Cuddlesome (audio story)

Cuddlesome
Doctor:	Fifth Doctor
Companion(s):	Angela
Main enemy:	The Tinghus
Main setting:	Hove, 2008 and 2011
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Nigel Fairs
Director:	Barnaby Edwards
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	Nigel Fairs
Sound:	Nigel Fairs
Cover by:	Stuart Manning
Release details
Number of parts:	1
Release date:	6 March 2008
Format:	1 CD SoundCloud Streaming Download
Production code:	DWMCD09
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-83868-577-5
Full audio
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Cuddlesome was an audio drama starring the Fifth Doctor by Big Finish Productions. A remake of an Audio Visuals story of the same title, it was released on a CD included with DWM 393, published 6 March 2008. It was put on Big Finish's Soundcloud in on 25 October 2012, though otherwise has only been made freely available as a download for select periods from the Big Finish website.

Publisher's summary

Do you remember the Eighties? The Rubik's cube... Duran Duran ... deelyboppers ... and the Cuddlesomes — pink vampire hamsters, the must-have toy of twenty-three Christmases ago.

For so long now, the Cuddlesomes have been forgotten, lying in attics and junk shops. But now they're waking up. And they want to give us all a cuddle. A long, slow, deadly cuddle...

Landing in an England gripped by a strange new plague, the Doctor is soon on the Cuddlesomes' trail. But the toys are just part of a twisted plan to wipe out a whole generation...

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Davison
• Angela Wisher - Roberta Taylor
• Ronald Turvey - Timothy West
• The Tinghus - David Troughton
• John Dixon/The New Cuddlesomes - Matthew Noble
• Miranda Evenden/The Cuddlesomes/Dr Cooper/Vehicle - Kate Brown
• Newsreader - Nicholas Briggs

Credits

• Cover Art - Stuart Manning
• Director - Barnaby Edwards
• Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
• Writer, Music and Sound Design - Nigel Fairs
• Producer - David Richardson
• Script Editor - Alan Barnes

Worldbuilding

• John Dixon had a Cuddlesome in the 1980s.
• The original Cuddlesome factory in Shoreham closed down in 1983.
• John's father lives in Brisbane.
• The Doctor was trying to visit Brighton in 1818.
• John was born on 12 January 1976.
• Angela suggests that the Doctor could find a Cuddlesome on eBay.
• The Inland Revenue had Turvey arrested on charges of tax fraud. He spent more than 20 years in prison.
• Angela carries a hammer in her bag.
• Dominic Martin was born on 3 May 1978.
• The Doctor once had a bear, but he had to release it when it started eating his bedroom furniture.
• Angela refers to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
• Telepathic resonance makes the Doctor's elbows twitch.
• In the 1980s, Cuddlesomes were sold in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Europe, China and Russia.
• As a child, Turvey had a teddy bear named Mr Cuddles. When he was 18 years old, he went to university and studied biochemistry. At the end of the worst term of his life, several students broke into his room and destroyed Mr Cuddles.
• Angela is a plumber.
• The Tingha are allergic to human growth hormones. Exposure causes them to develop a rash and then explode.
• The Doctor learned how to tackle from William Webb Ellis.
• Brighton Lanes are located in Brighton.

Notes

• After the 2019 redesign of the Big Finish website, this release was moved from Special Releases to The Fifth Doctor Adventures.
• This story was originally produced as an unofficial Audio Visuals production, with Nicholas Briggs as the Doctor. Briggs provides the voice of a newsreader in the remake.
• Angela Wisher is named as a tribute to the late Michael Wisher, who played Ronald Turvey in the original Audio Visuals version of Cuddlesome. He is best known for originating the role of Davros, the creator of the Daleks, in Genesis of the Daleks.
• This story was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• Cuddlesome was released on a free CD offered with DWM 393, along with a Director's Cut of Part One of The Mutant Phase. Davison was featured on the cover of the magazine, which included coverage of his appearance in the Time Crash mini-episode.
• Besides its initial release with DWM 393, this story has never been made regularly available from the Big Finish website, with no purchase widget on its webpage. It has been made available in other ways since then, however:
  • It was re-released as one of their Story Podcasts on 3 August 2011. This podcast is no longer accessible.
  • It was uploaded to Big Finish's SoundCloud page on 25 October 2012.
  • As part of Big Finishmas 2018, from 24 to 26 December, it was made available as a free download on the Big Finish website.
  • As part of their Weekly Freebies, later also known as lockdownloads, from 12 to 18 June 2023, it was made a free download again on the Big Finish website.
  • As part of Big Finishmas 2024, from 24 to 26 December 2024, it was made a free download once more on the Big Finish website. Big Finish social media posts would incorrectly say it lasted until 7 January 2025.
  • For these timeframes where it is made available as a free download, the purchase widget is restored.

Continuity

• The Doctor considers building a new sonic screwdriver after his previous one was destroyed by the Terileptil leader in September 1666. (TV: The Visitation) However, he would not do so until his seventh incarnation. (AUDIO: The Dark Husband, Mask of Tragedy; TV: Doctor Who)

External links

• Official Cuddlesome page at bigfinish.com
• Cuddlesome at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• DisContinuity for Cuddlesome at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide