The Time Travellers (series)

The Time Travellers was a series of audio stories produced by BBV Productions. They featured Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred as "The Professor", a character not unlike the Seventh Doctor and a travelling companion called "Ace".

These characters so closely resembled the ones they portrayed in the Doctor Who series that the BBC eventually stepped in and a number of changes had to be made, the main one being that the main characters' names were changed to "the Dominie" and "Alice" so as to further distance the characters to that of the Doctor Who Universe.

Republica
Publisher's summary

The Professor and Ace arrive in present-day London to find the city strangely changed. England is a republic, ruled by an elderly Lord Protector more interested in a mysterious comet than the long-suppressed forces of revolution fomenting in his kingdom.

As political factions vie for power, the travellers become embroiled in the plans of King Charles XIV who stands poised to reclaim the throne. Can they discover who is behind the drastic alteration of history or will the Puritan cause triumph throughout eternity?


 * When the Professor is addressed as “Citizen,” he comments that he hasn’t been called that since Madame Guillotine, a reference to The Reign of Terror.


 * The Professor gives his age as approximately 950, the Seventh Doctor’s age in Time and the Rani.

Island of Lost Souls
Publisher's summary

It is the time of the Second World War, and all is not well at a top secret research base in Greenland. The British have been testing a new device which could bring about a swift end to the war with Germany - but the trials have gone disastrously wrong. When the Professor and Ace arrive, they encounter an isolated community not only under threat from its human enemies, but stalked by a horrifying menace with a voracious appetite for survival.

Prosperity Island
Publisher's summary

'''Now comes the time! Now the reckoning!'''

MILLANNO: a holiday planet of extreme wealth and extreme leisure - on one side. The other side of the planet teems with politicians, administrators, and also criminals. When the Professor and Ace decide to take a holiday, they are unwillingly pitched into a battle for supremacy on the planet.

Separated and suddenly finding themselves on the lost and lonely Isle of Prosperity, they must find each other. But standing in their way is the determination of a mysterious figure from the past to reclaim the Directorship of the planet. As the Professor and Ace explore, a picture begins to emerge of a corrupt past, of political double-dealing, betrayal and vengeance.

Who is Milo, the psychokinetic youth who inhabits the island? Who is Gabriel, who sounds like a machine, but talks like a schoolmaster? And who is the earthy Calida, and why is she out for revenge?

A dramatic meeting of old enemies can no longer be postponed, and there is no way off the island...

The Left Hand of Darkness
Publisher's summary

Ace finds herself separated from the Professor, marooned, blind and cared for by a mysterious stranger. How did she get there? Who is Dorsai? What secret is he hiding?

The Other Side
Publisher's summary

Ace is apparently killed and her dead Nan appears, to help her cross over to 'the other side'. Faced with her own internal demons, how long can she cling to life? And what is 'the other side'?

Guests for the Night
Publisher's summary

In search of the legendary "Point of Stillness", the Professor and Ace find themselves in an old house, steeped in evil. Who is the ancient woman in the attic? Why are there so many clocks? And did the butler really do it?


 * Reference is made to Posidor from AudioVisuals story The Secret of Nematoda in a quick name drop by the Professor.
 * Truman Crouch is given a namecheck and is named author of a book in the house called "The Legend of the Lost". The Professor claims it was a terrible book and Crouch should have stuck to tea making.

Ghosts
Publisher's summary

The death of a nameless traveller on a flight to the volcanic Hedistic islands would seem to have been natural. But when his young friend starts her own murder investigation, she uncovers a plot which threatens the safety of the entire planet...


 * It was by this story that the BBC intervened forcing the characters' names be changed from "The Professor" and "Ace" to "The Dommie" and "Alice".

Only Human
Publisher's summary

Why won't Alice reveal the real reason for wanting to return home? What is the truth of the planet covered in blood? And who or what is Vixxy?

As events unfold, a simple visit to Earth becomes a growing nightmare and the time travellers find themselves caught in a complex web of time, space and emotions - with no choice but to see it through to its chilling conclusion.

Blood Sports
Publisher's summary

Travelling on the luxury train service to Vienzza, The Dominie and Alice discover that one of their fellow passengers is a killer: but which one? As time runs out and the body count begins to rise, the Time Travelllers realise that things may not be all they seem.

Punchline
Publisher's summary

A perfect house…

A perfect son…

A perfect wife…

WIFE?

When your life is a 70's sit-com and every episode ends happily, why on Earth would you want to change?

In Suburbton, no one can hear you scream...


 * The writer of this story is Jeremy Leadbetter, this is a pseudonym for Robert Shearman, who took the name from a character in the BBC sitcom The Good Life.