Exile (audio story)

Exile
Doctor:	The Doctor
Companion(s):	Cherrie, Cheese
Main enemy:	Time Lords
Main setting:	London, 2000
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Nicholas Briggs
Director:	Nicholas Briggs
Producer:	John Ainsworth and Jason Haigh-Ellery
Music:	Nicholas Briggs
Sound:	Andy Hardwick
Cover by:	Clayton Hickman
Release details
Number of parts:	1
Release number:	6
Release date:	3 November 2003
Format:	1 CD Download
Production code:	DWUN06
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-015-5 (physical) ISBN 978-1-78575-263-6 (digital)
Doctor Who Unbound
← Previous	Deadline
Next →	A Storm of Angels

Exile was the sixth Doctor Who Unbound produced by Big Finish Productions. It was the first long-form story to feature a female Doctor, played by Arabella Weir.

Controversially, the story tried to establish that "sex-change regeneration" came as a result of suicide, and was considered a crime in Time Lord society. It also depicted this first woman Doctor as a failure; an alcoholic with a job at Sainsbury's and a dull life, void of adventure. In 2017, Briggs — having written and directed this story — admitted that he regrets these plot points, but also dismissed it as "a bit of a joke" in a "fairly humorous episode".

No incarnation of the Doctor was played by a woman in the main Doctor Who universe for another 14 years. In 2017, Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor was introduced in Twice Upon a Time. Her predecessor's regeneration was not the result of a suicide. The Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who establishes that, in the main universe, changing gender is a perfectly ordinary possibility in the process of regeneration. Fugitive of the Judoon introduced another female incarnation of the Doctor, the Fugitive Doctor.

Publisher's summary

What if...the Doctor had escaped the justice of the Time Lords?

"They want to punish me for being me!"

All the Doctor has to do to avoid being caught by the Time Lords is work in a supermarket and go to the pub. It's a cunning plan — certainly far less dangerous than fighting the dreaded Quarks and all those other alien fiends.

But just when everything seemed mundane and safe, alien transmissions, exploding poison gas, Princess Anne and wobbly trolleys burst onto the scene to ruin everything. It's a crisis! A fiendish alien plot! And the Doctor must use all the resources at her disposal to defeat it. She'll probably need to have a large vodka first, though.

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Arabella Weir
• Cherrie / Royal Personage / Ethel / Mum / Child - Hannah Smith
• Cheese / Time Lord Guard / Scarecrow - Jeremy James
• Time Lord 1 - Toby Longworth
• Time Lord 2 / Pub Landlord - David Tennant
• Baggit / War Lord / Savoy Doorman / TV Reporter/ Presenter - Graham Duff
• Previous Doctor - Nicholas Briggs

Crew

• Cover Art - Clayton Hickman
• Writer, Music, Script Editor & Director - Nicholas Briggs
• Executive Producer - Jacqueline Rayner
• Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and John Ainsworth
• Sound Design - Andy Hardwick

Worldbuilding

• It is stated that for a Time Lord to change sex, the previous incarnation must commit suicide.
• The Doctor uses Venusian aikido on a drunk man named Bob.
• The Time Lords say that, had the Doctor cooperated, she could have worked for a secret government organisation and fought alien invasions.

Notes

• The pseudonyms that the previous Doctor attributes to the Master are "Roger, Peter, Geoffrey, Tony and Eric, Robert and Sam." This is a reference to the actors who played the character of the Master at the time: Roger Delgado, Peter Pratt, Geoffrey Beevers, Anthony Ainley, Eric Roberts and Sam Kisgart.
• This audio drama was recorded on 1 September 2003 at the Moat Studios.
• This audio drama features a remixed version Lee Mansfield's Unbound theme used for Sympathy for the Devil and He Jests at Scars... composed by Nicholas Briggs.
• The idea of putting on a costume mask and interrupting a TV broadcast is a reference to the infamous Max Headroom signal hijacking, which occurred during an American airing of Horror of Fang Rock.
• This story was originally released on CD. It is now available as a download only.
• The story was reissued in the audio anthology Unbound: 1-8 Collected in September 2022.

Continuity

• The Doctor uses the pseudonym "Susan Foreman" while on Earth. (TV: An Unearthly Child)
• The Doctor mentions that she has defeated the Quarks on numerous occasions. (TV: The Dominators; COMIC: Invasion of the Quarks, The Killer Wasps, Jungle of Doom, Martha the Mechanical Housemaid, The Duellists, Death Race)
• The Doctor still has her sonic screwdriver (TV: Fury from the Deep) and practices Venusian aikido. (TV: Inferno)
• The Doctor mentions her role in combating the 22nd century Dalek invasion of Earth. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
• The War Lord and his people are erased from history by the Time Lords. (TV: The War Games)
• The Time Lords use scarecrows to track down the Doctor. (COMIC: The Night Walkers)

External links

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