when, moments after stepping out of the TARDIS, he sees his timeship plummeting into the vessel’s gigantic furnace (thanks to a less-than-fortuitous landing on a deck hatch). In the course of trying to retrieve his only means of escape, the Doctor befriends Vilgreth, an enormous and slightly slow-witted being who claims to originate from – of all places – Devon. Vilgreth mentions that many have come to destroy him, and he’s glad that the Doctor isn’t one of them. Just such a creature arrives, and insists that the Doctor leave, since a bomb has just been planted on Vilgreth’s ship. The Doctor, infuriated, disarms the bomb, but also grows increasingly suspicious of why anyone would try to harm his seemingly innocuous host. The truth soon becomes apparent: Vigreth’s ship is, not unlike its captain, a dangerous relic. The ship’s fuel is entire planets. Its next stop is Armelia.

written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Nicholas Briggs (Vilgreth), Alistair Lock (Stelpor), Lennox Greaves (Professor Pat Trethui), Holly King (Mrs. Burden)

Timeline: after The Sirens Of Time and before Doctor Who

Notes: This was a thirty-minute, single-episode story distributed exclusively on a CD included with issue #300 of Doctor Who Magazine, a CD which also included a preview version of episode one of Storm Warning. Last Of The Titans has not been released on CD to date, but was released as a free downloadable podcast in 2011. The script was originally written by Nicholas Briggs for the Audio Visuals amateur audio drama cassettes.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor

Dust Breeding

Doctor Who: Dust BreedingThe Doctor brings Ace to a distant desert world called Duchamps 331 to look for a painting – Edvard Munch’s “Scream” – which he hears will be destroyed under mysterious circumstances. He hopes to rescue it from whatever fate awaits it, but a more serious event is already underway there. A murder has occurred on one of the planet’s refueling stations, and the dust seems to be coming to life. Ace is delighted to see an old friend there – Bev Tarrant, one of the survivors of the Doctor’s clash with the Daleks on Kar-Charrat – but the Doctor is more concerned when he autopsies the murder vicrim and finds no blood and no organs – only dust. In orbit, the patrons of a lavish spaceborne art gallery are unwittingly bringing an evil presence to Duchamps 331 to fulfill one of his most diabolical plans – a plan that can only be foiled by his arch enemy, the Doctor.

Order this CDwritten by Mike Tucker
directed by Gary Russell
music by Russell Stone

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Caroline John (Madam Salvadori), Louise Falkner (Bev Tarrant), Mark Donovan (Klemp), Geoffrey Beevers (Mr. Seta), Johnson Willis (Damien Pierson), Ian Rickett (Guthrie), Gary Russell (Jay Binks), Jane Goddard (Maggie), Jez Fielder (Skredsvig), Alistair Lock (Albert Bootle)

Timeline: after The Genocide Machine and before Colditz

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who Doctor Who Unbound

Death Comes To Time

Doctor Who: Death Comes To TimeThe planet Santiny is overrun by a massive invasion by a Canisian fleet. Even suicide runs don’t prevent the Canisians, as their leader, General Tannis, seems to be able to forsee every possible tactic. Almost as if in answer to the prayers of the survivors on Santiny, the TARDIS arrives, and the Doctor and his blue-skinned companion Antimony emerge to begin helping Santiny’s resistance movement. Meanwhile, Ace – planted in a strategic position by the Doctor – has been rescued by a Time Lord named Casmus, who begins training her for the next step in her own evolution. Elsewhere, a group of Time Lords called the Fraction, dedicated to interference in time on the side of good, begin falling one by one to a stealthy killer. Finally, the string of deaths draws the Doctor’s attention away from the Canisian problem, and also gets the attention of Casmus. On Gallifrey, Casmus accelerates Ace’s training, speeding her evolution into a new breed of Time Lord. Time is running out, as Tannis is also revealed to be a Time Lord who is using his conquests to disguise his identity. But will Ace learn to use her powers for good soon enough to confront Tannis, or will the Doctor – having witnessed Antimony’s death at the general’s hands – be forced to use his Time Lord powers to a degree that will not only kill Tannis but himself as well?

