Mistfall (Andrew Smith)

The first story for 2015 is "Mistfall" written by Andrew Smith and directed by Ken Bentley.

This Fifth Doctor story stars Peter Davison. He is travelling with his three companions: Nyssa, played by Sarah Sutton; Tegan Jovanka, played by Janet Fielding, and Turlough, played by Mark Strickson. Also starring are: Jemma Redgrave, Nigel Carrington, Emily Woodward, Paul Panting and Matthew Carter.

It's almost five years since Big Finish united the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough with an older Nyssa, and sent the quartet off for new adventures.

'It's been wonderful to be able to expand that relationship' Sarah Sutton, who plays Nyssa, has revealed 'and for us all to have had the chance to cover more stories as a team together'.

'We're more confident, and we're more established' Janet Fielding, who plays Tegan has added. 'The two of us, Mark Strickson, who plays Turlough and I, are not actors any more - he's a programme maker, and I run a charity - so that kind of alters things, because there's less at stake'.

Even so all of the cast are clearly protective of their characters.

Fifth Doctor

In "Mistfall" the TARDIS returns to E-Space - the small, green-tinted universe introduced during the Fourth Doctor's era on screen where, as before, it will remain for three stories. Andrew Smith also wrote 1980's "Full Circle", the first serial of the original 'E-Space Trilogy' and "Mistfall" shares some returning elements.

'There's quite a bit returning', Andrew Smith has revealed. 'The Marshmen, the spiders... we have Deciders, and we have Outlers... What's new? We've got a new race called the Haragi, who come from the planet that the people from the Starliner had settled on. It's a few centuries down the road from "Full Circle", and the society has developed'.

'The first thing I wanted to avoid was just retreading the original. The Marshmen coming out of the marsh isn't a cliffhanger in this; it's a moment, but there are different dramatic beats around when that happens, and some other developments before that. One of the things that I decided early on was to take away the safety of the base. In "Full Circle", the Starliner is this safe haven for them, but this is quite different'.

'It was great to do. Oddly enough, I had to Google certain things - I couldn't remember how often it was that the Mistfall cycles came around. I put some clips of it on my iPad, of the Marshmen moving and the noises they made, and went through and made notes about various things I hadn't remembered but I thought would be of value in writing this one. It would be a bit embarrassing if I'd contradicted myself - it's bad enough if you do it with someone else's story!'

'It was really good to play around with the setting, 34 years on', Andrew Smith has stated. 'It feels different - I've done nine or ten of these now, and this one does have a separate, nice vibe about it...'

On the Back Cover:

Drawn off-course, the TARDIS passes through a CVE into a closed universe - a hugely improbable event with a tragically obvious cause. In order to escape inescapable E-Space, the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough are forced to venture in the wilds of the planet Alzarius.

But they're not the only unwanted visitors to this strange world. A Starliner has landed, captained by Decider Merrion - but why would Merrion risk rousing the Planet that Slept, and the monsters in its marshes?

Mistfall is coming. The Marshmen are coming. But while Nyssa and Turlough find themselves caught in the open, in the hands of fanatics who model themselves on the legendary Outlers, the Doctor and Tegan discover that the supposedly secure Starliner affords them no protection from monsters both within and without...

I'm a bit of a hippy at heart, so I love a good ecological allegory. I'm surprised there aren't more of them, not just because I'm a fan, but because we live in a time when our impact on the natural world is becoming increasingly noticeable. So the themes in Mistfall appeal to me, not just as a storyteller but as a resident on planet Earth.

In order to explore these themes Smith has us, once again, tapping into Doctor Who's past. When it comes to continuity, it's completely baffling to me how the writers at Big Finish manage to pull so many threads together so successfully. With the recent return of Adric in the Fifth Doctor box set, it feels right to return to his roots.

The Marshmen first appeared in a TV story called Full Circle, and that's exactly where we've come. Of course, Alan Barnes and Andrew Smith knew all this. But it's comforting to know they're connecting all the dots, doing something only Doctor Who can do, which is to refer both back to itself and forwards at the same time. All of which makes Mistfall a neat, satisfying and timely piece of storytelling.

KEN BENTLEY


Writer’s Notes

Hello from 24th June 2014. I'm in the Big Finish recording studio and it's day two of the recording of Mistfall.

We're recording out of sequence, so although it's our second day we're currently on the opening scenes with our TARDIS crew of Peter, Sarah, Janet and Mark. Ken Bentley is managing a few takes in between the laughs and colourful banter. So far I've had to clarify the pronunciation of 'Alzarius' (not Al-ZAH-ray-us), and 'emboitement'; otherwise I'm just enjoying hearing this impressive team bring my words to life.

We recorded all the scenes with Decider Lana Merrion yesterday. It was a delightful surprise to discover that Jemma Redgrave (who of course plays Kate Lethbridge-Stewart in TV Doctor Who) had been cast as our Decider. A delight very much like my reaction to the casting of George Baker as Decider Login in the 1980 TV storyFull Circle. She is perfect as Lana.

Mistfall is a sequel to Full Circle. I was so pleased to be asked to return to Alzarius for this new E-Space trilogy. It provided an opportunity to learn more about the Marshmen and their antipathy to outsiders, and to discover what happened to the Starliner after it left Alzarius in search of a new home. I hope you enjoy it when the planet that slept wakes up once more.

Now the morning's scenes have been recorded and we have a break before the afternoon session. I'm off for one of Toby's famous Big Finish lunches.

ANDREW SMITH