Death Deals a Hand
It all seems so long ago now. After a couple of disappointing attempts at making Doctor Who videos, I started thinking about making audio stories instead. It was the end of the eighties and I was already a great fan of the Audio Visuals series. Whilst listening to Endurance I decided I would give it a go. Now I am not a musician and at that time I knew next to nothing about how recordings were made. So I did some research and eventually bought a four track Tascam Portastudio, which has stood me in good stead over the years. I still use it for some recordings and the rest of the time it now works as a microphone pre-amp for my PC. At the same time I was visiting music shops I was also approaching my friends in my local group to see if they were interesting in acting. I've been very lucky that several people in that group are excellent performers and not only that but over the years they've been excellent script readers as well with plenty of ideas about how to improve the scripts.
The story draws from several sources. Homelessness had risen to the top of the news agenda and anyone who walked around Manchester couldn't help but notice the many beggars on its streets. I noticed there was a lot of prejudice against them even though they clearly needed help. In fact there was prejudice against the poor in general caused in part by the Thatcher government and I wanted to address that. Not so long ago I had read Consider Phelbus by Iain M Banks and had already thought that the sequence involving a gambling game which used volunteers as living stakes would be the good basis for a Who story. Once I had started writing it, other influences included an interview with Clive Barker about pain and pleasure and vague ideas about what I enjoyed about Doctor Who itself. The first draft was not bad but the Doctor came out as a rather bland straight man to everyone else, merely asking questions. So I tried to bring in a literary element to his personality. Another problem was that he talked to himself far too much, so I added an extra tramp called Silus to help with the exposition. The original version also involved a battle across a time distorted London but others felt that was one climax too many. The main recording session took place in Adrian Hudson's living room with some follow up recordings in Joe Bink's bedroom. They went fairly smoothly considering that only one or two of the cast had acted before. Paul Worth felt that the villain, Rand Gerling, was too camp and kept trying to tone down his lines but I wanted him to be a bit flamboyant, like a Bond foe. Adrian made an excellent Doctor whilst Joe and Lawrence impressed me with their personable readings. I borrowed two sound effects records, including the Doctor Who one, made up other effects back home and copied the TARDIS effect from Slipback. James Brailsford kindly let me use some of his music which he had written for his music course and his dark instrumentals added enormously to finished production.
For the theme tune I turned to a friend of my dad, Malcolm Woods, who was a bit of a composer in his spare time. He provided an upbeat theme that suggested the famous Who music without copying it, something which the Audio Visuals had done and I was keen to copy the idea. Although it sounds crude in places and we are all much younger, I still feel pretty happy about our debut story. Its got a drive to it and some of the dialogue is quite snappy if I do say so myself.
Gareth Preston 2001
Shakedown
Gary Phillips wrote Shakedown at the same time that I was producing the first story. Little did I realise the pain I was going to go through over the next year trying to turn it into a complete adventure. The first hurdle was finding a new Doctor after Adrian Hudson became unavailable. I offered the role to Joe Binks after being impressed by his voice in the first story and knowing that he'd been playing a similar part in his own Doctor Trek series. The next problem was getting enough people together at the same time to record the script, a script which some people had severe reservations about. Slowly, I began recording groups of people together, in some cases taping people individually. Looking back I'm amazed that I was able to edit it all together only using the four track and an old cassette recorder. Somewhere along the way I began to lose sight of the storyline and there remain some strangled pieces of logic and unclear motivations. On the other hand some individual sequences are a lot of fun and the whole story has a momentum that builds up to an exciting climax, even if the listener is not quite sure how we got there!
Gary drew ideas from the business course he was on at the time, Coronation Street and The Sunmakers. The original cut of this story was just over an hour but when it came to making the CD version I cut it back to about 50 minutes, which I think improves the pace of the story no end.
Production-wise, this story features our first race of aliens and their voices were achieved with the reverb and chorus functions on Joe's own mixer. It also features a superb specially written soundtrack by James Leatherbarrow, who also played the part of Julian Pilbeam. I was so impressed with the music I released it separately as an album which is still available if anyone is interested. Shakedown remains our oddest story and I have various feelings about it. It was a valuable learning experience for us about what could be achieved and also what pitfalls to avoid.
Gareth Preston 2001
Writer’s Notes
My debut script came about simply because Gareth asked me if I would like to have a go at writing a script. Despite being a prolific writer of articles and reviews for smaller fanzines I hadn't written anything resembling a script since primary school days, so it was quite a challenge. The question was, what to write about? Taking the advice of writing about what you know, I had just completed a series of exams for the ICCI Executive Secretary's Diploma which included the module 'Structure of business'. I had undertaken some intense revision which simply wouldn't leave me, hence I decided upon an industrial colony in space being the victim of a hostile take-over by an alien race.
