The Ghosts of N-Space
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| The Ghosts of N-Space | |
|---|---|
| Doctor Who radio play | |
 Cover of the CD release |
|
| Cast | |
| Doctor | Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor) |
| Production | |
| Writer | Barry Letts |
| Director | Phil Clarke |
| Length | 6 episodes, 30 mins each |
| Originally broadcast | January 20 to February 24, 1996 |
| Chronology | |
| ← Preceded by | Followed by → |
| — | — |
| Doctor Who book | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| The Ghosts of N-Space | |
| Series | Virgin Missing Adventures |
| Release number | 7 |
| Featuring | Third Doctor Sarah Jane Smith the Brigadier |
| Writer | Barry Letts |
| Publisher | Virgin Books |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-426-20434-4 |
| Set between | Death to the Daleks and The Monster of Peladon |
| Number of pages | 264 |
| Release date | February 1995 |
| Preceded by | 'The Romance of Crime' |
| Followed by | 'Time of Your Life' |
The Ghosts of N-Space is a radio audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was recorded in 1994 and finally broadcast in six parts on BBC Radio 2 from January 20 to February 24, 1996. This was the second Third Doctor radio play, following The Paradise of Death in 1993.
The announcer in the radio serial gave the title as Doctor Who and the Ghosts of N-Space, but both the cassette and CD releases have dropped the "Doctor Who and" prefix in their packaging, as does the novelisation.
It was written by Barry Letts, and featured Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. Broadcast a few months before his death, this was Pertwee's final performance as the Doctor.
Barry Letts' novelisation of the script was released as part of the Virgin Missing Adventures range of spin-off novels in 1995 (the first BBC novelisation to not be published under the Target Books range, which had been retired the previous year). The recording was originally released on cassette in 1996, re-released on a three CD set in 2000.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- The Doctor — Jon Pertwee
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart — Nicholas Courtney
- Sarah Jane Smith — Elisabeth Sladen
- Jeremy Fitzoliver — Richard C. Pearce
- Clemenza — Jonathan Tafler
- Don Fabrizzio — Don McCorkindale
- Max — Stephen Thorne
- Nico — David Holt
- Maggie — Sandra Dickinson
- Mario — Harry Towb
- Louisa — Deborah Berlin
- Umberto — Peter Yapp
- Maid — Joanne Sergeant
- Paolo — Paul Brooke
- Barone — Gavin Muir
- Baronessa / Marcella — Jillie Meers
- Roberto — Jonathan Keeble
- Guido — Jim Sweeney
[edit] Plot
Sarah Jane Smith and her co-worker Jeremy Fitzoliver are on holiday in Sicily when they meet the Brigadier. The Brigadier is trying to help his Uncle Mario, who is being threatened by a mobster named Vilmio. Mario is also trying to deal with the ghosts that have been sighted in his castello. The Brigadier asks the Doctor to investigate the hauntings and determine their source. The Doctor reveals that the ghosts are "N-Bodies", or the souls of the deceased who have not yet left the physical plane. The ghosts are gathering around Mario's castello due to a fracture in the N-Space barrier; if the barrier were to fail, Earth would be overrun with the monsters that inhabit N-Space.
The Doctor travels back to the 18th and 15th century in an attempt to locate the cause of the fracture. In the past he discovers that Vilmio is actually an alchemist called Vilmius who has discovered a method for extending his lifespan; now that he is nearing the end of his life, he wants to use the power of N-Space to give himself true immortality. He also plans to control the monsters in N-Space and use them to rule the world. Vilmius has been waiting centuries for a specific astrological conjunction to occur, which is scheduled to occur in the next few days.
Vilmius' men storm the castello, allowing Vilmio access to the N-Space fracture. The Doctor and Sarah Jane, using a device the Doctor invented, send their N-bodies into the fracture as well. Inside N-Space, Sarah Jane's belief in the Doctor transforms his body into that of a heroic white knight, which allows the Doctor to defeat Vilmius and sever his N-Body's link with his physical body. The defeat comes too late, and Vilmius begins absorbing the N-Space energy into his body. In a last-ditch attempt, the Doctor increases the amount of N-Space energy funneling into Vilmius, which causes him to explode; the N-Space energy disperses harmlessly.
[edit] Continuity
Jeremy Fitzoliver was introduced in Barry Lett's first Doctor Who radio play, The Paradise of Death. He is also featured in the Past Doctor Adventures novel Instruments of Darkness. Author Gary Russell originally intended Fitzoliver to be a part of the novel Business Unusual, but when BBC ordered it changed from a Third Doctor to a Sixth Doctor novel, the character was dropped.[1]
