Checking into a luxury health spa for a little rest and recreation, the Doctor and Ace find themselves at the mercy of a malign entity that craves the conquest of time and space.
Exploiting their memories and regrets, the queen of the hive, which hides behind the polished walls of the spa, forces them to confront their deepest fears as she steals the Doctor’s life force to spread her powers across the universe.
**Please note: the collector's edition double CD is strictly limited to 1,750 copies**
Recorded on: 26 and 28 February 2025
Recorded at: The Soundhouse
Writer Robin Mukherjee said: "The story of Alixion came out of conversations with Andrew Cartmel, supported by John Nathan-Turner, the first producer to offer me a television commission. Up to that point I’d written for theatre and radio, and was just finding my feet in the industry.
"I can vividly remember those cramped rooms in a drab office block on Shepherds Bush Green which became an oasis of creativity, seething with ideas in the company of John, Andrew, Ben [Aaronovitch], Ian [Briggs], Graeme [Curry], Rona [Munro] and others. I felt in awe of these writers and their imagination. We danced through space and time spinning strange and wonderful tales for – in my view – one of the show's greatest ever Doctor/partner pairings.
"The cancellation of the next series put an end to my commission. But the story has always hovered in the corners of my imagination. Between then and now, I’ve mostly written grounded, realistic dramas, from medical series to arthouse cinema. Being able to launch my creative molecules into the stratosphere has been an immeasurable joy. What surprised me most about writing this was how much story, from all of those conversations, was simply waiting to be told. It feels as if something begun in the tender days of my early work has at last been fulfilled."
Beverly Longhurst, Jon Edgley Bond, Sylvester McCoy, Shri Patel, Sophie Aldred, Mathew McQuinn
