The Fifth Doctor and his companion Nyssa are heading to a space station in a new short story called Downward Spiral. Doctor Who – Short Trips is a range of Big Finish stories read by Big Finish actors and written by popular authors of the Doctor Who universe. Sarah Sutton, who played Nyssa in the TV show and in several Big Finish audio dramas, narrates the story. Doctor Who – Short Trips: Downward Spiral is written by Alan Flanagan, directed by Lisa Bowerman and produced by Alfie Shaw. You can check the synopsis below:
Travelling through space on your own can be lonely. It’s why Siobhan Matthews’ ship has been installed with COMPANY, an AI that has stored personalities of Siobhan’s nearest and dearest. Someone to talk to when the silence is overwhelming. Siobhan has other guests today, which is impressive considering she didn’t let them onboard. They’re called the Doctor and Nyssa, but they’ve arrived at the worst possible time. Siobhan’s ship is spiralling towards something in the dark, and it’s hungry.
Writer Alan Flanagan said:
“I originally came up with the idea when reading interviews with astronauts preparing for the isolation of space travel. While the TARDIS is infinite swimming pools all the way down, I thought it’d be interesting to explore what it’s like to spend months on end in a glorified tin can, completely alone. “It seemed like the perfect way to present a battle that’s more psychological than just deep-space monsters (though there is one of those!), seeing how Siobhan deals with being a solo astronaut millions of miles from home. And indeed how the Doctor and Nyssa can pull her back from the edge. “Writing monologues is always fun, and putting it in the hands of Sarah Sutton just made the whole process even sweeter.”
Producer Alfie Shaw added:
“Alan’s story is a showcase for the immense acting talent of Sarah Sutton. Watching Sarah flit between the many distinct voices required was mesmerizing, and everyone in the studio was in awe. “It’s an oddly prescient tale, about how people cope with being cut off from contact with anyone else. Little did we know when we recorded that it was something we would all experience so soon!”
Doctor Who – Short Trips: Downward Spiral is available to purchase exclusively from the Big Finish website. Listeners can save money by subscribing to a bundle of all 12 stories from series 10 of Doctor Who – Short Trips, including: Decline of the Ancient Mariner (read by Mark Reynolds), The Infinite Today (read by Katy Manning), Deleted Scenes (read by Frazer Hines), Dead Woman Walking (read by Sophie Aldred), Regeneration Impossible (read by Jacob Dudman) and Out of the Deep (read by Peter Purves).
