The Three Companions (audio story)

The Three Companions is a twelve-part mini-series. It was included on the main Doctor Who range as a bonus between April 2009 and February 2010. Each episode is ten minutes long, making a two hour play in total. The entire story is collected in a compilation on The Companion Chronicles: The Specials CD box set.

Publisher's Summary
Polly Wright has tracked down an old friend of the Doctor's... Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, former Brigadier at UNIT. As they trade stories of their time travelling in the TARDIS, it soon becomes clear that their pasts are intertwined, and linked to a current crisis on the planet Earth. And there's a third companion, watching them from a distance. A certain Thomas Brewster...

Synopsis
Episode 1 - Polly's Story

The present day: Polly Wright, former companion of the Second Doctor, tracks down Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart via the Internet. As they chat online, they realise that they have a shared experience - and one that began on a world far away. (Included on The Magic Mousetrap)

Episode 2 - In Memoriam

The Doctor, Polly, Ben Jackson and Jamie McCrimmon are trapped on a doomed world scheduled for cremation. What are the coffin-loaders and why does Lethbridge-Stewart remember them too? (Included on Enemy of the Daleks)

Episode 3 - The Gathernaut

On a planet scheduled for cremation in thirty-five minutes, the Doctor, Polly, Ben and Jamie meet an unlikely ally. (Included on The Angel of Scutari)

Episode 4 - Cremation Point

As the end of a world approaches, Polly, Ben and Jamie attempt to escape the Gathernaut. (Included on The Company of Friends)

Episode 5 - The Brigadier's Story

Polly's tale is over, but now Lethbridge-Stewart shares his story of a rare excursion in the TARDIS, when the Third Doctor answered a distress call from a distant galaxy. What is the secret of Waterloo Station? (Included on Patient Zero)

Episode 6 - Coffin-Loaders

In a place that looks like a jumbled-up Earth, the Third Doctor and the Brigadier have met a woman who looks just like Polly Wright, but she isn't. Meanwhile, in the real world, the real Polly has a new acquaintance – a young man called Thomas Brewster. (Included on Paper Cuts)

Episode 7 - The Hunting Ground

The Brigadier and the Third Doctor are fighting for survival on a model world that looks like Earth. Why are there facsimiles of Polly Wright here and who is the mysterious Garry Lendler? No one is more anxious to find out than Thomas Brewster…(Included on Blue Forgotten Planet)

Episode 8 - The Battle of World's End Junction

Cornered by the coffin loaders, the Doctor and the Brigadier make their last stand at World's End Junction. Meanwhile, the mysterious Thomas Brewster finally prepares to step out from the shadows… (Included on Castle of Fear)

Episode 9 - Many Meetings

In a café, three strangers meet: Polly, the Brigadier and Thomas Brewster. They share one thing in common – they have all travelled in time and space with the Doctor. Now the Doctor isn't here, and the world is in terrible danger… (Included on The Eternal Summer)

Episode 10 - Brewster's Story

As Polly and the Brigadier become acquainted with Thomas Brewster, chaos erupts. UNIT troops are on the streets of London and the Hunter is on the prowl…(Included on Plague of the Daleks)

Episode 11 - The Hunter

With the coffin loader on the rampage in London, Polly, the Brigadier and Brewster meet an old acquaintance. Can he cure the planet's accelerated global warming? (Included on A Thousand Tiny Wings)

Episode 12 - The Sacrifice

As London floods, can Polly and Thomas Brewster save the Brigadier from the clutches of the Hunter? (Included on Survival of the Fittest)

Cast

 * Polly Wright / Alice Warner / Florrie Cooper - Anneke Wills
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
 * Thomas Brewster - John Pickard
 * Gerry "G. L." Lenz / Garry Lendler / Announcer - Russell Floyd

Continuity

 * Polly mentions Jo's encounter with Mrs Killebrew and the Dolls, which Jo described in detail on her blog. (AUDIO: The Doll of Death)
 * Jo is still married to Clifford Jones. (TV: The Green Death)
 * The Brigadier tells Polly that he met Jamie McCrimmon on two occasions. (TV: The Web of Fear, The Invasion)
 * Polly tells the Brigadier that the Doctor was able to return her and Ben Jackson to London on the day that they left. (TV: The Faceless Ones)
 * Polly mentions to the Brigadier that the Doctor's appearance and personality completed changed while she and Ben were travelling with him. (TV: The Tenth Planet)
 * The Brigadier mentions that the first three Doctors turned up at once on one occasion. (TV: The Three Doctors)
 * Polly mentions meeting Jamie at in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746. (TV: The Highlanders)
 * The Brigadier mentions that the Doctor met his wife, Doris Lethbridge-Stewart, in Carbury in 1997. (TV: Battlefield)
 * Brewster e-mails Polly and the Brigadier, telling them that the TARDIS is in his possession. (AUDIO: The Haunting of Thomas Brewster, The Boy That Time Forgot)
 * Brewster states that he misses "Her Royal Highness Princess Nyssa." (AUDIO: The Haunting of Thomas Brewster)
 * Polly has not seen the Doctor for 43 years. (TV: The Faceless Ones)
 * Brewster tells Polly and the Brigadier that he first met the Doctor in 1867. (AUDIO: The Haunting of Thomas Brewster)
 * London has a Jubilee train line, an aftershock of the events of AUDIO: Jubilee.
 * The Brigadier's Story occurs after TV: The Green Death.
 * The Brigadier's Story occurs before TV: The Time Warrior.
 * Brewster's Story occurs after AUDIO: The Haunting of Thomas Brewster.
 * Brewster's Story occurs before AUDIO: The Boy That Time Forgot.
 * Polly mentions the TARDIS's food machine. (TV: The Daleks)

Releases

 * The original release was a series of ten-minute episodes included on the back end of the Big Finish Productions' main monthly titles, starting with The Magic Mousetrap and ending with Survival of the Fittest.
 * The series was subsequently compiled into a three-disc set as part of The Companion Chronicles: The Specials box set.