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 The final story in this season of audio adventures is a special two-part feature length story called "Neverland" and again stars Paul McGann, as the Eighth Doctor, and India Fisher, as companion Charley Pollard. This story is written by Alan Barnes and is directed by Gary Russell. It was recorded on the 24th and 25th January 2001.

Audio - Neverland
Neverland
(Alan Barnes)

 Joining Paul and India is Lalla Ward whose debut Big Finish audio story was in "The Apocalypse Element". Once again she will be playing the part of 2nd Romana who is Lord President of the High Council of Time Lords. Also starring are: Jonathan Rigby, Dot Smith, Ian Hallard, Anthony Keetch, Peter Trapani, Holly King, Alistair Lock, Lee Moone, Mark McDonnell, Nicola Boyce and Don Warrington.

 There has been considerable anticipation since early in 2001, when this season of 6 Eighth Doctor stories was first announced, as to how "Neverland" might resolve Charley's paradoxical existence which occurred at the end of "Storm Warning". If you recall in this story poor tragic Charlotte Pollard's life should have been snuffed out before it had begun in the crash of the R101 - if it had not been for the intervention of The Doctor.

Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
 "Neverland" sits as the climax to the second Big Finish Paul McGann season and after the long build-up finally reveals the true implications of Charley's survival of the R101 in a most unexpected fashion. Her survival has paved the way for the Web of Time's collapse and it seems the only means to survive lies in a universe time forgot.

 The Doctor, who is now aware that his companion Charley is at the eye of a storm damaging the Web of Time, finds that a formation of battle-TARDISes is trying to pin them down. At the head off his search-and-intercept mission from Gallifrey are none other than President Romanadvoratrelundar and Co-ordinator Vansell. But it soon becomes clear to The Doctor that and they're intentions are not friendly especially when he detects Time Torpedoes heading towards the TARDIS.

 Why are the Time Lords so keen to track The Doctor down? Exactly what lengths will the Celestial Intervention Agency go to in their efforts to retrieve something important from within his TARDIS?


India Fisher
India Fisher
 Once under their control, The Doctor realises that his main concern is to protect Charley from harm. But Charley has a vital function: Romana and Vansell need her in order to reach a dimension that, officially, does not exist. In theory, this is the world of Anti-Time - but in light of the beings that they encounter there, it might as well be called 'Neverland'…

 What connection is there between Charley and this mysterious dimension and why do the Time Lords need her so desperately? Why is the Matrix itself at risk? What is Vansell's real agenda? Who is the mythological destroyer Zagreus and is he to be feared in reality? What has caused Imperiatrix Romanadvoratrelundar to declare war on the rest of creation? Who was The Doctor talking to at "Seasons of Fear"? And how does the Oubliette of Etemity figure in Gallifrey's clandestine past?

Romana
Romana
 To find out, The Doctor seeks the answers deep within an entirely new universe and must face up to the actions not only of himself but the hundreds and thousands of Time Lords who have gone before.

 With the help of Charley The Doctor has to join forces with those on the Time Station and finds himself boldly going where no Gallifreyan has gone before. Officially, that is…

 There they find a Xero Cabinet which could contain Rassilon but the Time Station holds a far greater secret - one which when exposed highlights a tragic era of the Time Lord's history and Co-ordinator Vansell's true reason for wanting to reach 'Neverland'. But worse is still to come and "Neverland" not only ends this run of adventures for the Eighth Doctor on an explosive high but it is true to say that nothing will ever be the same again!

 As much as this story is designed to resolve the events that have occurred in the previous Eighth Doctor audios it poses new questions and its cliffhanger sets events in motion for a new and different direction. As we will not hear McGann again as the Eighth Doctor until Big Finish Production's 40th Anniversary story in November 2003, it will be a long wait until what happens next is revealed.

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Free Doctor Who for Subscribers

Audio - The Maltese Penguin
The Maltese Penguin
(Robert Shearman)
 Free with this story, to subscribers to the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio range, was a special story titled "The Maltese Penguin".

