The Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard encounter danger, Daleks and the Master down a Cornish tin mine.
To celebrate their 25th anniversary, Big Finish Productions – Doctor Who’s audio producers – have created a story for the stage. Doctor Who – The Stuff of Legend was performed live four times over weekend of 14th/15th September, 2024 at London’s Cadogan Hall.
However, with limited numbers listeners able to enjoy those live performances, they’ve also recorded a studio version. Written by Robert Valentine, The Stuff of Legend starts Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor, accompanied by his first audio companion Charley Pollard (India Fisher). The two fan favourites find themselves facing off against both the Daleks and Big Finish’s own incarnation of the Master.
The Stuff of Legend
After a chilling opening scene, the tale proper begins with a narrator, Emily Barnfather. She promises “… a story of monsters and of great evil, and of a devil-may-care adventuress called Charley Pollard and her miraculous companion… a wanderer in space and time known as the Doctor!” As opening gambits go, it’s a pretty good summation of what follows.
The Doctor and Charley find themselves drawn off course to a damp Cornwall in 1963. As they venture out in search of a cream tea, they soon encounter something horrific as they witness a man throwing himself from a cliff top,
Meeting Emily Barnfather as a young woman, the trio are soon wrapped up into the absorbing tale of a missing professor and sinister sounds from an abandoned tin mine. It’s all delivered with a generous serving of local myth, courtesy of the landlord at The Tinners Return.
Exploring the mine itself however, they soon discover Robomen and Daleks at work. Plus the Master, of course, who’s keen to turn the situation to his advantage…
In Summary
The story is rife with fan-pleasing references, from the naming of characters such as Foley – after the job title of the person who provides audio sound effects – to Barnfather, nodding at the director whose Mythmaker video productions and interview kept fans going during Doctor Who wilderness years.
Paul McGann and India Fisher lead the action as Doctor and Charley, continuing their terrific double-act. They’ve entertained us for the best part of Big Finish’s quarter-century and the banter is pure joy.
Nicholas Briggs impressively voices a cadre of different Daleks, while Alex Macqueen returns to his role as that most supercilious of Masters. As an incarnation who’s only ever appeared on audio, his appearance here seems it seems very fitting.
In the wider guest cast Annette Badland is on double-duty as both the charismatic older Emily Barnfather and the alien Bucca. Nisha Nayar has fun as the younger Emily, while Jason Forbes sparkles as the landbound Jamaican sea captain Montgomerie Césaire, and makes a pleasing double-act with director Barnaby Edwards’ Jago Penrose. Edwards also voices the butler Foley too.
The Stuff of Legend is not a ground-breaking tale, but achieves its celebratory aims. Mining a reach seam of Cornish mythology, it provides a fun adventure with a bunch of entertaining characters. Naturally, there’s a dastardly Dalek plan, quite in keeping with the sort of thing they’ve attempted over the years.
While it was doubtless fun to watch, the story works well as an audio drama in its own right. If you’re a fan of the Eighth Doctor and Charley’s exploits, or just a good, solid Doctor Who story, this one’s for you.
Doctor Who – The Stuff of Legend (Studio Version) is out now. It’s available on either Collector’s Edition double CD (+ download) or digital download, exclusively from Big Finish.
Live Recording
Interestingly, we understand there’s the intention to release a live recording of the theatrical performance later in the year too. Whether that’s audio or a video remains to be seen – we’ll keep you posted.