Order this CDwritten by Colin Meek
directed by Dan Freedman
music by Nick Romero

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Kevin Eldon (Antimony), John Sessions (General Tannis), Leonard Fenton (Casmus), Jon Culshaw (Golcrum / Senator Hawk / President), Jacqueline Pearce (Admiral Mettna), Stephen Fry (The Minister Of Chance), Britta Gartner (Senator Sala), Anthony Stewart Head (St. Valentine), Dave Hill (Nessican), Charlotte Palmer (Dr. Cain), Stephen Brody (Speedwell), Gareth Jones (Campion), Andrew McGibbon (Captain Carne), Michael Yale (Lieutenant Suneel), Peggy Batchelor (The Kingmaker), David Evans (Pilot), Robert Rietti (Premier Bedloe), Julienne Davis (Computer), Emma Ferguson (Megan), Huw Thomas (President of Santiny), Nick Romero (Major Bander / Prime Minister), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), David Soul (Bob)

Originally broadcast from July 13, 2001 to May 30, 2002

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor

Colditz

Doctor Who: ColditzThe TARDIS has brought the Doctor and Ace to Colditz Castle, the legendary German prison camp, at the height of World War II. The time travelers are captured almost immediately, and the Doctor is shot in the shoulder. Ace instantly attracts the interest of Kurtz, the head of the guards – more interest than she would like. She also befriends English prisoners of war who are already planning their next escape attempt, but are reluctant to let her in on the plot unless she gives them more concrete information about where she’s from. In the meantime, the Doctor – and his TARDIS, which the guards witnessed materializing the courtyard – have gotten the interest of someone who appears to be very closely connected to the upper ranks of the German war effort. When the Doctor is given a choice – hand over the keys to the TARDIS or spare Ace’s life – he gives the Nazis his time machine, setting ripples in motion which will change history forever unless he can regain control of the situation.

Order this CDwritten by Steve Lyons
directed by Gary Russell
music by Toby Richards and Emily Baker

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Tracey Childs (Klein), Nicholas Young (Flying Officer Bill Gower), Toby Longworth (Hauptmann Julius Schafer), David Tennant (Feldwebel Kurtz), Peter Rae (Timothy Wilkins)

Note: This audio story marks David Tennant‘s first Doctor Who appearance, though obviously not in the role for which he would become most famous later…

Timeline: between Dust Breeding and The Rapture

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Excelis Decays

Doctor WhoAfter refurbishing his TARDIS, the Doctor allows the time machine to decide its own next stop. It takes him to Artaris, once again in the city of Excelis. But things have changed since the superstitious age the Doctor visited in his previous incarnation: a totalitarian government has taken over, the populace is divided between the elite Inner Party, their Outer Party underlings and a helpless proletariat, history now paints Reeve Maupassant and Lord Grayvorn as heroes, and someone is abducting lower-class citizens and stealing their life energy to power a new race of mindless, brutish cannon-fodder soldiers called meat puppets. This government is locked in a bitter stalemate of a war with another power, and the Inner Party seems content to keep it that way. At the heart of the corrupt Inner Party lies Lord Sutton, a calculating, amoral being who has been waiting for the Doctor for centuries. But the Doctor knows Sutton as Grayvorn – and makes drastic plans to free Artaris from the immortal warlord’s grasp. But will freeing the planet’s people from oppression also mean killing them?

Order this CDwritten by Craig Hinton
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Anthony Stewart Head (Lord Vaughn Sutton), Ian Collier (Commissar Sallis), Yee Jee Tso (Major Brant), Stuart Piper (Mattias), Alistair Lock (Reeve Cless), Mark Gatiss (Deputy Warden Baris), Penelope McDonald (Jancis), Patricia Leventon (The Mother Superior)

Timeline: after Forty-Five (the Doctor has just remodeled the TARDIS) but before the TV movie

LogBook entry and TheatEar entry by Earl Green

Review: A more traditional Doctor Who than we’ve previously gotten from the Excelis trilogy, Excelis Decays has a dark, fatalistic air about it. And it’s hard to believe from the seamlessly edited recording, but Anthony Stewart Head and Sylvester McCoy never occupied the same studio at the same time – and yet this story gives us the best verbal sparring yet between Head’s character and any of the Doctors. Adding a distinguished air to the proceedings is Ian Collier, last seen/heard as the voice of Omega in 1983’s Arc Of Infinity, as an embittered warrior who realizes that the whole motivation for keeping the war going is crumbling around him.

Yee Jee Tso, who acted briefly alongside McCoy in the 1996 TV movie, returns here and does a nice job with a role that requires him to be cocksure and elegant. It’d be easy to be shown up here by Head, with whom he shares most of his scenes, but Yee Jee Tso holds his own – well, at least until his character is gently dropped out of the narrative.