  It stars Colin Baker, as the Sixth Doctor, and Robert Jezek, reprising his role as Frobisher the shape changing Whifferdill, facing up to their old enemy, Dogbolter from The Doctor Who Magazine Comic Strips.

 It has been written by Robert Shearman, who wrote Frobisher's debut Doctor Who audio adventure "The Holy Terror" and was sent to subscribers with the release of "Neverland".

 Click here for more details of this special story.

 


Notes:
  • Featuring the Eighth Doctor, Charley Pollard and 2nd Romana.
  • Serial Number: 8L
  • Number of Episodes: 2
  • Cover Length: 150 minutes
  • Episode Lengths: 1 = 72'08", 2 = 71'42"
  • This story takes place after "Doctor Who: The Movie".
  • Cover Illustration: Clayton Hickman
  • Recorded: 24th and 25th January 2001
  • Recording Location: Christchurch Studios
  • Released: July 2002
  • ISBN: 1-903654-62-9

On the Back Cover:

 The Web of Time is stretched to breaking. History is leaking like a sieve. In the Citadel of Gallifrey, the Time Lords fear the end of everything that is, everything that was… everything that will be.

 The Doctor holds the Time Lords' only hope - but exactly what lengths will the Celestial Intervention Agency go to in their efforts to retrieve something important from within his TARDIS? What has caused the Imperiatrix Romanadvoratrelundar to declare war on the rest of creation? And can an old nursery rhyme about a monster called Zagreus really be coming true?

 The answers can only be found outside the bounds of the universe itself, in a place that history forgot. In the wastegrounds of eternity. In the Neverland.
 

On the Inside Cover:
ONCE UPON A TIME…

 The fairy appeared in a lamplight moonbeam. The crocodile snapped, the pirates shivered their timbers, and the Captain waned his hook. The children gasped, and goggled, and gasped, and goggled; cheered for Peter, and hissed the baddies. And clapped their hands, because they all believed in fairies.

 All too soon, the adventure was over. The boy who could fly became a lady called Miss Forbes-Robertson, who stepped forward, politely, to take her applause. The curtain seemed to sigh as it fell.

 Outside the Palladium, the evening air was filled with the smell of burning chestnuts. Somewhere down the way, a newspaper vendor shouted out about a man who'd died, a man called Lenin. A twelve year-old girl, small for her age, tagged at her Nanny's sleeve and pointed up at a twinkling in the sky.

   'Is that it, there?' she asked. 'Is that the star they went by?'
   'You can't tell your right from your left, young lady,' said Nanny, by way of reply. 'Now come along.'
   'I'm sure that's the one,' insisted the girl. 'That's the one that Peter and Wendy went by.'

 Nanny paid her no attention, and flapped her arm to hail a carriage. The girl screwed up her eyes, tight, and made a wish.

   'I never, ever, want to grow up,' said Charlotte Pollard.

 When she opened her eyes, the star had gone out.
Alan Barnes,
April 2002
 

Full Cast List:

Part One
The Doctor Paul McGann
Charley Pollard India Fisher
Romana Lalla Ward
Matrix Voices Jonathan Rigby, Dot Smith and Ian Hallard
Co-ordinator Vansell Anthony Keetch
Kurst Peter Trapani
Levith Holly King
Emporer Alistair Lock
Under-Cardinal Lee Moone
Rorvan Mark McDonnell
Taris Nicola Boyce
The Observer Don Warrington
 
Part Two
The Doctor Paul McGann
Charley Pollard India Fisher
Romana Lalla Ward
Rorvan Mark McDonnell
Co-ordinator Vansell Anthony Keetch
Levith Holly King
Taris Nicola Boyce
Under-Cardinal Lee Moone
Matrix Voices Jonathan Rigby, Dot Smith and Ian Hallard
The Observer Don Warrington

The Production Team:

Writer Alan Barnes
Director Gary Russell
Sound/Music Nicholas Briggs
Theme Music David Arnold
Producers Gary Russell and
Jason Haigh-Ellery
Executive Producer for the BBC Jaqueline Rayner
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