The Entropy Plague (Jonathan Morris)

The story released in March 2015 is "The Entropy Plague" written by Jonathan Morris 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: Alistair MacKenzie, Catherine Skinner, Robert Duncan, John Voce and Chris Finney.

The latest run of Fifth Doctor stories has thrilled its cast. As revealed by Sarah Sutton 'This trilogy is one of the best that has been written for older Nyssa, It feels like it's been written specially for her. I'm delighted with what they've given me'.

'The brief was to tie up the E-Space thing, and get back into N-Space' writer Jonathan Morris has revealed. But as script editor Alan Barnes has stated 'It's less of a "What happens next?" sort of story, more a "What just happened?" story. We begin with the regulars attempting to come to terms with an emotionally shattering event. Then the flashbacks begin! But even if you think you know what's just occurred, you won't know how it came about. And we mean to keep you guessing, until the last moment!'

The shanty-town setting was inspired by current events. 'When I was writing it, the news was full of refugees', Jonathan Morris has revealed. 'It's a Noah's Ark moment for a whole universe. Everyone is trying to be on the last ship out, when the universe itself is dying. It's got science-fiction trappings, but it's a humanitarian crisis. It would play on Nyssa's conscience, because she sees people in need and she's selfless, she puts other people first'.

Fifth Doctor

'Essentially, every story needs a monster of some sort, something creepy and memorable and idiosyncratic. I was trying to come up with monsters, and the idea of entropy as a disease that makes you gradually dry out and calcify and turn to dust, and then become a monster that feeds on that, was not only quite creepy and effective, but also it tied in with Nyssa's background, because her home planet was destroyed by entropy. It becomes her particular nightmare made flesh'.

This story comes to a very emotional conclusion which as revealed by Jonathan Morris 'Was actually straightforward to write because, writing the rest of it, I'd always had that in my mind as something I was working towards. There were certain things that really needed to be said, for the characters gain closure. The challenge of it all was I have to make myself feel the emotion in order to write it believably. And that; a heartbreaking moment'.

'Part of it was just trying, with the audios, to move Doctor Who into twenty-first century storytelling, where it's much more character-based and emotional, and much more about getting the audience to feel, whereas back in the 1980s it was very action-and special-effect-oriented. It was very science-fiction, and the characters were never treated with any great depth. So there's that aspect as well. This is Doctor Who a bit more grown-­up than usual'.

On the Back Cover:

A Great Darkness is spreading over E-Space. Entropy increases. In search of a last exit to anywhere, the TARDIS arrives on the powerless planet of Apollyon, where the scientist Pallister guards the only way out - a mysterious portal. But the portal needs power to open, and the only power Pallister can draw on is the energy contained within the molecular bonds of all living tissue...

The Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough soon learn that neither Pallister nor his ally, the space pirate Captain Branarack, will stop at murder to ensure their escape. But they're not the only menace on Apollyon. The Sandmen are coming - creatures that live on the life force; that live on death.

Death is the only way out into N-Space. Death, or sacrifice.

But whose death? Whose sacrifice?