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The First Doctor Adventures #2.2
Doctor Who: The Demon Song
The Doctor and Dodo explore two contrasting eras on Earth, in stories set in modern-day Camden Town and a post-war seaside town.
2.2aThe Demon Song by Bob Ayres (2 parts) - Managing to land the TARDIS in Dodo’s far flung future, the 2020s, the Doctor detects a haunting melody on the streets of Camden. People are going missing, and one of them is Dodo!
2.2b The Incherton Incident by Nicholas Briggs (4 parts) - Something intercepts the TARDIS in space. Attempting to escape its grip, the Doctor inadvertently drags it through time to coastal England in 1947. As the nation recovers from World War Two, an alien force threatens total destruction.
2.2aThe Demon Song by Bob Ayres (2 parts) - Managing to land the TARDIS in Dodo’s far flung future, the 2020s, the Doctor detects a haunting melody on the streets of Camden. People are going missing, and one of them is Dodo!
2.2b The Incherton Incident by Nicholas Briggs (4 parts) - Something intercepts the TARDIS in space. Attempting to escape its grip, the Doctor inadvertently drags it through time to coastal England in 1947. As the nation recovers from World War Two, an alien force threatens total destruction.
Audio CD
First published February 16, 2023
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About the author
Nicholas Briggs
376 books133 followersNicholas Briggs is a British actor and writer, predominantly associated with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and its various spin-offs. Some of Briggs' earliest Doctor Who-related work was as host of The Myth Makers, a series of made-for-video documentaries produced in the 1980s and 1990s by Reeltime Pictures in which Briggs interviews many of the actors and writers involved in the series. When Reeltime expanded into producing original dramas, Briggs wrote some stories and acted in others, beginning with War Time, the first unofficial Doctor Who spin-off, and Myth Runner, a parody of Blade Runner showcasing bloopers from the Myth Makers series built around a loose storyline featuring Briggs as a down on his luck private detective in the near future.
He wrote and appeared in several made-for-video dramas by BBV, including the third of the Stranger stories, In Memory Alone opposite former Doctor Who stars Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. He also wrote and appeared in a non-Stranger BBV production called The Airzone Solution (1993) and directed a documentary film, Stranger than Fiction (1994).
Briggs has directed many of the Big Finish Productions audio plays, and has provided Dalek, Cybermen, and other alien voices in several of those as well. He has also written and directed the Dalek Empire and Cyberman audio plays for Big Finish. In 2006, Briggs took over from Gary Russell as executive producer of the Big Finish Doctor Who audio range.
Briggs co-wrote a Doctor Who book called The Dalek Survival Guide.
Since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, Briggs has provided the voices for several monsters, most notably the Daleks and the Cybermen. Briggs also voiced the Nestene Consciousness in the 2005 episode "Rose", and recorded a voice for the Jagrafess in the 2005 episode "The Long Game"; however, this was not used in the final episode because it was too similar to the voice of the Nestene Consciousness. He also provided the voices for the Judoon in both the 2007 and 2008 series. On 9 July 2009, Briggs made his first appearance in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood in the serial Children of Earth, playing Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Rick Yates.
He wrote and appeared in several made-for-video dramas by BBV, including the third of the Stranger stories, In Memory Alone opposite former Doctor Who stars Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. He also wrote and appeared in a non-Stranger BBV production called The Airzone Solution (1993) and directed a documentary film, Stranger than Fiction (1994).
Briggs has directed many of the Big Finish Productions audio plays, and has provided Dalek, Cybermen, and other alien voices in several of those as well. He has also written and directed the Dalek Empire and Cyberman audio plays for Big Finish. In 2006, Briggs took over from Gary Russell as executive producer of the Big Finish Doctor Who audio range.
Briggs co-wrote a Doctor Who book called The Dalek Survival Guide.
Since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, Briggs has provided the voices for several monsters, most notably the Daleks and the Cybermen. Briggs also voiced the Nestene Consciousness in the 2005 episode "Rose", and recorded a voice for the Jagrafess in the 2005 episode "The Long Game"; however, this was not used in the final episode because it was too similar to the voice of the Nestene Consciousness. He also provided the voices for the Judoon in both the 2007 and 2008 series. On 9 July 2009, Briggs made his first appearance in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood in the serial Children of Earth, playing Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Rick Yates.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 3, 2025
These two stories couldn't be more different. The first story, The Demon Song, which the whole set gets its name from, is perfect. It's fun hearing 1 and Dodo interact with 2020s Camden. The alien threat is such a great hook, utilising the idea of songs getting stuck in your head. This story is worth getting the set alone. 5 out of 5 stars.
