Death and the Queen (audio story)

It was added for free to the podcast Into the TARDIS as part of Big Finish's 25th anniversary of creating Doctor Who audio stories. It was released in two parts on 28 March and 6 April 2024 and hosted by Sixth Doctor actor Colin Baker. It was the first story to be re-released onto the podcast.

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

Donna Noble has never been lucky in love.

So when, one day, her Prince does come, she is thrilled to have the wedding of all weddings to look forward to. Though the Doctor isn't holding his breath for an invitation. And her future mother-in-law is certainly not amused.

But on the big day itself, Donna finds her castle under siege from the darkest of forces, marching at the head of a skeleton army.

When it looks like even the Doctor can't save the day, what will Queen Donna do to save her people from Death itself?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Uncredited[[edit] | [edit source]]

Maids - Beth Chalmers^[1]
Cloud/Skeleton - Alan Cox^[1]^[2]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cover Art - Tom Webster
Director - Nicholas Briggs
Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
Music and Sound Design - Howard Carter
Producer - David Richardson
Script Editor - Matt Fitton
Writer - James Goss

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Kingdom of Goritania has not gone to war for around five centuries.
Goritania changes from a monarchy to a republic and was renamed as "The People's Republic of Goritania" six months after the events of this story.
The Doctor and Donna were originally going to Blackpool but landed in the French Riviera instead where Donna met Rudolph.

Sonic Screwdriver[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver has a setting for horseshoes.

The TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor wonders why the TARDIS's translation circuits aren't translating the motto of the kingdom.

TV and film[[edit] | [edit source]]

Donna refers to Death as "Skeletor".

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

This story was originally released on CD and download. In 2019, this story was re-released on vinyl in a limited run of 1250 copies.
This story was released dubbed in German, as Der Tod und die Königin.
The Doctor compares Goritania to Brigadoon, a mysterious Scottish village from the musical of the same name which appears for one day every 100 years.
This story was recorded on 22 October 2015 at The Moat Studios.
When the Doctor said, "I love the smell of regime change in the morning", it was a reference to the line, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" from the 1979 film Apocalypse Now.
This story was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 3 September 2022.^[3] It was later edited into two parts which were first broadcast on 10 and 13 November 2023.^[4]^[5] The first part ends after the Doctor admits he has lied to Donna.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Donna refers to her skill at shorthand. She listed it as one of the skills of a temp in TV: The Stolen Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"].
Donna notes that she has a history of choosing bad men to marry. Her previous fiancé was Lance Bennett, who, like in this story, planned to sacrifice her in order to resurrect the Racnoss in TV: The Runaway Bride ^[+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"].
The Doctor states that the TARDIS is able to translate all languages, as was stated on numerous other occasions such as TV: The End of the World ^[+]Loading...["The End of the World (TV story)"], The Christmas Invasion ^[+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"], and Cold War ^[+]Loading...["Cold War (TV story)"]. However, it sometimes fails due to the age of the language, as was also seen in The Christmas Invasion and TV: The Impossible Planet ^[+]Loading...["The Impossible Planet (TV story)"].
The Doctor refers to the fact that his companions leave the TARDIS to save another universe. Examples include Romana II in TV: Warriors' Gate ^[+]Loading...["Warriors' Gate (TV story)"] and Rose Tyler in TV: Doomsday ^[+]Loading...["Doomsday (TV story)"]. They also leave after they fall in love, as happened with Vicki Pallister in TV: The Myth Makers ^[+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (TV story)"], Jo Grant in TV: The Green Death ^[+]Loading...["The Green Death (TV story)"], Leela in TV: The Invasion of Time ^[+]Loading...["The Invasion of Time (TV story)"], Thomas Brewster in AUDIO: A Perfect World ^[+]Loading...["A Perfect World (audio story)"], and Evelyn Smythe in AUDIO: Thicker Than Water ^[+]Loading...["Thicker Than Water (audio story)"].
The Doctor says that he once had a robot dog who left him twice. K9 Mark I left with Leela in TV: The Invasion of Time ^[+]Loading...["The Invasion of Time (TV story)"], while K9 Mark II left with Romana in TV: Warriors' Gate ^[+]Loading...["Warriors' Gate (TV story)"].
The Doctor notes that he was present at Donna's previous wedding, which is not strictly true, but he was certainly involved in the events surrounding her wedding in TV: The Runaway Bride ^[+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"]; and that he'll probably be present at her next. Indeed he was, though Donna no longer remembered him, as depicted in TV: The End of Time (part two) ^[+]Loading...{"part":"Two","1":"The End of Time (TV story)"}.
Donna refers to Death as "Skeletor". She also referred to both a Sycorax in COMIC: The Widow's Curse ^[+]Loading...["The Widow's Curse (comic story)"] and Meng Tian in COMIC: The Immortal Emperor ^[+]Loading...["The Immortal Emperor (comic story)"] as such.
The Doctor once again says, "My kingdom for a horse", as the Sixth Doctor did in AUDIO: The Hollows of Time ^[+]Loading...["The Hollows of Time (audio story)"].