The Doll of Death (audio story)

The Doll of Death
Main character(s):	Jo Grant
Featuring:	Third Doctor, the Brig, Yates, Benton
Main setting:	London, 1970s and 2000s
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Marc Platt
Director:	Lisa Bowerman
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	David Darlington
Sound:	David Darlington
Cover by:	Simon Holub
Release details
Release number:	3.3
Release date:	September 2008
Format:	1 CD
Production code:	BFPDWCC11
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-352-1
The Companion Chronicles
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The Doll of Death was the third story of the third series of The Companion Chronicles, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Marc Platt, narrated by Katy Manning and featured the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, Captain Yates, Sergeant Benton and UNIT.

Publisher's summary

A new adventure with the Third Doctor as told by his companion, Jo Grant.

"Retrocausation! Events before their cause. Time in reverse."

While investigating a temporal anomaly in Central London, the Doctor and Jo Grant meet Professor Harold Saunders, a man who possesses an unstable alien artefact, and who is seemingly haunted by the ghosts of dolls.

Who is the mysterious Mrs Killebrew? Why is a pack of hounds hunting them in reverse? And can Jo pick up any bargains while backwards shopping on Oxford Street?

Plot

to be added

Cast

• Jo Grant - Katy Manning
• Mrs Killebrew - Jane Goddard

References

• Jo is concerned about her husband Clifford Jones' blood pressure.
• Jo is staying in a London hotel as she is attending a climate conference.
• According to Jo, alien invasions always seemed to occur on Fridays.
• Mike Yates refers to Jo as "Jemima Bond, Licence to Spill."
• Jo was 18 years old when she began working for UNIT.
• In the National Museum, the Doctor indicates an Egyptian mummy to Jo, claiming that he knew the person in question in life.
• By the 2000s, UNIT HQ has become the embassy of an Eastern European country.
• The Doctor is now a British citizen.
• Benton has recently bought a new Allegro.
• Benton refers to the IRA.
• As a child, Jo had "an army of gonks and trolls" but even then found dolls creepy.

Textless cover art

Notes

• This was the first time that Katy Manning had reprised her role as Jo Grant since her departure in the television story The Green Death in 1973.
• This audio drama was recorded on 23 May 2008 at the Moat Studios.
• This story is set between The Dæmons and Day of the Daleks.
• Jo is 18 during this story. Taking her birthdate from then unpublished The Other Woman by Philip Lawrence, that would place this story in 1979. (AUDIO: The Other Woman) Although if we take that this story takes place in 1971, when Season 8 was broadcast, her birthdate would be 1952/1953, closer matching the 1951 birthdate given in the 2004 story, /Carpenter/Butterfly/Baronet, by Gareth Wigmore (PROSE: Carpenter/Butterfly/Baronet)

Continuity

• Jo refers to being hypnotised by the Master. (TV: Terror of the Autons)
• After their encounter with Mrs Killebrew, the Doctor and Jo were sent to Zayin Eight in the far future by the Time Lords. (AUDIO: The Mists of Time)
• Polly Wright would later read about this incident on Jo's blog. (AUDIO: The Three Companions)

External links

• Official The Doll of Death page at bigfinish.com
• The Doll of Death at the Doctor Who Reference Guide