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Seasons
of Fear
(Paul Cornell and
Caroline Syrncox)
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 "Seasons
of Fear", the third release for 2002 with the Eighth
Doctor and Charley, bears a joint writers' credit.
Paul Cornell should need no introduction to readers -
or listeners - of Doctor Who over the past decade.
Among his previous work is "The
Shadow of the Scourge", the October 2000 audio that
reunited his "New
Adventures" team. Yet Cornell has not written this
new story alone as he has been helped by his fiancée
Caroline Syrncox.
Titled
"Seasons of Fear" it has been directed by Gary Russell
and stars Paul McGann as The Doctor and India Fisher as
Charley
Pollard. It was recorded on the 19th and 20th January
2001.
Also
staring are: Stephen Perring, Robert Curbishley, Stephen
Fewell, Lennox Greaves, Sue Wallace, Justine Mitchell
and Don Warrington.
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| Eighth Doctor |
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"I have killed you, Doctor! And delivered this
planet to my masters"
The earth has been laid waste and the doctor is
dead! But how can Grayle have caused The Doctor's death and surely it's too
late to save the world this time?
Singapore,
1931. The Doctor finally succeeds in delivering Charley to Singapore so that
she can keep her long-promised New Year's Eve date with her friend Alex Grayle.
However, while she enjoys the New Year festivities with her young man's company
a stranger, who disturbs The Doctor's relaxation at the Hilton, makes some
staggering claims.
Apparently Alex Grayle's Grandfather, Sebastian Grayle, is an
old and bitter enemy of The Doctor and while he taunts him it is revealed that
Grayle has finally succeeded in killing The Doctor. But who is the mysterious
Sebastian Grayle? And can The Doctor prevent what Grayle claims to already be
history: the Time Lord's death at his hands?
Is he really
Sebastian Grayle, Alex's grandfather? Or is he an immortal who has come to
gloat over The Doctor's death - a death he has already caused? How can this be,
when The Doctor has never met him before? With time running out, The Doctor and
Charley realise that they must embark on a journey through history to discover
how Grayle received the 'gift' of immortality and just how he managed to
destroy the Time Lord?
To find out, The Doctor and Charley return to
Britain, and thence on a great journey to three periods in it's past. Each time
the opportunity arises for the ageless Grayle to renew contact with his
masters, they must seek to prevent it - or the world will be doomed. Not to
mention The Doctor…
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| India Fisher |
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Scotland, 305.
Grayle has had 750 years to see a position of power. The
Doctor and Charley cross swords with some old friends
of the Time Lord and manage to thwart Grayle's plans.
But has The Doctor angered Grayle and so sealed his fate
when they next meet?
London,
1055. The Doctor and Charley again meet Grayle and uncover
a conspiracy to use deadly radioactive Plutonium so that
he can seize the throne, the crown, and the so ultimately
the whole world. With everyone, including The Doctor and
Charley, in grave danger how can The Doctor prevent this
huge disruption in history?
Buckinghamshire, 1806.
Grayle's powers are nearing their apex. So is this really
a good time for The Doctor to challenge him to a duel?
But when Grayle's masters are finally revealed the battle
for humanity is extended into the TARDIS
and the time vortex itself. But is The Doctor missing
something? Which life-extending masters does Grayle serve?
And how can the timeline of Earth - indeed, the whole
Universe - have been changed to the extent that Grayle
claims?
The Doctor is
about to meet some very old enemies. A technologically
advanced race that he describes as interstellar locusts
who use black holes to travel through space to go from
planet to planet so as to absorb their energy. But why
is Grayle so willing to serve his hideous masters, known
as the Nimon, and what can The Doctor do to prevent these
black bull headed monsters from destroying not just planet
Earth but the whole Universe when even the TARDIS has
been invaded?
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Notes:
- Featuring the Eighth
Doctor and Charley
Pollard.
- Serial Number: 8H
- Number of Episodes: 4
- Cover Length: 110 minutes
- Episode Lengths: 1 = 30'42", 2 = 27'21", 3 =
29'02", 4 = 32'23"
- This story takes place after "Doctor
Who: The Movie".
