Three's a Crowd (audio story)



 was the sixty-ninth monthly Doctor Who audio story produced by Big Finish Productions. It is the sixth audio story featuring the line up of the Fifth Doctor, Peri Brown and Erimem. It sits almost exactly in the middle of the run of stories featuring the former Egyptian queen. Released in May 2005, it was the first audio written by Colin Brake, who had authored several Doctor Who novels.

Crowd explores the Orwellian theme of individuality and conformity. Indeed it can be viewed as a pastiche of, in the same way that The Brain of Morbius is an homage to Frankenstein and Robot evokes King Kong.

A major subplot is of Erimem recovering from the unpleasant experiences of The Roof of the World.

As the title suggests, the story is in some ways about whether the Doctor and Erimem really want to travel together and Peri's struggle to stabilise them all into a coherent, three-person "TARDIS team". However, the title has a double meaning. It also refers to the people whom the Doctor and his friends meet. Made acutely agoraphobic by the rules of their society, it's intensely difficult for even two of them to physically meet. For them, three is very definitely a crowd.

Publisher's summary
On an almost lifeless planet in a remote star system, Earth Colony Phoenix is struggling to survive. The colonists, utterly dependent on transmat technology and unable to leave the security of their Habitat Domes, have developed severe agoraphobia... not to mention an inability to deal with visitors...

The TARDIS crew arrives on an apparently abandoned space station in orbit above the planet and soon discover that they and the remaining colonists are in the gravest danger.

To survive, the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem must uncover the colony's darkest secrets before it is too late.

Something inhuman is stalking the colony...

...and it's hungry!

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Davison
 * Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant
 * Erimem - Caroline Morris
 * Auntie - Deborah Watling
 * General Makra'Thon - Richard Gauntlett
 * Butler - Charles Pemberton
 * Bellip - Lucy Beresford
 * Vidler - Richard Unwin
 * Laroq - Daniel Hogarth
 * Khellian Queen - Sara Carver

Continuity

 * The TARDIS' pool is still frozen over. (AUDIO: The Roof of the World)
 * Peri refers to her mother Janine Foster. (TV: Planet of Fire, AUDIO: The Reaping)