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Destiny of the Doctor #1
Doctor Who: Hunters of Earth
Celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who, this is a brand new adventure featuring a story for each of the eleven Doctors. This (the first) is about the First Doctor.
Shoreditch, London, 1963. The Beatles have beaten John Smith and the Common Men to No. 1. Satellites are being launched into outer space whilst on Earth a master thief is stealing some highly specialised equipment. In the streets and bombsites around Totter's Lane, the normally placid teenagers of Coal Hill are running riot: searching out the different and hunting down the alien.
Schoolgirl Susan Foreman just wants an easy life for herself and her grandfather, the mysterious Doctor. She wants to be liked and accepted by Cedric and all the other pupils at Coal Hill School. But Susan has been inadvertently drawing attention to herself. The hunt is on - and Susan and her grandfather are the quarry.
Carole Ann Ford - Susan in the original BBC TV series - and Tam Williams perform this original story by Nigel Robinson, with music and sound design.
Shoreditch, London, 1963. The Beatles have beaten John Smith and the Common Men to No. 1. Satellites are being launched into outer space whilst on Earth a master thief is stealing some highly specialised equipment. In the streets and bombsites around Totter's Lane, the normally placid teenagers of Coal Hill are running riot: searching out the different and hunting down the alien.
Schoolgirl Susan Foreman just wants an easy life for herself and her grandfather, the mysterious Doctor. She wants to be liked and accepted by Cedric and all the other pupils at Coal Hill School. But Susan has been inadvertently drawing attention to herself. The hunt is on - and Susan and her grandfather are the quarry.
Carole Ann Ford - Susan in the original BBC TV series - and Tam Williams perform this original story by Nigel Robinson, with music and sound design.
1 pages, Audiobook
First published January 3, 2013
4 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
Nigel Robinson
87 books11 followersNigel Robinson is an English author, known for such works as the First Contact series. Nigel was born in Preston, Lancashire and attended St Thomas More school. Robinson's first published book was The Tolkien Quiz Book in 1981, co-written with Linda Wilson. This was followed by a series of three Doctor Who quiz books and a crossword book between 1981 and 1985. In the late 1980s he was the editor of Target Books' range of Doctor Who tie-ins and novelisations, also contributing to the range as a writer.
He later wrote an original Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Apocalypse, for the New Adventures series for Virgin Publishing, which had purchased Target in 1989 shortly after Robinson had left the company. He also wrote the New Adventure Birthright, published in 1993.
In the 1990s, Robinson wrote novelisations of episodes of The Tomorrow People, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Baywatch and the film Free Willy. Between 1994 and 1995, he wrote a series of children's horror novels Remember Me..., All Shook Up, Dream Lover, Rave On, Bad Moon Rising, Symphony of Terror and Demon Brood.In 1996 he continued to write the Luke Cannon Show Jumping Mysteries series,containing four books, namely The Piebald Princess, The Chestnut Chase, The Black Mare of Devils Hill and the last in the series, Decision Day for the Dapple Grey. By 1997 he had also penned a trilogy science fiction novels First Contact, Second Nature and Third Degree.
His most recent work was another quiz book, this time to tie in with the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
He later wrote an original Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Apocalypse, for the New Adventures series for Virgin Publishing, which had purchased Target in 1989 shortly after Robinson had left the company. He also wrote the New Adventure Birthright, published in 1993.
In the 1990s, Robinson wrote novelisations of episodes of The Tomorrow People, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Baywatch and the film Free Willy. Between 1994 and 1995, he wrote a series of children's horror novels Remember Me..., All Shook Up, Dream Lover, Rave On, Bad Moon Rising, Symphony of Terror and Demon Brood.In 1996 he continued to write the Luke Cannon Show Jumping Mysteries series,containing four books, namely The Piebald Princess, The Chestnut Chase, The Black Mare of Devils Hill and the last in the series, Decision Day for the Dapple Grey. By 1997 he had also penned a trilogy science fiction novels First Contact, Second Nature and Third Degree.