However, the other story, The Incherton Incident, is just so generic and boring. It's plot is certainly not 4 parts worthy, and it feels like we've seen and heard this all this before.The time period of post war Britain is brought to life well it's just not used well and the alien element feels lifeless. 2 out of 5 stars.
However, the other story, The Incherton Incident, is just so generic and boring. It's plot is certainly not 4 parts worthy, and it feels like we've seen and heard this all this before.The time period of post war Britain is brought to life well it's just not used well and the alien element feels lifeless. 2 out of 5 stars.
September 8, 2023
Really getting into this series
October 17, 2025
THE DEMON SONG - 07/10
THE INCHERTON INCIDENT - 07/10
THE INCHERTON INCIDENT - 07/10
May 13, 2023
Having really enjoyed The Outlaws and being terribly impressed by Stephen Noonan's performance as The First Doctor so far, I really wanted to pick up The Demon Song, so the other day I managed to pick up a copy from Big Finish on a massive order and decided to give it a go!
The Demon Song:
People are going missing in Camden and a demon hunter with a podcast is trying to find out what's going on and to save the citizens of London from the clutches of a demon song. The Doctor and Dodo have arrived. Dodo is happily surprised by the modern advancements of the 2020s, but when she too goes missing, The Doctor needs the help of Archana whose boyfriend has also gone missing to get her back.
Bob Ayre's debut story for Big Finish is a brilliant one with some terrific ideas. An almost supernatural gothic horror story with a science-fiction twist. A very engaging two-part adventure with some fantastic characters, atmosphere, and plenty of terror. I wouldn't recommend this one to those who don't like very loud and unexpected sound effects though, but if you don't mind give it a go because it's fantastic! 9/10
The Incherton Incident:
The Tardis being caught by an enemy force, The Doctor is forced to make a rough landing on Earth in the 1940s just after the war, but the ship trying to capture them comes along with it. The entire town of Incherton is wiped out, but the British Government is terribly interested in the crashed spacecraft and will do anything to harness its energy.
Nicholas Briggs has written a fun pseudo-historical for The First Doctor that is very engaging. It's surprisingly a very grounded story for Briggs without any fan service, but rather it sets up what appears to be a story arc for The 1st Doctor and Dodo with a really terrific cliffhanger. 8/10
Overall: 17/20
The Demon Song:
People are going missing in Camden and a demon hunter with a podcast is trying to find out what's going on and to save the citizens of London from the clutches of a demon song. The Doctor and Dodo have arrived. Dodo is happily surprised by the modern advancements of the 2020s, but when she too goes missing, The Doctor needs the help of Archana whose boyfriend has also gone missing to get her back.
Bob Ayre's debut story for Big Finish is a brilliant one with some terrific ideas. An almost supernatural gothic horror story with a science-fiction twist. A very engaging two-part adventure with some fantastic characters, atmosphere, and plenty of terror. I wouldn't recommend this one to those who don't like very loud and unexpected sound effects though, but if you don't mind give it a go because it's fantastic! 9/10
The Incherton Incident:
The Tardis being caught by an enemy force, The Doctor is forced to make a rough landing on Earth in the 1940s just after the war, but the ship trying to capture them comes along with it. The entire town of Incherton is wiped out, but the British Government is terribly interested in the crashed spacecraft and will do anything to harness its energy.
Nicholas Briggs has written a fun pseudo-historical for The First Doctor that is very engaging. It's surprisingly a very grounded story for Briggs without any fan service, but rather it sets up what appears to be a story arc for The 1st Doctor and Dodo with a really terrific cliffhanger. 8/10
Overall: 17/20
January 31, 2025
Two unconnected stories featuring the First Doctor and Dodo. Noonan is less in giggling mode here than he was in the previous volume, effectively capturing Hartnell’s mannerisms without overplaying any particular aspect. As before, however, the fact remains that, good though the acting may be, he sounds nothing like the original. That’s hard to avoid – it’s not as if Hartnell is available – but it doesn’t make it any the less jarring.
The Demon Song – The title story is the shorter of the two, lasting one hour, although it doubtless felt a better title for the collection. It sees the time travellers arrive nearly 60 years in Dodo’s future… or to put it another way, in the present day. The story has some fun with that concept, treating it as the modern series might an episode set in the 2080s, with the exception that we’re obviously familiar with what she’s seeing. However, since it isn’t central to the plot, it’s just a fun piece of background detail given the relatively short run time.
Instead, the story concerns people mysteriously disappearing after hearing a certain tune. The explanation as to what’s going on feels very Who, and there’s some fun with a dramatic paranormal investigator looking into the same issue. Also, there’s obviously an advantage in telling a story about music in an audio format. On the other hand, the details don’t bear too much close examination, and the adventure is inevitably somewhat slight. 3 stars.
