The Girl Who Never Was (audio story)

The Girl Who Never Was
Doctor:	[[doctor::Eighth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Charley Pollard (Departs)
Main enemy:	Byron Cybermen
Main setting:	Singapore, Earth 1931 Earth, 1942 Earth, 500,002
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::Big Finish Productions]]
Writer:	Alan Barnes
Director:	Barnaby Edwards
Producer:	Andy Hardwick and Gareth Jenkins
Release details
Release number:	103
Release date:	December 2007
Format:	4 episodes on 2 CDs
Production code:	8Q/E
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-287-6

Publisher's summary

'Dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot. Someone's listening. Somewhere.'

A ghost ship. A girl with no memory, adrift in time. An old enemy. This could be Charlotte Pollard's finest hour - or her last.

Set course for Singapore, 1931. Journey's end.

Cast

• The Doctor - Paul McGann
• Charley Pollard - India Fisher
• Byron - Danny Webb
• Miss Pollard - Anna Massey
• Madeleine Fairweather - Amanda Root
• Curly - David Yip
• Borthwick - Robert Duncan
• Receptionist - Natelie Mendoza
• Colville - Tim Sutton
• Young Man - Jake McGann
• Soldier - Nicholas Briggs

References

• There is a Cyber-Planner present.
• Charley mentions the Garazone system.
• There are several Cybermen present.
• The Doctor has had a room at the Singapore Hilton since 1926.
• Both the Doctor and Charley mention the Web of Time.
• Charley mentions going to Venice with the Doctor and also meeting Orson Welles.
• Charley mentions C'rizz.
• The ship they're on is transferred through time to Earth after the solar flares.

Notes

Comic preview from Doctor Who Magazine issue 390. Illustration by Anthony Dry.

• Chronologically, this is the final Eighth Doctor audio drama to feature Charley Pollard. However, it was not the final Eighth Doctor/Charley audio. At least CC: Solitaire was released after this story. As of June 2010 it remained possible for Big Finish to record more Eighth Doctor/Charlie adventures set prior to The Girl Who Never Was, in the same way that there were more Evelyn Smythe adventures after her "final" story was released. For that matter, there was nothing preventing them from setting a story afterward as well.
• This is the first encounter between the Sixth Doctor and Charley. However, Colin Baker does not appear in this story. The cliffhanger resolves in The Condemned, where we understand that the TARDIS that landed at the end of this story in fact belonged to the earlier incarnation.
• The paradox of Charley meeting the Sixth Doctor was ultimately resolved in BFA: Blue Forgotten Planet. That story explained how it was possible for the Eighth Doctor to have no knowledge of Charley prior to his first encounter with her on the R101 (BFA: Storm Warning) — despite having had many adventures with her as the Sixth Doctor. Indeed, one of the central themes of the the Sixth Doctor/Charley adventures, which began in the final seconds of The Girl Who Never Was, was the tension between her desire to avoid telling the Doctor too much and his need to fully trust her.
• The circumstances by which Charley meets the Sixth Doctor in this story are explicitly pertinent to understanding the resolution to the overall Sixth Doctor/Charley story arc in Blue Forgotten Planet.
• Paul McGann's son, Jake, again appears in a supporting role in this adventure.

Continuity

• Charley first met the Doctor in BFA: Storm Warning.
• The Doctor tried to get Charley to the right Singapore in BFA: Seasons of Fear.
• The Doctor and Charley went to Venice last in BFA: The Stones of Venice.
• The Doctor and Charley first met Orson Welles in BFA: Invaders from Mars.
• Charley and the Doctor first encountered the Cybermen in BFA: Sword of Orion.
• The Doctor employs the technique of wiping Charley's mind in Part 4, but is unsuccessful as she almost immediately remembers everything. This mirrors what a later incarnation did to a companion (DW: Journey's End)

Timeline

Timeline - for the Doctor

• The Girl Who Never Was occurs after BFA: Absolution
• The Girl Who Never Was occurs before ST: The Sorrows of Vienna

Timeline - for Charley Pollard

• The Girl Who Never Was occurs after: BFA: Absolution
• The Girl Who Never Was occurs before: BFA: The Condemned

External links

• Official The Girl Who Never Was page at bigfinish.com
• The Girl Who Never Was at the Doctor Who Reference Guide