The Shadow of the Scourge (audio story)

 was the thirteenth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Paul Cornell and featured Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, Sophie Aldred as Ace and Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield.

Bowerman had already been portraying Bernice Summerfield in Big Finish's own brand of Bernice audio stories. The cover of this story features Lisa Bowerman's promotional image for Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield series (which began with Oh No It Isn't!), Sylvester McCoy in a photoshopped image based on his New Adventures costume (which can be seen on the cover of Original Sin) and Sophie Aldred in the costume that was created for Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era based on her appearances in Virgin New Adventure novels (post-Deceit).

Publisher's summary
The Pinehill Crest Hotel in Kent is host to three very different events: a cross-stitch convention, an experiment in time travel and... the summoning of the Scourge.

The Seventh Doctor, Bernice and Ace find themselves dealing with a dead body that has come back to life, a mystical symbol that possesses its host, and a threat from another universe that is ready for every trick the Doctor's got up his sleeve.

This time, has the Doctor gone too far?

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
 * Ace - Sophie Aldred
 * Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
 * Annie Carpenter - Holly King
 * Mary Hughes - Caroline Burns Cooke
 * Brian Hughes - Lennox Greaves
 * Michael Pembroke - Michael Piccarilli
 * Gary Williams - Nigel Fairs
 * Scourge Leader - Peter Trapani

Foods and beverages

 * The Doctor muses to himself, "Why does tea made in a hotel room taste worse than tea made in any other situation?".

Objects

 * Ace uses a tool which the Spacefleet use to pry the casings off Daleks to open the lift doors.

Species

 * The Scourge require surrender papers to invade Earth.
 * The Scourge's voices inspire religious awe in humans, allowing them to command whomever they wish.
 * Benny mentions two turtles, Squidgy and Speckley, which she kept when she had run away from Spacefleet Academy.

The Doctor

 * While inside his mind, Bernice sees the Doctor's previous regenerations and what his eighth incarnation will be.
 * The Doctor discovered the Scourge whilst dreaming on the astral plane.

Continuity

 * Ace is pictured wearing her Spacefleet combat outfit, placing this after PROSE: Deceit.
 * When the Doctor falls unconscious, Bernice says he would have told them that "where there is life, there is hope". (TV: Planet of the Spiders)
 * Inside the Doctor's mind, there are mental constructs of concepts (TV: Nightmare in Silver) such as the mathematics of flight.
 * Bernice mentions that Ace has been within the Doctor's mind. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation)
 * Bernice meets the Doctor's eighth incarnation in PROSE: The Dying Days.