Pier Pressure (audio story)
Pier Pressure was the seventy-eighth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Robert Ross and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Maggie Stables as Evelyn Smythe.
Publisher's summary
"Ere, listen listen, I've got one for you. There once was this bloke, you see. Good-looking sort of chap. Lovely, brightly coloured coat. No rubbish. Quality gear. Never bought a drink neither... or so they say. But his name wasn't Miller. Oh no, there'll never be another Cheeky Chappie, lady, there'll never be another. They broke the mould when they made me you know.
No, this bloke called himself the Doctor. Doctor who you ask? And may well you. Don't know me self. No one ever knew. Funny that. He was a real strange one. Odd things happened when he arrived.
Mind you, them were dark days. No one was laughing. And these were my people. My public. It was like playing first house at the Glasgow Empire. Just like the entire town was cursed it was. Cursed by something not of this world..."
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Colin Baker
- Evelyn Smythe - Maggie Stables
- Max Miller - Roy Hudd
- Professor Talbot - Doug Bradley
- Albert Potter - Chris Simmons
- Emily Bung - Sally Ann Curran
- Billy - Martin Parsons
References
Culture
- The Doctor mentions Creature from the Black Lagoon.
- Albert's idols are the 1930s film stars Lionel Atwill, Colin Clive, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.
- The Doctor refers to several British literature writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L. Sayers and Edmund Crispin.
Metals
- Gallifreyan zinc is one of the strongest metals in the universe.
Notes
- This story was previewed in Doctor Who Magazine issue 365 with an accompanying illustration by Martin Geraghty.
- Pier Pressure was released on or before 11 January 2006.[1]
- This story features Billy, a young actor who had starred in films called While Parents Sleep and I'm an Explosive. There were actual films by these titles made in the 1930s, both of which starred a young actor called Billy Hartnell. After Tom Baker's appearance in COMIC: TV Action!, this is the second time that a real life Doctor actor has appeared as himself in a Doctor Who storyline. It would happen a third time with Matt Smith's appearance in COMIC: The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who.
- In this story, the metal structure of the West Pier absorbs a harmful alien energy which the Doctor theorises will corrode the Pier in "sixty to seventy years." This refers to the Pier's real-world destruction by a series of collapses in the 1990s and the 2000s.
- This audio drama was recorded on 21 and 22 September 2005 at The Moat Studios.
- The Doctor notes that the BBC has a habit of mistreating their icons, a metafictional reference to Colin Baker's treatment as a scapegoat for the show's failing ratings in his era.
- Albert Potter and Emily Bung are named after characters from the Carry On film Carry On Screaming!. Joan Sims played the latter.
- This story was originally released on CD and download. It is now available as a download only.
Continuity
- The Doctor does not want to go to Blackpool and the TARDIS itself will not go back there again. (AUDIO: The Nightmare Fair)
- The Doctor mentions visiting Sirius IV (TV: Frontier in Space) and Metebelis III (TV: The Green Death, Planet of the Spiders).
- Evelyn refers to their encounter with Dr. Robert Knox in Edinburgh in December 1828. (AUDIO: Medicinal Purposes)
- In an attempt to jog Evelyn's memory, the Doctor mentions the Silurians. (AUDIO: Bloodtide)
- The Doctor and Evelyn would later encounter the Indo once again in Washington DC in April 1865. (AUDIO: Assassin in the Limelight)
- Evelyn notes that the Doctor lost his sonic screwdriver years ago. It was destroyed by the Terileptil leader in September 1666. (TV: The Visitation)
External links
- Official Pier Pressure page at bigfinish.com
- Pier Pressure at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for Pier Pressure at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