If nothing else, Excelis Decays proves that perhaps, of all the remaining Doctors, Sylvester McCoy is the one most able to keep a story afloat on his own. He’s traveling companionless in this adventure, but his tendency to talk to himself in fits and starts keeps things flowing and lets us in on his thoughts without resorting to a lot of painfully obvious “Oh, look, that huge green slimy monster is about to eat us!” signposting.

In the end, Excelis proves to be a worthy experiment – changing Doctors, but retaining a fairly constant (if evolving) setting and villain for the Doctor to fight. An interesting concept, well-scripted by some writers with their own unique takes on the series.

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who

The Rapture

Doctor Who: The RaptureThe Doctor and Ace arrive in Ibiza on the eve of an international broadcast from a recently-opened nightclub called The Rapture. The club’s two DJs, Gabriel and Jude, have established a reputation for throwing quite a party – and that suits Ace just fine, following her harrowing experiences in Nazi Germany. As Ace joins some other people her age for a night of clubbing, the Doctor meets his old friend Gustavo, who warns him that something sinister is afoot at The Rapture. When the Doctor goes to investigate, he finds that Jude and Gabriel’s trance music is living up to its name quite literally – the two DJs who claim to be angels are slowly exerting mind control over their club’s patrons…including Ace.

Order this CDwritten by Joseph Lidster
directed by Jason Haigh-Ellery
music by Jim Mortimoreand Jane Elphinstone, with Simon Robinson and Feel

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), David John (Liam), Anne Bird (Caitriona), Daniel Wilson (Brian), Carlos Riera (Gustavo), Matthew Brenher (Jude), Neil Henry (Gabriel), Tony Blackburn (himself), Jeremy James (Bouncer)

Timeline: after Colditz and before The Harvest

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who

Bang-Bang-A-Boom!

Doctor Who: Bang-Bang-A-Boom!The Doctor and Melanie arrive at a most inopportune time aboard space station Dark Space 8, and the Doctor is mistaken for the replacement for the station’s recently-deceased commander – a role into which the Time Lord steps eagerly, to Mel’s dismay. Dark Space 8 is playing host to an intergalactic pop song contest in a matter of days, and station security is stepped up accordingly – but apparently not enough, as one of the contestants turns up dead. As more murders occur, the station’s crew is helpless (and clueless), and when one of the suspects seems to have an unnatural hold over the Doctor, Mel worries that she is on her own in solving the mystery…

written by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman
directed by Nicholas Pegg
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Bonnie Langford (Melanie), Sabina Franklyn (Doctor Eleanor Harcourt), Graeme Garden (Professor Ivor Fassbender), Jane Goddard (Geri Pakhar), Nickolas Grace (Mister Loozly), Vidar Magnussen (Lieutenant Strindberg), Patricia Quinn (Queen Angvia), Anthony Spargo (Nicky Newman), David Tughan (Commentator Logan), Barnaby Edwards (Waiter)

Timeline: between Paradise Towers and Delta And The Bannermen

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who

The Dark Flame

Doctor Who: The Dark FlameHaving left Bernice on a research facility on Orbos to visit a colleague of hers, the Doctor and Ace are on their way back to Orbos when an unusually powerful distress call washes over the TARDIS’ telepathic circuits – powerful enough that even Ace picks up on it. The message, which the Doctor believes to come from his old friend Remnex, warns of the Dark Flame…and ends abruptly in a scream of agony. As it happens, Professor Remnex is also conducting research on Orbos, and the Doctor is relieved to find him in perfect health. Bernice, on the other hand, has waited two weeks for her colleague to arrive, to no avail, and no one can account for his whereabouts. The Doctor discovers that a pair of scientists on Orbos are planning to trigger a black light explosion in a nearby star, an ill-advised experiment that could have far-reaching consequences if not properly contained. Soon after his warnings about the impending experiment fall on deaf ears, the Doctor discovers that Remnex has been murdered, having sent his warning through time to the Doctor at the time of his death. The Doctor and Bernice recognize the hallmarks of the Cult of the Dark Flame, a group (thought to be extinct) which worships an energy being from a parallel, but dark, dimension. And if that cult gains control of Orbos and its black light experiment, the universe is in imminent danger. What the Doctor and his friends don’t know is that the cult is already in control.

written by Trevox Baxendale
directed by Jason Haigh-Ellery
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Lisa Bowerman (Bernice), Michael Praed (Slyde), Steven Wickham (Victor / Joseph), Andrew Westfield (Remnex), Hannah Smith (Lomar), Toby Longworth (Broke)

Timeline: between the novels “The All-Consuming Fire” and “Blood Harvest”

