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The first series in the Bernice Summerfield range of audios was released by Big Finish Productions in 1998–2000 and marked the first commercially produced audios by Big Finish. The titular character of the range, Bernice Summerfield, was originally created by Paul Cornell for Virgin New Adventures novels. In contrast to the following seasons and, indeed, to most of the audios produced by Big Finish, the first series consisted of six adaptations, or "dramatisations" as they were called on the covers, of Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures and some Virgin New Adventures (in the latter, the character of the Doctor had to be omitted or replaced). It was on the strength of these adaptations that Big Finish were granted a licence from the BBC to produce original Doctor Who audio dramas in 1999.
The season included 6 regular releases and one limited-edition bonus release. Lisa Bowerman was cast for the titular role of Benny and remained the only actress to embody the role for 20 years and counting. For supporting roles, Big Finish were able to secure the talents of several prominent actors of televised Doctor Who fame, including Colin Baker and Nicholas Courtney, best known as the Sixth Doctor and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart respectively. The producer Gary Russell was even more recently involved in writing the novelisation of the 1996 Doctor Who (TV story) TV movie. Nicholas Briggs, who directed several of the adaptations, came into the production with the fresh experience of making unlicensed Audio Visuals audios.
Overview
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Featured actors
Production
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Crew
Producers
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Writers
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Directors
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Stories
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Cover art
The cover art for the season was heavily based on the book cover art of the adapted novels. The only exception was the cover for Walking to Babylon, which still represents the same scene as the book cover but drawn anew from a different angle.
Despite this uniform basic idea, the covers went through several styles during the season. The first two releases added the image of reclining Bernice Summerfield as drawn by Lee Sullivan overlayed in the bottom right corner of the cropped book cover. This image also formed the cover of the subscriber-only special release Buried Treasures.
- Covers with Lee Sullivan's art
Buried Treasures
For the releases 3–5, which form the "Time Ring Trilogy", the cover style was modified to include a ring motif. In addition to several typographical changes, photos of featured actors were placed on the cover.
- Covers with the ring motif
Finally, the last, sixth regular release of the season saw the introduction of "Professor Bernice Summerfield" logo designed by Paul Vyse. It has become a standard fixture for the range and was even applied retroactively when the first five regular stories were rereleased. The placement of the logo in the top left corner required using mirror images for some of the covers. The Time Ring Trilogy retained its ring motif, but Sullivan's Benny was gone. With the hindsight of Jason Kane's role in the range, Stephen Fewell, the actor portraying him, was added as "starring" on the covers of stories he appeared in.
- New covers with Paul Vyse's logo
Oh No It Isn't!
Beyond the Sun
Walking to Babylon
Birthright
Just War
Notes
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External links
Footnotes