My 2009 Doctor Who episode Mary’s Story is now available for download from Big Finish for 99p, a special offer price for a limited period only. It serves as an introduction for the character of Mary Shelley, who enjoys another adventure with the Doctor in this month’s release The Silver Turk by the enviably talented and consistent Marc Platt. Mary Shelley is, of course, loosely based on the real-life historical personality Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein, and Mary’s Story has some fun with the idea of where she might have got some of the inspiration for that novel. It was originally released as part of The Company Of Friends collection and also features Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, John Polidori, and a very silly joke in the final line.
Also put aside five hundred pennies for October 22nd where my Doctor Who story The Beautiful People will be available for at a discount, a bargain if you haven’t already bought it, any excuses you may have for not owning it are now rapidly diminishing. I’ll plug it again on the day.
But as a taster, here’s the first page of the script of Mary’s Story (working title The Creature!).
1: OUTSIDE VILLA, FOREST.
DURING THE FOLLOWING, FADE UP ON: A STORMY NIGHT. THUNDER. RAIN. CREAKING AND RUSTLING TREES. BANGING WINDOW SHUTTERS. MAYBE A WOLF HOWLING.
MARY: (NARRATION)
It was eighteen-sixteen, the year without a summer, when we sojourned at the Villa Diodati. There were five of us - myself, my husband Percy, my step-sister Claire, Lord Byron, and his physician, Polidori. Our intention had been to spend pleasant hours wandering on the shores of Lake Geneva - instead we found ourselves confined to the house for days on end, besieged by the incessant rain and suffocated by a dense, white fog. It was while we were there, one dreary night in June, that I first met the traveller known as the Doctor. The man to whom I would become a companion, in his voyages through time and space.
STING: INTO TITLE MUSIC (IF WE’RE DOING PRE-TITLE SEQUENCES)
2: INSIDE VILLA, STUDY/OUTSIDE VILLA, FOREST.
A DOOR SLAMS ON THE WIND AND THE RAIN AND WE ARE IN A STUDY. A FIRE CRACKLES REASSURINGLY. A CLOCK TICS OUT THE SECONDS.
BYRON: (READING POEM ALOUD)
- and full in view. Behold! Her bosom and half her side,
Hideous, deformed and pale of hue
A sight to dream of, not to tell
And she is to sleep by Christabel!
LIGHT APPLAUSE. CLINKING OF DRINKS.
POLIDORI:
(LAUGHING) Encore! Encore!
CLAIRE:
Byron reads most beautifully, don’t you think, Mary?
BYRON:
(AMUSED) Well enough to scare poor Percy out of his wits, by the look of it. Percy?
PERCY:
(DISTURBED, EDGY) What? What did you say?
MARY:
Percy? Are you alright?
PERCY:
Mary? (FEARFUL) What’s happened to you? You - you - your eyes!