The Eternal Summer (audio story)

The Eternal Summer
Doctor:	Fifth Doctor
Companion(s):	Nyssa
Featuring:	Maxwell Edison
Main enemy:	Viridios, the Lord and Lady of the Manor
Main setting:	Stockbridge, 4 August 2009, 12 June 1984, 16 June 1995 and 1950
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Jonathan Morris
Director:	Barnaby Edwards
Post production:	Howard Carter
Cover by:	Simon Holub
Release details
Release number:	128
Release date:	November 2009
Format:	4 episodes on 2 CDs
Production code:	6C/O
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-431-3
Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories
← Previous	Castle of Fear
Next →	Plague of the Daleks

The Eternal Summer was the one hundred and twenty-eighth monthly Doctor Who audio story produced by Big Finish Productions. It was the second story in a trilogy centring around the fictional town of Stockbridge. This audio also marked the audio debut of Maxwell Edison, now played by Mark Williams. Edison, as well as the village of Stockbridge, was created in Doctor Who Magazine comic stories.

Publisher's summary

It's been a long, hot summer in Stockbridge. Longer than the villagers can remember. Summer's lease is never-ending — and all thanks to the Lord and Lady of the Manor!

One man alone knows that something's wrong: Maxwell Edison, Stockbridge's unofficial ambassador to the universe. Or "flying saucer nut", as the locals have it. He'll need help proving it: from the local postmistress Miss Nyssa, perhaps; or the village Doctor, the fellow that's been living at the Green Dragon Inn these last 30 years.

They'd better hope that autumn never comes to Stockbridge. When autumn comes, the world is doomed...

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor/Lord of the Manor - Peter Davison
• Nyssa/Lady of the Manor - Sarah Sutton
• Maxwell Edison - Mark Williams
• Lizzie Corrigan - Pam Ferris
• Harold Withers - Roger Hammond
• Alice Withers - Susan Brown
• Dudley Jackson - Nick Brimble
• Jane Potter - Abigail Hollick
• Vicar - Barnaby Edwards
• Geoff - Nicholas Briggs

References

Individuals

• Alice Withers may be a descendant of Maud the Withered.
• The Lord of the Manor almost utters the Doctor's true name, but has forgotten it.
• Maxwell has read every one of Terry Pratchett's books.

English towns and villages

• Stockbridge exists/existed within a stasis bubble for sixty years.

Organisations

• In an alternate timeline, Lizzie Corrigan ran the Psychic Investigation Group (PIG).

Spacecraft

• The Lord and Lady's manor is built on top of the Rutans' spacecraft.

Cultural references from the real world

• Lizzie tells Max that her PIG teammates are fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files.
• Lizzie compares the situation in Stockbridge to the storyline of the 1954 film Brigadoon starring Gene Kelly and Van Johnson.

Notes

• CD 1 contains the CD extras following parts 1 & 2.
• Included on CD 2 is The Three Companions; Episode 9 - "Many Meetings".
• This audio drama was recorded on 11 and 12 June 2009.

Continuity

• AUDIO: Castle of Fear leads directly into this story.
• When the Lady of the Manor touches Nyssa, there are flashbacks to AUDIO: Circular Time, AUDIO: The Mutant Phase and AUDIO: Primeval.
• Maxwell Edison first appeared and met the Doctor in COMIC: Stars Fell on Stockbridge, which is partially dramatised here in flashbacks.
• Nyssa unsuccessfully looks for her former lover, Andrew. During this quest, his surname is revealed to be Harper. (AUDIO: Autumn)
• The TARDIS interior would revert to that of a regular police box again in TV: Father's Day.
• The Doctor compared the village's circumstances to the fake Devesham which he and Sarah Jane Smith discovered on Oseidon during his fourth incarnation. (TV: The Android Invasion)

External links

• Official The Eternal Summer page at bigfinish.com
• The Eternal Summer at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• DisContinuity for The Eternal Summer at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide