The Fifth Doctor lands in the Seventh Dimension

Saturday, 14 May 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
BBC Radio 4 Extra - recently rebranded from BBC7 - will be bringing new adventures of the Fifth Doctor to radio next week. The series, created by Big Finish, stars Peter Davison as the Doctor, alongside his Season 20 co-stars Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan) and Mark Strickson (Turlough).

The series kicks off on Monday 16th May with Cobwebs broadcast in four parts in the radio station's Seventh Dimension slot (6:00pm and midnight); the week is finished off on Friday with part one of the second adventure, The Whispering Forest. The full, continuous schedule can be found on the Radio 4 Extra website.

Cobwebs
by Jonathan Morris

You know what cobwebs mean. Spiders…”

In search of a cure for a sickness that’s so far claimed six billion lives, scientist Nyssa arrives at an abandoned gene-tech facility on the toxic planet Helheim. ‘Hellhole’, more like.

Nyssa’s not alone. The TARDIS has also been drawn to the Helheim base – and in its cobweb-coated corridors, she soon runs into the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough, her travelling companions of half a century past. But who, or what, has engineered this strange reunion? The Black Guardian, perhaps?

The answer’s here, in the dark. With the Cractids. In the cobwebs.
The Whispering Forest
by Stephen Cole

The TARDIS arrives in alien woodlands, where a small group of humans hold tight against the the menace of the Takers – strange creatures who come by night to spirit away members of their settlement.

But if there’s one thing that the inhabitants of Purity Bay fear more than the Takers, it’s the dirt and disease spread by strangers. Strangers like the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa…

The fanatical Sister Mertil and her hygiene-obsessed acolytes are victims of a terrible corruption – but not in the way they think. Only the whispering forest knows the truth…
Full details on Cobwebs at Big Finish
Full details on The Whispering Forest at Big Finish

The Radio Times's David Brown writes in this week's issue:
A real blast from the past here as Peter Davison steps back into the Tardis to be reunited with assistants Turlough, Tegan and Nyssa. The Fifth Doctor's regeneration aside, it's the first time this quartet has shared a story since 1983's Terminus but the chemistry is quickly re-established. Davison may be more gravelly than during his original tenure but the setting on board an abandoned gene-tech facility readily evokes that era, especially when writer Jonathan Morris falls back on the old standby of characters being chased down deserted corridors by malevolent creatures.




FILTER: - Radio - Big Finish - BBC