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor 7th Doctor Doctor Who

Project: Lazarus

Doctor Who: Project LazarusThe Doctor returns to Norway, where he and Evelyn are eager to catch up with Cassie, who they left to fend for herself – away from other humans – after their horrific encounter with Nimrod, the Forge, and Project Twilight. The Doctor believes he has created a cure for the vampire virus that infected Cassie, and he even finds her soon enough – only to discover that she is now in Nimrod’s employ. Nimrod has been waiting close to Cassie, knowing that the Doctor would return to help her. Nimrod has obtained some top secret information regarding the Doctor, including UNIT records of his past regenerations – an ability Nimrod wants to study and harness for himself, even if it means forcing the Doctor to regenerate by torturing him. Evelyn, in the meantime, brings Cassie back to her senses and together they rescue the Doctor from Nimrod’s hideous experiment. As the three of them make a desperate dash to the TARDIS, which Nimrod has also brought to the Forge, Nimrod guns Cassie down…

Years later, in his seventh incarnation, the Doctor returns to the Forge, following telltale signs of dangerous disruption in the time vortex. He finds that the Forge is under attack by an alien race whose technology – and one of their travelers – has been stolen by Nimrod, who promptly dissected both the alien and his vehicle to uncover their secrets. The Doctor discovers something even more horrifying as well – his sixth self is still here, working for Nimrod, but with no sign of his TARDIS or Evelyn. The seventh Doctor is troubled by his inability to remember any of this, but when the aliens return in force, he may be in worse trouble than he thought when his sixth self is the first to die in the attack.

Order this CDwritten by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright
directed by Gary Russell
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Evelyn), Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Stephen Chance (Nimrod), Rosie Cavaliero (Cassie), Emma Collier (Oracle), Adam Woodroffe (Sgt. Frith), Ingrid Evans (Dr. Crumpton), Vidar Magnussen (Professor Harket)

Timeline: after Doctor Who and the Pirates and before Arrangements For War (Sixth Doctor); after The Harvest and before the 1996 TV movie (Seventh Doctor)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who

Flip-Flop

Doctor Who: Flip-Flop…just then, the “other” Doctor and Melanie arrive on the human colony planet Puxatornee, discovering that the alien Slithergees have all but taken over, using humans are seeing-eye dogs and servants, and even edging human traditions, history and beliefs out of the humans’ own teachings by way of claiming rampant anti-Slithergee discrimination. Two terrorists, Stewart and Reed, are out to restore the balance and put the humans in charge again, and when they discover that the Doctor and Mel are time travelers, they force the TARDIS crew at gunpoint to take them back in time to change history. But the history they bring about is one where the Slithergees were refused permission to settle in the Puxatornee system, resulting in a war that left the planet permanently contaminated. Stewart and Reed are killed, and the Doctor makes a hasty exit, worried about encountering his and Mel’s counterparts from the divergent timeline that has been created. Just then, the “other” Doctor and Melanie arrive on the doomed planet Puxatornee, where two soldiers, Stewart and Reed, wish to change history so the human-Slithergee war never fatally polluted Puxatornee. When they discover that the Doctor and Mel are time travelers, they force the TARDIS crew at gunpoint to take them back in time to prevent these events. But the history they bring about is one where the Slithergees were granted permission to settle and slowly took over. Stewart and Reed are killed, and the Doctor makes a hasty exit, worried about encountering his and Mel’s counterparts from the divergent timeline that has been created…

written by Jonathan Morris
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Bonnie Langford (Melanie), Richard Gibson (Mitchell(, Daniel Hogarth (Slithergee voices), Trevor Littledale (Potter), Francis Magee (Stewart), Trevor Martin (Professor Capra), Pamela Miles (Bailey), Audrey Schoellhammer (Reed)

Timeline: between Bang-Bang-A-Boom! and Dragonfire

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who

Master

Doctor Who: MasterIt’s a dark and stormy night in the town of Perfugium, and old friends have gathered at a stately Edwardian mansion to celebrate the birthday of their mysterious friend, Dr. John Smith. Only it’s not really his birthday – it’s the tenth anniversary of the day that the amnesiac, seemingly horribly burned, and yet compassionate-to-a-fault Smith first appeared in Perfugium. His inability to remember anything beyond the past ten years troubles Dr. Smith greatly, but he has become even more concerned recently with thoughts that seem to betray his gentle nature – thoughts that can only be described as pure evil. Even more unnerving is the arrival of a strange little man, also claiming to be a doctor, who begins to drop disturbing hints that Dr. John Smith does indeed have a past – a past in which he was known as an irredeemably evil genius called the Master.

