Gallifrey (audio series)

Gallifrey is the umbrella title of a line of audio plays set in the Doctor Who universe, produced by Big Finish Productions, featuring Louise Jameson as Leela, Lalla Ward as President Romana II, and John Leeson as two K-9 units, Mark I and Mark II. The title refers to the home planet of the Time Lords.

The first play in the series, Weapon of Choice, was released in 2004. The most recent: Gallifrey: Intervention Earth, was released in 2015.^[1]

Summary

The series focuses on political struggles within the leadership of the Time Lords, centred on Romana's presidency. In the first series, Romana's progressive policies and desires to open Gallifrey up to the outside universe faces opposition from more conservative cultures. In addition, a terrorist group known as "Free Time", who want to break the monopoly on time travel technology shared among the Time Lords and the few other temporal powers, steals a timeonic fusion device. The inquiry into Romana's handling of the incident reveals a dark secret surrounding the Time Lords' policy of non-intervention.

The second series sees the admission of non-Gallifreyans into the Time Lord Academy, leading to even more tension within the Time Lord political elite. Romana has to deal with Free Time infiltrators as well as an attempted coup by Inquisitor Darkel. In addition, an ancient Gallifreyan evil escapes from the Matrix: Pandora, a megalomaniacal personality who manipulates Romana and others with the goal of regaining life and power. At the end of the second series, Pandora manages to manifest herself in the form of Romana's first incarnation (played once again by Mary Tamm). Both Romanas claim the title of Imperiatrix, absolute ruler of Gallifrey, leading to civil war.

In the third series, Romana traps Pandora in the Matrix once again, and destroys her by sacrificing the Matrix. After an election fraught with political manoeuvring, one Lord Matthias becomes Lord President. The series ends on a cliffhanger, with Gallifrey on the brink of economic and social collapse as well as in danger of being overrun by a Free Time virus, while most of the cast are trapped with no apparent means of escape.

At the time Big Finish's license forbid them from using aspects of the revived television series,^[2] the Gallifrey series does not explicitly acknowledge the events of the Time War. However, in the final chapter of the third series Irving Braxiatel speaks of "rumours out there in the big wide universe — more than rumours, in fact — that something's coming to Gallifrey, something worse than you could possibly imagine".

Because of these rumours, Braxiatel engineers the removal of the Time Lord biodata archive from Gallifrey, in order that the Time Lords might someday be restored after their planet meets its doom. Former Big Finish producer Gary Russell indicated in the audio interviews for the fourth series that this was a reference to the television series' Time War.

The fourth series, sees Romana, Leela, K9 Mark II, Brax and Narvin unable to save the Gallifrey they know. Instead, they wander through a collection of truncated time lines, looking for answers in alternate Gallifreys.

Episodes

Series 1 (2004)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Release Date	Prod. code
1	"Weapon of Choice"	Gary Russell	Alan Barnes	March 2004	BFPGALLCD01
2	"Square One"	Gary Russell	Stephen Cole	April 2004	BFPGALLCD02
3	"The Inquiry"	Gary Russell	Justin Richards	April 2004	BFPGALLCD03
4	"A Blind Eye"	Gary Russell	Alan Barnes	May 2004	BFPGALLCD04

Series 2 (2005)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Release Date	Prod. code
1	"Lies"	Gary Russell	Gary Russell	April 2005	BFPGALLCD05
2	"Spirit"	Gary Russell	Stephen Cole	May 2005	BFPGALLCD06
3	"Pandora"	Gary Russell	Justin Richards	June 2005	BFPGALLCD07
4	"Insurgency"	Gary Russell	Steve Lyons	July 2005	BFPGALLCD08
5	"Imperiatrix"	Gary Russell	Stewart Sheargold	August 2005	BFPGALLCD09

Series 3 (2006)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Release Date	Prod. code
1	"Fractures"	Gary Russell	Stephen Cole	May 2006	BFPGALLCD10
2	"Warfare"	Gary Russell	Stewart Sheargold	June 2006	BFPGALLCD11
3	"Appropriation"	Gary Russell	Paul Sutton	July 2006	BFPGALLCD12
4	"Mindbomb"	Gary Russell	Justin Richards	July 2006	BFPGALLCD13
5	"Panacea"	Gary Russell	Alan Barnes	August 2006	BFPGALLCD14

Series 4 (2011)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Release Date	Prod. code
1	"Reborn"	Gary Russell	Gary Hopkins	March 2011	BFPGALLCD15
2	"Disassembled"	Gary Russell	Justin Richards	March 2011	BFPGALLCD15
3	"Annihilation"	Gary Russell	Scott Handcock & Gary Russell	March 2011	BFPGALLCD15
4	"Forever"	Gary Russell	David Wise	March 2011	BFPGALLCD15

Series 5 (2013)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Release Date	Prod. code
1	"Emancipation"	Gary Russell	James Peaty	February 2013	BFPGALLCD16
2	"Evolution"	Gary Russell	Una McCormack	February 2013	BFPGALLCD16
3	"Arbitration"	Gary Russell	David Llewellyn	February 2013	BFPGALLCD16

Series 6 (2013)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Release Date	Prod. code
1	"Extermination"	Gary Russell	Scott Handcock	October 2013	BFPGALLCD17
2	"Renaissance"	Gary Russell	James Goss	October 2013	BFPGALLCD17
3	"Ascension"	Gary Russell	Justin Richards	October 2013	BFPGALLCD17

Series 7 (2015)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Release Date	Prod. code
–	"Intervention Earth"	Scott Handcock	Scott Handcock & David Llewellyn	February 2015	BFPGALLCD18

Series 8 (2016)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Release Date	Prod. code
–	"Enemy Lines"	Scott Handcock	David Llewellyn	May 2016	BFPGALLCD19

See also

• List of Doctor Who audio plays by Big Finish.

References

1. Gallifrey: Intervention Earth Reviewed
2. Big Finish FAQ

External links

• Gallifrey (audio series) on TARDIS Data Core, an external wiki
• Gallifrey at Big Finish Guide