''Invaders from Mars'' is a

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the ...

audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. This audio drama was later broadcast on BBC 7 in four weekly parts (starting on 29 October 2005) and was later rebroadcast on the same channel once more (beginning on 19 November 2006).

Summary

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

1938, the Eighth Doctor and Charley meet a crooked gangster, a Russian spy, a sinister

fifth column A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz, "fifth columns" are “domestic actors who work to un ...

ist and

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

. Welles's broadcast of '' War of the Worlds'' is just a story, but maybe there really are aliens at loose.

Cast

*The Doctor — Paul McGann *

Charley Pollard Charlotte Elspeth Pollard, or simply Charley, is a fictional character played by India Fisher in a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, many of which were broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra, BBC Radio 7, based on the long-runni ...

—

India Fisher India Fisher (born 1974) is a British actress, narrator and presenter. Her father is the ex- MP Mark Fisher. She is also the stepsister of musician Crispin Hunt and of actress Francesca Hunt, who appears with her in the play ''Other Lives''. S ...

*Mouse/Winkler/Luigi/Heavy — Ian Hallard *Ellis — Mark Benton *

John Houseman John Houseman (born Jacques Haussmann; September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988) was a Romanian-born British-American actor and producer of theatre, film, and television. He became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director ...

/Thug/Streath —

Jonathan Rigby Jonathan Rigby is an English actor and film historian who has written several books. ''Video Watchdog'' magazine described him as occupying "a proud place in the advance guard of film researchers, writers and critics," and in 2020 he was inducted ...

/Professor Stepashin/Halliday — David Benson *Bix Biro/Noriam/Man —

Paul Putner Paul Putner (born March 1966) is an English actor and comedian. Life and career Putner was born in March 1966 in East Grinstead, West Sussex. He studied at LAMDA where he won the Kenneth More prize for comedy acting. His first significant TV ...

*Don Chaney/Actor — Simon Pegg *Glory Bee/Carla/Women — Jessica Stevenson *Cosmo Devine/Hotel Clerk — John Arthur *Reception Guest - Katy Manning *Radio Announcer -

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series ''Doctor Who'', '' Sherlock'', and '' Dracula''. Together with ...

*Thug/Toastmaster - Alistair Lock

Deliberate errors

The second season of Eighth Doctor audios featured a number of deliberate errors: *There were 48 States in the United States in 1938, not 49 as Chaney claims. *The

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

was not established until 1947, almost nine years after the events portrayed here. *Welles fails to recognise a Shakespearean quotation. *Don Chaney claims to own a 1929

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...

previously owned by

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...

, but Lamborghinis did not exist until 1963. The first two "mistakes" in this list were deliberate, intended to be examples of anti-time contamination. The third was also deliberate, but was explained in ''

The Time of the Daleks ''The Time of the Daleks'' is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It is the last serial in the Dalek Empire arc, which began with ''The Genocide Machine'' and ...

''. The last was not deliberate but was later retconned to be another example of anti-time contamination. Another possible example of anti-time contamination is the date. ''The War of the Worlds'' aired on 30 October 1938, yet, when he asks what day it is, the Doctor is told that it is 31 October 1938.

Later Doctor Who appearances

The episode is particularly notable in that 5 of the actors went on to star in the re-booted Doctor Who TV series from 2005, including: *Mark Benton in

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

*Ian Hallard in

Robot of Sherwood "Robot of Sherwood" is the third episode of the eighth series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Paul Murphy, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 6 September 2014. ...

*Simon Pegg in

The Long Game "The Long Game" is the seventh episode of the first series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'' that was first broadcast on 7 May 2005 on BBC One. It was written by executive producer Russell T Davies and directed b ...

*Jessica Stevenson in

The Family of Blood "The Family of Blood" is the ninth episode of the third series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 June 2007. It is the second episode of a two-part story written by Paul Cor ...

(as Jessica Hynes) *Mark Gatiss in a number of roles, including The Lazarus Experiment. This does not include Paul McGann and Katy Manning who had appeared in Doctor Who prior to their appearance in this episode.

External links

Big Finish Productions - ''Invaders from Mars''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Invaders From Mars (Audio Drama) 2002 audio plays Eighth Doctor audio plays Radio plays based on Doctor Who Works based on The War of the Worlds 2005 radio dramas Works by Mark Gatiss Fiction set in 1938