The Kingmaker

Bigfinishbox
title=The Kingmaker
series="Doctor Who"
number=81
featuring=Fifth Doctor Peri Brown Erimem


writer=Nev Fountain
director=Gary Russell
producer=Gary Russell Jason Haigh-Ellery
executive_producer=
production_code=6QI
set_between="The Council of Nicaea" and
"The Gathering"
length=
date=April 2006|

"The Kingmaker" is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series "Doctor Who". The drama was written by Nev Fountain who is better known for his work on the radio and television series "Dead Ringers", and also stars Jon Culshaw who in the same programmes is known for his impression of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor.

Plot

The Doctor travels to the fifteenth century to investigate the mystery of the Princes in the Tower, to fulfil a contract to write a series of children's books. Is there another time traveller on the loose? And just why is there a robot in the TARDIS?

Cast

*The Doctor — Peter Davison
*Peri — Nicola Bryant
*Erimem — Caroline Morris
*Richard, Duke of Gloucester — Stephen Beckett
*Earl Rivers/Voice of the Fourth Doctor — Jon Culshaw
*Mr Seyton — Michael Fenton Stevens
*Henry, Duke of Buckingham — Marcus Hutton
*Judith — Linzi Matthews
*Sir James Tyrell — Chris Neill
*Clarrie — Arthur Smith
*Susan — Katie Wimpenny

Trivia

*The "Doctor Who Discovers…" range of books, which in the play were written by the Doctor, were a real range of books published by Target Books in 1977. The five titles were Early Man, Space Travel, Strange and Mysterious Creatures, Prehistoric Animals, and The Conquerors.
*The publishing company's robot addresses the Doctor as "Doctor Who", as the computer WOTAN does in "The War Machines", but the Doctor says that this was due to a typographical error by the publishers. The titles of the books should have been "The Doctor, who discovers...".
*Jon Culshaw does his famous Tom Baker impression when the Fifth Doctor listens to the Fourth Doctor's dictated notes for the incomplete (and fictional) work "Doctor Who Discovers Historical Mysteries".
*William Shakespeare appears in this story. Shakespeare was previously glimpsed in the Time/Space Visualiser in "The Chase", and featured prominently in the 2007 episode "The Shakespeare Code". In "Planet of Evil", the Doctor mentioned having met Shakespeare before, and in "City of Death" he claimed that he helped transcribe the original manuscript for "Hamlet". A child in "The Time of the Daleks" was revealed at that play's conclusion to be Shakespeare. Shakespeare also appears in the Virgin Missing Adventures novel "The Empire of Glass". He also appears in the "Doctor Who Magazine" Ninth Doctor comic "A Groatsworth of Wit". It is not clear how or whether these different appearances can be reconciled with each other.
* The Fifth Doctor doesn't seem to be that big of a fan of Shakespeare, calling him a "hack", whereas the Tenth Doctor seems to think he is genius in "The Shakespeare Code".
*This audio adventure refers tangentially to elements of the 2005 "Doctor Who" series, even though Big Finish's license technically forbids this. One character mentions that a letter from the Doctor was left by a "Northern chap with big ears", a reference to the Ninth Doctor. Also Richard, played by an actor with a Manchester accent and voice very similar to that of Christopher Eccleston, uses the Ninth Doctor's frequent exclamation of "fantastic!" Later, Shakespeare exclaims, "What the Chaucer?"; this joke is a riff on Charles Dickens saying "What the Shakespeare?" in "The Unquiet Dead".
*In reality, Edward V and Richard, Duke of York were the fourth and sixth born legitimate children of Edward IV, not the second and third born as suggested here.
*Marcus Hutton previously played another Duke of Buckingham in the Fifth Doctor audio drama "The Church and the Crown": George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. The two characters are not related and are separated by almost 150 years.

External links

* [http://www.bigfinish.com/81-Doctor-Who-The-Kingmaker Big Finish Productions - "The Kingmaker]
*Doctor Who RG | id=who_bf81 | title=The Kingmaker

Reviews

*OG review | id=bf-81 | title=The Kingmaker