Slipback (audio story)
Slipback by Eric Saward was the first original Doctor Who serial to be produced for radio. It was first broadcast by BBC Radio in the summer of 1985 when the televised series was on hiatus for a year. The broadcast formed part of the three-part children's magazine series Pirate Radio Four which featured two ten-minute episodes per edition.
Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant reprised their TV roles for the production, which also included other cast members. It, along with the earlier Doctor Who and the Pescatons, is considered a forerunner of the later Big Finish Productions audio dramas. It was followed nearly a decade later by two more radio dramas starring Jon Pertwee and in 2007 by a new made-for-radio series for BBC7 (produced by Big Finish) starring Paul McGann.
Slipback was released on cassette by BBC Audio, and later on CD by Silva Screen Records.
Summary
The Sixth Doctor and Peri share an adventure on board a starship taken over by its dual personality computer, which tries to take the ship back to the dawn of the universe and start life again. Along the way the duo meet a couple of comedy policemen, an art thief and a captain who wants to infect his crew with one of his diseases...
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Colin Baker
- Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant
- Computer / Inner Voice - Jane Carr
- Grant - Jon Glover
- Bates / Snatch - Nick Revell
- Maston / Steward / Maintenance Service Drone 934 / Time Lord - Alan Thompson
- Slarn - Valentine Dyall
- Seedle - Ron Pember
Crew
- No other individuals were actually credited on-air at broadcast.
References
- The Doctor and Peri visited the planet Zaurak Minor previously in order ask for directions. They ended up going to a drinking establishment there and drinking large amounts of the alcoholic beverage Voxnic.
- Peri is believed to be a mini-Migarian.
- Splay-footed Hedrons are found on the planet Vigal Minor.
Notes
- This story was recorded on 10 June 1985 in Studio B11 at Broadcasting House.[1] Valentine Dyall died only fourteen days later.
- This story was broadcast on BBC 4 as part of the Thursday morning magazine programme Pirate Radio Four. Two episodes were broadcast; beginning on 25 July and finishing on 8 August.[1]
- The placement of this story in relation to other Sixth Doctor/Peri adventures is uncertain, since it was produced between Season 22 and Season 23. However, it's generally assumed that it takes place in the gap between those two seasons.
Continuity
- According to this story, the Vipod Mor is responsible for the Big Bang, yet in TV: Terminus another vessel was responsible for triggering the explosion, and TV: Castrovalva states that it was a "hydrogen in-rush".
Releases
- Released as a Silva Screen Records cassette in 1988, it was reissued on CD as part of the BBC Radio Collection on 8 January 2001, and was offered as a promotional giveaway by The Daily Telegraph in 2010.
Novelisation
- Main article: Slipback (novelisation)
Novelised as Slipback by Eric Saward in 1986. It was the first Target Books novelisation not based upon a televised story. The book is notable for not featuring the Doctor or Peri or directly adapting the radio play for its first fifty pages, instead expanding upon characters' backgrounds.
External links
- Slipback at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for Slipback at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
- The TARDIS Library - Slipback
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Howe, David J., Stammers, Mark, Walker, Stephen James, 1997, Doctor Who: The Eighties, Doctor Who Books, an imprint of Virgin Books, London, p.84
