Speed of Light

It turns out that I wrote another Doctor Who story during the first frenetic month of lockdown*. It’s just been announced. It’s called Lightspeed and it’s part two of an 8-episode story spread across two releases, comprising Shadow of the Daleks 1 and – you’re ahead of me - Shadow of the Daleks 2.

For various reasons Big Finish needed me to come up with a story fairly swiftly, and so I went back through my ‘ideas’ folder to see what I could find. I came up with the basic idea for Lightspeed in 2016 and have pitched it numerous times since then as a dramatic audio, a narrated audio, a comic strip and a novel. All without success, even though I was convinced it was a brilliantly strong, simple idea, exactly the sort of thing that Russell T Davies would have done on telly. And the thing is, each time I pitched it for a different medium or Doctor, I went back through the story, refining it, adding extra ideas, tightening up the plot, so the end result is a story six years in the making. It’s certainly had six years of idle thought put into it; one of my ways of passing the interminable hours waiting for my son to fall asleep has been to rethink unused Doctor Who story ideas. I have, as you might expect, quite a lot of them, but Lightspeed was always my favourite. And now it isn’t an unused Doctor Who story idea at all.

It’s a fifth Doctor story, the Peter Davison one, and the blurb is:

The trail has led the Doctor to a spaceship in the far future - where he finds himself trapped in the middle of a terrifying revenge plot.

And, as its title suggests, it is a non-stop fast-paced action adventure. It’s a story that could easily have been told in 45 minutes packed into 25 minutes.

There are also three other stories on the CD by fine writers, and the cast includes Dervla Kirwan (!), Anjli Mohindra (!) and Jamie Parker (!). (A few years ago every time I went to the theatre Jamie Parker was in it, which is what happens if you go to see Henry IV 1 & 2, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Henry V one after the other).

The story can be pre-ordered here. 

* As well as a book, stuff for DWM, stuff to be announced and stuff that has since fallen through. One day my future biographer will look back at this time and be amazed at how much I got done.

Talking To Ghosts

Earlier this year, I had the immense pleasure of writing a Doctor Who story for the 10th Doctor (“Tenny”), as portrayed by David Tennant, and River Song, as portrayed by Alex Kingston. The story was recorded – and, indeed, written – under “lock down”, which is only interesting insofar as it makes absolutely no difference to the finished product. The madness of April 2020 will be the stuff of legend!

My story is one of three in a box set, it’s called Ghosts, and here’s the blurb: 

River and the Doctor meet on the most haunted planet in the galaxy. The Doctor’s not sure it’s an ideal date - until they discover a mystery.

Something is wrong with the ghosts. Something might even be killing them...

And as the Doctor and River investigate, the truth of what’s happening on the planet of ghosts may prove deadly for them both.

Something is going around killing ghosts? Ooh. Sounds mysterious and spooky, I know.

As is always the case, when things are announced I go back and re-read my script because I can’t wait to listen to it and it’s the next best thing. There are some pretty cool moments in there, and some quite funny lines, which will be even better when delivered by David and Alex, with all the zhush of the sound design and music.

It’s not out until November. I don’t know how I’m going to last that long. It can be pre-ordered here.

In the meantime, I have Doctor Who Magazine keeping me busy. Please keep buying the magazine, people. If possible, subscribe. Everybody working on the magazine is busting a gut to keep it going, and is very conscious that the magazine offers its readers a few hours’ escape, distraction, and Doctor Who-related joy. Which is needed now more than ever. Small, beautiful magazines are what life is all about.

In the latest issue there’s another instalment of The Blogs of Doom, where I have lots of fun pointing out silly things in the story Blink. Yes, it may be a classic, but no Doctor Who story can withstand harsh comedic scrutiny. I hope it amuses.

Doctor Who Magazine is available from all good newsagents and online here.

Monster Love

The last couple of months have been rather stressful, so of course updating this blog has taken a back seat and been left on the back burner, which has now set fire to the back seat which just demonstrates the dangers of mixing metaphors. Stay safe, people!

Anyway. News. One of the things I’ve been working on over the past couple of months has been Doctor Who: The Monster Vault. It is, I can say without fear of exaggeration, going to be amazing. Yes, there have been Doctor Who monster books before – all the way back to Terrance Dicks’ first one, back in 1975, which was probably responsible for me becoming a Doctor Who fan – so the whole raison d’être has been to make this one different, exceptional, and the best one ever.

Nearer the time I’ll write about how I went about researching the various entries for the monsters but, of course, if you know me you’ll know that I never leave any stone unturned in terms of finding out new facts and in coming up with mad new theories that fit all the facts we are told on screen.

I promise you, you will laugh. You will be amazed. You will doubt for my sanity. 

The illustrations are also – oh, I can hardly wait for you to see them. Everyone is joyous and a thrill. This book will warm the hearts of any Doctor Who fan. It will, I hope, be their go-to cheer-up book, just as The Doctor Who Monster Book was for me, all those years ago.

It’s out on the 22nd October. You can pre-order it here.

In other news, I’m sure you haven’t forgotten to pick up the latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine with the latest instalment of The Blogs of Doom. I’ve done 32 now! And they hoped it wouldn’t last!