Kiss of Death (Stephen Cole)

May 2011 sees Peter Davison, in the second of three releases, as the Fifth Doctor, once again is reunited, in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio range, with his three companions: Nyssa, played by Sarah Sutton; Tegan Jovanka, played by Janet Fielding, and Turlough, played by Mark Strickson.

Titled "Kiss of Death" this story is set on an alien world that has a particular significance for young Vislor Turlough...

This story is written by Stephen Cole, who wrote for this TARDIS team recently with "The Whispering Forest", has been directed by Ken Bentley and was recorded on the 14th and 15th December 2010.

Also starring in this story are: Lucy Adams, Michael Maloney, Lizzie Roper and John Banks.

This story came about because Steve Cole and Alan Barnes, the script editor of the stories, really like Turlough. Alan Barnes has revealed ‘We thought we'd give him a sort of romance, and expand on his origins, perhaps...’

Fifth Doctor

It is possible that this is the reason why Mark Strickson is a lot more enthusiastic about this story. ‘The three stories we've recorded this year are all very different, but "Kiss of Death" is perhaps one of the most interesting for me because it turns out that Turlough had a girlfriend on his home planet Trion and the story revisits that relationship’.

Since Big Finish Production’s line of Doctor Who audio stories began in July 1999, the stories have fleshed out and evolved all of the characters featured. Companions have therefore been given more active roles as well as new friends, families and relationships - and in the case of Nyssa - several decades of new backstory.

The effects of these changes, first introduced last year, continue to manifest themselves in this month’s story. ‘What's lovely is that it's giving me a history’, Sarah Sutton has stated. ‘Because Nyssa has been away and grown up, she's had a whole life which we haven't seen, and is a lot more three-dimensional. In these stories we keep getting little snippets, little mentions about her life experiences’.

But in this story it is Turlough’s turn for a completely new side to this character to be revealed as it now seems that before we first saw him, in the 1983 television story "Mawdryn Undead", he had a 'normal' relationship, and a beloved childhood sweetheart. Although he mellowed in later stories, it is hard to forget that in his first story Turlough was introduced as a mysterious, ruthless character, on a mission to kill The Doctor.

"Kiss of Death" finally puts the record straight by revealing that when he was young, he was obviously very honest, and deeply in love. Now that we have known this character for some time it is clear that something happened to Turlough along the way which makes it very hard for him to revisit his long forgotten past.

On the Back Cover:

The TARDIS travellers take a break on the beach world of Vektris. Hot sun, cold drinks and all the time in the worlds. What could possibly go wrong?

A kidnapping, a spaceship heist and a desperate chase to a distant galaxy later, Turlough finds himself in a strange winter palace… along with a face from his past. The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa, meanwhile, fight to escape its frozen catacombs, guarded over by a vast and deadly alien Morass.

But what connects Turlough to the ancient treasure hidden somewhere in the palace? And how far will he go to acquire it?

Do you remember your first kiss? Chances are you do; they're pretty pivotal moments, played and replayed in the memory with either happy nostalgia or regretful cringes.

But old school Doctor Who companions keep such moments to themselves for the most part; that busy clutch of the early 1980s keep their love lives entirely off-limits. Did Adric ever try to snog a clever girl on the Starliner and she laughed in his face? Was that what really drove him to become an Outler? Did Tegan emigrate to England to escape a disastrous love affair? Back on Traken, Nyssa was ready to devote herself to a killer statue over the various hairy proctors on offer; she seems to know as little about love as she does telebiogenesis...

Turlough, on the other hand, has a stack of secrets. He’s the companion who’s lived way more than the others before be joins the TARDIS. He has a past. And in Kiss of Death, it catches up with him - as inexorably as the monsters that stalk the catacombs of his childhood home...

Stephen Cole
February 2011


Director's Notes

Coming across another mind-boggling concept is just one of the things I love about working on science fiction. Kiss of Death boldly introduces another corker. Just how do you lock a safe so no one else can get in?

It’s a small matter in the grand scheme of things, but it becomes the crux of a story that sees Turlough come face to face with a past he's spent most of the time we’ve known him trying to avoid. And that's the very stuff of drama, a character finding themselves confronted by their past.

It’s just refreshing in the world of Doctor Who where our heroes so often find themselves confronted by their future!

Ken Bentley
February 2011