Doctor Who: Three's a Crowd

Big Finish: Monthly Range #69

by Colin Brake, Peter Davison (Narrator), Nicola Bryant (Narrator)

On an almost lifeless planet in a remote star system, Earth Colony Phoenix is struggling to survive. The colonists, utterly dependent on transmat technology and unable to leave the security of their Habitat Domes, have developed severe agoraphobia... not to mention an inability to deal with visitors...

The TARDIS crew arrives on an apparently abandoned space station in orbit above the planet and soon discover that they and the remaining colonists are in the gravest danger.

To survive, the Doctor, Peri and Erimem must uncover the colony's darkest secrets before it is too late.

Something inhuman is stalking the colony...

...and it's hungry!
edit Cast

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published May 1, 2005

About the author

Colin Brake is an English television writer and script editor best known for his work for the BBC on programs such as Bugs and EastEnders. He has also written spin-offs from the BBC series Doctor Who. He currently lives and works in Leicester.

Brake began working on EastEnders in 1985 as a writer and script editor, being partly responsible for the introduction of the soap's first Asian characters Saeed and Naima Jeffery. From there, he went on to work as "script executive" on the popular Saturday night action adventure program Bugs, before moving to Channel 5 in 1997 to be "script associate" on their evening soap Family Affairs.

In the early 2000s, Brake wrote episodes of the daytime soaps Doctors and the revival of Crossroads.

Away from television, Brake had his first Doctor Who related writing published as part of Virgin Publishing's Decalog short story collection in 1996. He then had his first novel Escape Velocity published by BBC Books in February 2001 as part of their Eighth Doctor Adventures range based on the television series Doctor Who. At the time, Brake was quoted as saying how appropriate it was that he was now writing for Doctor Who, as he was briefly considered as Eric Saward's replacement as script editor on the show - a job that eventually went to Andrew Cartmel instead.

Brake followed Escape Velocity with the Past Doctor Adventure The Colony of Lies in July 2003, and then with the audio adventure Three's a Crowd from Big Finish Productions in 2005. His Tenth Doctor Adventure The Price of Paradise was released in September 2006. He has also written an audio for their Bernice Summerfield range, and a short story for their Short Trips range.

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun. It was good to hear an adventure with Erimen that was pure science fiction instead of a historical one. The best thing about this thought was Deborah Watling as the colony controller Auntie. Picturing puzzled, tiny Debs in charge was fantastic! And highly amusing. (And she even managed to escape her comeuppance at the end). It reminded me partly of The machine stops and partly of the 2nd half of the pilot of the original Battlestar Galactica. But a very entertaining story.

[Vitor Frazão · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the pandemic this one hits even harder.

[Gareth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story this one. Almost two interweaving stories here - the dynamics of the Doctor, Peri and Erimem following on from their previous adventures, plus what is going on with the colony they have found. As the plot unfolds, it slowly becomes apparent that really quite some evil stuff going on here. Interesting society as such that has formed in the colony as a consequence of prior actions / history, and I think it is portrayed well with the colony characters here, and I found myself quite sympathetic for them. Doctor and Erimem strong in this story, but for Peri, while not bad, at times she came across somewhat unsympathetic or naive towards some of the challenges the colonists were actually facing, which I found slightly out of character. Overall though a good listen.

[Kelly McCubbin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty fascinating front half leads into a pretty predictable back end. The fascinating idea of an entire civilization confined to individual isolated rooms (tres Asimov) works, but then you've got a few episodes of shouting and running through corridors, which is disappointing.

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem arrive on a colony founded 50 years ago, where all the colonists have developed a serious case of agoraphobia. Much of the script wouldn't make it past an overcautious sensitivity reader nowadays, but I enjoyed it.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one. It's got a bit of an escape room vibe about it, with some bizarre colonists and menacing aliens thrown in for good measure. I think I'm not a big fan of Erimem as a companion, she's fine when she's all firing but I guess I don't like her backstory and her lows.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting concept that might hit close to home for anyone who went through lockdown.

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I might have rated this a touch higher, but the girl who hyperventilates all the time has an extremely annoying voice.

[Nicholas Whyte]

a decent play: on the one hand, Erimem is suffering angst about staying with the Tardis, which is a dangerous strategy for the writers which would not work with a less successful companion; on the other hand, our friends find themselves dealing with a culture whose members can't really cope with being in groups of more than two people at a time (due, of course, to Fiendish Alien Manipulation). All seemed to me to work rather well.

[Samael Kovacs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun! Really liked the story idea of this.

People live in a single room. Only being able to see one other person at a given time. Pretty 1984 like story beats here which I really dig.

The Tardis trio is really great here and it's a shame that it's coming to an end soon.

Really loved the performances here.

[Debra Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Doctor, Peri and Erimin land on a colony planet where the colonists are being fed to an alien race for survival. Can they save people from getting eaten?

[Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five, Peri and Erimem finalist colony and ravenous reptiles.