An Unearthly Woman (audio story)

An Unearthly Woman
Main character(s):	River Song
Featuring:	Susan, Ian, Barbara, First Doctor
Main enemy:	Nightstalker, Ravenous
Main setting:	Shoreditch, London, October 1963
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Matt Fitton
Director:	Ken Bentley
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	Howard Carter
Sound:	Howard Carter
Cover by:	Tom Webster
Release details
Release number:	6.1
Part of:	The Diary of River Song: Series Six
Release date:	27 August 2019
Format:	1 X 1 hour
Production code:	BFPDWRIVER06
ISBN:	978-1-78703-507-2
The Diary of River Song
← Previous	Concealed Weapon
Next →	The Web of Time

An Unearthly Woman was the first story of the audio anthology, The Diary of River Song: Series Six.

Publisher's summary

Coal Hill School has a new member of staff: an educated woman, who seems to specialise in every subject. Meanwhile, teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright have concerns over the behaviour of one of their pupils.

Susan Foreman is intrigued by Dr Song, but something else is stalking her in the darkness and fog of London, 1963...

Plot

to be added

Cast

• River Song - Alex Kingston
• Susan Foreman - Claudia Grant
• Ian Chesterton - Jamie Glover
• Barbara Wright - Jemma Powell
• Lloyd Walker - Edward Dede
• Sheila Page / Nightstalker - Lizzie Stables
• Mr Newbold / Mitchell - Owen Aaronovitch
• The Doctor - David Bradley

References

• River uses eau de forget on the constable.
• River teaches about the Medicis and Borgias as if she's met them.
• River claims to "get [her] Asimovs and Romanovs confused".
• Lloyd Walker is in Barbara's form.
• Students are just this week coming back from half-term.
• Ian thinks River's forename sounds Romany.
• Ian invites River to join the other teachers at The Red Lion.
• Barbara orders a tonic water.
• Susan is confused that people are "worried" about Lloyd's skin pigmentation.
• River's energy weapon fires photon blasts.
• River leads aerobics in PE class.
• Mr and Mrs Mitchell are foster parents.
• River teaches in Class C3, Ian's chemistry classroom.
• Barbara was inspired as a child by a book on Captain Cook.
• Elsie Fairbrother is a school governor who's also on the council.
• River uses her sonic screwdriver as a torch.
• River gives Ian two 10-pound notes, which he and Barbara agree is quite a lot of money on their salaries.

Notes

• This story acts as a prequel to the first televised Doctor Who story, An Unearthly Child.
• This marks the first appearance of the Ravenous outside the titular range.
• This story marks the first appearances of Claudia Grant and Jamie Glover as Susan Foreman and Ian Chesterton respectively outside of The First Doctor Adventures.
• An instrumental section of "Oh, Won't You Please Love Me?", written for AUDIO: 1963: Fanfare for the Common Men as an early song by the Common Men, is clearly heard on the radio as Sheila enters the Johnsons' house. It clips off shortly before the vocals resume. Both Fanfare and An Unearthly Woman employed Howard Carter for music and sound. He was responsible for originally composing and recording that track, 6.5 years before this story's release.
• The headmaster, long established as H. Parson, is continually referred to in this story as Mr Parsons.
• A version of the Diary of River Song theme plays at the end, in the style of the Beatles, or rather, the Common Men.

Continuity

• River claims that the police officer uniform is from her mother. (TV: The Eleventh Hour, A Christmas Carol)
• The headmaster, Mr Parson, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks, et al.) is unable to join the others at The Red Lion. It is mentioned that he still can’t find a replacement for Okehurst. (PROSE: Time and Relative)
• River's energy weapon is from Villengard. (TV: The Doctor Dances, et al.)
• Ian's chemistry classroom is referred to as Class C3. (PROSE: Nothing at the End of the Lane)
• A section of "Oh, Won't You Please Love Me?" by The Common Men plays on the radio at the Johnsons' place. (AUDIO: 1963: Fanfare for the Common Men)
• Barbara hopes to one day visit South America and get to see the temples there. River hints that she might one day be able to. In fact, Barbara would soon visit this area with the First Doctor, where she would be mistaken for an Aztec god. (TV: The Aztecs)
• River knew to come to 1963 Shoreditch when she saw a bounty posted in Maldovar's. River is known to frequent the Maldovarium. (TV: The Pandorica Opens, et al.)
• The Ravenous refer to the First Doctor "hiding in junkyards". (TV: "An Unearthly Child")
• The news on BBC One announces that a new science fiction series, Professor X, will be airing this Saturday. (PROSE: Conundrum, No Future, Escape Velocity, AUDIO: Klein's Story, The Crooked Man)
• River wishes Ian good luck on his own future travels, which Ian dismisses as impossible. (TV: An Unearthly Child, The Daleks, et al.)
• Susan claims once again to have invented the name TARDIS. (TV: "An Unearthly Child") River is surprised, and remarks that if this is true, the name "really catches on". (TV: The Brain of Morbius, Earthshock, Arc of Infinity, The Doctor's Wife, The Name of the Doctor, Hell Bent; AUDIO: Weapon of Choice, Intervention Earth, Songs of Love, Collision Course, et al.)
• Of Gallifrey, River says to Susan, "One day you may go back", echoing the Doctor's parting words to Susan when she would later leave his side on 22nd century Earth. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) She would eventually rejoin the Time Lords, far later in life, towards the beginning of the Last Great Time War. (AUDIO: All Hands on Deck) The Doctor himself would revisit Gallifrey many times, from the end of his second life onwards. (TV: The War Games, The Deadly Assassin, The Invasion of Time, et al.) Both the Doctor and Susan would also find themselves on Gallifrey, in the Death Zone, during the events of TV: The Five Doctors.

External links

• Official An Unearthly Woman page at bigfinish.com