Punchline (audio story)

Punchline was the second audio in Season 3 of BBV Productions' Audio Adventures in Time & Space anthology series, as well as the tenth and final release of the The Time Travellers subseries (notwithstanding the later release of a novelisation of the first entry in the series).
It starred Sylvester McCoy as the Dominie, an analogue of the Seventh Doctor, but was the only episode not to feature his Ace-esque companion Alice as previously played by Sophie Aldred. For this reason, the plural Time Travellers branding was abandoned, with the cover merely bearing the name of The Dominie.
In addition to its placement in the Time Travellers series, the play was also of interest as the first contribution by Rob Shearman (writing under the pseudonym of "Jeremy Leadbetter") to the Doctor Who universe. Shearman would go on to write multiple mainline Doctor Who audio plays for Big Finish Productions as well as the pivotal Series 1 episode of televised Who, Dalek.
== Publisher's summary ==
A perfect house...
A perfect son...
A perfect wife...
Wife?
When your life is a 70s sit-com and every episode ends happily, why on Earth would you want to change?
In Suburbton, no one can hear you scream...
== Plot ==
to be written
== Cast ==
* The Dominie / Dominic - Sylvester McCoy
* June - Susan Travers
* Sir - Barry J. Gordon
* Kevin - Neil Bull
== Crew ==
* Writer - Jeremy Leadbetter
* Director - Paul Ebbs
* Post-Production and Music - Steve Johnson
== Worldbuilding ==
* "Suburbton" is a pun on Surbiton, a suburban part of Greater London bordering on Surrey.
* The pseudonym "Jeremy Leadbetter" is taken from the name of a supporting character in The Good Life, a 1970s BBC sitcom. Set in Surbiton, the show follows a man who suffers a mid-life crisis and quits his office job to start a self-sufficient suburban farm with his wife. Punchline can be seen as partly being a pastiche of The Good Life.
== Notes ==
* This story was one of multiple The Time Travellers stories to receive a new alternative cover on the renewed BBV Productions website in 2021.
* The exact nature of June Perkins and the illusory world are never clarified. Its rules, themes, and eventual dissolving into a white void evoke The Mind Robber, suggesting the story may be set in the Land of Fiction, perhaps with June being the Master Brain or the Master of the Land. Similarly vague looping worlds in voids would feature is Shearman's later stories The Holy Terror and The Death of Me, with more exposited variations on the concept appearing in The Chimes of Midnight and Scherzo.
* The idea of putting the Dominie in a game show was given to Shearman by Paul Ebbs. Shearman changed this to a sitcom, as he was a fan of 1970s sitcoms, and he wrote it in one day. The play itself was also performed in one day, with the scenes performed in the order they were written.Downtime: The Lost Years of Doctor Who Chapter 24 (Dylan Rees)
* At the time, McCoy said "I think it's the best Doctor Who script I've ever done". This was put on the ads and the CD case but altered to "script (of this genre)".Downtime: The Lost Years of Doctor Who Chapter 24 (Dylan Rees)
* Punchline was mentioned in 2023 within DWM 592, in a Memory Worm instalment featuring an interview with Robert Shearman, touching upon it as his first Doctor Who-related credit, as part of the unauthorised The Time Travellers audio series.
== Continuity ==
to be written
== Footnotes ==
== External links ==
Category:1999 audio stories
Category:BBV audio stories
Category:The Time Travellers audio stories