His most recent work was another quiz book, this time to tie in with the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
December 12, 2023
This series of short audiobooks highlights the various Doctors, this one highlights the first Doctor and old man William Hartnell who lives with his niece in a blue phonebox on Coal Hill. She visits the local school and her intelligence makes her stand out. And yet she does not feel accepted .
This story is read by Carole Ann Ford who played the Doctor's niece originally.
The story is sweet and very 1st Doctorish, very nice. I listened to this through Spotify.
This story is read by Carole Ann Ford who played the Doctor's niece originally.
The story is sweet and very 1st Doctorish, very nice. I listened to this through Spotify.
February 20, 2013
Another 50th Anniversary thingy. This is the first of 11 BigFinish Audio books made exclusively for AudioGo. I dl'd it from my local library's digital site.
This is an interesting interlude set in the Summer of 1963, or about 4 months before the first episode of the series. The Doctor and his granddaughter, Susan have been on the run and traveling for years. They have been stuck in 1963 London for about 3 months. This is the first Doctor at his most bitter, angry and paranoid and Susan at her most innocent. Mostly she just wants to fit in. She tries to attend school but her inability to not stand out as some sort of "other" super-genius, sets off the events in the story. It's read by Carole Ann Ford, the actress who played Susan.
This is an interesting interlude set in the Summer of 1963, or about 4 months before the first episode of the series. The Doctor and his granddaughter, Susan have been on the run and traveling for years. They have been stuck in 1963 London for about 3 months. This is the first Doctor at his most bitter, angry and paranoid and Susan at her most innocent. Mostly she just wants to fit in. She tries to attend school but her inability to not stand out as some sort of "other" super-genius, sets off the events in the story. It's read by Carole Ann Ford, the actress who played Susan.
June 6, 2021
As a beginning on a story goes, it's not had, I'll be honest i haven't seen any of the first doctors outtings, so i can't say if this story hit the mark, but i enjoyed it enough to stay interested 😀
July 24, 2018
Always up for more William Hartnell stories! (also Carole narrates this and that makes it an instant like in my book)
March 2, 2025
2024 52 Book Challenge - Summer Olympics Mini Challenge - Gymnastics - 2) A Series With An Uneven Number Of Books
I really enjoyed this audiobook. I really like the First Doctor and the first TARDIS team back in 1963, but this audiobook is set pre-kidnapping of Susan's teachers, and so it really focuses on the Doctor and Susan, and their relationship, which I found a bit heartwarming, especially as on the show, she literally existed to get into trouble. At least in this audiobook, she shows that she can hold her own a little.
I really enjoyed this audiobook. I really like the First Doctor and the first TARDIS team back in 1963, but this audiobook is set pre-kidnapping of Susan's teachers, and so it really focuses on the Doctor and Susan, and their relationship, which I found a bit heartwarming, especially as on the show, she literally existed to get into trouble. At least in this audiobook, she shows that she can hold her own a little.
October 27, 2020
Actual rating is 3.5 stars.
This is a short story based on the television series. This is with the First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan. This is the beginning of a series of short stories. Each short story will have a connection and each story will continue with the new version of The Doctor. In this one, Susan is attending a school where she wants to fit in. Next thing you know she is being harassed because she is an "alien".
I enjoyed this beginning of this series. I guess the narrator was the actress who played Susan in the television series and I thought she did fine with the narration. All my knowledge of this universe is from the revival so I have never really dealt with this incarnation of The Doctor. With no knowledge of this incarnation I cannot comment on the portrayal and my rating is just for the story. As for the story I liked it as it fits for the time setting and I like it when science fiction tells a story that is an allegory for real life. This story did that and I was impressed by it.
Even though I have no knowledge of this Doctor I felt like I was reading a Doctor Who story. It was a quick read and self contained but does leave threads open that I want to know more. I know it enticed me enough that I will immediately jump into the next installment of this series.
This is a short story based on the television series. This is with the First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan. This is the beginning of a series of short stories. Each short story will have a connection and each story will continue with the new version of The Doctor. In this one, Susan is attending a school where she wants to fit in. Next thing you know she is being harassed because she is an "alien".
