The Fearmonger (audio story)

The Fearmonger
Doctor:	Seventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Ace
Main enemy:	Fearmonger
Main setting:	London, 2002
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Jonathan Blum
Director:	Gary Russell
Producer:	Jason Haigh-Ellery and Gary Russell
Post production:	Alistair Lock
Cover by:	Clayton Hickman
Release details
Release number:	5
Release date:	February 2000
Format:	4 Episodes on 2 CDs
Production code:	7R
ISBN:	ISBN 1-84435-044-4
Official trailer
Provided ID could not be validated.
Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories
← Previous	The Land of the Dead
Next →	The Marian Conspiracy

The Fearmonger was the fifth story in Big Finish's monthly Doctor Who range.

It was the first audio story featuring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace. It was also the first time the two actors had been back together playing these parts since 1993's Dimensions in Time.

Written by Jonathan Blum, this story continues Ace's continuity developed in other mediums such as her surname where here, like in the Virgin New Adventures novel Set Piece, it is stated to be McShane.

Publisher's summary

One would-be assassin is in a mental ward. Another's on the run. Their intended victim is stirring up the mobs. Terrorists are planning a strike of their own. A talk-radio host is loving every minute of it. A Whitehall insider whispers about a mysterious UN operative, with a hidden agenda. Everyone's got someone they want to be afraid of. It'll only take a little push for the situation to erupt — and something is doing the pushing. But you can trust the Doctor to put things right. Can't you?

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
• Ace - Sophie Aldred
• Sherilyn Harper - Jacqueline Pearce
• Stephen Keyser - Mark Wright
• Walter Jacobs - Mark McDonnell
• Mick Thompson - Vince Henderson
• Paul Tanner - Jonathan Clarkson
• Roderick Allingham - Hugh Walters
• Alexsandr Karadjic - Jack Galagher
• Hospital Tannoy Voice - John Ainsworth
• Hospital Doctor / Heckler - Alistair Lock

References

The Doctor

• The Doctor has several melancholy moments during this adventure, musing at one point that he is so old he fears nothing now, apart from the fear of Ace's death — which nearly happens when she is shot by Alexsandr Karadjic of the United Front.
• He claims that his relatives are very odd.

Individuals

• Ace contacts (and meets) an old friend from Perivale — Paul Tanner.

Organisations

• Several references are made to the Doctor's past involvement with UNIT. UNIT appears to have been particularly lax with the Doctor's file of late — besides a well-connected source like Roderick Allingham having access to it, students Walter Jacobs and Stephen Keyser have also seen a copy.
• Roderick Allingham, the New Britannia Party's media manager, worked for Department C19 for many years.

Politics

• Ethnic tensions are high: hate groups like Black Lightning and the White Wolves are committing terrorism and the New Britannia Party looked like it might win even before the United Front plot.
• The UK government has waited a full term (1997 to 2002) to have the election.

Notes

Revised cover art

• The cover of The Fearmonger was the first to be designed by future Doctor Who Magazine editor and DVD cover designer Clayton Hickman. The "fist" motif was inspired by one on a Tom Robinson album.

DWM illustration by Lee Sullivan.

• An illustrated preview for this story appeared in DWM 288 by Lee Sullivan.
• This is the first time that Ace's full name, Dorothy McShane, is mentioned in performed Doctor Who.
• This is the first Big Finish audio drama to take place entirely after the events of TV: Survival.
• This audio drama was recorded on 4 and 5 September 1999.
• In real life, the government held an election in 2001 instead of 2002.
• Alistair Lock's soundtrack to the story was released on CD in Music from the New Audio Adventures - Volume 1, alongside the scores for Phantasmagoria, The Marian Conspiracy and The Spectre of Lanyon Moor.

Continuity

• It has been fifteen years since Ace left Perivale in 1987. (TV: Survival)
• Ace's full name is given as Dorothy McShane, the surname given to her in Kate Orman's PROSE: Set Piece.
• The Doctor again observes that at his age, "There's very little to be afraid of." (TV: The Five Doctors)
• Roderick Allingham is aware of Department C19. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice, TV: Time-Flight, PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)
• Ace recalls the "'No Coloured' signs in 1963" (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) and "'Pakis Out' signs and petrol bombs" in her time. (TV: Ghost Light)

External links

• Official The Fearmonger page at bigfinish.com; note that it is out of print and is available as download only.
• The Fearmonger at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• DisContinuity for The Fearmonger at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide