Audio Visuals (fan work)

The Audio Visuals were an unlicensed series of fan Doctor Who audio dramas produced in Britain during 1980s and the early 1990s. Many of the personnel involved would go on to professional work connected with the revived version of Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Big Finish Productions. Twenty-nine audio plays in all were recorded and distributed on cassette between 1984 and 1991.
== History ==
The pilot episode, "The Space Wail", featuring the Doctor as voiced by Stephen Payne, was recorded in 1984. The first full seasons (1985-1988) were produced by Bill Baggs and starred Nicholas Briggs as his own version of the Doctor. The fourth and final season (1989-1991) was produced by Gary Russell. Briggs and Russell would have healthy careers ahead of them in the worlds of Doctor Who and, in the case of Russell, Torchwood as well, both before and after Russell T Davies' revival of the series.
Although the Audio Visuals productions were in violation of copyright, the BBC chose to look the other way. Gary Russell later told an interviewer
: We were fans doing some stuff for a handful of people. We never advertised in professional magazines, we kept ourselves to ourselves. In doing so, we broke every copyright rule in the book (hell, Terry Nation would have crucified us — although I think our Dalek stories knocked spots off Saward's!) JNT was certainly aware of us, but he didn't care. Why should he? We were no more than any other fan product and at least we weren't printing articles about him or the show. I doubt Saward knew or cared. He wouldn't know drama if it bit him.
: Gary Russellhttp://justyce.org/gary-russell-interview.html
Professional actors Nabil Shaban (Sil) and Michael Wisher (the first actor to play Davros, as well as the voice of the Daleks in several stories) lent a hand.
Many of those involved in the Audio Visuals went on to work on BBV Productions (founded by Bill Baggs) or Big Finish Productions, which in 1999 began producing licensed Doctor Who audio drama under the guidance of Gary Russell. During the fourth season's production, Nigel Fairs began developing his original sci-fi series Pisces, which had several Audio Visuals regulars in it and shared continuity with the fan series. Nicholas Briggs has worked for both BBV and Big Finish as an actor and as a writer. He also worked on additional Doctor Who-related/inspired productions for Reeltime Pictures and beginning in 2005, has done vocal work as Daleks and other roles for the new Doctor Who series.
== List of Audio Visuals stories ==
Season	Title 	Writer 	Released 	Notes
0 	The Space Wail 	Gary Russell 	December 1984	Pilot episode. BABE later appears in Deadfall.
1 	The Time Ravagers 	Nicholas Briggs 	1985 	Introduction of Nicholas Briggs Doctor. Features Briggs as the Daleks. Temperon is mentioned in Food for Thought and features in The Sirens of Time.
1 	Connection 13 	Stuart Palmer 	1985 	Rigellons later mentioned in Legacy.
1 	Conglomerate 	Nicholas Briggs 	1985 	Introduces Conglomerate and Drudgers. Adapted for BBV's The Stranger series as In Memory Alone.
1 	Cloud of Fear 	Alan W. Lear 	1985 	Introduces Psionovores, later mentioned in Placebo Effect and seen in Minuet in Hell.
1 	Shadow World 	Richard Marson, Deborah Marson 	1985 	Introduces Renegade Time Lord Askran and the drug Sargol, later mentioned in Deadfall.
2 	Maenad 	Gary Russell 	1986 	Introduces Ria. Doctor is exposed to Sargol. Calfadoria mentioned again in The Sirens of Time, Legacy, and Deadfall. Cal-Med One mentioned in Legacy and Death in Blackpool. Cal 2 Medical Research Facility and Ayn Kranton seen in Deadfall. Tri-Planet Alliance of Calfadoria mentioned in Business Unusual and Instruments of Darkness.
2 	The Mutant Phase 	Nicholas Briggs 	1986 	Daleks return. Adapted as The Mutant Phase.
2 	The Destructor Contract 	Nicholas Briggs 	1986 	Introduces Cuthbert and reuses Temperon. Kurgon system reappears in The Sirens of Time. Loosely adapted as The Sands of Life / War Against the Laan, with the Temperon replaced by the Laan.
2 	Vilgreth 	Nicholas Briggs 	1986 	Adapted as Last of the Titans
2 	The Trilexia Threat 	Nicholas Briggs & John Ainsworth	1986 	Trilexia return in Adorable Illusion
2 	Minuet in Hell 	Alan W. Lear 	1986 	Loosely adapted as Minuet in Hell. Gosolus and the Gosolan conflict are mentioned in The Infinity Doctors
2 	Blood Circuit 	Jim Mortimore 	1986 	Llandros mentioned in Deadfall. The version of Tersurus established here is mentioned in A Life of Matter and Death.
3 	Second Solution 	Jim Mortimore 	1986 	Initiates "Justyce" story arc. The Doctor's rubber duck from this story reappears in Lungbarrow.
3 	The Secret of Nematoda 	Nicholas Briggs 	N/A 	Truman Crouch introduced. Nematodian Border mentioned in Legacy. Posedor mentioned in Deadfall.
3 	Enclave Irrelative 	Alan W. Lear 	N/A 	Cuthbert returns. Frijor III mentioned in Deadfall.
3 	More than a Messiah 	Nigel Fairs 	N/A 	Adapted for The Stranger as movie of same name. Majus Seventeen later mentioned in The Scales of Injustice.
3 	Sword of Orion 	Nicholas Briggs 	N/A 	Orion War and Orion androids mentioned in Legacy and Deadfall. Adapted as Sword of Orion, leading to further Big Finish use of Orion War, Androids, and Garazone.
3 	Carny 	Jim Mortimore 	N/A 	Doctor succumbs to Sargol withdrawl.
3 	Planet of Lies 	Alan W. Lear 	N/A 	Depicts the destruction of Gallifrey by Daleks, alluded to in The Infinity Doctorss introduction of Last Contact. This ended up being a plot point within licensed Doctor Who, although in a very different context, in the Last Great Time War.
4 	Deadfall 	Gary Russell 	N/A 	Garazone returns and Ardethe is explored. Adapted into Deadfall.
4 	Requiem 	Andy Lane 	N/A 	Conglomerate returns. Gregori Glasst and Proot are referenced in Invasion of the Cat-People and Deadfall; Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe also names Glasst. Deadfall further mentions the Requiem Suite.
4 	Cuddlesome 	Nigel Fairs 	N/A 	Askran dies. Adapted as Cuddlesome.
4 	Endurance 	Nicholas Briggs 	N/A 	Lord Barset's Antarctic expedition referenced in The Scales of Injustice and City of Devils. Lord Barset's grandson attempts to find the Silurians' Antarctic city in Frozen Time by Nicholas Briggs, who wrote the original story under a pseudonym.
4 	Mythos 	Jim Mortimore 	N/A 	
4 	Truman's Excellent Adventure	Gary Russell 	N/A 	References secrets of cats from Russell's The Legacy of Gallifrey. A version of Smokey reappears in Deadfall.
4 	Subterfuge 	Nicholas Briggs 	N/A 	Cuthbert, Conglomerate, Drudgers, and Posedor return. Throxill, Congress of Galactic Ecologists, Future Hope, and Ellinsford are mentioned in Deadfall. Griffelian V and Griffelians mentioned in City of Devils. Loosely adapted as The Pursuit of History / Casualties of Time.
4 	Geopath 	Stephen Bowkett 	N/A 	
4 	Justyce 	Nicholas Briggs 	N/A 	Solaados, Solaadons, Lucinda Vrana, AMS Horatio, and AMS Sithnar are mentioned in Deadfall. Solaadons also mentioned in Prelude Legacy. Cyber-Hunt directly follows from the ending of this story.
=== Season 5 ===
Some further stories were planned but never actually produced.
* Spawn of the BeastNick Briggs interview
* Boom CityGary Russell interview
* Legacy
* Icehttp://www.justyce.org/gary-russell-28-march-2000.html
* Untitled story by Nigel FairsNigel Fairs interview
== Relationship to mainstream Doctor Who universe ==
=== Continuity references ===
The series' version of the Doctor and his companion Ria appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine comic story Party Animals, also written by Gary Russell, with the Audio Visuals Doctor depicted as a future incarnation of the Seventh Doctor. He reappeared for one panel in The Incomplete Death's Head (set in part during the events of Party Animals). The multi-part Eighth Doctor story Wormwood saw Shayde, posing as the Doctor, faking a regeneration into a fictitious Ninth Doctor who was identical to the Audio Visuals Doctor. Nicholas Briggs himself would go on to portray alternative versions of the Doctor on two occasions, although neither of them were otherwise depicted as overly similar to the Audio Visuals incarnation, unlike the character's appearances in the aforementioned comics.
Separately from this, BBV Productions' Cyber-Hunt, an audio play in the Audio Adventures in Time & Space range which did not feature licensed DWU concepts, and also notable for introducing the Cyberons, introduced an amnesiac character going by "Fred" or "the Wanderer", played by Nicholas Briggs. As freely discussed by Briggs in interviews,Interview of Nicholas Briggs and Gary Russell on Justyce.org in 2000 Fred was intended to come across as an amnesiac version of his Audio Visuals Doctor, with the amnesia device allowing the story to continue in a professional context without impinging on the BBC's copyright. Fred reappeared in a second audio, Vital Signs, without the Cyberons. Many years later, BBV Productions published Cyber-Hunt, a novelisation of the original audio play which also featured further legal ties to the DWU. The novel reified the effective "decanonisation" of the Audio Visuals by later licensed media into an in-universe rewriting history, revealing that Fred had formally sacrificed his former identity, allowing another version of him to replace him, as a way of removing the destruction of his homeworld from history.
As noted in this page's story notes, minor continuity references to the Audio Visuals have since appeared in many official Doctor Who stories, particularly in the early work of Gary Russell and various Big Finish Productions releases. Jim Mortimore's The Natural History of Fear used a version of the Doctor Who theme which Mortimore had composed for the Audio Visuals. Cavan Scott, a fan of the Audio Visuals, originally intended to feature the recurring villain Askran in Project: Twilight in the role which was later filled by Nimrod; Scott has since included several small nods to the Audio Visuals in his work.Project Valhalla afterword The recurring Audio Visuals villain Cuthbert and his Conglomerate served as arc antagonists for series 2 and 5 of Big Finish's Fourth Doctor Adventures.
=== Remakes ===
A number of remakes to Audio Visuals stories (some very loosely adapted) have been produced mainly in the form of another audio story created by Big Finish Productions.
==== Novels ====
Series 	Title 	Author
Virgin New Adventures	Deadfall	Gary Russell
==== Audio ====
Series 	Title 	Writer 	Notes
Main Range 	The Mutant Phase 	Nicholas Briggs 	
Main Range 	Last of the Titans 	Nicholas Briggs 	A close remake of the Audio Visuals' story Vilgreth.
Main Range 	Sword of Orion 	Nicholas Briggs 	
Main Range 	Minuet in Hell 	Alan W. Lear, Gary Russell	
The Fifth Doctor Adventures 	Cuddlesome 	Nigel Fairs 	
The Fourth Doctor Adventures	The Sands of Life / War Against the Laan 	Nicholas Briggs 	A loose adaptation of the Audio Visuals' story The Destructor Contract.
The Fourth Doctor Adventures	The Pursuit of History / Casualties of War	Nicholas Briggs 	A loose adaptation of the Audio Visuals' story Subterfuge, and a sequel to the two-part story The Dalek Contract and The Final Phase, both of which also use many Audio Visuals concepts.
==== Video ====
===== BBV Productions =====
Series 	Title 	Notes
The Stranger	More Than a Messiah	
The Stranger	In Memory Alone 	Based loosely on the Audio Visuals' story Conglomerate.
===Sequels===
Sequels were made which were to carry on the continuity of the Audio Visuals, each in unique ways. These were stories typically designed to bridge the gap between the Audio Visuals and the continually shifting timeline of Doctor Who proper.
Series 	Title 	Author 	Notes
Virgin New Adventures	Legacy 	Gary Russell 	Based on an unproduced season 5 Audio Visuals script. Also accompanied with a prelude including many more references to AV continuity.
Pisces 	Deja Vu 	Nigel Fairs 	A series billed as being in the same continuity, later adapted into stories under BBV's The Time Travellers banner.
Pisces 	Blood Sports 	Nigel Fairs 	A series billed as being in the same continuity, later adapted into stories under BBV's The Time Travellers banner.
Pisces 	The Huntress 	Nigel Fairs 	A series billed as being in the same continuity, later adapted into stories under BBV's The Time Travellers banner.
Pisces 	Guests for the Night	Nigel Fairs 	A series billed as being in the same continuity, later adapted into stories under BBV's The Time Travellers banner.
Pisces 	Lyr 	Nigel Fairs 	A series billed as being in the same continuity, later adapted into stories under BBV's The Time Travellers banner.
The Wanderer 	Cyber-Hunt 	Nicholas Briggs	A series of continuing adventures starring "Fred."
The Wanderer 	Vital Signs 	Tim Saward 	A series of continuing adventures starring "Fred."
Main Range 	Frozen Time 	Nicholas Briggs	A sequel to Audio Visuals' story Endurance.
== External links ==
* Justyce: A fan site for the Audio Visuals, with interviews and an episode guide.
* Files released by writer Jim Mortimore
== Footnotes ==
Category:Fan works
Category:Real world series with DWU connections