I enjoyed this beginning of this series. I guess the narrator was the actress who played Susan in the television series and I thought she did fine with the narration. All my knowledge of this universe is from the revival so I have never really dealt with this incarnation of The Doctor. With no knowledge of this incarnation I cannot comment on the portrayal and my rating is just for the story. As for the story I liked it as it fits for the time setting and I like it when science fiction tells a story that is an allegory for real life. This story did that and I was impressed by it.
Even though I have no knowledge of this Doctor I felt like I was reading a Doctor Who story. It was a quick read and self contained but does leave threads open that I want to know more. I know it enticed me enough that I will immediately jump into the next installment of this series.
July 21, 2020
While this wasn’t the most promising beginning to this series, it was enjoyable and entertaining. Unfortunately, I’m not much of fan of the narrated stories, instead I prefer the full-cast audio-dramas. So this production had at least one strike against it. What it has in its favor is Carole Ann Ford (the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan) and the temporal setting. As this takes place several months before the events of the first TV episode, An Unearthly Child, it has the luxury of playing with a setting and time period that has been rarely explored. It also provided some interesting details about the why and how that Susan and the Doctor spent so much time there in the early sixties. But as it’s also the first of an eleven-part serial, only the immediate threat is resolved, so it only teases that something larger is looming. At any rate, Ford and her fellow performer deliver some nice readings of a story that certainly holds the listener’s attention.
January 11, 2025
A fair enough version of a Companion Chronicle designed as the first entry in an eleven-part serial that connected all eleven of the then available Doctors. Self-contained but pointing very unsubtlely to the larger plot, and set slightly awkwardly at the junkyard in Totter's Lane in 1963, before Ian and Barbara turned up on the scene. Awkward, because plainly there's too much going on here for Susan and the Doctor not to want to get out of Dodge very quickly rather than hang around to pick up passengers.
July 15, 2020
This was my first time reading/listening to a First Doctor adventure.
And I have to say, it reminded me exactly of the first episode. They did an excellent job getting the feel of it all right.
I loved the added easter egg of having Mr Magpie and his radio shop be in it. That is a nice little touch.
The story... oooh boy, that story is still very relevant today as well as back then.
All in all, very enjoyable. Big Finish does such good jobs with audiobooks.
And I have to say, it reminded me exactly of the first episode. They did an excellent job getting the feel of it all right.
I loved the added easter egg of having Mr Magpie and his radio shop be in it. That is a nice little touch.
The story... oooh boy, that story is still very relevant today as well as back then.
All in all, very enjoyable. Big Finish does such good jobs with audiobooks.
November 27, 2022
A charming story with a flimsy plot told in nice pace. The little references to Bob Dylan and The Beatles, the proto-sonic-screwdriver making and the candid portrait of the first Doctor, in all his characteristic moral ambiguity and grumpy charm, are all little details that make this audio drama an entertaining adventure, just don't think too much about the central conflict. As this is the first on a series of eleven stories I'm hoping a few loose threads get picked up later.
May 24, 2020
Good. Not to short, good action, great narrator.
January 26, 2021
Set before a pair of of overly curious teachers stumble into the TARDIS, this story finds Susan and the Doctor dealing with unknown adversaries using radio waves to attack people.
