The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories (Jason Arnopp, Rick Briggs, William Gallagher and John Dorney)

The final release for 2010 consists of four separate stories for the Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison, and his companion Nyssa, played by Sarah Sutton.

These four stories are: "The Demons of Red Lodge" by Jason Arnopp, "The Entropy Composition" by Rick Briggs, "Doing Time" by William Gallagher and "Special Features" by John Dorney. All four stories have been written by new writers to the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio range and all have directed by Ken Bentley.

Jason Arnopp, who is a member of the Doctor Who Magazine, has written the title story, "The Demons of Red Lodge". ‘I suppose I deliberately played to the virtues of only having 25 minutes by-hopefully! not having a dull moment and getting into the story straight away’, Jason Arnopp has revealed. ‘In terms of the tone, I'm a big fan of dark, scary Doctor Who, and I think I was channelling The Blair Witch Project. I wanted to put the Doctor in the middle of that’.

Fifth Doctor

The second story, "The Entropy Composition" by Rick Briggs, was the result of when earlier in 2010 Big Finish Productions opened its doors to pitches from listeners for a single 25-minute story featuring the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa.

Rick Briggs has revealed ‘This is my first commission, so it’s pretty exciting for me. You couldn’t choose a better thing to get your first commission on! The story’s set across two different time periods, one of which is a musical archive in the far future, the other is Earth in 1968, a fabulous period in history both for Doctor Who and for music. I guess you could view this as the final 25 minutes of a bigger story. It gets rid of the build-up by dropping us in right at the very climax. In some ways, I think the 25-minute format is not as difficult as I’d expected it to be’.

While the third story, "Doing Time", starts off with homage to the classic Ronnie Barker comedy Porridge - even down to a prison door clanging shut.

Nyssa

The final story is the strangely titled "Special Features" by John Dorney whose story sees The Doctor taking part in a DVD commentary. ‘With a one-parter it’s best if you come up with a simple idea that you couldn’t do in more than one episode’, John Dorney has revealed. ‘If you feel like you’re condensing a four-part story into one part, you need to come up with a simpler idea!’.

The final story is the strangely titled "Special Features" by John Dorney whose story sees The Doctor taking part in a DVD commentary. ‘With a one-parter it’s best if you come up with a simple idea that you couldn’t do in more than one episode’, John Dorney has revealed. ‘If you feel like you’re condensing a four-part story into one part, you need to come up with a simpler idea!’.

Joining Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton in these stories are: Susan Kyd, Duncan Wisbey, John Dorney, Andree Bernard, Ian Brooker, Joanna Munro and James Fleet.

Main Doctor Who range subscribers, whose subscription included this title, also received the complete Doctor Who audio drama "The Four Doctors" absolutely free. This adventure stars Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann as the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors, with Nicholas Briggs as the Daleks. "The Four Doctors" is a subscribers only release is not available to buy separately.

On the Back Cover

When you’re a kid and your parents are scared, that terrifies you. The way in which you perceive the world is largely a reflection of their attitude towards it. That was how I approached the Doctor and Nyssa in this hopefully chilling story. Inside the Doctor’s head it's all gone Blair Witch Project. He’s completely knocked off balance and only keeping it together for Nyssa. Because once you realise the Doctor is scared, who’s left to say everything’s all right?


Rick Briggs

Writing’s a thrill. The chance to write for Peter and Sarah is thrilling squared. From the beginning, I knew I didn’t want to separate them. I wanted them side-by-side, dealing with this threat to Life As We Know It by galvanizing each other’s intelligence, courage and spirit. And I wanted to let them wind each other up as well - just a little.

I hope I succeeded. I hope you enjoy the ride. And I really hope you'll stay away from those Roger Dean gatefold record sleeves...


William Gallagher

"Lock up the Doctor." That was the first thing I said. "Properly." No escape, no rescue. I meant it seriously too: I wanted to see the Doctor under new pressure. Preferably in solitary confinement. But then I described a prison door as clanging like the ones in Porridge and Alan Barnes pointed out that you don't always have to be serious about being serious. He knows his stuff, that man, and from there we were off.


John Dorney

Some ideas you just have to write. The moment I came up with the concept for Special Features I had little choice in the matter. Could I get away with it? Could I make it work?

Bizarrely, the story almost plotted itself, as certain things had to happen to justify the concept. It was scripting and production that were a nightmare. Special Features is one of the most technically demanding pieces BF has made. And it’s only twenty-five minutes! I hope you find it worth the effort.