The Kingmaker (audio story)

The Kingmaker
Doctor:	[[doctor::Fifth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Peri Brown Erimem
Main enemy:	William Shakespeare (Mr Seyton) Richard, Duke of Gloucester / Richard III of England
Main setting:	London, 1597, April to November 1483 and June to 22 August 1485
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::Big Finish Productions]]
Writer:	Nev Fountain
Director:	Gary Russell
Producer:	Andy Hardwick Gareth Jenkins @ ERS
Release details
Release number:	81
Release date:	April 2006
Format:	4 Episodes on 2 CDs
Production code:	6Q/I
ISBN:	ISBN 1-84435-161-0
Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories
← Previous	Time Works
Next →	The Settling

The Kingmaker, uniquely features the Fourth Doctor not played by Tom Baker, but rather by Jon Culshaw, known in the UK for his impersonation of the actor.

Publisher's summary

The Doctor encounters one of the most notorious characters from the past as he journeys through time to solve the great Historical Mysteries...

Not surprisingly, the Doctor becomes mixed up with Richard III himself as he tries to unravel the perplexing problem of who exactly killed the princes in the Tower.

Peri and Erimem also encounter a suspicious time traveller. Someone from the Doctor's own past. Someone who shouldn't really be there at all.

So who did murder the princes in the Tower? Perhaps it's best not to ask a question like that...

You might not like the answer...

Doctor Who Discovers Historical Mysteries is one of a new series of illustrated Doctor Who books. Watch out for other instalments of Doctor Who's journeys of discovery.

Plot

to be added

Cast

• Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison
• Peri - Nicola Bryant
• Erimem - Caroline Morris
• Clarrie - Arthur Smith
• Mr Seyton - Michael Fenton-Stevens
• Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard III) - Stephen Beckett
• Henry, Duke of Buckingham - Marcus Hutton
• Earl Rivers / The Fourth Doctor- Jon Culshaw
• Sir James Tyrell - Chris Neill
• Susan - Katie Wimpenny
• Judith - Linzi Matthews

References

Individuals

• Peri thinks Mr Seyton is the Master.
• William Shakespeare hitched a ride in the TARDIS.

Books

• The Fourth Doctor considered writing books entitled How Green Was My Gallifrey and The Female UNIT.

Notes

File:The Kingmaker comic preview.png

Illustrated preview from DWM issue 368. Illustration by Martin Geraghty.

• Released in 2006, this was the first 'appearance' of the Fourth Doctor in a Big Finish audio, in the context of the Fifth Doctor listening to a voice recording made by his previous self. The Fourth Doctor's recorded voice is performed here by Jon Culshaw. Tom Baker would not reprise the role of the Fourth Doctor for Big Finish until 2011.
• The Doctor's Doctor Who Discovers book series is a reference to the real-world Doctor Who Discovers book series. The cover art for the CD depicts the cover of one of these books, using the same format as the real-world books. It also displays the Tom Baker-era Doctor Who logo in an in-universe context.
• The Doctor's offhand comment that "it was either that or write a novelty cookbook" is a reference to The Doctor Who Cookbook.
• Marcus Hutton previously played another Duke of Buckingham in BFA: The Church and the Crown, which likewise featured the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem.
• In real life, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence is an ancestor of Lalla Ward.
• A preview for this audio story appeared in Doctor Who Magazine Issue 368 illustrated by Martin Geraghty.
• This audio drama was recorded on 20 and 21 November 2005.

Continuity

• The Doctor tells Peri and Erimem that his previous incarnation was inspired to write the Doctor Who Discovers series of books after the Loch Ness Monster, in actuality a Skarasen, was seen swimming up the River Thames. (DW: Terror of the Zygons)
• Peri refers to her encounter with the Master and Kamelion on Sarn. (DW: Planet of Fire)
• As a young boy, Shakespeare met the Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard in the 2050s and briefly travelled in the TARDIS, which has not yet occurred in the Doctor's personal timeline. (BFA: The Time of the Daleks)
• Richard III as Shakespeare went on to meet the Tenth Doctor in DW: The Shakespeare Code, which is in both in Shakespeare and the Doctor's personal futures, though this adventure and its revelations about Shakespeare are not acknowledged by either.
• Peri would later visit 16th century England on at least two subsequent occasions in the company of the Sixth Doctor. (BFA: Point of Entry, BFA: Recorded Time)
• In 1483, Clarrie tells Peri and Erimem that the Doctor's letters were delivered to the Kingmaker by a "Northern chap with big ears." (DW: Rose)
• Erimem tells Peri that she believes in an afterlife. She seems to be have modified her views since first meeting the Doctor and Peri, when she claimed that she did not believe in the Egyptians gods. (BFA: The Eye of the Scorpion)

Timeline

For the Doctor

• The Kingmaker occurs after BFA: The Council of Nicaea
• The Kingmaker occurs before BFA: The Gathering

For Peri and Erimem

• The Kingmaker occurs after BFA: The Council of Nicaea
• The Kingmaker occurs before BFA: The Veiled Leopard

External links

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