Doctor Who: On Ghost Beach: 15th Doctor Audio Original

BBC's New Doctor Who Audio Originals #25

by Niel Bushnell, Susan Twist (Narrator)

The TARDIS arrives in County Durham, England, in 1958. Seaham Chemical Beach was once a scene of heavy industry, long since abandoned, but now local residents are having nightmares and seeing apparitions.

It isn’t long before the Doctor and Ruby are affected by the beach’s peculiar atmosphere. As they begin to forget exactly who they are, Ruby hears a distant voice calling her on.

Whose memories are filling the travellers’ heads, and what is the significance of Ghost Beach, in the Sea of Despair, on the planet Farfrom?

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Fiction

Audio CD

First published September 5, 2024

About the author

Niel Bushnell is an award-winning science-fiction and fantasy author based in the north-east of England.

An accomplished artist and animator, Niel has worked in the creative sector for over twenty years, across film, TV, online, games, advertising and publishing.

He is the author of the Arkship Saga, a science-fiction series set in the distant future after the Earth has been destroyed along with the rest of the solar system in a cataclysmic event known as the Fracture. He is also the author of two time-travel children's books called Sorrowline and Timesmith, and a Young-Adult novel called Altitude.

Reviews

[Emilija · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023 52 Book Challenge - Summer Road Trip Mini Challenge - Destination - 1) Set At The Beach

I quite enjoyed this short audio book, and I think it really shows the friendship between the Doctor and Ruby, something that could be lacking in the TV series because it was so short.

Susan Twist was also very good as the narrator.

[natalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan Twist was such a great narrator for this, you could really tell when she was being Millie or Ncuti. I wish she did more fantasy audiobooks.

Ruby Sunday is like a fix I have for when I miss Rose.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one - judging by the length of what I think I'm about to write - really got me thinking.

So, firstly, this audiobook is wonderful. The ending perhaps let it down a little for me (hence the 4 stars), but there are so many things to love. Susan Twist's narration is perfect - I love how Scottish she makes Ncuti's Doctor, and the characters all sound so strong and unique, and immediately believable. This is also true in the writing - the characters have real lives and backstory, and they're immersed in one of the coolest concepts ever. A beach, once filled with industry, now abandoned and filled with ghosts? Beautiful. It's so obscure and interesting - it's a shame we don't spend longer here, and the action moves off-world into a more Doctor Who-y space, but the final confrontation with the antagonist is really nicely handled for the characters of the Doctor and Ruby.

But even when the story opens, there is something so strongly and distinctly 'Doctor Who-y' about it. I suppose in a sense it's 'traditional' - we've got a pre-titles, an arrival in the TARDIS, a little exploring, a meeting with a local who explains the ghostly goings on. But... something about seeing 15 and Ruby in that kind of adventure felt, somehow, so special and... new? The writing characterises them really well, but it also makes me believe their friendship in a way that perhaps the series didn't always convince me of. There's something here about the characters that work - their relationship, their dynamic, what they think about, who they are as people.

This is not to say the characters don't work in the series, and that Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson's performances aren't great - but there's something organic missing on TV in seeing the characters' relationship grow. There's a lack of time in the series to allow that to develop - even in seeing them wander about a new place together ('Space Babies' being perhaps the only example where they don't arrive for a purpose, or know where they're going in the first place). There's also, possibly, a lack of 'traditional Doctor Who-y' stories in the series - whatever they are. Maybe it's more a feel or a tone than anything too certain. But all this means that when the characters are written here, they don't lose any of their uniqueness, but it's actually easier to buy into their relationship.

I left this story loving 15 and Ruby more, individually and together, than I had after nine episodes with them. I saw a new potential. I had that moment that all fans have with new Doctors and companions, eventually, where they go 'oh, NOW I love them'. I could understand them, and both my own interest in and issues with this era of the show, in a clearer way than I had before. I could see how that connection for me might grow, how I might invest more in the future in these two, and in Ncuti's Doctor.

So, tldr, I like these characters more *because* of this audiobook. We get a chance to see them in a Doctor Who adventure unlike anything they've really had - yet also, like so many adventures we have had before. And if my experience of this isn't the purpose of expanded media stories, and the joy of listening to all these Doctor Who audiobooks that I get through, then what is?

[John Parungao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe because the actual season of Doctor Who was so short, I appreciate any chance to experience an adventure with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday. For something that is about the length of a television episode, it is creepy and atmospheric and compelling it held my attention.

The most interesting portions of this story were when both The Doctor and Ruby were experiencing moments of losing their identities and themselves and had to talk each other back from the edge of losing themselves. This is an example of the bond between this pair that isn't always on display during the tv episodes.
This may be a short story but it was packed with drama and personal connections. There's even a passing Susan Twist scene which fits in with the ongoing motif of the current tv season which is a nice touch given that Susan Twist is the narrator of this audiobook.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 (rounded up)

This audiobook, narrated beautifully by Susan Twist, perfectly captures the tenor of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby friendship and places the two yappers in a vulnerable (and spooky) place. It plays as an authentic ghostly Doctor Who story, the kind that Season One would have indulged in had it been slightly longer, I think. This unique peril places the Doctor-Ruby relationship in danger as their very identities are eroded, adding far more jeopardy to an otherwise very friendly relationship. There’s great sound design here, helping to create an interesting ‘antagonist’ that can’t be spoiled.

Shoutout to the Depeche Mode reference, too. Top tier.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story, it was very contained in a couple of landscapes which works well for audio and setting the scene. I feel like the ending was a little rushed but maybe this could do with how the story was compressed for the short run time.
The one element that was slightly jarring was the Doctor's accent as read by Susan Twist. It's more believable for this to be Peter Capaldi's Doctor than Ncuti Gatwa's, for me the Scottish lilt was way too strong.

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great little hit of great Doctor Who storytelling and the audiobook really was fantastic. It was well produced, really well narrated and Susan Twist did an amazing job at giving voice to the story and bringing it to life.

I really enjoyed the plot itself and it had a perfect spooky vibe about it. Ghost beach, rifts, forgotten memories: it was nicely captivating and all in all, very easy to listen to.

[Matt Grebeck · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has a lot of cool concepts, but in the end it just felt mostly hollow. The resolution just felt too easy. I went into this wanting more of a ghost story, and this doesn’t really deliver on that. Susan Twist was a great narrator though.

[Phoebe Clothier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan Twist is an amazing narrator, you can really tell when she’s being the Doctor and when she’s being Ruby. I adore these characters and these expanded media stories and really helping fill the void the hiatus has created in my heart.

Fifteenruby, you will always be loved by me.

[Rhys Causon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent adventure but I don’t feel like the writing quite captured the voices of 15 and Ruby, though it could be the narration by Susan Twist that let the dialogue down a little (though I must say, she was good with the prose, it was just characters that felt off).

[Donavon · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting spin on "ghosts"

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightfully creepy! And Susan Twist was a superb choice of narrator - she nailed the voices. I usually prefer audiodramas, but this audiobook was excellent.