Oh No It Isn't! (audio story)

Oh No It Isn't!
Adapted from:	Oh No It Isn't!
Main character(s):	Bernice Summerfield
Featuring:	Wolsey
Main enemy:	The Grel The Perfectons
Main setting:	Perfecton, 2593 Pantoland, 2593 Dellah, 2593
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Based on a book by Paul Cornell Adapted for Audio by Jacqueline Rayner
Director:	Nicholas Briggs
Producer:	Gary Russell
Music:	Alistair Lock
Post production:	Alistair Lock
Cover by:	John Sullivan
Release details
Story number:	1
Release number:	1
Release date:	September 1998
Format:	2 CDs
Production code:	BFPCD1
ISBN:	ISBN 1-903654-30-0
Big Finish Bernice Summerfield series
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Next →	Beyond the Sun

Based upon the novel of the same title by Virgin, Oh No It Isn't! was the first Bernice Summerfield audio story, and indeed the very first thing that Big Finish Productions commercially released. It and the other stories of this first series were used as a part of Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery's pitch to BBC Worldwide to obtain the license to make original audio dramas based on Doctor Who.

Introducing Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield, it also featured Nicholas Courtney, best known for his character Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, as her cat Wolsey. Like almost every episode in the first series, it was adapted by Jacqueline Rayner from a Virgin New Adventures novel.

Publisher's summary

"The King's balls get bigger every year!"

What could possibly go wrong on Professor Bernice Summerfield's investigation into the lost civilisation of Perfecton? Nothing, it seems — until they leave the planet and spot a dirty great missile heading towards their ship. But instead of oblivion, Benny finds herself plunged into the strange world of — panto.

Plot

to be added

Cast

• Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
• Wolsey - Nicholas Courtney
• Jayne Waspo / Bitchy - Jo Castleton
• Michael Doran / Cute - Jonathan Brüün
• Captain Balsam / King Rupert - Colin McIntyre
• Lt Prince / Prince Charming / The Fairy Godfather / Computer - Nicholas Briggs
• Professor Candy / Dame Candy - James Campbell
• The Grand Vizier - Mark Gatiss
• The Grel Master / The Grel - Alistair Lock

References

• Perfecton has been uninhabited for 5,000 years.
• The quarantine on Perfecton was lifted by Earth Central two weeks earlier.
• Bernice sings "Lullaby of Birdland".
• Wolsey believes that Bernice is Dick Whittington.
• Grellor is the homeworld of the Grel.
• The Grel afterlife is called Slawcor.
• The real Richard Whittington served as Lord Mayor of London on three occasions between 1397 and 1420.
• Bernice has encountered the Grel on several previous occasions.
• Numerous references are made to various fairy tales used in panto including Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.

Notes

Cassette cover

• Like many early Big Finish releases, this audio story was released on double cassette as well as double CD. The cassette is now discontinued.
• This and other early releases have been reissued with a slightly different cover to bring it in line with the later series branding.
• This audio story was recorded on 25 and 26 June 1998.

Continuity

• Jayne refers to the fact that Bernice served in Spacefleet. Bernice clarifies that she was conscripted. (PROSE: Love and War)
• Wolsey was given to the Seventh Doctor by Joan Redfern in April 1914. (PROSE: Human Nature) The Eighth Doctor then gave him to Bernice in May 1997. (PROSE: The Dying Days)
• Bernice refers to the fact that the 20th century is her favourite period of Earth's history. (PROSE: The Dying Days)
• Bernice refers to her marriage to Jason Kane in Cheldon Bonniface on 24 April 2010 (PROSE: Happy Endings) and their subsequent divorce (PROSE: Eternity Weeps).

External links

• Official Oh No It Isn't! page at bigfinish.com
• Oh No It Isn't at the Doctor Who Reference Guide