The Incherton Incident – The full 4-part story is set in 1947, where the Doctor and Dodo stumble across the British military covering up what's very obviously a crashed spaceship and trying to hide the fact from both the Soviets and the US. The result feels almost like a Third Doctor story, but with the twist that the Doctor is on the outside with the army as much an antagonist as the alien pilot.
The story has a fair amount of action, with gunfights and explosions, much of it courtesy of a ruthless American operative. While the Doctor gets to sneak about and act outraged, Dodo is reduced more to a generic companion role - although, admittedly, that's a fair description of how she was written in the TV show. On the plus side, there are more female characters in the story than one might expect given the setting and the story is engaging; it's obvious who the main villain is, but the actions of the foreign spies keep up some element of suspense. There are some minor plot holes here and there, but these would perhaps be easier to gloss over were it not so difficult to envisage Noonan as the Doctor; two releases in and it still pulls me out of the narrative in a way that Bradley managed not to. (This despite the fact that, as mentioned above, he really does have the mannerisms down pat).
The story ends on a dramatic cliffhanger that implies it's merely the beginning of a longer story arc. 3.5 stars.
The Demon Song – The title story is the shorter of the two, lasting one hour, although it doubtless felt a better title for the collection. It sees the time travellers arrive nearly 60 years in Dodo’s future… or to put it another way, in the present day. The story has some fun with that concept, treating it as the modern series might an episode set in the 2080s, with the exception that we’re obviously familiar with what she’s seeing. However, since it isn’t central to the plot, it’s just a fun piece of background detail given the relatively short run time.
Instead, the story concerns people mysteriously disappearing after hearing a certain tune. The explanation as to what’s going on feels very Who, and there’s some fun with a dramatic paranormal investigator looking into the same issue. Also, there’s obviously an advantage in telling a story about music in an audio format. On the other hand, the details don’t bear too much close examination, and the adventure is inevitably somewhat slight. 3 stars.
The Incherton Incident – The full 4-part story is set in 1947, where the Doctor and Dodo stumble across the British military covering up what's very obviously a crashed spaceship and trying to hide the fact from both the Soviets and the US. The result feels almost like a Third Doctor story, but with the twist that the Doctor is on the outside with the army as much an antagonist as the alien pilot.
The story has a fair amount of action, with gunfights and explosions, much of it courtesy of a ruthless American operative. While the Doctor gets to sneak about and act outraged, Dodo is reduced more to a generic companion role - although, admittedly, that's a fair description of how she was written in the TV show. On the plus side, there are more female characters in the story than one might expect given the setting and the story is engaging; it's obvious who the main villain is, but the actions of the foreign spies keep up some element of suspense. There are some minor plot holes here and there, but these would perhaps be easier to gloss over were it not so difficult to envisage Noonan as the Doctor; two releases in and it still pulls me out of the narrative in a way that Bradley managed not to. (This despite the fact that, as mentioned above, he really does have the mannerisms down pat).
The story ends on a dramatic cliffhanger that implies it's merely the beginning of a longer story arc. 3.5 stars.
January 9, 2024
I think I enjoyed this a bit more than The Outlaws. Stephan Noonan, while still not sounding exactly like Hartnell, does have the mannerisms down. There's even a moment where The Doctor almost says Susan's name instead of Dodo, which harkens back to Hartnell having line memorization problems that would stay in the episodes, but also really works to suggest that The Doctor really misses his granddaughter and has been travelling with companions who might fill the void somewhat.
The titular story, The Demon Song, is actually set in the 2020s. And it feels really strange hearing the First Doctor mention that this is post-pandemic. On the TV show, I got the sense that the pandemic did not happen. However, the Eighth Doctor Stranded box sets had the characters go to a pandemic-less 2020, and by the end of the series, the timeline had been rewritten, and they were dealing with life during the pandemic. So I guess you just have to accept that time streams get rewritten. Anyway, this story involves a song on a flute or a recorder, and I was pleasantly surprised that this did not end with The Doctor saying something like, "Me, playing a recorder? Over my dead body!"
The second story, The Incherton Incident, takes place in 1947 post-WWII England. The interactions between characters exclusive to this really caught my attention from the start. And The Doctor being accused of crimes he has not yet committed really harkens back to Trial of the Time Lord. And I was really surprised by the cliffhanger ending, which really gets me excited for the next box set. Fortunately, I now won't need to wait too long for Fugitive of the Daleks.