written by Joseph Lidster
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Geoffrey Beevers (The Master), Philip Madoc (Inspector Victor Schaeffer), Anne Ridley (Jacqueline Schaeffer), Charlie Hayes (Jade), Daniel Barzoti (The Man)

Timeline: before the 1996 TV movie and apparently after Excelis Decays since the Doctor assumes the nom de plume of “Vaughn Sutton,” whom he defeated on Excelis.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
8th Doctor Doctor Who

Zagreus

Doctor Who: ZagreusImbued with the energy of anti-time and possessed by the power-mad Zagreus, the Doctor wrestles for self-control and terrifies Charley into hiding within the TARDIS. A familiar face appears to Charley as she hides – the Brigadier, or, more precisely, a TARDIS-projected simulation of Lethbridge-Stewart intended to help her. Its method of doing so, however, is unorthodox to put it mildly: Charley must divine the true nature of the increasingly disastrous situation from a series of metaphors, ranging from her own childhood to a visit to Gallifrey’s past to an insane amusement park where animatronic cartoon characters are slaughtering one another. The Doctor, too, hears from some familiar voices in his own past, coaxing him to regain control of his own mind. But all too late, the Doctor realizes that his body and soul are not Zagreus’ only battleground, and the real battle for the fate of the entire universe is only now being joined.

Order this CDwritten by Alan Barnes & Gary Russell
directed by Gary Russell
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Peter Davison (Reverend Matthew Townsend), Colin Baker (Lord Tepesh), Sylvester McCoy (Walton Winkle), Paul McGann (Zagreus), India Fisher (Charley Pollard), Lalla Ward (Romana), Louise Jameson (Leela), Don Warrington (Rassilon), Nicholas Courtney (The TARDIS / Brigadier), Anneke Wills (Lady Louisa Pollard), Stephen Perring (Receptionist), Elisabeth Sladen (Miss Lime), Conrad Westmaas (The Cat), Mark Strickson (Captain McDonnell), Sarah Sutton (Miss Foster), Nicola Bryant (Stone / Ouida), Caroline Morris (Mary Elson), Maggie Stables (Great Mother), Bonnie Langford (Cassandra / Goldilocks), Robert Jezek (Recorder), Stephen Fewell (Corporal Heron), Sophie Aldred (Captain Duck), Lisa Bowerman (Sergeant Gazelle), Miles Richardson (Cardinal Braxiatel), John Leeson (K9), Jon Pertwee (The Doctor)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who

The Wormery

Doctor Who: The WormeryThe Doctor emerges from his trial a changed man – and a very melancholy one. Seeking a bit of refuge to contemplate recent events, he happens upon Bianca’s, an exclusive nightclub in World War II-era Berlin, but even as he tries to relax, he notices that things may not be as they appear. Worse yet, even as he tries to piece together what’s going on, Iris Wildthyme staggers into Bianca’s as well, shattering any hope the Doctor may have had of discreetly investigating the mystery.

Order this CDwritten by Stephen Cole & Paul Magrs
directed by Gary Russell
music by Jason Loborik

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Katy Manning (Iris Wildthyme), Maria McErlane (Bianca), Paul Clayton (Henry), Jane McFarlane (Mickey), James Campbell (Allis / Ballis), Mark Donovan (Corporal Sturmer), Ian Brooker (Barman)

Timeline: not long after The Trial Of A Time Lord

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who

The Harvest

Doctor Who: The HarvestThe Doctor and Ace have insinuated themselves into the staff of a London hospital in 2021, trying to discover what they can about a top secret project called “C Program,” which the Doctor suspects is using alien technology. The Doctor’s nasty suspicions about the origins of that technology come into sharp focus when Ace befriends a young medic nicknamed Hex in an effort to find out more about C Program, and a hulking humanoid tries to kill both of them shortly afterward. Ace lets Hex into the TARDIS, and he quickly becomes involved in the time travelers’ plans to find out what’s going on. He might even join Ace and the Doctor for more of their travels, if any of them survive the harvesting of the human race for the organs needed by an invasion force that could overrun Earth in mere weeks.

Order this CDwritten by Dan Abnett
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), William Boyde (Subject One), Richard Derrington (Dr. Farrer), David Warwick (Garnier), Paul Lacoux (Dr. Mathias), Janie Booth (System), Mark Donovan (Polk)

Timeline: after The Rapture and before Dreamtime

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green