Faith Stealer (Graham Duff)

 Kicking off this final Eighth Doctor Audio season in September is "Faith Stealer", a four-part adventure written by Graham Duff and directed by Gary Russell. Duff is a regular writer and script editor for Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow Productions, with Dr Terrible’s House of Horrible and Combat Sheep amongst his credits. "Faith Stealer" was recorded 11th and 12th June 2004.

 Paul McGann has again been joined by India Fisher, as Charley Pollard, Conrad Westmaas, as C’rizz, and Stephen Perring, as the unscrupulous Kro’ka. Also starring are Christian Rodska, Tessa Shaw, Jenny Coverack, Ifan Huw Dafydd, Helen Kirkpatrick, Neil Bett, Chris Walter-Evans, John Dorney and Jane Hills.

  When The Doctor, Charley and C'rizz find their journey through the Interzone interrupted by a nightmarish vision, they find themselves in The Multihaven - the home to a vast array of religions and faiths, all living together harmoniously.

Eighth Doctor

 With so many different religions coming and going and all co-existing peacefully and with discourse conducted amicably the balance of faith is in constant flux, equality is ensured.

 The Multihaven is a diverse community - ranging from the pious Bakoans, to those that deify the versatile product Cabari and also the followers of the Great Neglector in the Serendipity faith, who believe in the beauty of happy accidents. Even The Doctor introduces a new religion The Faith of Tourism in his need to enter The Multihaven.

 While there The Doctor and Charley start to catch audio glimpses of the TARDIS. The Doctor deduces that there is something very wrong with the TARDIS as they can not see The Doctor has the strangest feeling that he is being haunted by her presence. Or maybe the Kro'ka is playing with them.

 The Doctor soon discovers that despite The Multihaven appearing to offer the perfect sanctuary in which to convalesce things are not in harmony as they are at first led to believe. Under the guidance of the charismatic Laan Carder, one religion - the 23rd Church of Lucidity - seems to be gathering disciples and conversions to its order at a very alarming rate. The Doctor is about to discover that within The Multihaven an extreme form of belief is being subverted to serve particular interests as Carder draws more and more followers into worshipping the Lucidian god Miraculite.

India Fisher

 With The Bordinan seemingly unable to help The Doctor and Charley find the TARDIS it seems that they are on there own as C'rizz has gone missing and is on the receiving end of some unorthodox religious practices when he finds himself in The Hall of Dreams and then in a cupboard - it’s time for him to see the light.

 But what has really happened to C'rizz and why has the recent killing of his female companion L'da come back to haunt him? What or who is behind his inability to contain his sense of guilt which has left him open to unsavoury influences.

 And then things take a turn for the worse when The Doctor hears the TARDIS materialise nearby and rushes off to find it only to sees it being destroyed before his very eyes…

 Leaving Charley alone she spots C'rizz but the welcome she receives from him is not exactly what she expected. Having seen the light C'rizz it seems has been taken over by the Lucidians and in his attempt to help Charley to see the light herself he attempts to strangle her. Thankfully The Doctor returns to her aid just in time.

Returning to The Bordinan to request more assistance, and despite The Doctor instructions to only allow C’rizz to rest after his ordeal, Director Garfolt tricks C’rizz into undergoing treatment to bleach out all his Lucidity beliefs. In so doing he releases the Miraculite who announces that all shall live within and that there is still lots to do before The Final Harvest.

 What is Miraculite and why should it make those of the other faiths lose confidence in themselves and have the power to worm its way into their minds and breed self doubt, self loathing and confusion? What is The Final Harvest and who is really in control the Miraculite or Laan Carder? And what about the TARDIS has it really been destroyed or is its random appearance the effects of the Miraculite?

 Can The Doctor deduce the nature of the entity behind the Lucidian religion before it is to late? And will he and Charley be able to prevent C'rizz being taken over by whomever has the strongest will in the vicinity?

 The Doctor’s, Charley’s and C'rizz’s belief, hope and faith are about to be tested to the limit.

  When The Doctor, Charley and C'rizz find their journey through the Interzone interrupted by a nightmarish vision, they are surprised to find the Kro'ka offering the perfect solution.

 The Multihaven ­ a vast array of religions and faiths housed in one harmonious community ­ appears to offer the perfect sanctuary in which to convalesce. But under the guidance of the charismatic Laan Carder, one religion seems to be gathering disciples at an alarming rate.

 With The Doctor and Charley catching glimpses of an old friend and C'rizz on the receiving end of some unorthodox religious practices, their belief, hope and faith are about to be tested to the limit.

 It’s time to see the light.

 DOCTOR WHO IS AMONGST MY earliest memories. Watching "The War Games"... my Dad telling me there was to be a new Doctor... standing in my parent’s garden, having watched "Genesis of the Daleks" thinking how wonderful it must be to create something like that...

 I have only two regrets about "Faith Stealer". Firstly, I wish I’d heard Jonathan Clements’s excellent "Sympathy for the Devil", before my own audio went into production. There’s a plot detail in "Faith Stealer" which mirrors one in Jonathan’s story. And despite reassurances from the producer, it still niggles at me.

 Secondly, and more importantly, due to commitments on another of my stories, I was unable to attend the recording. So, whilst the Big Finish team were in Bristol, helping Paul McCann’s Doctor square up to the Lucidians, I was in Manchester, helping Johnny Vegas sell soft drugs... However, I feel duty bound to point out that despite my childhood plans, neither story in any way resembles "Genesis of the Daleks".

 Finally, ‘thank you’ to the people who either encouraged me to write a Who audio in the first place, made useful comments on the manuscript, or listened patiently to my enthusiastic babblings. Namely Stan Baldwin, Tim Leopard, Sean Longcroft, Mark Gatiss, Misha Begley and Dr Sarah Cheang.

 Although the first of this fourth ‘season’ of Eighth Doctor plays to go out, it was the third recorded in the ‘season four’ block. It features, amongst others, the vocal talents of LA-based English actress Tessa Shaw and Christian Rodska, who Russell had been trying to involve in a Doctor Who for some years as the director is a huge fan of Rodska’s famous vocal talents.