The first problem I faced was the role of the Doctor. I had discussed what was needed with Gareth and created the part for Adrian Hudson who is a superb actor with a background in amateur dramatics. When circumstances forced a change of actor, I had to rewrite the part for Joe Binks and rather like Pip and Jane Baker in writing Time And The Rani I was rather writing 'blind'. So I just wrote the character the best way I could. Joe added his own dimension to the role, fleshing out the rather bland dialogue I had given him and making the part his own, which he has continued to do so and thus will be much easier to write for now I can truly see where he is coming from. Agatha Christie was quite right when she said it was the research that was fun and writing which was hard work. I slogged away, dogged by my academic pursuits and bouts of ill health for nearly 18 months, but slowly Shakedown as it became to be known took shape. The characters were quite easy to develop as there is, I think, something of my own character in all of them. The rather vain chairman which Lawrence Ahlemeyer played so beautifully, the character being nothing at all like him. The efficient secretary, Gerrell, played with quiet subtlety by Richard Taff, whereby I merely put my training into a character. Tictac I think, displays my more exuberant side. Paul Worth was an absolute revelation in this role. He gave exactly the performance I had envisaged. To this day, he is, I think, the only person I've ever known who has actually wasted his time doing a degree and should have gone to RADA! The Armadi display my more serious side, modulation did wonders in turning Andy Swinden's mellow voice and James Aldridge's into my cold, ruthless aliens. Andy also came up trumps in developing the character of Badell, giving him an effective Northern twang which I hadn't myself envisaged and which truly enriched the character gave him dimension.
The portrayal of the nurses, Edie Pegg and Mavis Pilchard were my one disappointment with the whole production. They were meant to be good old fashioned Northern stereotypes ala Ena Sharples, or your archetypal CARRY ON matron types encapsulating my love of a good old chinwag. I was very fond of these ladies and enjoyed writing them, but alas, upon hearing the completed version of Shakedown, I was very disappointed. Pam Hope as Edie and Roslyn Robinson as Mavis, whilst very talented, spoke with very soft middle class accents and thus did not create in the mind of the listener the image of what one might call a pair of female sumo wrestlers in nurses uniforms. It is hard to say whether they were not clearly directed as to what I was trying to achieve or didn't fully understand the script (but then again, neither did I and I wrote the damn thing!) That said their voices are perfect for the right roles and I would love to write something which is truly worthy of their obvious talent.
The other problem was the investigator character. Originally this was to have been another down-to-earth woman posing as a cleaner known simply as 'Doris'. Unfortunately, the character just wasn't working and for a long time Shakedown hit an impasse. Then I met, became, and remain, great friends with James Leatherbarrow. I knew James was a talented musician (is my cheque in the post?) but it was not until we discussed our favourite comedians and found a mutual liking for Victoria Wood and Julian Clary that I also learnt that James was a great mimic. I couldn't get home quick enough to create the role of Julian Pilbeam especially for him! James didn't let me down and Julian became a big hit with cast and crew and Fine Line listeners alike and all due to James's great sense of fun and outstanding talent. It is sad indeed that as James is now living in America the work he can do for us is restricted.
It occurred to me that Pilbeam might be taken as a gay stereotype which I didn't intend him to be. I decided that the camp side of Pilbeam's persona should be just a cover and his real personality should come over as rather over-confident of his own limited abilities and Colonel Blimpish! This would not only defuse any criticism but also test James's talent for mimicry. As I say, Pilbeam became a big hit and I very much look forward to re-using him in a future script which will I know, be of great delight to his legions of fans. Despite the long slog, Shakedown was enormous fun to write and I know that everyone had fun recording it. That to me, is the key to a successful production, if your cast and production team can enjoy performing what you've written then you're on to a winner! Added to which, Gareth and the cast (mostly) knew what I wanted from my characters and not only gave it to me, but added dimensions in layers! So what of the future? Well, I only ever write this sort of thing when I have at least a germ of an idea. I am working on a new script called The Wreck of the Valarue with the hook of a couple of characters I devised a good few years ago. Whether Pilbeam will return, I don't yet know, but the new script does have a plethora of eccentrics which should keep Julian's fans and Fine Line listeners in general, happy.
