Three appointments with the Doctor
(Another piece from the Ayrshire Post which I did with Jenny Colgan, talking audio and print media Doctor Who - including Mark Strickson)
Prestwick writer Jenny Colgan has had three Doctor’s appointments this month.
The former Queen Margaret Secondary pupil, an accomplished author, has had three Doctor Who adventures out this month - one audio play, a piece of fiction in a short story collection and another short, released as an audio book.
Ahead of the release of her latest romantic comedy novel later this year, Jenny’s had a busy few months writing adventures set in the worlds of the TV Time Lord.
Jenny has written a story in The Legends of Ashildr, a character who appeared in the last Doctor Who TV series, played by Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams. The daughter of a ninth century Viking farmer, she was given immortality by Peter Capaldi’s Time Lord.
Jenny said: “What the Doctor did to her was an awful thing.
“In her next episode, we found out Ashildr has had children who have died from the plague. As soon as I saw that, I knew that was what I wanted to work with.
“To be honest, I didn’t think they’d let me do it as it’s a difficult subject matter, and then I was told ‘Yes’, I could. So I really went for it.
“I loved writing about the plague - it’s one of those things you hear about in school, and you want to be all gory with it!
“I did a bit of research on how London would have been at the time, but the rest of it is down to my imagination and making it up.”
This month also marked the release of Jenny’s audio play, The Boundless Sea. Featuring River Song, the archaeologist wife of the Doctor, it is the first play in a four-CD adventure box set, The Diary of River Song.
The adventures are officially licensed by the BBC, and feature River Song, as played by Alex Kingston.
Jenny’s play sees River being drawn out of self-imposed academic exile by an archaelological dig, leading to a secret buried in a lost tomb.
She laughed: “They didn’t come and say outright, ‘Would you like to write a play for River,’ as they just said a more general, ‘What do you think of River?’, in a casual kind of way.
“To be perfectly honest, I just thought they were making conversation, so I told them I thought she was a tragic figure and I wouldn’t like to see her become a pantomime character and slapping her thigh. I’m very protective of her.
“It was only then they said, ‘Do you want to have a shot at a play?’, it was a very easy, ‘Yes, please!’
“Big Finish were very, very kind to let me have the first one - it was a massive thrill and very unexpected.”
She was delighted to travel down from her home in Fife to London, to attend the recording of her play.
Jenny said: “I was delighted as I got to meet Alex in the studio - that was really exciting. She’s really committed by it. As a character with River, there’s a lot we don’t know about her. There’s lots still to write about her.
“The Doctor has more morals than River does, and that makes River even more interesting. There’s still to much we have to learn about her.”
Jenny’s third story of the month is Gardens of the Dead, a short story read by actor Mark Strickson, who was Turlough, a companion to Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor in 1983/84.
Range producer Ian Atkins said: “This was a tale of me not expecting things to happen. I didn’t dream for a second I’d get Jenny T Colgan to write for the Short Trips range, but Matt Fitton was our very persuasive go-between, and suddenly it was going to happen. Jenny’s first question was about using an old character I didn’t think we’d be able to get - and suddenly it was going to happen. And Mark Strickson lived outside of the country so how could we record him? And suddenly that was going to happen. We’ve just been so lucky with the whole process.”
“I was probably at my most hardcore fan setting for season 20’s broadcast, so to be able to play with the same characters is a huge honour - one of those real Big Finish moments. To sit in the studio listening to Mark recreating Turlough not only effortlessly but so well really gave me flashbacks! He was brilliant, and so accommodating with his schedule I think it’s performance’s loss that he’s gone behind the camera as he’s got a great ear for voice and detail. The whole process was a blast.”
Jenny was delighted to attend the recording, in Edinburgh, as it meant she was reunited with Mark.
As a young fan, she had won a competition to go on set to witness the recording of Frontios, a Doctor Who story, which featured Mark.
She laughed: “When I met Alex Kingston, I was playing it cool and was very professional, but there was something special about seeing Mark again, who was there with the Doctor in my childhood!”
Jenny is now looking forward to May, when she has written the first all-new Doctor Who audio play to star David Tennant, alongside his old TV companion Catherine Tate.
