Serpent Crest is an audio play in five episodes based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is written by Paul Magrs, and stars Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates. It was released on five CDs by BBC Audiobooks between September and December 2011 and is a sequel to 2009's Hornets' Nest and 2010's Demon Quest. They feature multiple actors, but four of the episodes contain some degree of narration by different characters, the exception being the first episode, Tsar Wars.
(released 8 September 2011)
The Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey are kidnapped by menacing robots and transported through a wormhole to an extravagant palace, floating in space, a hundred thousand years in the future. A colony of humanoid robots have overthrown their creators and forged a longstanding galactic empire. But now the humans are threatening to overthrow their Robotov Tsars. In an attempt to bring peace, the Tsarina creates Alex, a cyborg infant. And at his heart is a deadly Skishtari Egg.
The Doctor / Father Gregory - Tom Baker
Mrs Wibbsey - Susan Jameson
Tsar - Michael Jayston
Tsarina - Suzy Aitchison
Boolin - Simon Shepherd
Servo 53 / Lucius - Sam Hoare
Servo 96 / Kani - Paul Chequer
Servo 51 / Bellis - Gabriel Vick
Servo 14 / Tarnak - Grant Gillespie
(released 6 October 2011)
Wibbsey and the Doctor traverse the wormhole back to Nest Cottage. But Nest Cottage hasn't been built yet. This is Hexford Village in the year 1861. And the TARDIS is a century and a half in the future. They also discover a thirteen-year-old boy with a paper face. And his favourite toy is the powerful Skishtari Egg.
The Doctor - Tom Baker
Mrs Wibbsey - Susan Jameson
Mr Bewley - Simon Shepherd
Andrew - Guy Harvey
Reverend Dobbs - Terrence Hardiman
Mrs Audley - Joanna David
Harold - Geoff Leesley
The Cook - Su Douglas
Jake - Charlie Mitchell
Sally - Elinor Coleman
(released 3 November 2011)
Alex, Wibbsey and the Doctor have been pulled within the Skishtari Egg. Now they find themselves trapped in Aladdin's Cave, a labyrinth of magical rooms and strange characters.
The Doctor - Tom Baker
Mrs Wibbsey - Susan Jameson
The Magician - Simon Shepherd
Aladdin - Guy Harvey
Scarf - Andrew Sachs
Gryphon - Terrence Hardiman
The Storyteller - Sophie Ward
Toad - Su Douglas
(released 8 December 2011)
The Doctor is reunited with his TARDIS and uses it to return Alex and Boolin to the Robotovs. Mrs Wibbsey is back at present day Nest Cottage, with the Skishtari Egg buried deep beneath it, as it always has been. While the Doctor is away, nine months quietly go by for her. Then Mike Yates returns, along with his former employers, UNIT, on the trail of alien activity. Mike has also teamed up with a strange little man claiming to be the Second Doctor.
The Doctor - Tom Baker
Mrs Wibbsey - Susan Jameson
Captain Mike Yates - Richard Franklin
The Visitor - David Troughton
Reverend Tonge - Cornelius Garrett
Deirdre - Nerys Hughes
Tish - Joanna Tope
(released 8 December 2011)
The Skishtari spaceship failed to find their precious Egg and in the process, the entire village of Hexford is accidentally thrown through a wormhole and dumped on a barren moon in a strange galaxy. For three months, the villagers cope, with only Captain Yates and his mysterious, mop-topped little friend to maintain order. But the Robotovs' guards are closing in, as are the Skishtari. Finally, the TARDIS tracks down the misplaced hamlet. The Fourth Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey make their final confrontation, bringing with them the Skishtari Egg, just as it is about to hatch.
The Doctor - Tom Baker
Mrs Wibbsey - Susan Jameson
Captain Mike Yates - Richard Franklin
The Visitor - David Troughton
Reverend Tonge - Cornelius Garrett
Deirdre - Nerys Hughes
Tish - Joanna Tope
Lucius - Sam Hoare
Tsar - Paddy Wallace
Writer - Paul Magrs
Producer & Director - Kate Thomas
Script Editor & Executive Producer - Michael Stevens
Cover Illustrators - Brian Williamson
This story is a sequel to Hornets' Nest and Demon Quest, with the Fourth Doctor, Yates and Mrs Wibbsey reuniting. Serpent Crest begins by picking up from the cliffhanger at the end of Demon Quest.
The Fourth Doctor mentions that the Time Lords removed certain events from his memory, just before they force regenerated him at the end of The War Games. In particular, they hid memories of adventures he had with his other incarnations. The Second Doctor encountered his previous and following selves in The Three Doctors. He met them again in The Five Doctors, along with the Fifth Doctor. He also met the Sixth Doctor in The Two Doctors.
The Fourth Doctor investigates his past by checking his 500 Year Diary, which was seen with the Second Doctor in The Power of the Daleks and The Tomb of the Cybermen.
The visiting Doctor recalls his adventures with the Cybermen in The Invasion and The Tomb of the Cybermen, the Yeti in The Web of Fear and the giant crabs in The Macra Terror. He also mentions an encounter with the Daleks in the diamond mines of Marlion, as mentioned in the Paul Magrs novel Verdigris.
The Doctor met the real Rasputin in the novel The Wages of Sin and the audio drama The Wanderer.
