Mysteries come in all shapes and forms. From a small-scale murder to an alien conspiracy. But when they arise the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric are the perfect team to deal with them.
The Merfolk Murders by Tim Foley (4 parts)
St Andrews, Scotland, 1940. The Merfolk are a university society meeting through the summer to discuss murder mystery stories. Innocent escapism during wartime, they say. Their latest book is The Casebook of Orion Hood - whose hero is all-too-familiar to the Doctor...
When a real-life murder occurs soon after their gathering, the Doctor’s friends encourage him to investigate. Is one of the Merfolk responsible? Was this crime the result of espionage or envy? The Doctor must embrace his deerstalker once more and solve this wartime mystery - before the killer can strike again!
Dream Team by Lizzie Hopley (2 parts)
“Welcome to Concordium! The one-stop destination for elite and effective corporate bonding.”
A protected wonder of space is being exploited for ‘company away days’ but when the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric land to challenge the organisers, they fall into a web of perfectly tailored nightmares. As the Doctor confronts one of the most dangerous monsters in existence, one that uses your own mind against you while it feeds, his companions fall deeper into the trap and a nasty truth is revealed - you can die in dreams.
This release comes with a bonus audiobook download: Meanwhile, Turlough by Jonathan Blum.
**Please note: the Collectors' Edition CDs are strictly limited to a pressing of just 1,500 copies**
Recorded on: 21-22 July 2022 and 16 January 2023
Recorded at: The Soundhouse
Producer David Richardson said: “What would it be like to throw the Fifth Doctor team into a historical murder mystery, in which he gets to play detective? That was the starting point of The Merfolk Murders - a four-part story which may, or may not, have a very subtle link to a Fourth Doctor Adventure that’s in the works. Tim Foley, as always, excels with a rich character drama…
“Then Lizzie Hopley gets to unleash her wild imagination with the Dream Crabs as they imperil the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric in a story that only features the lead actors.”
Writer Tim Foley said: “[The Merfolk Murders] is a Doctor Whodunnit, a tale inspired by the Golden Age of Crime. It’s a properly clued mystery with an impossible crime at its centre. I may love my Agatha Christies, but making a locked room mystery work on audio is a puzzle all by itself! Hopefully I’ve pulled it off. Peter Davison delivers one heck of a denouement!”
Dream Team writer Lizzie Hopley added: I’ve been wanting to create a planet archipelago for a while, the type of place David Attenborough would visit. Except it’s been taken over by nightmare face-hugging brain-eating crabs. There are a few other nasty surprises along the way, including just why they’re there and who’s behind it all.
“The wonderful thing about the Dream Crabs is they’re in it even when you think they’re not. I usually hate it when characters wake up from a nightmare, thinking it’s over and then wake up again as it’s not - it’s a much-repeated device - but the Kantrofarri are far more complex than that. And horrific. Which was really fun to meddle with!”
Interlude:
Meanwhile Turlough by Jonathan Blum, narrated by Dan Starkey
There’s a crisis on Greysolon. And only the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough can stop it. Except one of them may be otherwise occupied. Turlough has managed to find a crisis of his own. A very personal one. While his friends are saving the planet… he’s going to have to save himself.
Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Matthew Waterhouse
