- Minuet in Hell
-
Big Finish Productions audio play 
Minuet in Hell Series Doctor Who Release number 19 Featuring Eighth Doctor
Charley PollardWriter Alan W. Lear
Gary RussellDirector Nicholas Briggs Producer(s) Gary Russell
Jason Haigh-ElleryExecutive producer(s) Jacqueline Rayner Set between The Stones of Venice and
Invaders from MarsLength 1 hour 51 mins Release date 17 April 2001 Minuet in Hell is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Unlike the other Eighth Doctor audio plays from this "season", Minuet in Hell was not broadcast on BBC 7 in 2005, primarily due to story references that were dropped for the broadcasts, and the more mature subject matter of this story.
Contents
Plot
The Brigadier finds the Eighth Doctor a patient of a medical institute. Meanwhile Charley has lost her memory and is working in the Hell Fire Club under the direction of Francis Dashwood the Third, where a demonic creature called Marchosias has been summoned by the local dignitaries of Malebolgia. Are these demons real, or can the disturbed Doctor reclaim his wits and learn the truth?
Cast
- The Doctor — Paul McGann
- Charley Pollard — India Fisher
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart — Nicholas Courtney
- Brigham Elisha Dashwood III — Robert Jezek
- Dr Dale Pargeter — Maureen Oakley
- Gideon Crane — Nicholas Briggs
- Becky Lee Kowalczyck — Helen Goldwyn
- Senator Waldo Pickering — Morgan Deare
- Orderly — Hylton Collins
- Guard — Alistair Lock
- Scott — Barnaby Edwards
Continuity
- In the second part of Minuet in Hell, a litany of the Doctor's previous companions includes the name "Sam". At the time of the play's release, this was intended as a reference to Sam Jones, the Eighth Doctor's companion from the novels; this placed the books and the audios in the same continuity. Producer Gary Russell subsequently decided that the two continuities should be separate (partly because of different directions taken between the two ranges). The play Terror Firma introduced the characters of Samson and Gemma Griffin, previously unknown companions of the Eighth Doctor, providing the possibility that "Sam" was a reference to Samson instead.
- Ramsay the Vortisaur first entered the TARDIS in Storm Warning. The Doctor mentions having Ramsay as a pet when he next runs into Vortisaurs in the story No More Lies.
- Gideon Crane believing himself to be the Doctor due to an accident is very similar to what happened to Jackson Lake in the 2008 TV Christmas story The Next Doctor.
Notes
- This audio drama is based on an earlier Audio Visuals story of the same name, which was set in the context of the historical Hellfire Club. The Big Finish version moves the action to a fictional U.S. state called "Malebolgia", which, despite its name, appears to be somewhere in the Bible Belt.
- The Audio Visuals version starred Nicholas Briggs as the "Nth Doctor". In the Big Finish version, Briggs plays a character who believes himself to be the Doctor.
- The name "Malebolgia" is derived from Malebolge, the name used in Dante's Inferno for the Eighth Circle of Hell.
- The Brigadier is said to be a guest in Malebolgia due to his experience with Scottish devolution.
- Teenaged demon hunter Becky Lee Kowalczyck is an obvious homage to Buffy Summers, heroine of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- The fictional state of Malebolgia is described as having been created by recently seceding from another state. Two American states have been created in this way: West Virginia seceded from Virginia during the American Civil War, and Maine split off from Massachusetts in 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise. Given the "Bible Belt" setting, the secession of Malebolgia from another state may be a reference to the commonly-held notion that the state of Texas retains the right to subdivide itself into (up to five) other states. However, there is no such secession movement in any American state, and the legal case for Texas being able to subdivide at will is weak (see article). Of course, Malebolgia could merely be West Virginia.
- The character B.E. Dashwood seems to be under the impression that Philadelphia is a state when it is actually a city in the state of Pennsylvania. He lists it, along with Massachusetts and Maine, as great states whose reputation and honor should be matched in time by Malebolgia, eliciting applause from his audience. This is also odd, however, because Massachusetts and Maine (as well as Pennsylvania) are northern, "Yankee" states with very different cultural and political histories and a long-standing rivalry with the southern, Bible-belt states (including the Civil War itself). These may be scripting errors, although given the historical anomalies that propagate through subsequent stories (especially Invaders from Mars and The Time of the Daleks) they could be explained away as anti-time contamination.
- B.E. Dashwood claims to be descended from Francis Dashwood, 15th Baron le Despencer, founder of the original Hellfire Club and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
External links
Reviews
- Minuet in Hell reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- Minuet in Hell reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
Eighth Doctor audio dramas Mary Shelley The Company of Friends: Mary's Story • The Silver Turk • The Witch from the Well • Army of DeathCharley Pollard Storm Warning • Sword of Orion • The Stones of Venice • Minuet in Hell • Invaders from Mars • The Chimes of Midnight • Living Legend • Seasons of Fear • Embrace the Darkness • The Time of the Daleks • Neverland • Zagreus • Scherzo • The Girl Who Never Was • SolitaireCharley Pollard & C'rizz The Creed of the Kromon • The Natural History of Fear • The Twilight Kingdom • Faith Stealer • The Last • Caerdroia • The Next Life • Terror Firma • Scaredy Cat • Other Lives • Time Works • Something Inside • Memory Lane • AbsolutionLucie Miller Blood of the Daleks • Horror of Glam Rock • Immortal Beloved • Phobos • No More Lies • Human Resources • Dead London • Max Warp • Brave New Town • The Skull of Sobek • Grand Theft Cosmos • The Zygon Who Fell to Earth • Sisters of the Flame / Vengeance of Morbius • Orbis • Hothouse • The Beast of Orlok • Wirrn Dawn • The Scapegoat • The Cannibalists • The Eight Truths / Worldwide Web • Death in Blackpool • Relative Dimensions • Lucie Miller • To the DeathTamsin Drew Other Shada • The Company of Friends • An Earthly Child • Prisoner of the Sun • The Four Doctors • Kleins StoryCategories:- 2001 audio plays
- Eighth Doctor audio plays
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