Ahead of the release of Big Finish’s Broken Hearts, Alex Hewitt spoke to writer Lisa McMullin and Eleventh Doctor Chronicles series producer Alfie Shaw about this bonus story which picks up after the dramatic final episode of the previous boxset, All of Time and Space.
Valarie ends up in a difficult situation at the end of Curiosity Shop.
Lisa McMullin: Torn apart are the words you’re reaching for there! Torn apart piece by piece. Not the faintest of apologies at the end. This is where it started, me getting very cross with the Doctor.
I love the [Eleventh Doctor Chronicles] range anyway. I love, love, love the series, and every time I’d listen to one, I’d message Alfie going “OH MY GOD IT’S SO GOOD IT’S THE BEST THING EVER!” And then after I listened to Curiosity Shop I just messaged him saying–
Alfie Shaw: “I HAVE THOUGHTS” in block capitals.
LM: I was fumin’! Fuming. Yeah. I just thought it was absolutely outrageous. