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."
Sylvester McCoy said: "I wasn’t aware that this idea had come to fruition way back in 1989; if we'd have carried on with the fourth season, we would have done this story, and it was abandoned, and now they've brought it back. And it's great, it's a lovely story, full of humour and mystery, and wonderfully, wonderfully written."
His co-star Sophie Aldred added: "It’s thrilling to think that this would have been what was ahead for Ace and the Doctor! I love this story because there are a lot of facets to Ace's character here. It’s a very complex, psychological script."
Beverly Longhurst, Jon Edgley Bond, Sylvester McCoy, Shri Patel, Sophie Aldred, Mathew McQuinn
Jon Edgley Bond, Beverly Longhurst,, Shri Patel, John Dorney, Robin Mukherjee, Mathew McQuinn, Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred
