'Short Trips': Volume III edited by John Binns

Get ready for eight fantastic new adventures in space and time with the Doctor and his companions, featuring stories from many of Doctor Who’s most popular authors from the worlds of television, print, comics and audio, as well as new talent and fresh voices... and Performed by your favourite Big Finish actors!

'Seven to One' by Simon Miller
Performed by Nicholas Briggs and William Russell

'The Five Dimensional Man' by Kate Orman
Performed by David Troughton

'Pop-Up' by Dave Curran
Performed by Katy Manning

'The Wondrous Box' by Juliet Boyd
Performed by Louise Jameson

'Wet Walls' by Matthew Madden
Performed by Peter Davison

'Murmurs of Earth' by Michael Deacon, Jamie Middleton and Chris Wraight
Performed by Colin Baker

'The Riparian Ripper' by Andrew Cartmel
Performed by Sophie Aldred

'All the Fun of the Fair' by Bev Conway
Performed by India Fisher

Notes:
*Featuring the Doctor

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'Seven to One' by Simon Miller Performed by Nicholas Briggs and William Russell

In Grey Space, two ancient entities are locked in an impasse; these game-obsessed creatures were once defeated by the Doctor, and have now brought him back for a rematch. Stranded without the TARDIS, the Doctor and Ace are submitted to an intelligence test: if they fail, they will be wiped from existence. When the Doctor tries and fails to solve his mission his timeline is slowly eaten away, so that each of his previous incarnations and companions take over the task in turn. With sixth of his selves having failed, only the First Doctor and Susan remain: luckily for him, the wily Doctor realises that his companion is actually an illusion, and he tricks it into allowing him to make his escape. Having beaten his opponents, the Doctor’s timeline is restored; he quickly departs in the TARDIS, leaving the entities to argue over a game of ‘Monopoly’…

Notes:
*Featuring the Seventh, Sixth, Fifth, Fourth, Third, Second and First Doctors

*Time-placing: Each of the Doctors believes their companion is real, meaning that they must be travelling with them at that time: the Seventh Doctor and Ace; the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa; the Fourth Doctor and the Second Romana; the Third Doctor and Jo; the Second Doctor and Jamie; and the First Doctor and Susan

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'The Five Dimensional Man' by Kate Orman Performed by David Troughton

2nd October 1959: having readied her husband’s meal for his return from work, American housewife Betty Brown sits down to write a short story, a science-fiction flight of fancy – only to be interrupted by the arrival of a young girl dressed in a space suit, who materialises in the kitchen. The girl, Zoe, explains that she has travelled back in time from the future, where she has been battling against Lord Ferdinand Stirling, an evil mad scientist from Planet 801 who is attempting to start a war with the Earth. Just then a blue box appears in Betty’s home, a space-time ship piloted by Zoe’s friend, the Doctor. Learning that this strange duo’s other friend, Jamie, has been taken hostage by Lord Stirling, Betty agrees to help; she soon finds herself transported into outer space, to the laboratory of the maniacal Lord Stirling, who has now transformed himself into a bizarre mix of half-man, half-millipede. While the Doctor and Betty distract the mad scientist, Zoe deactivates his force-field controls, allowing Jamie to push Stirling into his own time machine, where he vanishes into the vortex. With the Earth now safe Betty returns home, where she now has the inspiration for her new story…

Notes:
*Featuring the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe

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'Pop-Up' by Dave Curran Performed by Katy Manning

After attending a peace conference on an asteroid in the Epsilon Cluster, the Doctor and Jo return to the TARDIS only to find that a number of Micro Server Robots have covered the ship in hundreds of advertising posters. Seeing that one of the cute MRSs is damaged, Jo takes it back to her room in the TARDIS to repair it; unfortunately, the small robot then connects itself to a nearby computer bank and begins overloading it with an unstoppable deluge of adverts. The Doctor is furious, even more so when the robot’s messages reaches the ship’s main systems, and his only recourse is to turn off the TARDIS completely to purge the systems. Unfortunately, over the years the Doctor has made many upgrades to his vessel but failed kept track of his work, and it is some time before he is able to reinstall everything to get the ship working again – and this time Jo makes sure he installs his anti-virus software…

Notes:
*Featuring the Third Doctor and Jo

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'The Wondrous Box' by Juliet Boyd Performed by Louise Jameson