Gary Phillips January 2002
Present Infinite
After the nightmare production of Shakedown, making this next story was a breeze in comparison. By this time I was involved in an amateur dramatics group and was able to draw from a fresh pool of acting talent. In addition Joe and Paul were both working in Manchester so it was easy to organise three evening recording sessions in Anne Pugh's living room in which nearly all the material was recorded. I've got very fond memories of recording this story. Everyone was on the same wavelength, there was plenty of creativity in the air and we had a lot of fun. It is slightly ironic really since the actual story is pretty grim. Lawrence Ahlemeyer wrote an intelligent hard SF thriller with the classic scenario of a small group of humans in a hostile alien world. Like me he was a fan of the Audio Visuals and I think that is reflected in the story. I remember reading the script for the first time and thinking that hardly anything needed doing to it. In fact probably the only major change was making Spenton the security officer a lot more nastier than he was.
I asked James Leatherbarrow to compose a new theme tune for us because I loved his music. Again I wanted something that suggested the real Who theme rather than copied it and James' Vangelis inspired piece turned out to perfect. In fact I decided to make it the de-facto theme for season one and dubbed it on to the previous stories. Colin Naylor, a friend of Joe and Lawrence's provided a terrific music score.
Whilst this story was largely edited on tape, I used my PC to created the alien background sounds and then fed the output of the soundcard into the mixer. I also used the PC to create the voice of the Thegarans. Present Infinite also brought in our first proper companion for the Doctor. Raman was an attempt to move away from the traditional companion but ultimately I think he proved that there is a reason why most companions fit a certain type of character. He is effectively a second Doctor and there isn't really room for two of those. Nevertheless he provides a good foil for Joe's more laid back incarnation.
Writer's Notes
Like my current writing project for Gareth (and in the tradition of Douglas Adams, I suppose), Present Infinite existed in the form of an idea for years before it finally became a full script. Posting the end-product on the Web is a typically generous gesture by Gareth, and it also gives me the chance to look back and be self-critical.
There are still lots of things I like about PI, but I do think its terribly slow to get going and it contains a few fan-ish continuity references that would probably irritate me now. However, the main reason for adding those asides was as a nod of acknowledgement towards the Audio Visuals plays of the 1980s - PI was not so much my attempt at a Doctor Who story as my attempt at an AV story.
I always thought the best AVs were the ones that used spooky locations and hostile environments (Blood Circuit, Sword of Orion, Endurance), and that these stories in particular exploited the audio medium to maximum effect. Having such a menacing atmosphere (very much down to Jim Mortimore's great music) really gets the imagination going, so I thought it would be good to try and replicate this in PI.
The other element I'm pleased about is the characters. Lots of audio dramas suffer from using too many characters, all sounding the same, but I'm glad we managed to avoid that in PI. I thought the cast did a great job too in bringing my set of rather exaggerated stereotypes to life.
Gareth's post-production work was, shall we say, 'interesting', but we must remember PI was only his third production, and we were still back in the days before digital editing came along. Now, where did I get to with Final Frame...?
Lawrence Ahlemeyer 2001
Ultimate Soldier
Our first script submitted on spec by a listener. Paul Phillips provided us with our most traditional and also one of our most popular stories. This story marked another turning point for me as an editor, it was the first time I was able to edit the scenes completely digitally in the computer, making the results sound much more polished. However the original recordings were still made on my four-track, this time at Paul Worth's house.
This story is supposed to be set around the time of Andrew Cartmel's War trilogy of novels but in reality that intention has no real bearing on the events of the play. The original draft featured a final battle in cyberspace but it was decided that it was too visual a concept. BRAIN was also more of a evil super computer but Paul, who was also acting as a script editor, rewrote part of the story so that the emphasis switched to BRAIN's creator. The cast of characters was also cut down, removing most of the single scene minor characters. The recording went pretty smoothly and filled a solid weekend. Once again the mood was pretty upbeat and creative and I think that is reflected in the final product. This is probably the best known of our stories since it was previously available online a couple of years ago. It also marked the debut of the versatile Amy Elizabeth in the first of her many female roles.
Writer's Notes
All I can say about the Ultimate Soldier is that I am really chuffed it is going out on the Internet. I started writing it whilst I was still studying my A-Levels back in 1995. It was recorded and released on cassette in 1997.
The basic premise came from the way that films, television and computer games are always used as scapegoats for explaining the causes of violence in our society. What if a computer game really did inspire the players to go out and kill people?
To this story I added a mix of virtual reality and artificial intelligence and a character called Diana Walker, who proved very popular as a slightly stronger than usual female character for Doctor Who.
