Earlier this week a new Big
Finish series was announced, featuring the ‘Paternoster Gang’ from Doctor Who (as seen in A Good Man Goes To War, The Snowmen, The Crimson
Horror, The Name of the Doctor and Deep
Breath). My story, The Cars That Ate
London! is the first of three in the first box set, so I have the task of
setting up the series – although I’m pretty sure everyone can guess how the
series will work, as the format for future Vastra, Jenny and Strax adventures was
pretty well established in The Crimson
Horror. It’s a spin-off series that fans have been requesting for a good
five years now, so it’s great to finally kick it off. My story, as it’s the
first one, is deliberately a fairly what-it-says-on-the-tin thrills-and-spills adventure
in order to launch the format; you have to establish what a standard story is,
and then later on you can subvert it or experiment with the form.
I wrote it in ‘Steven Moffat’ mode (which is mainly just a
process of imagining him laughing at the jokes) so hopefully it will be a
seamless continuation from Deep Breath.
I was fortunate enough to attend the recording and I can tell you that all the
cast were absolutely note-perfect. It wasn’t hard to imagine the characters –
in fact, it was harder to imagine the actors. Dan Starkey knows Strax so well
he can adlib indefinitely, while it was rather wonderful to be able to watch
Neve McIntosh and Catrin Stewart interacting as Vastra and Jenny; not just
saying the words, but acting out the scenes physically and reacting with looks and gestures when they didn’t have lines. Which should all come across in
the finished product; you will be hearing the three of them in the studio,
together.
Anyway, the observant readers amongst you will notice that I haven’t mentioned what the story is about. Well, that is for Big Finish to announce as and when, you’ll get no secrets from me, Silurian. But it will be a lot of fun, I promise you.
The full announcement can be found here and the box set can be pre-ordered here.
Anyway, the observant readers amongst you will notice that I haven’t mentioned what the story is about. Well, that is for Big Finish to announce as and when, you’ll get no secrets from me, Silurian. But it will be a lot of fun, I promise you.
The full announcement can be found here and the box set can be pre-ordered here.