Blood of the Daleks
Template:Bigfinishbox Blood of the Daleks is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions; the first of two 50-minute parts was broadcast on BBC 7 on 31 December 2006, and the second was aired on 7 January 2007. It is the first original Doctor Who drama produced for BBC 7, and stars Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and Sheridan Smith as new companion Lucie Miller. Lucie, described as a "brash northern lass", will initially be an unwilling passenger in the TARDIS; she has been placed with the Doctor as part of a "Time Lord witness protection programme". It is the first in a series of six stories commissioned by BBC 7 from Big Finish.
The story is set on a human colony named Red Rocket Rising, and features the Daleks.
Plot
Part 1
To the Doctor's puzzlement and consternation, Lucie Miller appears in the TARDIS; he attempts to return her to the North of England in 2006, but finds that a temporal shield prevents him from landing there. Instead, the two find themselves on the human colony world Red Rocket Rising, which has suffered an asteroid strike and the consequent impact winter. The survivors include the colony's acting president, Eileen Klint, disgraced scientist Asha Gryvern and the apparently paranoid Tom Cardwell. Klint receives a message from a Dalek fleet offering rescue to the colony's citizens, and accepts the offer, believing the Daleks to be benevolent. Lucie reveals that the Time Lords have placed her in the Doctor's care because of something she'd seen, although she doesn't know what it is. Asha, apparently the assistant to one Professor Martez, is in reality Martez himself, who had combined dead and living humans with technology salvaged from a crashed Dalek ship in an effort to ensure survival; Martez has created a new race of Daleks. When the true Daleks land, they welcome the survivors onto their ship, and demand that Klint turn the Doctor over to them. Meanwhile Martez orders his Daleks to open fire on the Doctor.
Part 2
The Doctor tricks Martez's Daleks and escapes. Martez has summoned the Daleks for assistance with his own Dalek creations, but the true Daleks see Martez's Daleks as a threat to the purity of the Dalek race, and plan to destroy them. The Doctor allies himself temporarily with the true Daleks in order to destroy Martez's Daleks, but then works with Tom Cardwell to eliminate both Dalek groups. The Daleks reveal that they caused the asteroid strike on Red Rocket Rising, in a failed attempt to eliminate Martez's creations; they also destroyed the exodus ships carrying refugees from the disaster. Martez's Daleks, which are being birthed at a rapid rate, initially have an advantage over the true Daleks, who are weakened from another conflict. The Doctor eventually convinces Martez that a Dalek-dominated world will know only hatred, war and death. Martez, whose stolen body is breaking down, halts the birthing process; in return, his creations kill him. Eventually, the two groups of Daleks (aided by Cardwell's resistance) destroy each other. The humans are left to pick up the pieces, and Klint announces that a new offer of rescue has been received from the inhabitants of a planet whose name begins "Tel-".
Lucie considers staying with the survivors on Red Rocket Rising, but the Doctor discovers that the Time Lords will not let him leave the planet without her. And elsewhere, a woman calling herself the Headhunter accepts a commission from one Mr. Hulbert, promising him that she will find Lucie Miller anywhere in space and time...
Cast
- The Doctor — Paul McGann
- Lucie Miller — Sheridan Smith
- Computer/Headhunter — Katarina Olssen
- Eileen Klint — Anita Dobson
- Tom Cardwell — Kenneth Cranham
- Asha/Martez — Hayley Atwell
- Lowell — Gerry O'Toole
- Daleks — Nicholas Briggs
Continuity
- Part 1 was broadcast on BBC 7 less than a week after The Runaway Bride aired on BBC One, on Christmas day; coincidentally, both stories open with the Doctor startled by the sudden, unexpected appearance of a strange woman in the TARDIS console room.
- This is the first of a run of episodes set before the ongoing revival TV series and after the the 1996 television movie. The series may be set some time after the previous and ongoing Big Finish run of stories featuring McGann and India Fisher. Whether it will be linked to that, and indeed to Christopher Eccleston's subsequent incarnation of the Time Lord, remains to be seen. This is the first time the BBC has itself supported two separate ongoing productions featuring different Doctors (although Big Finish is, itself, not part of the BBC; BBC7 is).
- Lucie asking The Doctor if his hair is real is a reference to the wig that Paul McGann wore as the Doctor in the TV movie[1].
- At the end of the play Klint declares that help is coming once more; she names their new saviours' home planet, but only the first part of the name, "Tel-", is heard before the signal cuts off. This implies the planet is Telos, and that Red Rocket Rising will soon be invaded by Cybermen.
References
- "Digital Doctor". Doctor Who Magazine (374): 6. 2006-10-11 cover date.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Doctor Eight for BBC7". BBC Doctor Who website. bbc.co.uk. 2006-09-14. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - "New Eighth Doctor Adventures". Big Finish Productions. 2006-10-16. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
- ^ Nicholas Briggs, Jason Haigh-Ellery. Beyond the Vortex Part 1 (radio documentary). Big Finish Productions.