Paper Cuts (Marc Platt)

 The first release for September 2009, called "Paper Cuts", is the second of three consecutive Sixth Doctor and Charley Pollard stories. "Paper Cuts" has been written by Marc Platt and directed by Nicholas Briggs. It was recorded on the 23rd and 25th March 2009.

The Doctor and Charley are summoned by the Emperor of Draconia. Sara Crowe (Skins, Big Meg Little Meg) plays the Queen Mother, Paul Thornley (Life Begins, Mutual Friends) is Gomori, Anthony Giennon (Doctor Who: "The Company of Friends") is the Prince.

In the previous month’s monster-packed story "Patient Zero" the Sixth Doctor and Charley Pollard came face-to-face with both the Viyrans and the Daleks. In this release another returning creature makes an appearance – and their first in a Big Finish Productions audio. As announced by writer Marc Platt, ‘Nick Briggs asked me how I’d feel about writing a story featuring Draconians. His only real specifications were that it should be set in the coldness of space and that I was only allowed four guest voices, with two actors doubling up on a couple of extra tiny roles’.

Marc Platt has promised us ‘A sort of murder mystery set within the confines of what appears to be a sealed temple, but which is actually rather more than that’. ‘It’s also a stalking-monster’s-gonna-get-you story’, Executive Producer Nicholas Briggs has added. ‘There are a small number of contrasting characters trapped in a life-threatening situation, and nobody knows the who, how or why about the murderer...’

Sixth Doctor

 ‘The story involves a family feud that stretches back for centuries and a lethal game of Sazou, a sort of Draconian chess’, Marc Platt has revealed, ‘We discover exactly what The Doctor did when he first visited Draconia at the time of the fifteenth Emperor, saved them from the Great Space Plague and left them in a right pickle afterwards’.

A major theme that emerges in this story though is that no character, other than The Doctor is quite what he or she seems – and this of course includes his companion Charley.

India Fisher

And as of the Draconians themselves Marc Platt has revealed; ‘They make a terrific impact. Imposing, fearsome, reptilian and a bit declamatory in a Shakespearean sort of way. So I grabbed the chance to get under their knobbly skins and explore their culture. Malcolm Hulke’s original story clearly shows Imperial Draconia as a society resembling feudal Japan - a mix of elegant formal ritual and savage ferocity. I’ve followed that lead with the rigid social structure (nobles, warriors and peasants)’.

The Draconians have, perhaps surprisingly, made only one television appearance, in 1973’s "Frontier in Space", so "Paper Cuts" is a perfect opportunity to learn a bit more about them.

On the Back Cover:

The Empire is lost. The Deathless Emperors are dead. The future may never happen.

An urgent summons returns the noble Doctor to a planet he saved from disaster long ago. But Draconia, so elegant and so savage, is in worse turmoil than ever.

Who will be next Emperor? The highest Prince? The lowest peasant? The soldier with no name? Or the Doctor himself - his life at their command? Who controls the army of deadly origami warriors? And is the truth about Charley painted on paper walls in the Emperor’s tomb?

History is taking revenge on The Doctor.

When I think back 36 years to Frontier in Space, the Jon Pertwee story that features the Draconians, my first reaction is ‘Welcome to Japan’. Draconia has a fiercely hierarchical society ruled by a system of honour, headed by an Imperial family, peopled by a noble caste of Warriors - and females are forbidden to speak in the Emperor’s presence. Not that that kept Jo Grant quiet!

So taking that lead, I added ancestor worship, palaces (and tombs) made of paper, a peasant underclass nod a role for Draconian females that makes them more than equal to the males. Draconian elegance meets Draconian brutality. And then there are the deadly Sazou.

In his story shopping list, Nick Briggs prescribed only four ‘other’ voices and the coldness of space. And then he added that Charley might not be who she appeared to be. Thanks Nick. Welcome to Draconia!


Draconians - A Brief History

A proud race of people, the Draconians are lizard-like creatures who come from a society not unlike Earth’s feudal Japan. They are bound by a code of honour and although they will fight if provoked, they are essentially a peaceful race.

The Third Doctor encountered them 20 years after the race’s first contact with the Earth Empire, during which a misunderstanding had resulted in the destruction of a Draconian vessel. In the aftermath of a short but vicious war a peace treaty was signed, which the Master attempted to disrupt.

Using mind control to make humans and Draconians perceive their greatest fears instead of the Ogrons in front of them, he almost succeeded. Had it not been for the Doctor and Jo’s intervention, the war would doubtless have begun again, more bloody and terrible than before, allowing the Daleks, who’d been manipulating events from the shadows, to seize power for themselves.