''Protect and Survive'' is a

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

audio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

based on the long-running British

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''. It was released on CD and download in July 2012, and was first broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

on 17 November 2013 as part of the Doctor Who 50th-anniversary celebrations.

Plot

The Doctor has disappeared, and the TARDIS is out of control. Ace and Hex find themselves marooned on Earth in the 1980s at the height of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

Cast

Seventh Doctor The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-o ...

–

Sylvester McCoy Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (born 20 August 1943), known professionally as Sylvester McCoy, is a Scottish actor. Gaining prominence as a physical comedian, he became best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long ...

Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

–

Sophie Aldred Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress and television presenter. She has worked extensively in children's television as a presenter and voice artist. She played the Seventh Doctor's companion, Ace, in the television series ''D ...

Hex Hex usually refers to: * A curse or supposed real and potentially supernaturally realized malicious wish * Hexadecimal, a base-16 number system often used in computer nomenclature Hex, HEX, or The Hex may also refer to: Magic * Hex sign, a b ...

–

Philip Olivier Philip Lawrence Borg-Olivier (born 4 June 1980) is a British actor, model and stage performer best known for playing the role of Tim "Tinhead" O'Leary in the soap opera ''Brookside''. Career Olivier's first role was in 1995 in the Channel 4 ...

*Albert Marsden – Ian Hogg *Peggy Marsden – Elizabeth Bennett *

Moloch Moloch, Molech, or Molek is a word which appears in the Hebrew Bible several times, primarily in the Book of Leviticus. The Greek Septuagint translates many of these instances as "their king", but maintains the word or name ''Moloch'' in others, ...

Patrick Allen Patrick Allen may refer to: * Patrick Allen (actor) (1927–2006), British actor * Patrick Allen (music educator) (born 1955), English author * Patrick Allen (American football) (1961–2021), American football player * Patrick Allen (bowler) (born ...

(announcer) –

Peter Egan Peter Joseph Egan (born 28 September 1946) is a British actor. He is known for television roles including Hogarth in '' Big Breadwinner Hog'' (1969), the future King George IV in ''Prince Regent'' (1979); smooth neighbour Paul Ryman in the sitco ...

Continuity

*The exterior of the TARDIS was rendered white during the events of ''

The Angel of Scutari ''The Angel of Scutari'' is a Big Finish Productions List of Doctor Who audio plays by Big Finish, audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Plot In the Crimea, ...

''. It remained as such for the previous trilogy of stories, '' Project: Destiny'', ''

A Death in the Family ''A Death in the Family'' is an autobiographical novel by James Agee. It was based on events which occurred to Agee in 1915, when his father went out of town to see his own father, who had suffered a heart attack. During the return trip, Agee's ...

'' and ''

Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge In Internet culture, a lurker is typically a member of an online community who observes, but does not participate by posting or commenting. The exact definition depends on context. Lurkers make up a large proportion of all users in online commu ...

''. *The TARDIS with the black exterior was inexplicably seen in a trilogy of solo Seventh Doctor stories, ''

Robophobia ''Robophobia'' is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who.'' It is a four-part story. Plot The Doctor arrives on a spaceship transporting over a hundred thousand pote ...

'', ''

The Doomsday Quatrain ''Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures'', formerly subtitled as the ''Main Range'', is a series that consists of full-cast radio drama, audio dramas based on the Television in the United Kingdom, British science fiction on television, science fic ...

'' and ''

House of Blue Fire A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...

'', which, for the Doctor, take place between ''Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge'' and ''Protect and Survive''. It is also in ''Project: Nirvana'', which takes place just before ''Protect and Survive''. *Peggy Marsden returns in '' Gods and Monsters''.

Notes

*In the Whovian timeline, this story takes place between '' Project: Nirvana'' and ''

Black and White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

'' *The Doctor is absent for most of the adventure. This was due to

appearing in the feature-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...

'' at the time of ''Protect and Survives recording. *Ian Hogg played Josiah Samuel Smith in the 1989 Seventh Doctor television story, '' Ghost Light''. *Peter Egan recreates the late

's original voice-over for the real-life

Protect and Survive ''Protect and Survive'' was a public information campaign on civil defence. Produced by the British government between 1974 and 1980, it intended to advise the public on how to protect themselves during a nuclear attack. The campaign comprise ...

public information announcements, which form a key part of the plot. *The commander of the Russian missile base is named Petrov. On 26 Sept 1983, Lt Col

Stanislav Petrov Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (; 7 September 1939 – 19 May 2017) was a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who played a key role in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident. On 26 September 1983, three weeks after the So ...

averted a nuclear exchange by reasoning that an apparent American pre-emptive strike was a false alarm.

Critical reception

Doctor Who Magazine ''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the following year. In ...

'' reviewer Matt Michael strongly praised the play, noting that it was "one of the bleakest" made by Big Finish.

References

External links

Big Finish Productions – Protect and Survive
2012 audio plays Seventh Doctor audio plays Fiction set in 1989 Cold War fiction {{DoctorWho-stub