In true Robert Holmes style, the majority of the script was rewritten by the script editor Paul Worth. It has some really nice bits in it, but my version suffered because I was trying to stretch a short story into an action adventure epic.
What I especially liked about this is the way that Paul fleshed out the character of Dave Simmonds. He really brought that character to life. Amy Elizabeth was also very good as DCI Walker and it was her first Fine Line Production. Gareth did a great job of directing the production, although technically he was still finding his feet, and James Leatherbarrow contributed a marvellous score.
Paul Phillips September 2001
Trick of the Light
A real indulgence for me I'm afraid. This is our longest story so far, the only two CD release so far and consequently I've divided it into four parts for easier downloading. I wanted to write a story in the contemporary fantasy style of some of my favourite American authors, such Ray Bradbury and James Blaylock. I've always liked the weird impacting on normality and I wanted to fill the story with colourful characters. The result is a fantasy in which the Doctor is deliberately kept as a supporting character, although he is clearly working behind the scenes. I wanted to try and show him through other people's eyes. The seaside town is an instantly evocative location that I wanted to use and it all drew together very naturally. The other main source of inspiration is The Maltese Falcon with it various odd parties all searching for a treasure.
By now I had got hold of Sound Forge and its large array of special effects made this the most spectacular sounding yet. I'm particularly pleased with the scratchy raven voices, all performed by myself. The recording was a rather long winded affair, with several sessions recorded in various people's houses and two actors, Clive Burnett-Smith and Dave Turner, recorded largely on their own. Nevertheless everyone's performances are top notch. Special mention should go to Mark Lenton, who played Tomek from scratch after turning up on the day of recording.
Ed Pugh, a friend of mine from amateur dramatics supplied the first of his atmospheric music scores which aided the production immensely. Trick of the Light was released almost simultaneously with Big Finish's The Sirens of Time. Not only that but several new audio groups had sprung up on the internet and suddenly Fine Line had a lot of competition.
Gareth Preston 2001
Second Chance
By the time it came to record this story, much had changed. I had been learning a lot of new production tricks from Steve Johnson and Paul Ebbs of Season 27 fame. Not only that, but I was beginning to break into the professional world with a script commissioned by BBV and post-producing The Pattern for Bill Baggs as well. All this is reflected in this story, written by Adrian Hudson. Not only does it share some sound effects with The Pattern but the cast includes Paul and Steve. I was now using a multi-track sequencer called Cakewalk to edit the stories and had more gadgets at my disposal, resulting in our most accomplished production yet. The recording was held at Adrian's house, with a follow up session at Amy's a few weeks later.
Adrian commented that he had intended Second Chance to be an epic but it turned out to a comedy. But he does write very funny dialogue and everyone rose to challenge, making this the best acted story yet. He had also intended the story to sound different to other stories by making pop songs part of the action but I'm afraid I was worried the copyright and let that slide, even though it would have been a good idea.
This is a complex time paradox story laced with plenty of satire and it moves the Raman story arc on nicely as well. I'm very fond of this one too because it represents everyone's strengths. I just wish I had taped the cast's morning read-through which was hysterical!
Writer's Notes
The main thing I remember about the writing of Second Chance is that it took forever. I mean absolutely years! I was so possessive about my 'baby' that I wouldn't let Gareth (script-editor/producer/co-director/tea-maker) change a single word. I would debate for hours on why MY character simply wouldn't, couldn't and shouldn't use the word 'robust'. All Gareth's suggestions were patiently taken on board and then promptly discarded the moment he turned his back.
I was trying to write a science versus nature story with a bit of a point but when I finished I realised I'd written a comedy instead! My starting point was the idea that the Doctor, for all his good intentions, is not very green. He's a technology junkie who is fairly hopeless away from his gadgets.
I had a great time co-directing with Gareth, always the voice of reason to some of my more bizarre ideas. I remember lobbying for the sound effects to be louder, and a very long discussion on the creaking of certain church doors! Most of the noises were spot on after some faffing, the 'rattlesnake' effect is one of my baby's toys.
Listening now, I still can't quite get on with Mo being a woman. It was originally written for a man and I would have written some of those scenes differently if I'd have known, like the tent sharing scenes! Paul Ebbs was perfect as Jones although he did want to go mad a little too early!
I learnt a lot about writing and producing an audio project (it isn't making my second story come any easier). I was very happy to see it finished and had some great times working on it. I was also very pleased to fulfil my ambition of having no one talk to him or herself. As always, thanks to Gareth whose an inspiration to lazy fans with half-decent ideas.
