Doctor Who_ Companion Piece - Mike Tucker [43]
`About ten minutes,' the Doctor replied. 'If that.'
Not enough time, Agatho said. He seemed to be enjoying his prophetof-doom role. 'Maybe time to get there, but never to get there and back. Anyway, what was that you said about the gas? A robot could make it, perhaps, but never a human.'
The Doctor wasn't listening. He was examining Paddy's corpse.
`If I could repair it . . . but there's no time: he muttered.
`Are there any more robots?' Cat asked.
`All destroyed,' said the Doctor.
`Not all, Doctor,' said Agatho. 'There is one more:
His eyes darted between them. He wore a drunken, eager grin.
`Eh, Doctor?'
He winked at Cat.
`Oh dear Lord, whispered Father Julian, his voice a mix of compassion and despair.
`W hat's going on?' Cat asked. W hy were they all looking at her?
`W ell, Doctor,' Agatho hiccupped, 'are you going to tell her, or shall I?'
are wondering — that Companion Piece was devised and commissioned before the Doctor Who audio drama Death Comes To Time was written (although the latter made its public debut first), and it is pure coincidence that both feature a similar plot twist. As anyone familiar with Doctor Who will be aware, this is by no means the first time that two stories have coincidentally made use of similar ideas, and we hope that no one's enjoyment of the book has been marred.
South Wales, and it was in 1977, whilst they were at school (by coincidence, the same school as Russell T Davies, writer of the forthcoming new Doctor Who series) that they first met and started writing together.
They moved to London in the 1980s, Robert studying Law at the London School of Economics, Mike taking the Theatre Design course at Croydon College. Since then, the two of them have pursued separate careers in the media — Robert in a variety of roles, ranging from songwriter and musician with prog rock outfit 'The Enid' to story editor on the BBC's long running soap opera EastEnders, and Mike as a technician and designer with the BBC Special Effects Department, working on a full range of television shows including cult favourites Red Dwarf and Doctor Who.
The duo's writing credits include a number of short stories for Virgin Publishing and BBC Books, the Doctor Who novels Illegal Alien, Matrix, Storm Harvest and Loving the Alien and, for Big Finish's range of Tomorrow People CDs, the audio drama The Sign of Diolyx.
Individually, Robert has written scripts for Family Affairs and Is Harry on the Boat, whilst Mike has contributed solo novels and audio dramas both to the Doctor Who and 'Bernice Summerfield' ranges of books and CDs. He also co-authored the behind the scenes book Ace!with former
Doctor Who companion Sophie Aldred.
The two of them are currently developing a number of story ideas — both scripts and books — for a variety of publishers and broadcasters, and wondering how the last 25 years have gone past so quickly.