When the TARDIS materialises in an empty circus tent belonging to the great P.T. Barnum, the Doctor and Sarah decide to nip forward in time so that they can enjoy a performance. However, the TARDIS’ departure is seen by one of the circus performers, Benjamin, and when he sees the wondrous blue box reappear some time later, he steals the TARDIS key from the Doctor’s pocket so that he can gain entry. Accidentally activating the ship’s controls Benjamin is transported a few years into the circus’ past, where his arrival is seen by Jumbo the elephant; the ship then transports Benjamin back to the present, where the Doctor and Sarah have just discovered the key’s theft. But as the Doctor and Sarah track down the TARDIS and learn of its recent trip, tragedy strikes: Jumbo the elephant is distracted by the reappearance of the TARDIS, and he is struck and killed by a train.

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor and Sarah

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'Wet Walls' by Matthew Madden Performed by Peter Davison

Arriving in Shropshire in 1903, the Doctor and Peri seek shelter from the pouring rain in a nearby manor house. Mistaking the Doctor for a real physician the housekeeper, Gretchen, takes them to her mistress Lady Catherine, a woman in the throes of madness, rambling about children and “wet walls”. That night, Peri experiences the same horrors as her host, believing the dilapidated house’s interior walls and floors to be soaking wet – even though the Doctor can see they are perfectly dry. The Doctor deduces that an alien life form is using the house as a womb for its offspring; unfortunately, the zonal shift used by the alien is not working properly, causing Catherine and Peri to share the experience. Searching the house’s grounds the Doctor and Peri find a spaceship and its jelly-like pilot, an asexual creature from the planet Callopia that has been stranded on Earth after falling through a wormhole. As the Doctor berates the creature for its actions he is interrupted by an angry Gretchen, who shoots the alien with a shotgun. At that moment the house gives birth to a number of amoeboid aliens; the zonal shift then seals, ending Catherine’s experience, much to Gretchen’s relief. After the Doctor sets the ships autopilot to send the alien babies home, Peri is surprised to learn that Gretchen is actually a man: Catherine’s footman – and secret lover!

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth Doctor and Peri

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'Murmurs of Earth' by Michael Deacon, Jamie Middleton and Chris Wraight Performed by Colin Baker

The Doctor takes the TARDIS to the Oort Cloud, a massive cluster of comets on the extreme edge of the Earth’s solar system. Investigating a mysterious planetoid nearby, the Doctor and Peri find themselves in a holographic paradise encased in an artificial dome, where they meet a number of beautiful naked humanoids, each a holographic replica based on the form of a single male and female. When Peri is abducted by the creator of this world, an organic alien probe called a Sentinel, which has come to the solar system to search for signs of life, the Doctor realises that the holographic projections are based on the inscription on one of Earth’s Voyager probes. After the Sentinel instils Peri’s personality into its creations, the Doctor and Peri bid a hasty exit in the TARDIS, knowing that paradise has been changed – hopefully for the better…

Notes:
*Featuring the Sixth Doctor and Peri

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'The Riparian Ripper' by Andrew Cartmel Performed by Sophie Aldred

The Doctor and Ace are investigating newspaper reports of “the Riparian Ripper”, an unidentified assailant that has been attacking people along a stretch of river in America. Eliciting the assistance of the physician involved in the case, Doctor Leonard Millroy, the Doctor and Ace learn that all of the victims had certain problems with their internal organs, each of which had been removed with surgical precision. Deducing that the Ripper is only trying to help its ‘patients’, the Doctor, Ace and Millroy then learn of another incident – only this time the Ripper has apparently been cornered, trapped inside a storm drain. However, when the trio race to the scene they arrive too late, and can only watch as the philanthropic alien makes its escape in a silver spaceship.

Notes:
*Featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace

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'All the Fun of the Fair' by Bev Conway Performed by India Fisher

A fairground raconteur steals the TARDIS and uses it as means of making money. However, when the people sent into the box all fail to return, the suspicion of the police becomes aroused, and although the carney manages to dispose of one investigating constable, he is subsequently arrested by a second officer, Constable Miller. Escorted into the box by the policemen and a girl named Lucie, the carney is then transported to a strange world where all his victims are waiting, along with the box’s owner, a man called the Doctor. After learning that Constable Miller is one of Lucie’s ancestors, the Doctor returns the victims home, and ensures the carney makes up for his nefarious actions.

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor and Lucie

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Release Date:
May 2011


Notes:

*A Big Finish Audio Production