January 15, 2021
あらすじ
1963年、ある霧の深い夜、ドクターは何者かにつけられているような気がする。正体は孫娘のスーザンだった。ドクターがターディスを修理するための部品をくすねたことをたしなめるスーザン。しかし、二人がターディスに入る時、スーザンは学校の教師ルークの姿を見かけた気がする。翌日、学校の廊下でルークと鉢合わせしたスーザン。４ヶ月前からスーザンはこの学校に通いだしているが、彼女の身分を証明する書類が一切提出されていない理由を聞き出そうとするルーク。スーザンはなんとかその場を言い逃れる。学校でできた唯一の友人セドリックと人気のコーヒーショップに行った二人。スーザンはそこで激しい頭痛に襲われるが、突然、周囲の客から「エイリアン」と激しい敵意を向けられ狼狽する。しかも、一緒のテーブルに座っていた同級生がナイフを握りしめスーザンを殺そうと襲いかかってくる。
感想
ドクターと旅をし続けているため、どこにも属していないと孤独なスーザン。他人をまったく信用していないドクター。ドクターとスーザンの異星人としての能力を戦争に利用しようと、二人をつかまえようとする軍部。とてもダークな話で、ドクターが地球や地球人をすきになる要素もちっともなく、スーザンのことだけ信じるドクターはとても排他的でそのことがちょっとショックでもあった。最後の最後まで辛い目にしかあわないドクターとスーザン。今まで聴いたオーディオの中で一番気持ちが落ち込んでしまった。途中でラジオを通して1stとスーザンに11thドクターからメッセージが届くのは50周年記念オーディオのご愛嬌。
1963年、ある霧の深い夜、ドクターは何者かにつけられているような気がする。正体は孫娘のスーザンだった。ドクターがターディスを修理するための部品をくすねたことをたしなめるスーザン。しかし、二人がターディスに入る時、スーザンは学校の教師ルークの姿を見かけた気がする。翌日、学校の廊下でルークと鉢合わせしたスーザン。４ヶ月前からスーザンはこの学校に通いだしているが、彼女の身分を証明する書類が一切提出されていない理由を聞き出そうとするルーク。スーザンはなんとかその場を言い逃れる。学校でできた唯一の友人セドリックと人気のコーヒーショップに行った二人。スーザンはそこで激しい頭痛に襲われるが、突然、周囲の客から「エイリアン」と激しい敵意を向けられ狼狽する。しかも、一緒のテーブルに座っていた同級生がナイフを握りしめスーザンを殺そうと襲いかかってくる。
感想
ドクターと旅をし続けているため、どこにも属していないと孤独なスーザン。他人をまったく信用していないドクター。ドクターとスーザンの異星人としての能力を戦争に利用しようと、二人をつかまえようとする軍部。とてもダークな話で、ドクターが地球や地球人をすきになる要素もちっともなく、スーザンのことだけ信じるドクターはとても排他的でそのことがちょっとショックでもあった。最後の最後まで辛い目にしかあわないドクターとスーザン。今まで聴いたオーディオの中で一番気持ちが落ち込んでしまった。途中でラジオを通して1stとスーザンに11thドクターからメッセージが届くのは50周年記念オーディオのご愛嬌。
August 15, 2021
Nigel Robinson is a veteran of the Doctor Who range and gives us an adventure set around the period before the events of An Unearthly Child. What exactly is the Doctor up to in 1963 and has anyone noticed his strange activities?
As narrator Carole Ann Ford recaptures the early 60's feel of that initial episode of Doctor Who and gives us a slice of Susan Forman's life at Coal Hill School, her friends and the fun she is experiencing despite being sometimes out of place with her friends.
There's also a mystery to solve as a strange alien influence is affecting the youth and causing them to riot . It takes the creativity of both the Doctor and Susan to save the day.
As narrator Carole Ann Ford recaptures the early 60's feel of that initial episode of Doctor Who and gives us a slice of Susan Forman's life at Coal Hill School, her friends and the fun she is experiencing despite being sometimes out of place with her friends.
There's also a mystery to solve as a strange alien influence is affecting the youth and causing them to riot . It takes the creativity of both the Doctor and Susan to save the day.
January 4, 2018
The first in the 11-part, 50th anniversary Destiny of the Doctor series takes places in the summer of 1963, 4 months or so prior to the events in the pilot, "An Unearthly Child," so no Ian or Barbara. This one focused on Susan alot, which was interesting, and toyed with the idea of her having 'powers.' Carole Ann Ford was on point again as both Susan and the First Doctor. I'm definitely looking forward to more Big Finish adventures with Carole Ann Ford.