The titular story, The Demon Song, is actually set in the 2020s. And it feels really strange hearing the First Doctor mention that this is post-pandemic. On the TV show, I got the sense that the pandemic did not happen. However, the Eighth Doctor Stranded box sets had the characters go to a pandemic-less 2020, and by the end of the series, the timeline had been rewritten, and they were dealing with life during the pandemic. So I guess you just have to accept that time streams get rewritten. Anyway, this story involves a song on a flute or a recorder, and I was pleasantly surprised that this did not end with The Doctor saying something like, "Me, playing a recorder? Over my dead body!"
The second story, The Incherton Incident, takes place in 1947 post-WWII England. The interactions between characters exclusive to this really caught my attention from the start. And The Doctor being accused of crimes he has not yet committed really harkens back to Trial of the Time Lord. And I was really surprised by the cliffhanger ending, which really gets me excited for the next box set. Fortunately, I now won't need to wait too long for Fugitive of the Daleks.
August 16, 2023
The Demon Song - Solid enough adventure. Cornelius' Dodo is fine but Noonan's performance as the First Doctor is really distracting, missing the mark tonally which really pulled me out of this story.
The Incheron Incident - Briggs' script is sometimes trite and its dialogue is far from naturalistic, but Noonan is significantly better here than in the first story while Cornelius is given plenty to do as Dodo. Of the first four adventures from Noonan as the First Doctor, this is by far the most promising.
The Incheron Incident - Briggs' script is sometimes trite and its dialogue is far from naturalistic, but Noonan is significantly better here than in the first story while Cornelius is given plenty to do as Dodo. Of the first four adventures from Noonan as the First Doctor, this is by far the most promising.
March 29, 2023
I loved the early adventures range but I was willing to give this new range a try. I'm not 100% convinced primarily because the sound design and story telling don't suit the era. The creative team say they want to tell stories that couldn't be told on TV but if the style of storytelling and sound design don't evoke the era then what's the point? Also it gives Stephen Noonan and Lauren Cornelius an uphill struggle to win listeners over with their performances. They do a great job even though I think I still prefer Peter Perves' rendition of Hartnell's Doctor.
June 5, 2023
Dodo and the doctor go on two adventures on earth.
Read
November 29, 2023How nuts is it for the first doctor, whose original actor died in 1975, to talk about covid and iPhones?
February 18, 2025
both pretty average stories imo !!
3/5
3/5
March 18, 2025
2.1 'The Demon Song' by Bob Ayres (2 parts): 5*
2.2 'The Incherton Incident' by Nicholas Briggs (4 parts): 5*
2.2 'The Incherton Incident' by Nicholas Briggs (4 parts): 5*
December 30, 2025
Another good story within Doctor Who universe. Both deal with aliens on earth and both stranted on earth. Quite interesting - one of the best.
October 3, 2023
Rating by story…
Demon Song: Really scary and epic! Worst part was that it had to be squished into 2 parts. Deserved the full 4 parts. 4/5 stars
The Incherton Incident: Even scarier and better than the first. Getting back to Doctor Who’s roots doing what this franchise does best: rip off Quatermass. 5/5 stars
I can’t bloody wait for volume 3.
Demon Song: Really scary and epic! Worst part was that it had to be squished into 2 parts. Deserved the full 4 parts. 4/5 stars
The Incherton Incident: Even scarier and better than the first. Getting back to Doctor Who’s roots doing what this franchise does best: rip off Quatermass. 5/5 stars
I can’t bloody wait for volume 3.
February 25, 2024
The Demon Song - I’ve very glad that this was only a 2-part story. The titular tune got pretty annoying pretty quickly. Otherwise it’s a decent story, good performances, but that “ear worm” was just tedious and irritating. This one didn’t really work that well for me (2/5).
The Incherton Incident (4-parts) - An interesting story, that moves pretty quickly, even if it struggles to get moving at first. I wasn’t particularly involved initially (honestly, I’ve not been overly impressed with this second series for the First Doctor Adventures, the previous volumes with David Bradley were quite excellent, and I really enjoyed them) and it took me a bit … to get onboard, but I found myself quite involved with this one as the story progressed. It’s not a great story, but it is interesting. And now I’m finding myself rather liking Stephen Noonan’s first Doctor (3/5).
The Incherton Incident (4-parts) - An interesting story, that moves pretty quickly, even if it struggles to get moving at first. I wasn’t particularly involved initially (honestly, I’ve not been overly impressed with this second series for the First Doctor Adventures, the previous volumes with David Bradley were quite excellent, and I really enjoyed them) and it took me a bit … to get onboard, but I found myself quite involved with this one as the story progressed. It’s not a great story, but it is interesting. And now I’m finding myself rather liking Stephen Noonan’s first Doctor (3/5).
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews