Ark In Space audio book to the read by Jon Culshaw
Jon Culshaw, perhaps the finest Fourth Doctor impersonator this side of Kasterborous, France, will be lending his dulcet tones to the audiobook adaptation of the indomitable Doctor Who and The Ark in Space.
Ladbroke audio played host to the Dead Ringers star as he recorded his very first audiobook over two fun, epic days as he brought Ian Marter’s novelisation of Robert Holmes’ 1975 serial to life.
It’s not long before the crew of the TARDIS find things going suspiciously wrong, and the station under attack from the giant Wirrrn, deadly creatures who, in their lust for power, now threaten the future of the whole Human Race.
The story sees the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry on an automated ark ship far off in the future; on board and frozen in suspended animation, a selection of humanity awaits the day the craft returns to Earth.
It’s not long before the crew of the TARDIS find things going suspiciously wrong, and the station under attack from the giant Wirrrn, deadly creatures who, in their lust for power, now threaten the future of the whole Human Race…
The first novelisation by Marter brought about several changes to Holmes’ original scripts including altering the ending, changing the spelling of ‘Wirrn’ to ‘Wirrrn’ and removing the line “Well, my doctorate is purely honorary, and Harry here is only qualified to work on sailors,” entirely.
These aren’t the only changes; as Michael Stevens, Commissioning Editor of BBC Audio, told DWM: “Jon is of course famous for his uncannily accurate impression of Tom Baker as the Doctor, and so he’ll be bringing his aptitude for the Doctor to book! Jon is also a keen fan of the programme himself, and has been delighted to immerse himself in the adventure on Terra Nova, as Nerva Beacon is renamed in the book.”
Culshaw is no stranger to Doctor Who; he appeared in the webcast Death Comes to Time and audio drama The Kingmaker. In the latter, he got to perform his Tom Baker impression “for real” (voicing tape recordings of the Fourth Doctor), although his nominal part was that of Earl Rivers.
In November 2013, Culshaw also appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.