Tales from the Vault (audio story)

Tales from the Vault
Companion(s):	Steven, Dodo, Jamie, Zoe, Jo, Romana
Featuring:	First Doctor Second Doctor Third Doctor Fourth Doctor Captain Ruth Matheson Warrant Officer Charlie Sato
Main enemy:	Kali Carash
Main setting:	The Vault, Gateshead, England, 2011 England, the 1960s England, the 1970s Kensington, 2002 South Africa, 1900
Key crew
Writer:	Jonathan Morris
Director:	Lisa Bowerman
Release details
Release number:	6.01
Release date:	July 2011
Format:	1 disc
Production code:	BFPDWCC45
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-576-1
The Companion Chronicles
← Previous	The Cold Equations
Next →	The Rocket Men

Tales from the Vault was the forty-fifth release in the Companion Chronicles audio range. It was the first story of season 6. It was written by Jonathan Morris and featured Steven Taylor, Zoe Heriot, Jo Grant and Romana I.

Publisher's summary

Welcome to the Vault — jokingly known as "the Museum of Terrors" — a high security establishment where UNIT keeps all of its alien artefacts.

New recruit Warrant Officer Charlie Sato is given a guided tour by Captain Ruth Matheson, and the archive reveals some dark secrets. An army jacket, a painting, crystal and a wax cylinder all hold a grave significance, and their stories are told by the Doctor's companions: Steven Taylor, Zoe Heriot, Jo Grant and Romana...

Plot

to be added

Cast

• Captain Ruth Matheson - Daphne Ashbrook
• Warrant Officer Charlie Sato - Yee Jee Tso
• Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
• Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury
• Jo Grant - Katy Manning
• Romana - Mary Tamm

References

to be added

Notes

• This is the second Companion Chronicles release to feature multiple companions from different eras (the first being AUDIO: The Three Companions). There are in fact six companions involved in the story, although only four are heard. This is not an omnibus of stories with linking material, but rather Jo, Romana, Steven and Zoe are worked into the narrative by way of archival recordings.
• As Big Finish does not have the rights to the TV movie characters Grace Holloway and Chang Lee, Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso participate in the Companion Chronicles by playing new characters. This isn't the first time companion actors have been brought in to perform characters other than their originals for the line. A reference to the movie is nonetheless made when Matheson talks about UNIT covering up strange events that occurred at the turn of the millennium.
• This audio drama features a cast of six actors, more than any other Companion Chronicle release to date.
• Many Companion Chronicles are in the form of one actor reading a story, but the format of this story allows it to be presented as a regular audio drama.
• Along with AUDIO: Mother Russia, Return of the Rocket Men and The War To End All Wars, this is one of only four Big Finish audio dramas to feature Dodo Chaplet as a character, though actress Jackie Lane has yet to reprise the role for Big Finish.
• After AUDIO: Peri and the Piscon Paradox, this is the second Companion Chronicle to feature more than one Doctor.
• This audio drama was primarily recorded on 11 November 2010, however according to the interview included on the CD, contributions from some cast members were recorded during sessions for other Companion Chronicles.
• The Vault appears to be a completely different facility than the Black Archive first referenced in The Sarah Jane Adventures and later featured in TV: The Day of the Doctor.

Continuity

• Captain Matheson tells Warrant Office Sato about the Terravore incursion in the London Underground in 2010. (AUDIO: The Crimes of Thomas Brewster)
• References are made to UNIT's involvement with an incident involving a sea monster appearing in the River Thames (TV: Terror of the Zygons) and the disturbances at the turn of the millennium (TV: Doctor Who, PROSE: Millennial Rites, AUDIO: The Panda Invasion).
• The events involving Romana take place in 2002, around the time that Matheson first began working with her UNIT division. This is only the second time that the Time Lady has been chronicled interacting with UNIT, given that she previously met Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in PROSE: Heart of TARDIS.
• The events involving Jo are said to take place "70-odd" years after the death of Tommy Watkins in 1900, placing the Doctor's exile on Earth in the early 1970s. This is consistent with the TV: Mawdryn Undead version of the UNIT dating controversy and the real life broadcasts.
• Jo mentions her encounter with the Axons (TV: The Claws of Axos) and the Sea Devils (TV: The Sea Devils)
• The stated aim of the Vault is very similar to the mandate of Torchwood One. (TV: Army of Ghosts)
• Private Tommy Watkins was killed in the Battle of Spion Kop in 1900 during the Second Boer War, as was the case with Joan Redfern's husband Oliver. (TV: Human Nature)
• Ruth mentions Krynoid husks (TV: The Seeds of Doom) and a hunk of what she thought was a Sontaran scout ship that crashed at Tunguska province.
• The painting the Fourth Doctor and Romana was investigating was stolen from the Braxiatel Collection two centuries ago, it could show the viewer's death. (AUDIO: Bernice Summerfield)

External links

• Official Tales from the Vault page at bigfinish.com
• Tales from the Vault at the Doctor Who Reference Guide