The Magician's Oath (audio story)

The Magician's Oath
Main character(s):	Mike Yates
Featuring:	Third Doctor, Jo, the Brig, Benton
Main enemy:	Diamond Jack
Main setting:	London, the 1970s
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writers:	Scott Handcock
Director:	Nigel Fairs
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	Jamie Robertson
Sound:	Rob Thrush
Cover by:	Simon Holub
Release details
Number of parts:	2
Release number:	3.10
Release date:	April 2009
Format:	1 CD Download
Production code:	BFPDWCC18
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-379-8 (physical) ISBN 978-1-78178-501-0 (digital)
The Companion Chronicles
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The Magician's Oath was the tenth story of the third series of The Companion Chronicles, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Scott Handcock, narrated by Richard Franklin and featured the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Captain Yates, Sergeant Benton and UNIT.

Publisher's summary

"You must never tell. Not a soul. That's the magician's oath."

A heatwave in July and a tube train is discovered buried in twenty inches of snow. A Saturday afternoon in Hyde Park and scores of people are instantly frozen to death where they stand while the sun beats down from the sky. Freak weather conditions in London, and the Doctor and UNIT are called in to find the cause.

Meanwhile, a street magician, who was witnessed at the scene of the tragedy, entertains crowds in Covent Garden. As Jo Grant and Mike Yates disobey orders and investigate alone, they discover an enemy with terrifying powers. And they may not live to share his secrets...

Plot

to be added

Cast

• Mike Yates - Richard Franklin
• Diamond Jack - Michael Chance

Crew

• Cover Art - Simon Holub
• Director - Nigel Fairs
• Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
• Music - Jamie Robertson
• Producer - David Richardson
• Script Editor - Jacqueline Rayner
• Sound Design - Rob Thrush
• Writer - Scott Handcock

Worldbuilding

• Mike met up with Jo Grant recently.
• One Saturday afternoon in July during the 1970s, Hyde Park completely froze over over the course of several minutes.
• The Doctor attempted to revive several of the frozen Hyde Park victims using alien cryogenic technology but his efforts were unsuccessful as they were too far gone.
• The Doctor drives Bessie.

Notes

• This audio drama was recorded on 13 June 2008 at the Moat Studios.
• This story is set between The Dæmons and Day of the Daleks.
• This story is told from Mike Yates' perspective.
• This story was originally released on CD and download. It is now available as a download only.

Textless cover art

Continuity

• This story is set amid the "freak weather conditions" that occurred around the events of TV: The Claws of Axos ^[+]Loading...["The Claws of Axos (TV story)"].
• Mike comments that UNIT "doesn't even mean the same thing anymore," referring to the fact that its name was changed from "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce" to the "Unified Intelligence Taskforce." This happened off-screen prior to TV: The Sontaran Stratagem ^[+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"] / The Poison Sky ^[+]Loading...["The Poison Sky (TV story)"].
• Diamond Jack refers to Jo's uncle, a senior figure in UNIT. He was first mentioned at Jo's introduction in TV: Terror of the Autons ^[+]Loading...["Terror of the Autons (TV story)"].
• Diamond Jack refers to the fact that the Doctor was exiled to Earth by the Time Lords. The sentence was passed in TV: The War Games ^[+]Loading...["The War Games (TV story)"], and began on television in Spearhead from Space ^[+]Loading...["Spearhead from Space (TV story)"]. The Second Doctor was actually exiled before his regeneration as revealed in COMIC: Action in Exile ^[+]Loading...["Action in Exile (comic story)"].
• AUDIO: The Screaming Skull ^[+]Loading...["The Screaming Skull (audio story)"] shows that Diamond Jack's cabinet would be stored in UNIT's Vault by 2014.

External links

• Official The Magician's Oath page at bigfinish.com
• The Magician's Oath at the Doctor Who Reference Guide