Pest Control (audio story)

Read by David Tennant, the story was released in the same format as the BBC Books Tenth Doctor Adventures book series and their associated audio book adaptations, but was released exclusively to audio. The story features Donna Noble, who makes her first BBC Books appearance in Pest Control, months prior to the release of her first adventures in print.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor and Donna face monstrous insects and a ruthless robot exterminator in this thrilling, exclusive audio story, read by David Tennant. The TARDIS is lost in battle on a distant planet. When the Doctor sets off in pursuit, Donna is left behind, and finds herself accepting a commission in the Pioneer Corps. Something is transforming soldiers into monstrous beetles, and she could be the next victim. Meanwhile, the Doctor steals a motorbike and stages a jailbreak. Well, how hard can it be to find the TARDIS, rescue Donna, and negotiate a peace? But that's before the arrival of a brutal and remorseless mechanical exterminator, bent on wiping out the insects. It may be that nothing can stop it, because this robot's solution for the infestation is very simple: kill everything.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor
Donna Noble
Field Medic Harrison
Nash
General Brudge
Commander Perdova
Meriam
Sergeant Lenova
Sergeant Chacko
Yovich

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor and Donna briefly adopt the aliases of Dr. McCoy and Captain Kirk, respectively, among several other references to Star Trek.
The Doctor knows the sport of free running, and it's indicated that he was taught the extreme sport in the 1980s by its foremost innovator, Sebastien Foucan.
Donna refers to one of the centaurs by the name Firenze - the name of one of the centaurs in the Harry Potter universe.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

The liner notes erroneously credit Murray Gold with composing the Doctor Who theme music, instead of Ron Grainer; although Pest Control clearly takes place after the events of Partners in Crime, Gold's theme arrangement from the 2005-2007 seasons is used instead of the 2008 season arrangement.
A free copy of Part 1 of this story was given away with The Sunday Telegraph on 25 April 2010.
A voucher to redeem a free copy of Part 2 of this story from branches of W H Smith or by post, was given away with The Daily Telegraph newspaper on 26 April 2010.
The story was also available as a download from the AudioGO website before the company went into administration.
On 24 May 2024, this story and The Forever Trap were collected and made available on Vinyl.^[1]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor and Donna reiterate that they are not a couple, as they do frequently in the TV series. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii, The Unicorn and the Wasp)
The Doctor references Donna's "extensive wardrobe", a reference to the copious amount of baggage she initially brought with her. (TV: Partners in Crime)
The Doctor notices that one of the soldiers has a green moon on his beret. A green moon is the universal sign for hospitals. (TV: New Earth)
The Doctor is described as riding a motorbike-like vehicle; he also rode a motorbike in TV: The Idiot's Lantern.