Criss-Cross (audio story)
Criss-Cross was the two hundred and fourth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Matt Fitton and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and formally introduced Miranda Raison as the new companion Constance Clarke.
Constance had previously appeared in The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure due to its earlier than previously scheduled release. This was meant to be Constance's audio debut.
Publisher's summary
Bletchley Park. Britain's most secret weapon in the Second World War.
Inside draughty huts, the earliest computers clatter day and night, decoding enemy transmissions and revealing intelligence crucial to the country's defence. Leading WREN Mrs Constance Clarke directs her charges to provide vital assistance to the boffins stationed in the Manor House. But a recent arrival among the code-breakers, the mysterious Dr Smith, has attracted the attention of MI5's spycatchers...
Over in mainland Europe, Nazi agents are briefed, covert operations planned, and a German submarine embarks on a very secret mission.
As encrypted radio waves criss-cross the planet, unearthly forces stir. And when certain cyphers are cracked, something will emerge to threaten all humanity, regardless of allegiance...
Until now...
Plot
Part one
to be added
Part two
to be added
Part three
to be added
Part four
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Colin Baker
- Constance Clarke - Miranda Raison
- Robbie Flint / Cyril - Paul Thornley
- Major Harris / German Lieutenant - Alistair Petrie
- Dr Schwartzmann / Rider - Hugh Fraser
- Sylvia Wimpole / Waveform / Effy - Charlotte Salt
- Captain Unger / Dutch / British Captain / Chuadri - Robbie Stevens
Crew
- Cover Art - Tom Webster
- Director - Ken Bentley
- Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
- Music & Sound Designer - Steve Foxon
- Producer - David Richardson
- Script Editor - Alan Barnes
- Writer - Matt Fitton
Worldbuilding
- The Doctor uses his common alias "Dr John Smith" while working in Hut 12A at Bletchley Park.
- Sylvia Wimpole was a mathematical prodigy at the University of Cambridge.
- Robbie Flint claims that he was the best safe cracker in Bermondsey in the 1930s.
- Flint speaks both German and French.
- Constance grew up in Nyasaland. She returned to the United Kingdom after her father died of tuberculosis.
- Constance began working at Bletchley in 1940.
- Constance's husband Lieutenant Commander Henry Clarke is a member of the Naval Intelligence Service. He was posted to special duties in November 1943.
- The Doctor has signed the Official Secrets Act several times.
- Constance received a first in modern languages at Somerville College, University of Oxford.
- Constance was on duty in spring 1941 the night that Alan Turing cracked the code.
- The Doctor compares the ingenuity of Bletchley Park to Logopolis.
- The Doctor mockingly refers to Flint as "Lord Haw Haw" and the Chuadri as "Casper the Friendly Ghost".
Notes
- This story was recorded at The Moat Studios.
- On the cover, The Doctor is shown wearing a new costume comprising of a Bletchley tweed, a dark waistcoat, blue shirt and a bow-tie. He would wear it again on the cover of Quicksilver.
- Subscriptions that included this story also included the audio short story The Warren Legacy.
- According to the extras, the script to The End of the Line, the first story in which Constance appeared, was written prior to Criss-Cross even though this story was intended to be released before it.
Continuity
- The Doctor again expresses a fondness for fishing. (TV: The Androids of Tara, The Two Doctors)
- Major Harris thinks that Winston Churchill would love to get hold of a machine like the TARDIS. (TV: Victory of the Daleks , AUDIO: Their Finest Hour et al)
- The Doctor refers to Alan Turing. During his eighth incarnation, the Doctor would later receive help from Turing in cracking an alien code in 1944. (PROSE: The Turing Test)
- The Doctor claims that Bletchley Park almost puts Logopolis to shame. (TV: Logopolis)
- Kinvar detected the Doctor's presence while he was at Bletchley Park and waited several months for him to return. (AUDIO: Quicksilver)
External links
- Official Criss-Cross page at bigfinish.com
