Doctor Who - Audio Details

October, 1930.  His Majesty's Airship, the R101, sets off on her maiden voyage to the farthest-flung reaches  of the British Empire, carrying the brightest lights of the Imperial fleet.  Carrying the hopes and dreams of a breathless nation.

Not to mention a ruthless spy with a top-secret mission, a mysterious passenger who appears nowhere on the crew list, a would-be adventuress destined for the Singapore Hilton... and a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey.

There's a strom coming.  There's something unspeakable, something with wings, crawling across the stern.  Thousands of feet high in the blackening sky, the crew of the R101 brace themselves.  When the storm breaks, their lives won't be all that's at stake...

The future of the galaxy will be hanging by a thread.

You'll already have read this on the back cover of the CD, but I'd like to make it doubly clear: "All characters in this production are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."  These aren't weasel words.  Storm Warning, in long-established Doctor Who tradition, makes a drama out of historical crises... albiet a historical crisis on a world where BBC3 would broadcast the opening of the Devil's Hump and the Loch Ness Monster would be sighted on the River Thames.

As you'll hear, none of the real-life pioneers who crewed the airship R101 fly aboard the craft in Storm Warning; for their story, please see the official documents relating to the R101's maiden voyage, all of which were published by the Stationary Office in 1999 as part of its Uncovered Editions series.

We all love a mystery, and in writing Storm Warning I've tried to capture all the romance and excitement and horror of the mythology surrrounding the pride of the Imperial Airship Service, without betraying the memory of those aboard.  If you enjoy the play, perhaps you'd like to spare the real crew a quiet moment in your thoughts.

It's been a rare privilege to author the adventure which sees a certain Mr Paul McGann reprise the role of the Eighth Doctor for the first time since the 1996 TV Movie.  He is, of course, quite brilliant.  He's back - and it's about bloody time!

Alan Barnes, November 2000