The Fourth Wall (audio story)

The Fourth Wall
Doctor:	Sixth Doctor
Companion(s):	Flip
Main enemy:	Krarn, Warmongers, Chimbly, Porcians
Main setting:	Transmission, c. 2,000,000
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	John Dorney
Director:	Nicholas Briggs
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	Jamie Robertson
Sound:	Jamie Robertson
Cover by:	Simon Holub
Release details
Number of parts:	4
Release number:	157
Release date:	10 February 2012
Format:	2 CDs Download
Production code:	7C/NAB
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-605-8 (physical) ISBN 978-1-78575-705-1 (digital)
Main Range
← Previous	The Curse of Davros
Next →	Wirrn Isle

You may wish to consult Fourth wall (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

The Fourth Wall was the one hundred and fifty-seventh story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by John Dorney and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Lisa Greenwood as Flip Jackson.

Publishers summary

Business is bad for intergalactic media mogul Augustus Scullop, whose Trans-Gal empire is on the rocks. But, having retreated to his own private planet, Transmission, Scullop is about to gamble his fortune on a new show, made with an entirely new technology. And the name of that show... is Laser.

Back in the real world, far from the realms of small screen sci-fi fantasies about monsters and aliens, the Doctor is interested only in watching Test Match cricket... but finds himself drawn into Scullop's world when his new travelling companion, Flip, is snatched from inside the TARDIS.

So, while the Doctor uncovers the terrible secret of Trans-Gal's new tech, Flip battles to survive in a barren wilderness ruled over by the indestructible Lord Krarn and his pig-like servants, the Warmongers. And the name of that wilderness... is "Stevenage".

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Colin Baker
• Flip Jackson - Lisa Greenwood
• Augustus Scullop - Julian Wadham
• Dr. Helen Shepherd - Yasmin Bannerman
• Nick Kenton / Jack Laser - Hywel Morgan
• Matthew Howland / Lord Krarn - Martin Hutson
• Olivia Sayle / Jancey - Tilly Gaunt
• Chimbly / Head Warmonger - Kim Wall
• Junior / Warmonger - Henry Devas

Crew

• Cover Art - Simon Holub
• Director - Nicholas Briggs
• Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
• Music and Sound Design - Jamie Robertson
• Producer - David Richardson
• Script Editor - Alan Barnes
• Writer - John Dorney

Worldbuilding

Individuals

• The Doctor tells Flip that he is not as interested in cricket as his previous incarnation and notes that many of his other incarnations are "astonishingly irritating."
• The Doctor is impressed by a reverse sweep in the match.
• The Doctor previously encountered Chimbly on Ballastron VII as well as several other planets.
• Xander Drexel was Augustus Scullop's business partner before he left Trans-Gal and created his own company, which proved to be considerably more successful.

Foods and beverages

• Flip makes popcorn using the TARDIS' food machine.

Planets

• Augustus Scullop has a home on an artificial planetoid called Transmission.
• The Porcians once attempted to invade Skaro.

Cultural references from the real world

• Flip compares Transmission to the Death Star from Star Wars.
• Flip refers to the James Bond film franchise.
• Flip states that the Warmongers are not exactly crack shots, comparing them to "terrorists trying to attack Bruce Willis".
• Flip tells Lord Krarn that she has seen more realistic looking weapons than the Warmongers' on Blue Peter.
• Flip states that Jancey's description of Earth's fate since the Warmonger invasion five years earlier sounds as if she was reading a summary of the plot on Wikipedia.
• The Doctor enjoys the "fifth One Day International between Australia and South Africa 2006" on the Time-Space Visualiser.

Time technology

• Trans-Gal's reality generator utilises dimensional transcendentalism to create the dimensional bubble.

Notes

• This audio drama was recorded on 14 and 15 June 2011 at the Moat Studios.
• Another audio story, Infamy of the Zaross, also focused on a loose connection between fiction and reality and was also penned by Dorney.
• This story is set between The Trial of a Time Lord and Time and the Rani.
• This story was originally released on CD and download on 10 February 2012.

Gallery

• 

  Original CD cover art.

• 

  Textless cover art.

Continuity

• Flip mentions her encounter with the Daleks and Napoléon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815. (AUDIO: The Curse of Davros)
• Nick Kenton refers to the Acteon Galaxy. (TV: Carnival of Monsters, Planet of the Spiders)
• The Porcians said that they shouldn't have taken a left turn at Delta Magna. (TV: The Power of Kroll)
• The Doctor would encounter Chimbly again during his seventh incarnation. (AUDIO: You Are the Doctor)
• Given that Chimbly later has an encounter with Sabalom Glitz and Mel sometime after this story, this would mean that it would have to take place place sometime after the year 2,000,000. (TV: The Mysterious Planet, AUDIO: You Are the Doctor)

External links

• Official The Fourth Wall page at bigfinish.com
• DisContinuity for The Fourth Wall at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide