Seasons of Fear (audio story)

It was the third in a series of 6 audio stories featuring the Eighth Doctor. It was the first appearance of the Nimon since the 1979/1980 television story The Horns of Nimon.

Publisher's summary

On New Year's Eve, 1930, the Eighth Doctor lets Charley keep her appointment at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. But his unease at what he's done to time by saving her life soon turns into fear. Sebastian Grayle: immortal, obsessed, ruthless, has come to the city to meet the Time Lord. To the Doctor, he's a complete stranger, but to Grayle, the Doctor is an old enemy.

An enemy that, many years ago, he finally succeeded in killing. And this is his only chance to gloat.

The Doctor and Charley desperately search human history for the secret of Grayle's power and immortality. Their quest takes in four different time periods, the Hellfire Club, the court of Edward the Confessor, and the Time Vortex itself. And when the monsters arrive, the stakes are raised from the life of one Time Lord to the existence of all humanity.

Plot

to be added

Cast

References

The Doctor

According to Charley, the Doctor smells of honey.
The Doctor acquires various aliases such as Ambrosius Clemensis and Sir Peter Pollard.
Charley thinks that the Doctor lets her win when they play Scrabble.

Minerals

Grayle (as Leofric of Exeter) mines uranium and creates plutonium in England in 1055.

Literature

Charley has read a lot of Jane Austen novels.

Notes

Comic preview from DWM 315. Illustration by Martin Geraghty.

This story marks the first appearance of the Nimon in an audio drama.
This audio drama was recorded on 19 and 20 January 2001 and 27 February 2002.
Although the publisher's summary states that the story begins at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, this is incorrect, as the Doctor's opening monologue in Part 1 states that he had taken Charley to the Singapore Hilton hotel.
When discussing Grayle's immortality with Charley, the Doctor notes that he considers his ability to regenerate superior to Grayle just living forever as regeneration allows him to change where Grayle remains stuck in his existing viewpoint; this is in sharp contrast to the Doctor's attitude towards regeneration in his tenth and twelfth incarnations, with these later Doctors initially reluctant to change out of fear of losing the men they were.

Continuity

Charley tells the Doctor that she stowed away on the R101 in order to meet a young man named Alex Grayle in the Singapore Hilton on New Year's Eve. (AUDIO: Storm Warning)
Charley has been thinking about her survival since her encounter with Edith Thompson in Edward Grove on 24 December 1906. (AUDIO: The Chimes of Midnight)
The Doctor previously encountered the Nimon on Skonnos during his fourth incarnation. (TV: The Horns of the Nimon)
When the Nimon arrive on Earth, Grayle calls the Hellfire Club members who are to be consumed by the Nimon "weakling scum", a reference to the Co-Pilot calling the tributes from Aneth the same thing. (TV: The Horns of Nimon)
The Doctor and Charley last encountered the Hellfire Club in Malebolgia in 2003. (AUDIO: Minuet in Hell)
A Dalek appears in Roman times. This is explained in AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks.
Felsecar (Monks and Abbeys) are mentioned in PROSE: Love and War and PROSE: Human Nature.
The being that attacks Lucy and Richard Martin is revealed in AUDIO: Neverland.
The Fourth Doctor previously visited Roman Britain in 60 AD in the company of Leela, where they encountered Boudica during her revolt against the Roman occupation. (AUDIO: The Wrath of the Iceni)
Charley mentions to the Doctor that she attended an orgy before but did not stay for long. (AUDIO: Minuet in Hell)
The Doctor once again recites the Zagreus nursery rhyme. (AUDIO: Project: Twilight)
The Celestial Toymaker would later refer to the Nimon in a riddle while Charley was playing his games in the Celestial Toyroom. (AUDIO: Solitaire)
The situation that the Doctor is in during his narration is revealed in AUDIO: Neverland.
Alex Grayle would later tell Charley's parents Lady Louisa and Lord Richard Pollard that he danced with her in Singapore on 31 December 1930. (AUDIO: The Fall of the House of Pollard)
The Doctor yells "Geronimo" which becomes a habit of his in his Eleventh incarnation. (TV: The End of Time et al.)
The Doctor mentions that he rarely touches meat. He decided to become a vegetarian in his Sixth incarnation. (TV: The Two Doctors)
The Doctor says that he "had his moments with swords". (TV: The Sea Devils, The Masque of Mandragora, The Androids of Tara, The King's Demons)
The Doctor left Edith at the altar much like he would later do in his tenth incarnation. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
The Eighth Doctor had previously had a glimpse of this adventure when he looked into a Tomorrow Window. (PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows)
After Charley escaped from the Ever-and-Ever Prolixity, a Viyran agent was stationed in Karachi to search for her. (AUDIO: The Fall of the House of Pollard)
The Doctor mentions not being a "glamorous woman" at the moment. (TV: Twice Upon a Time)

External links

Official Seasons of Fear page at bigfinish.com; note that it is out of print and is available as download only.
Seasons of Fear at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
DisContinuity for Seasons of Fear at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide