The Maltese Penguin was the first Doctor Who bonus story released by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Robert Shearman and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Robert Jezek as Frobisher.
The story was free to any subscribers whose subscription included Neverland. Numbered 33½, it was Big Finish's first "bonus" story that was not at first released to buy (outside of being included in subscriptions). This story featured Frobisher in the lead role. It was his second audio appearance (his first was The Holy Terror); the Doctor did appear in this story but was mostly sidelined for Frobisher's story. This was also the final audio story to feature Frobisher, and the first to feature Josiah W. Dogbolter.
Publisher's summary
"My friends call me Frobisher. My enemies call me Mr. Frobisher. And the junk mail department of the Galactic Readers' Digest call me Mrs. F R Rubbisher — but that's neither here nor there."
It was just another quiet day on the mean streets for Frobisher, private eye. But then a dame walks into his office and into his life. A dame who is drop dead gorgeous and drop dead deadly, offering him a case he just can't refuse.
Well, he could refuse it. If he really wanted to. But he has to pay the rent.
When their paths cross, Frobisher finds himself involved in a web of mayhem and intrigue. A web of gangland killings, corrupt cops, sentient bloodstains and very rude hotel receptionists. A web of murder and deceit, treachery and fisticuffs.
That sort of web. You know. The sticky kind.
Plot
to be added
Cast
References
- Josiah W. Dogbolter owns the planet Metazula Beta.
Notes
- This story was numbered 33½ on the spine. The Big Finish website rendered this as "33 1/2" before the 2019 redesign.[1]
- After the 2019 redesign, the number was removed and the release was added to The Sixth Doctor Adventures.
- The case bids it "A special side-step into a 2-D universe".
- This story marks the second appearance of Frobisher in an audio play. He previously appeared in this format in the audio story The Holy Terror. As of July 2020, this is his most recent appearance in a Big Finish audio drama.
- Dogbolter mentions his art collection contains "an original Ridgway", referring to the artist who originally drew Frobisher and Dogbolter in Doctor Who Magazine.
- This audio drama was recorded on 2 November 2001 at The Moat Studios.
- With the Doctor largely absent from the story, Colin Baker gets to voice both the Doctor and Frobisher when Frobisher takes the Doctor's form.
- This story pre-dates the Companion Chronicles series as a story told from the perspective of a companion, namely Frobisher.
Continuity
- Dogbolter first appeared in COMIC: The Moderator.
- Frobisher impersonates the Sixth Doctor. He had previously done so in his first appearance, COMIC: The Shape Shifter.
- Dogbolter owns a painting by van Gogh, but, along with his other pictures, it was put up facing the wall. Dogbolter noted that they were meant to represent his wealth, rather than be decorative. The Doctor would later meet van Gogh in his eleventh incarnation. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)