Russell Plays the Game
An original cast member of Doctor Who makes his return this month as Ian Chesterton himself, William Russell, guest stars alongside Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton in The Game, the latest 5th Doctor Audio released later this month by Big Finish.
Only Russell is not playing Ian, because another Russell, Big Finish producer Gary, doesn’t believe in bringing old companions back to meet the Doctor (unless its someone who lives on Gallifrey). Gary Russell is of the view that the Doctor meeting up with an old friend is too implausible, which suggests that he is painfully unaware that all four of his audio Doctors are able to pilot the TARDIS to where and whenever they’d like, making any such meeting perfectly plausible if he so wished. Personally I don’t find the idea that the Doctor would drop in on an old friend to see how they are doing to be that odd - actually, the idea that once he had control of the TARDIS, that he wouldn’t ever go back at least once to see old friends of his, is what I find to be a bit odd.
Nevertheless, while the fans are denied a chance to hear the Doctor and Ian team up 42 years after they first met, cheers to Big Finish for bringing back William Russell at a time when Doctor Who is beginning once again. Hearing William Russell act alongside Peter Davison will no doubt be a joy, and perhaps it is fitting that William Russell finally gets to equal what his co-star Jacqueline Hill got to do 25 years ago - return to Doctor Who in a different role to act alongside a different Doctor.
And after 42 years after his first appearance in Doctor Who, it seems not a moment too soon!
Posted by John on Saturday, February 19 at 2:18 pm
1 Comment...
Gary Russell is of the view that the Doctor meeting up with an old friend is too implausible, which suggests that he is painfully unaware that all four of his audio Doctors are able to pilot the TARDIS to where and whenever they’d like, making any such meeting perfectly plausible if he so wished. Personally I don’t find the idea that the Doctor would drop in on an old friend to see how they are doing to be that odd - actually, the idea that once he had control of the TARDIS, that he wouldn’t ever go back at least once to see old friends of his, is what I find to be a bit odd.
I agree. I especially found it hard to believe that at the end of “Trial of a Time Lord,” after learning that Peri was still alive and that he had not, as he’d been tricked into believing, been responsible for her death, the Doctor did not immediately go to Thoros-Alpha to make sure she was okay. (As if she’d actually marry Yrcanos!)
I so did not believe this, that I turned it into the basis of my story, “What If We Went to Italy?” which was published in the reprinted version of Perfect Timing Vol. 1.
On the other hand, the Doctor is not particularly sentimental, and a lot of his Companions did, after all, choose to leave him, not the other way around. He may have assumed, in most if not all of those cases, that they may not want to be reunited with him.
In any case, it’s Gary’s sandbox, so he gets to decide who plays in it and how.
Posted by Tom Beck on 02/19 at 08:38 PM
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