Adrian Hudson 2001
Cardinal Wolsey
When I decided to put my stories onto CD, the relative brevity of Death Deals a Hand seemed to make it poor value. At the same time an idea had been drifting around the YaWho Internet group to record talking book versions of some of the excellent short stories which they were producing. The two ideas came together as this bonus track on the CD. Steve Lake’s cute little tale was a favourite of mine so I approached Nigel Peever with the idea of recording it. Happily both he and Steve agreed and the rest was relatively simple. The first version featured a fluff/retake which I missed during my edit but happily it was pointed out by a kind listener. It was the first Fine Line production to be made widely available on the internet and thus is one of our better known productions.
Gareth Preston 2003
Consequences
Consequences was written and produced fairly quickly during the hiatus between Second Chance and Final Frame. Our stories were being broadcast on a small local station in Brisbane Australia, alongside other fan productions. I felt that the cliffhanger ending of Second Chance might be disappointing for listeners so I came up with this small coda, which would explain what happened next without giving too much away I hoped. It also provides a hint of where season two begins. Brisbane native Matt Kopelke was already well known for playing the Doctor in his own audio series, produced by BTR. I’d wanted to work with him for a while and this was a natural opportunity. He recorded his lines and sent them to me. Meanwhile I recorded a complete version starring Joe and with the versatile Amy filling in Matt’s lines, complete with accent. It was then a matter of editing. I was never perfectly happy with the final product, because Joe and Matt’s voices clearly sound recorded in different places and I was unable to equalise them. But the story was useful practise and kept Joe and Amy involved in the series. Peter Wicks’ music was originally written for a Doctor Who fan video called Future Investment, made by JM&KH/Stone Circle, which I’d starred in a few years ago.
Gareth Preston 2003
Final Frame
Unlike the other notes, I’m writing this one straight after completing it, so maybe time will alter my perceptions. It’s odd, it feels like an ending and yet I know I have several more scripts I want to do and one nearly completed story sitting on my hard drive. Yet this story is the end of one chapter I suppose. We are all different kinds of people now than we were when we started back in 1991. I’ve sadly lost touch with some folk, whilst others have become even closer friends. I’ve no idea how many people have heard these stories but I’m occasionally pleasantly surprised when I hear them mentioned in far flung places on the Internet, or an unexpected email arrives with a comment, good or bad, usually good. Mind you, people who hate them are less likely to expend the energy writing to criticise are they? This is not the ending I originally envisaged. My first idea was to do a big battle on Gallifrey, between the timelords and an emerging rival race of powerful beings. The Doctor would be forced to become a double agent and after much destruction and world changing, the timelords would win but be irrevocably changed. In light of the BBC novel “The Ancestor Cell” and Big Finish’s “Neverland”, I’m glad that other voices changed my mind.
Whilst waiting for the script to be finished, I had recorded “Madhouse” for the second season and produced the first “Agents of Psyence” story called “Truth and Bone”. Lawrence meanwhile had started a new job and moved house, which consumed a lot of his time. Eventually, Lawrence came up to my house and we wrote most of the second episode in a day.
The idea of “Final Frame” was to record it in two sections, almost as two plays with two separate casts ala “Carnival of Monsters”. We laughingly hoped this would speed up production. In the end three sessions were held, the first at my house, the second at Rupert Booth’s home in Newcastle and the third in Mark Lenton’s abode in Sheffield. All the recording sessions were enjoyable and went pretty smoothly. I was able to use my new Tascam DAT recorder to good use, resulting in some very hi-quality recordings. Interestingly all the funny behind the scenes out-takes came from this last session, which I think is down to the mix of personalities.
Lawrence returned to my house later to sit in on some of the mixing, which was very helpful and something I’ll try and repeat with future stories and writers. When the background sound is especially busy, that’s probably as much thanks to Lawrence’s pushing me. Lately I’ve also added a new amplifier to my PC set-up, which has helped make production easier. For the sound effects, they are mostly off the shelf but often tweaked by altering the pitch and adding flange to make them suitable.
Chatri is a friend of my “Agents of Psyence” co-producer Rik Hoskin and was already an experienced composer and musician. He very kindly supplied an album’s worth of new material for “Final Frame” and what you hear in the story is only about a third of it!
I’m pretty happy with this story. Although there have been several ‘reset button’ stories appearing in Doctor Who fiction lately, this one still manages to be different and it wraps up the season completely, leaving the landscape clear for a lighter season two. Whenever that is.
Gareth Preston January 2003
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