August 30, 2018
It's an okay audio book. Not fantastic. It's not really explained who the monster of the week is which is a tad frustrating. The story is set before the first episode of Doctor Who. It focused a lot on the relationship between the Doctor and Susan which was nice. It's pretty short-- only a little over an hour long.
August 14, 2019
This was a fun jaunt into the 1st doctor's time and his granddaughter Susan. It happens while she is going to school so it doesn't really require much knowledge about season 1. I listened to it while I cleaned and it did well to keep my mind busy! I want to listen to all of the Destiny of the Doctors but I'm going to try to do it in order.
May 1, 2020
A solid opening story for this series of adventures collaborated by Audio Go & Big Finish for the 50th Anniversary, with Destiny of The Doctors!
A really nice set up for the series with a prequel to the first Doctor Who story ever, with some nice characterization for Susan, really making her a stronger character than she was in the series and using his telepathic skills to great effect. 8/10
A really nice set up for the series with a prequel to the first Doctor Who story ever, with some nice characterization for Susan, really making her a stronger character than she was in the series and using his telepathic skills to great effect. 8/10
October 29, 2021
6/10
Verdict: Optional
Pretty fun Susan story set before the pilot read really well by Carol Ann Ford. The characters and setting are decently fun, and 1 is pretty solid here. It's not a mind blowing story or anything, overall it's pretty above average. There's some good tension at the end, but this story is pretty slow overall.
Verdict: Optional
Pretty fun Susan story set before the pilot read really well by Carol Ann Ford. The characters and setting are decently fun, and 1 is pretty solid here. It's not a mind blowing story or anything, overall it's pretty above average. There's some good tension at the end, but this story is pretty slow overall.
December 19, 2021
This was a good short story. I'm not familiar enough with the first Doctor era to say if it's true to the tone of the series at that time, but it sounds about right to me. Also, I'm not sure where this "Destiny of the Doctor" thing is going. This one seemed to be a standalone story, and wasn't obviously setting anything up.
January 17, 2018
A very good Susan-centric Susan+Doc prequel story.
Recommended for any fan of the earliest years of Doctor Who, esp. those who enjoy whenever Susan's involvement in goings on extends beyond screaming. ;)
Recommended for any fan of the earliest years of Doctor Who, esp. those who enjoy whenever Susan's involvement in goings on extends beyond screaming. ;)
November 2, 2021
It was great to get back into the world of the First Doctor and Susan, set before the events of An unearthly child!
Carole Ann Ford did a fantastic job at portraying Susan again, as if she had never left the show!
It was an interesting premise and I did enjoy the story, but I could predict what would happen, especially concerning Cedric.
Carole Ann Ford did a fantastic job at portraying Susan again, as if she had never left the show!
It was an interesting premise and I did enjoy the story, but I could predict what would happen, especially concerning Cedric.
July 23, 2025
A 1 hour audio book. My favorite Doctor and his granddaughter on one of their earlier adventures I think, time line wise, I dont know where this falls. Overall, Susan learns again about being betrayed for the 79th time, the Doctor learns nothing other than he needs his sonic screwdriver.
October 7, 2017
This is pretty good, and it sparked a theory with me as to why the Doctor and Susan left in the first place. It's interesting to hear about things that happened before the first episode takes place.
October 12, 2017
I wish more people were as earnest as Susan. Also, Cedric's voice was a tiny bit sexy. This makes me want to rewatch the entire first season of Doctor Who. I've missed the crotchety old man.
February 26, 2018
It's a shame that it's not a full cast.
November 1, 2018
Direct to audio story featuring Susan, the granddaughter of the 1st Doctor. A previously untold story about an alien encounter featuring transistor radios, IIRC.
July 18, 2020
3.5/5 stars
July 31, 2022
One of my favorite pre-show era stories.
October 11, 2022
audiobook
"you're not from this world!"
- two minutes later -
"you will come with me and you will help your queen and country"
#britishlogic
"you're not from this world!"
- two minutes later -
"you will come with me and you will help your queen and country"
#britishlogic
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews