Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

In a six-part full-cast audio adventure written by Alan Barnes, set during the time of Jon Pertwee’s final season on TV, the Doctor (Tim Treloar), Sarah Jane Smith (Sadie Miller), and the Brigadier (Jon Culshaw) return to face an ominous threat, explore some heated rivalries, and indulge in good old fashioned 1970s journalism.

Also joining the cast are Stephen Noonan (who voiced Big Finish’s First Doctor) and newcomer Gerran Howell (Kaleidoscope), alongside Jasmin Hinds (Jenny Nettles), Helen Goldwyn (Daphne Green), Mark Elstob (Air Commodore Hurley), Imogen Church (WRAF Controller) and Christopher Naylor (Harry Sullivan).

His name is Kaleidoscope. He claims to have travelled halfway across the universe to warn all humankind that it stands on the brink of extinction. And a certain tenacious young journalist has got an exclusive interview with this alien messiah…  But it’s not Sarah Jane Smith who’s got the out-of-this-world scoop, – it’s her rival, the unscrupulous Jenny Nettles. Sarah’s busy helping the Doctor and UNIT work out if Kaleidoscope is for real or a fake when RAF Phantoms scramble to intercept an unidentified something homing in on a top-secret missile base. It seems like Kaleidoscope’s apocalyptic predictions might all be about to come true. 

Tim Treloar said: “This is a very big script. It’s fantastic and right up my street. It’s like a Bond film in many ways. I’m very interested in history and I love stories set on Earth. It’s a topsy-turvy story full of surprises.”

Jon Culshaw added: “It’s a delicious story and really evocative of this particular chapter of the Third Doctor era. The Brigadier is on thumpingly great form. There are some lovely, heart-warming, and funny moments. There’s an edge of comedy that comes out in certain moments of the action – which make you endear to the Brigadier even more.”

Sadie Miller agreed: “The Third Doctor Adventures are always great. It’s quite a layered story that unpacks itself as it goes along with lots of familiar characters and some great villains. It captures that sense of scope, landscape and vision [of the original serials] very well.

“With the Third Doctor, Sarah’s still in that pupil role — they aren’t quite on an even keel yet. It’s nice to push those boundaries and find different facets of their relationship.”

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