''Slipback'' is a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

audio drama based on the long-running British

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed ...

'' Doctor Who'', produced by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

and first broadcast in six episodes on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

from 25 July to 8 August 1985, as part of a children's magazine show called '' Pirate Radio Four''. It was later released on cassette and CD, most recently by BBC Audio and free with the 27 April 2010 edition of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' newspaper via

WHSmith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and ...

Synopsis

The

Sixth Doctor The Sixth Doctor is an incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC Science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Colin Baker. Although his televisual time ...

and

Peri In Persian mythology, peris (singular: peri; from fa, پَری, translit=parī, , plural , ; borrowed in European languages through ota, پَری, translit=peri) are exquisite, winged spirits renowned for their beauty. Peris were later ad ...

arrive on a mysterious space liner, where intergalactic policemen are investigating

art theft Art theft, sometimes called artnapping, is the stealing of paintings, sculptures, or other forms of visual art from galleries, museums or other public and private locations. Stolen art is often resold or used by criminals as collateral to ...

s, a computer is suffering from a split personality and the Captain's disease threatens every living thing on the ship…

Production

''Slipback'' was broadcast on

, four months after the final episode of ''Doctor Whos twenty-second season, during the programme's enforced hiatus, the next season not airing for another a year and a half. It was the first ''Doctor Who'' serial produced as a radio play (an earlier audio production, ''

The Pescatons ''Doctor Who and the Pescatons'' (commonly shortened to ''The Pescatons'') is an audio play in two episodes based on the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It is written by Victor Pemberton, and stars Tom Bak ...

'', was released as a story

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

). No further radio productions were mounted until the mid-1990s when

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during ...

reprised his role as the

Third Doctor The Third Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lor ...

in two productions, '' The Paradise of Death'' and '' The Ghosts of N-Space''.

Writing

The story was written by series script writer

Eric Saward Eric Saward (; born 9 December 1944) is a British radio scriptwriter who worked for the BBC as a television script editor and screenwriter on the science fiction series '' Doctor Who'' from 1982 until 1986. He wrote the stories '' The Visitatio ...

, whose writing credits include '' The Visitation'', ''

Earthshock ''Earthshock'' is the sixth serial of the Doctor Who (season 19), 19th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 8 to 16 March 1982. This serial marks ...

'', ''

Resurrection of the Daleks ''Resurrection of the Daleks'' is the fourth serial of the 21st season in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on BBC1 between 8 February and 15 February 1984. The seri ...

'' and '' Revelation of the Daleks''.

Cast note

Valentine Dyall played the

Black Guardian This is a list of villains from the long-running British science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and othe ...

in the television series. Dyall died on 24 June 1985, just 14 days after ''Slipback'' was recorded, and a month before ''Slipback'' aired.

In print

A novelisation by

was published by

Target Books Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became ...

in April 1986, the first novelisation of a non-televised ''Doctor Who'' story. Saward's novelisation expands on the radio play greatly, with an extensive prologue running about a third of the book before the Doctor appears and the adaptation of the radio play storyline begins.

Audio releases

''Slipback'' was released on 7 November 1988 on a double

audio cassette The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Otten ...

along with the 1978 LP version of ''

Genesis of the Daleks ''Genesis of the Daleks'' is the fourth serial of the twelfth season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was written by Terry Nation and directed by David Maloney, and originally broadcast in six weekly parts fro ...

''. It was subsequently released as a standalone CD on 8 January 2001.

References

External links

Target novelisation

On Target — ''Slipback''
{{Doctor Who episodes, C22 Sixth Doctor audio plays Radio plays based on Doctor Who 1985 audio plays 1985 radio dramas