Punchline (audio story)
Punchline was the second audio in Season 3 of BBV Productions' Audio Adventures in Time & Space anthology series, as well as the tenth and final release of the The Time Travellers subseries (notwithstanding the later release of a novelisation of the first entry in the series).
It starred Sylvester McCoy as the Dominie, an analogue of the Seventh Doctor, but was the only episode not to feature his Ace-esque companion Alice as previously played by Sophie Aldred. For this reason, the plural Time Travellers branding was abandoned, with the cover merely bearing the name of The Dominie.
In addition to its placement in the Time Travellers series, the play was also of interest as the first contribution by Rob Shearman (writing under the pseudonym of "Jeremy Leadbetter") to the Doctor Who universe. Shearman would go on to write multiple mainline Doctor Who audio plays for Big Finish Productions as well as the pivotal Series 1 episode of televised Who, Dalek.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
A perfect house...
A perfect son...
A perfect wife...
Wife?
When your life is a 70s sit-com and every episode ends happily, why on Earth would you want to change?
In Suburbton, no one can hear you scream...
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
Opening credits roll.
Dominic Perkins arrives home from work and is lovingly greeted by his wife. As is routine, he is given his newspaper, and a gin and tonic. His son has a new get-rich-quick scheme, making modern art.
Kevin spills paint on Dominic’s trousers just before Dominic opens the door to his boss. Dominic, panicking, opens the door in his underwear, and then with his trousers on back to front. During the chaos, Dominic momentarily remembers life in another reality. Sir is so impressed by June, he offers to promote Dominic rather than firing him, if they can provide a satisfactory dinner. June had intended to make a steak, but Sir is a vegetarian. Dominic tricks him by painting the steak green, and the family celebrate another happy ending.
End credits roll.
Opening credits roll.
Dominic arrives home to be lovingly greeted by June, and enjoys a gin and tonic.
There is audible rewinding. Opening credits roll again.
Dominic arrives home to be lovingly greeted by June, and enjoys a gin and tonic.
There is audible rewinding. Opening credits roll again.
Dominic arrives home, sounding preoccupied, and initially declines his gin and tonic, asking for ginger beer instead. He fancies a change, which upsets June, who pressures him into drinking his gin and tonic.
Kevin is making ginger beer. Dominic tries it and finds it disgusting. Kevin spills some on his trousers. Sir arrives and expresses his loathing for ginger beer drinkers. Sir reveals that June called him to warn him of Dominic’s interest in ginger beer. Sir, June and Kevin put pressure on Dominic to renounce ginger beer. He does, and Sir offers him a promotion.
June insists that Dominic should never seek change, because everything is perfect.
End credits roll. There is audible rewinding. Opening credits roll again.
Dominic arrives home to be lovingly greeted by June. He has forgotten their wedding anniversary, and invited Sir to the house for a wine tasting instead. Dominic asks Kevin if their lives seem strangely repetitive to him, but Kevin encourages Dominic not to question his good fortune. Kevin offers to get a present for June, predicting that he will buy something inappropriate for her but appropriate for Sir. By swapping the gifts, Dominic will bring about another happy ending. Kevin spills an entire bottle of very strong perfume on Dominic’s trousers.
Dominic identifies the source of the laugh-track as a device, which June calls a Canned Laughter-Tron, and turns it off. He accuses June and Sir of being aliens, and possibly evil, saying that he fights evil. June insists that there is no evil in Suburbton. Dominic then refuses to engage in the anniversary storyline, so June tells Kevin he will have to play both parts. Kevin, as Dominic, swaps the presents and receives a promotion.
Dominic is flooded with memories of travelling in time and space.
End credits roll.
Opening credits roll.
Dominic recognises that he is back at the beginning again. June greets him with exaggerated affection. He asks her about the Canned-Laughter Tron, but she doesn’t recognise the concept. Dominic challenges June about their marriage, which he doesn’t remember, and the fact that they do not actually kiss – just make kissing sounds.
Dominic says he wants a divorce. He threatens to go outside, to prove that nothing happens when he isn’t present. Kevin tries to stop him, but Dominic opens the door, and finds nothing – a white darkness.
Sir arrives unexpectedly, and Dominic suggests they start manufacturing time machines. June says dinner is ready, something Dominic has always wanted – change. Kevin begins painfully transmogrifying into an alien monster. June points Dominic to his briefcase, where there is now a weapon she describes as a Techno-Babble-Bobulator-Gun. Kevin insists he is definitely very evil, but Dominic refuses to kill a sentient being in cold blood, so June takes the gun. Kevin apologies to his mum for letting her down, and she shoots him.
June is upset with Dominic for not being happy with the life she has provided, either the happy home or the opportunity to fight monsters. Dominic is horrified to learn that everything June has done has been for him. He asks for privacy, so June sends Sir into the void.
Dominic and June discuss the possibility of love between them – Dominic insists his love is for the universe, and cannot be for one person.
Dominic asks June to remove the illusion of the house. In the void, he sees the prototype he asked Sir to make. June asks to come with him. Dominic says he is going back to the real world, but June says they are just moving from her fantasy to his. She asks him not to leave her on her own again, and he says he can’t. He thinks she might be right—his world might not be real either—and her presence would remind him of that.
June says she loves him, and begs him not to go. The Dominie leaves her alone in the white void.
Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Dominie / Dominic - Sylvester McCoy
- June - Susan Travers
- Sir - Barry J. Gordon
- Kevin - Neil Bull
Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- "Suburbton" is a pun on Surbiton, a suburban part of Greater London bordering on Surrey.
- The pseudonym "Jeremy Leadbetter" is taken from the name of a supporting character in The Good Life, a 1970s BBC sitcom. Set in Surbiton, the show follows a man who suffers a mid-life crisis and quits his office job to start a self-sufficient suburban farm with his wife. Punchline can be seen as partly being a pastiche of The Good Life.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- This story was one of multiple The Time Travellers stories to receive a new alternative cover on the renewed BBV Productions website in 2021.
- The exact nature of June Perkins and the illusory world are never clarified. Its rules, themes, and eventual dissolving into a white void evoke The Mind Robber, suggesting the story may be set in the Land of Fiction, perhaps with June being the Master Brain or the Master of the Land. Similarly vague looping worlds in voids would feature is Shearman's later stories The Holy Terror and The Death of Me, with more exposited variations on the concept appearing in The Chimes of Midnight and Scherzo.
- The idea of putting the Dominie in a game show was given to Shearman by Paul Ebbs. Shearman changed this to a sitcom, as he was a fan of 1970s sitcoms, and he wrote it in one day. The play itself was also performed in one day, with the scenes performed in the order they were written.[1]
- At the time, McCoy said "I think it's the best Doctor Who script I've ever done". This was put on the ads and the CD case but altered to "script (of this genre)".[2]
- Punchline was mentioned in 2023 within DWM 592, in a Memory Worm instalment featuring an interview with Robert Shearman, touching upon it as his first Doctor Who-related credit, as part of the unauthorised The Time Travellers audio series.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be written
Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Official Punchline page at bbvproductions.co.uk
| ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
