Death and the Queen (audio story)

Death and the Queen
Doctor:	Tenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Donna Noble
Main enemy:	Mefistoles
Main setting:	Goritania, the 1780s
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	James Goss
Director:	Nicholas Briggs
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	Howard Carter
Sound:	Howard Carter
Cover by:	Tom Webster
Release details
Number of parts:	1
Release number:	1.3
Release date:	16 May 2016
Format:	1 CD Download 3rd of 3 stories
Production code:	BFPDW10TH01C
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-78575-230-8 (physical) ISBN 978-1-78575-235-3 (digital)
Behind the scenes video
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The Tenth Doctor Adventures
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Death and the Queen was the third and final story in The Tenth Doctor Adventures: Volume One, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by James Goss and featured David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble.

It was added for free to the podcast Into the TARDIS as part of Big Finish's 25th anniversary of creating Doctor Who audio stories. It was released in two parts on 28 March and 6 April 2024 and hosted by Sixth Doctor actor Colin Baker. It was the first story to be re-released onto the podcast.

Publisher's summary

Donna Noble has never been lucky in love.

So when, one day, her Prince does come, she is thrilled to have the wedding of all weddings to look forward to. Though the Doctor isn't holding his breath for an invitation. And her future mother-in-law is certainly not amused.

But on the big day itself, Donna finds her castle under siege from the darkest of forces, marching at the head of a skeleton army.

When it looks like even the Doctor can't save the day, what will Queen Donna do to save her people from Death itself?

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - David Tennant
• Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
• Rudolph - Blake Ritson
• Queen Mum - Alice Krige
• Hortense - Beth Chalmers
• Death - Alan Cox

Uncredited

• Maids - Beth Chalmers
• Cloud/Skeleton - Alan Cox

Crew

• Cover Art - Tom Webster
• Director - Nicholas Briggs
• Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
• Music and Sound Design - Howard Carter
• Producer - David Richardson
• Script Editor - Matt Fitton
• Writer - James Goss

Worldbuilding

Locations

• The Kingdom of Goritania has not gone to war for around five centuries.
• Goritania changes from a monarchy to a republic and was renamed as "The People's Republic of Goritania" six months after the events of this story.
• The Doctor and Donna were originally going to Blackpool but landed in the French Riviera instead where Donna met Rudolph.

Sonic Screwdriver

• The Doctor's sonic screwdriver has a setting for horseshoes.

The TARDIS

• The Doctor wonders why the TARDIS' translation circuits aren't translating the motto of the kingdom.

TV and film

• Donna refers to Death as "Skeletor".

Notes

• This story was originally released on CD and download. In 2019, this story was re-released on vinyl in a limited run of 1250 copies.
• This story was released dubbed in German, as Der Tod und die Königin.
• The Doctor compares Goritania to Brigadoon, a mysterious Scottish village from the musical of the same name which appears for one day every 100 years.
• This story was recorded on 22 October 2015 at The Moat Studios.
• When the Doctor said, "I love the smell of regime change in the morning", it was a reference to the line, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" from the 1979 film Apocalypse Now.
• This story was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 3 September 2022. It was later edited into two parts which were first broadcast on 10 and 13 November 2023. The first part ends after the Doctor admits he has lied to Donna.

Continuity

• Donna refers to her skill at shorthand. (TV: The Stolen Earth)
• Donna notes that she has a history of choosing bad men to marry. Her previous fiancé was Lance Bennett, who planned to sacrifice her in order to resurrect the Racnoss. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
• The Doctor states that the TARDIS is able to translate all languages (TV: The End of the World, The Christmas Invasion, Cold War) but that it sometimes failed to translate due to the age of the language. (TV: The Christmas Invasion, The Impossible Planet)
• Donna is once again part of a plan created between an alien being and her fiancé, using her as a sacrifice. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
• The Doctor refers to the fact that his companions leave the TARDIS to save another universe (TV: Warriors' Gate, Doomsday) or after they fall in love. (TV: The Myth Makers, The Green Death, The Invasion of Time, AUDIO: A Perfect World, Thicker Than Water)
• The Doctor says that he once had a robot dog who left him twice. (TV: The Invasion of Time, Warriors' Gate)
• The Doctor notes that he was present at Donna's previous wedding (TV: The Runaway Bride) and that he'll probably be present at her next. (TV: The End of Time)
• Donna refers to Death as "Skeletor". She also referred to both a Sycorax (COMIC: The Widow's Curse) and Meng Tian (COMIC: The Immortal Emperor) as such.
• The Doctor once again says, "My kingdom for a horse." (AUDIO: The Hollows of Time)

Cover gallery

• 

  Original CD cover

• 

  Textless cover

• 

  Vinyl cover

• 

  Textless vinyl cover

• 

  Doctor Who auf Deutsch cover

• 

  Vinyl packshot

External links

• Official Death and the Queen page at bigfinish.com
• Official Doctor Who auf Deutsch: Der Tod und die Königin page at bigfinish.com
• Official Death and the Queen page at serialbox.com