With the cancellation of Doctor Who in 1989, a whole season of stories were left in limbo – including ‘Alixion’.

Original Season 27 plans included a return for the Ice Warriors and the introduction of a new companion. You can find a ton of articles on the web about where the show might have gone.

Big Finish first took a run at adapting some of those planned stories back in 2011. Now they’ve unearthed another – ‘Alixion’. The story’s original screenwriter Robin Mukherjee has returned to his original script and adapted it into an audio drama.

Here’s the setup for ‘Alixion’:

Checking into a luxury health spa for a little rest and recreation, the Doctor and Ace find themselves at the mercy of a malign entity that craves the conquest of time and space.

 Exploiting their memories and regrets, the queen of the hive, which hides behind the polished walls of the spa, forces them to confront their deepest fears as she steals the Doctor’s life force to spread her powers across the universe.

The story stars Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, with Sophie Aldred as Ace. Joining them are Shri Patel (This England) as Colin, a ‘Time Gribble’ who comes to the aid of the Doctor and Ace, and Beverly Longhurst (I May Destroy You) playing spa hostess Mathilda.

The cast also includes Jon Edgley Bond, Ali Bastian, David O’Mahony, and Mathew McQuinn.

Writer Robin Mukherjee said:

“The story of Alixion came out of conversations with Andrew Cartmel, supported by John Nathan-Turner, the first producer to offer me a television commission. Up to that point I’d written for theatre and radio, and was just finding my feet in the industry.

“I can vividly remember those cramped rooms in a drab office block on Shepherds Bush Green which became an oasis of creativity, seething with ideas in the company of John, Andrew, Ben [Aaronovitch], Ian [Briggs], Graeme [Curry], Rona [Munro] and others. I felt in awe of these writers and their imagination. We danced through space and time spinning strange and wonderful tales for – in my view – one of the show’s greatest ever Doctor/partner pairings.

“The cancellation of the next series put an end to my commission. But the story has always hovered in the corners of my imagination. Between then and now, I’ve mostly written grounded, realistic dramas, from medical series to arthouse cinema. Being able to launch my creative molecules into the stratosphere has been an immeasurable joy. What surprised me most about writing this was how much story, from all of those conversations, was simply waiting to be told. It feels as if something begun in the tender days of my early work has at last been fulfilled.”

Doctor Who – The Lost Stories: Alixion is available to pre order now, ahead of a September 2025 release. It’s available as a download to own, or as a download to own + collector’s edition 2-disc CD, from Big Finish.

You can catch up with our reviews of previous releases in the Doctor Who – The Lost Stories range here.