Minuet in Hell
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.
| Minuet in Hell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Big Finish Productions audio drama | |
| Series | Doctor Who |
| Release no. | 19 |
| Featuring | Eighth Doctor Charley Pollard |
| Written by | Alan W. Lear Gary Russell |
| Directed by | Nicholas Briggs |
| Produced by | Gary Russell Jason Haigh-Ellery |
| Executive producer(s) | Jacqueline Rayner |
| Production code | 8E |
| Length | 1 hour 51 mins |
| Release date | 17 April 2001 |
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.
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.
- Teenaged demon hunter Becky Lee Kowalczyck is an obvious homage to Buffy Summers, heroine of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.