The Land of the Dead
The Land of the Dead is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
| The Land of the Dead | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Big Finish Productions audio drama | |
| Series | Doctor Who |
| Release no. | 4 |
| Featuring | Fifth Doctor Nyssa |
| Written by | Stephen Cole |
| Directed by | Gary Russell |
| Produced by | Gary Russell Jason Haigh-Ellery |
| Executive producer(s) | Stephen Cole |
| Production code | 6CA |
| Length | 1 hr 54 mins |
| Release date | January 2000 |
| Preceded by | Whispers of Terror |
| Followed by | The Fearmonger |
Plot
Hovering just above Alaska in 1964, the TARDIS picks up some strange energy emissions of a type the Doctor and Nyssa cannot make head nor tail of. Before they can try, they are forced to dematerialise to avoid a collision with a light aircraft. But the TARDIS is apparently following a scent and takes them to the same place thirty years later. There they encounter a new kind of habitat, occupied by the obsessive Englishman Brett, Monica his interior designer and Tulung, the half-Inuit, brought up in America.
Something in the snowy wastes of Alaska doesn't seem to want this new intrusion, and before long it appears as if the local spirits, revered by the Inuit, scorned by Brett, may be making some drastic attempts to erase Brett's structure and the secrets it contains from the face of the planet. If the Doctor can discover exactly what Brett has been doing, he may find a way to halt the assault, but Nyssa seems to be "in tune" with the spirits – although she doesn’t entirely like what she sees...
Cast
- The Doctor — Peter Davison
- Nyssa — Sarah Sutton
- Monica Lewis — Lucy Campbell
- Supplier — Alistair Lock
- Shaun Brett — Christopher Scott
- Tulung — Neil Roberts
- Gaborik — Andrew Fettes
Notes
- The compact disc release includes a floor plan of the building where most of the action takes place, to aid the listener in following the action.
- Nyssa and the Doctor speculate that the monsters in this story were involved in the Permian-Triassic extinction event, a massive reduction in Earth's biodiversity some 251.1 million years ago. They also make reference to events of the television serial Earthshock, which provides an explanation for the similar Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
- Chronologically, this is the earliest audio drama in the main Doctor Who range to feature the Fifth Doctor.