- Cover Illustration: Clayton Hickman
- Recorded: 19th and 20th January 2001
- Recording Location: Christchurch Studios
and The Moat
- Released: March 2002
- ISBN: 1-903654-59-9
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On the
Back Cover:
On New Year's Eve, 1930, The Doctor lets Charley
keep her appointment at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. But his unease at what
he's done to time by saving her life soon turns into fear. Sebastian Grayle:
immortal, obsessed, ruthless, has come to the city to meet the Time Lord. To
The Doctor, he's a complete stranger, but to Grayle, The Doctor is an old
enemy.
An enemy that, many years ago, he finally succeeded in
killing. And this is his only chance to gloat.
The Doctor and
Charley desperately search human history for the secret of Grayle's power and
immortality. Their quest takes in four different time periods, the Hellfire
Club, the court of Edward the Confessor and the time vortex itself. And when
the monsters arrive, the stakes are raised from the life of one Time Lord to
the existence of all humanity. |
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On the
Inside Cover:
SEASONS OF FEAR IS AN attempt to resurrect
an ancient Doctor Who tradition: it's a 'road' story like The
Chase
or The Keys of Marinus, where our heroes desperately dash from
one location to another in order to prevent
some terrible disaster, in this case
the death of The Doctor himself. It's also
an attempt at a very traditional
Doctor Who story, an exciting adventure against the odds, with
moments of humour against a very dark background.
And it makes use of one of my
favourite features of the 1996 TV movie: Paul McGann's formidable
gift for narration. It wouldn't have been
like this without the intervention of my
co-author. When I was in the midst of a
deadline crisis she took on a draft to sort
out what was then a meandering plot, and
ended up re-structuring the whole
thing and providing a good half of the dialogue.
Caroline's an academic, and her career aims
are ecclesiastical rather than literary.
The values she brought to this one-off experiment
include seriousness of intent, historical
detail and a turning away from the overt
humour of my more recent Doctor
Who work.
So if it's not silly enough for you, blame
her! |
Paul Cornell,
December 2001
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| I WAS VERY SURPRISED WHEN I
received a phone call from Paul asking me if I would write the second draft of
Seasons of Fear, especially as I've never done anything like a Doctor
Who audio before. A surprise that turned to nerves when I realised who I
would be writing for! Nonetheless ix was vastly exciting, working on a script
and then hearing Paul McGann speaking the words I'd written. Paul Cornell, of
course, was the guy with the ideas and the good dialogue, but I hope my
contribution of logic and a little more structure helped. So thank you to
everyone involved for giving me the chance to do something like this, and
here's hoping that you all like the end result! |
Caroline Symcox,
December
2001 |
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Full Cast
List:
| Part One |
| The Doctor |
Paul McGann |
| Charley Pollard |
India Fisher |
| Grayle |
Stephen Perring |
| Marcus |
Robert Curbishley |
| Lucilius |
Stephen Fewell |
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| Part Two |
| The Doctor |
Paul McGann |
| Charley Pollard |
India Fisher |
| Edward |
Lennox Greaves |
| Edith |
Sue Wallace |
| Grayle |
Stephen Perring |
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| Part Three |
| The Doctor |
Paul McGann |
| Charley Pollard |
India Fisher |
| Grayle |
Stephen Perring |
| Lucy Martin |
Justine Mitchell |
| Richard Martin |
Stephen Fewell |
| Grayle's Master's Voices |
Robert Curbishley |
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| Part Four |
| The Doctor |
Paul McGann |
| Charley Pollard |
India Fisher |
| Lucy Martin |
Justine Mitchell |
| Grayle |
Stephen Perring |
| Grayle's Master's Voices |
Robert Curbishley |
| Richard Martin |
Stephen Fewell |
| The Auditor |
Don Warrington |
The
Production Team:
| Writers |
Paul Cornell
and
Caroline Symcox |
| Director |
Gary Russell |
| Sound/Music |
Gareth Jenkins and
Jane
Elphinstone |
| Theme Music |
David Arnold |
| Producers |
Gary Russell and
Jason
Haigh-Ellery |
| Executive Producer for the BBC
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Jaqueline Rayner |
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