Castle of Fear (audio story)
Castle of Fear was the one hundred and twenty-seventh story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Alan Barnes and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa.
It was the first in a series of three linked audio stories centred around the village of Stockbridge. The village first appeared in Doctor Who Magazine's comic stories and made its Big Finish debut in Autumn. It was also the first Doctor Who audio story to feature the Rutan Host (although they had already appeared in the Bernice Summerfield audio series).
Publisher's summary
1199: Returning from the Crusades, Hubert, the new Earl of Mummerset, comes to take possession of Stockbridge Castle, his ancestral home. The only trouble is, in his absence, demons took possession of his Castle...
1899: The Stockbridge mummers' play takes a wholly unexpected turn, when the Dragon slays St George.
These events are not unconnected, the Doctor and Nyssa discover. There's an alien presence squatting in Stockbridge Castle, and it's their job to expose it. If Turkish knights, killer boars and a gang of rogue paladins don't stop them first...
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Peter Davison
- Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
- Roland of Brittany/Mummer - John Sessions
- Hubert, Earl of Mummerset/George/Mummer - Joe Thomas
- Osbert/Mummer/Yokel/Demon - Richard Cotton
- Maud the Withered/Yokel - Susan Brown
- Yavuz/Mummer/Yokel/Demon - Teddy Kempner
- Smithy/Mummer - Trevor Cooper
References
Individuals
- Nyssa tells the Doctor that she doesn't want to go to 21st century Stockbridge because seeing Andrew Harper would be awkward.
Species
- The Doctor mentions the Sontaran Jingo Linx who inhabited Irongron's castle.
- There is a Rutan Drone Commander inhabiting Stockbridge Castle.
- The Doctor additionally suggests that Linx followed the Rutan to Earth.
- The Rutans are from Ruta III, an ice world, and thus have little tolerance for heat.
- The Rutan aimed to create a clone factory, creating clones of Rutans whilst in human form. Subsequently, several members of the community of Stockbridge had elements of Rutan genetics in their bodies following one of the clones escaping.
- A Mummerset black is a type of boar.
Notes
- On the "CD Extras", several cast members described the story as having a "Monty Python-esque" feel.
- CD 2 includes Episode 8 of The Three Companions: The Battle of World's End Junction.
- Both the Doctor and Osbert refer to 1199 as being "the Year the Ant by the Lion was Slain." In actuality, it has been described as "the Year the Lion by the Ant was slain," referring to Richard the Lionheart's death at the hands of a young French boy named Pierre Basile, Bertran de Gudrun or John Sabroz.
- This story marks the first appearance of the Rutans in a Doctor Who audio drama. However, they previously appeared in the Bernice Summerfield audio drama The Bellotron Incident.
- This audio drama was recorded on 15 and 16 June 2009 at The Moat Studios.
Continuity
- Nyssa mentions Andrew Harper, the man whom she met and had a brief relationship with in AUDIO: Autumn.
- The Doctor refers to his meeting with Richard the Lionheart in Palestine during the Third Crusade in 1190. (TV: The Crusade)
- The Doctor mentions that he was a friend of the 12th century knight Sir Justin, who travelled with him in the TARDIS briefly after being transported to the 20th century by Melanicus. (COMIC: The Tides of Time)
- The Doctor mentions Jingo Linx and Irongron. He theorises that Linx may have arrived in 13th century England as he was tracking the Rutan. (TV: The Time Warrior)
- The Fourth Doctor and Leela previously encountered the Rutans on Fang Rock in the 1900s. (TV: Horror of Fang Rock)
- The Doctor expresses a desire to meet Percy Shelley. The Eighth Doctor would later meet both Shelley and his wife Mary in Switzerland in June 1816. The latter subsequently became one of his companions, travelling with him for several years. (AUDIO: Mary's Story) The Thirteenth Doctor also met him around the same time (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati)
- More than fifty years later in her personal timeline, Nyssa would encounter the Rutans' sworn enemies, the Sontarans, on Samur. (AUDIO: Heroes of Sontar)
- The Fifth Doctor would later encounter the Rutans once again in the Unukalhai system in 2371 in the company of Turlough. (PROSE: Lords of the Storm)
- Maud the Withered may be an ancestor of Alice Withers. (AUDIO: The Eternal Summer)
External links
- Official Castle of Fear page page at bigfinish.com
- Castle of Fear at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for Castle of Fear at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
