The Song of Megaptera

CAST:

Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), John Benfield (Captain Greeg), Neville Watchurst (Stennar/Manus), John Banks (The Caller/Ship's Computer), Susan Brown (Chief Engineer/Chanel), Toby Longworth (Stafel/1st Security Guard), Alex Lowe (Axel/2nd Security Guard)

SYNOPSIS:
Deep space in the distant future, and Captain Greeg and his crew are hunting mile-long Space Whales on a vast harvesting ship. By pure accident, they also capture the TARDIS.

The Doctor and Peri must use all their wits to survive. But what is the creature running loose in the ship's bowels? And can the Doctor save Megaptera before its song is extinguished forever?

Scheduled for release in May

Online reviews & comments:

The Caller:

'There is a nice sub-plot with a fungal techno shaman which adds tension through the story and the shaman is a pretty interesting character with one of the best alien voices in a while.'

Computer:

'John Banks has a great time as the computer who's personality gets switched multiple times; settling on a psychopathic game player who rattles forth l33t speak. Yes it's silly but it raised several smiles and the injokes for gamers sit unobtrusively in the background.' 

The Coming of The Long Distance Duck

I noticed that this episode of Allo, Allo was on BBC 1 yesterday and I think it's possibly the first one I worked on at the Elstree studios, where Nouvion town square and Cafe Rene had a permanent home. Below is a 'screen-cap' from the original episode.

The Start

Lost Theatre Company have recently moved into their new permanent building in Wandsworth, after 25 years as an itinerant organisation. To celebrate the fact and to launch the theatre, they held a 'Five Minute Play Festival' for new writers in December; our contribution was a play called The Start and here are a couple of images of Robert Heard and me from the dress rehearsal. Directed by Rachel Illingworth for our Small Coin Theatre Company.

Jago and Litefoot

The first season of Jago and Litefoot has now been recorded, and the box set of four stories is due for release in June 2010. It is currently available at a special discounted pre-order price of £30. Click on the Big Finish link for further details.

I was in two of the stories, The Bloodless Soldier and The Similarity Engine and had great fun working with such a fabulous company, including Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter and a wonderful director, Lisa Bowerman, who made the whole event a joy. I also took part in the first of the Christmas podcasts from BF which might still be available via their web site if you are interested.

The Jago and Litefoot series follows directly on from the Companion Chronicle The Mahogany Murderers, and comprises four stories:





The Bloodless Soldier by Justin Richards
Directed by Lisa Bowerman
Guest cast: John Banks, Alex Lowe and Robin Bowerman
In which a group of soldiers return from duty overseas and bring a terrible evil with them...

The Bellova Devil by Alan Barnes
Directed by Lisa Bowerman
Guest cast: Stephen Thorne, Peter Silverleaf and Duncan Wisbey
In which Jago and Litefoot investigate a dead man who appears to have died before.

The Spirit Trap by Jonathan Morris
Directed by John Ainsworth
Guest cast: Janet Henfrey and Lex Shrapnel
In which Jago and Litefoot visit a psychic.

The Similarity Engine by Andy Lane
Directed by Lisa Bowerman
Guest cast: Matt Steer
In which an old enemy reveals his masterplan.

The box set includes a bonus fifth disc with an extensive 'Making of' documentary. There are interviews with all the cast and the production team, behind the scenes clips, plus exclusive extracts from the Writer's Notes read by Lisa Bowerman.