The Doctor has a new friend. Ace has just joined the TARDIS, and is a long, long way from home.
Hunting treasure, solving snow-covered mysteries and meeting heroes of legend, a partnership is formed. The Doctor starts to see his protégée's potential - while Ace thinks their adventures are nothing less than 'wicked'...
Backwards and in Heels by Alison Winter
The Doctor has offered young Ace a lift home from Iceworld, promising the scenic route home to Perivale.
But when they are diverted to 1920s Soho on what appears to be shady business, Ace wonders if she's making the right choices, let alone in the right order.
The Price of Snow by Katharine Armitage
Ski resort Val du Cam Belle is 'the place to be' for the 1% of the near future. But the Doctor and Ace discover sinister shadows beneath the surface of this winter wonderland.
The sun is too hot, the shade is too dark and nothing is quite what it seems...
The Ingenious Gentlemen by Alan Ronald
Fiction and reality collide when a mad man with a box and a mad man with a horse encounter an ancient evil in 15th century Spain.
But the adventurer-and-companion setup is a little too familiar to Ace, and she begins to question if she is anything more than a Sancho to the Doctor's Quixote.
Recorded on: 20 June, 16 and 18 July 2024 and 16 January 2025
Recorded at: The Soundhouse
Script editor Matt Fitton said: "After spending some time with the older Seventh Doctor, it's fun to go back to the partnership that defines his era like no other. The Doctor and Ace have a rollercoaster relationship over years of stories, with many twists and turns, ups and downs – but in Wicked! we delve into the very beginnings of that beautiful friendship.
"The lonely Time Lord starts to see the potential of his new young protégée, and the rebellious teen from Perivale has her eyes opened to the universe. These are Ace's very first trips in the TARDIS – a madcap treasure hunt through 1920s London, facing danger on the snowy slopes of future Earth, and an encounter with another duo which holds a mirror up to the time travellers. ‘The Seventh Doctor meets Don Quixote’ is such an inspired pitch, I am amazed nobody has done it before!"
Simon Callow said: "Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are one of the great double acts of our culture, like Laurel and Hardy! Don Quixote is, as always, looking for demons and bad people to slay because he believes he is a knight whose duty is to save people in distress. But it's a great break for him when he encounters the Doctor. They’re absolutely on the same page - they prove to be soulmates, which is very touching."
Writer Alan Ronald added: "There’s a sort of Quixote voice that I had in my head while I was writing. And when we were lucky enough to get Simon Callow, suddenly that voice was real - it's just dream casting. You can’t really get better than that."
Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred
Simon Callow © Oliver Bowring
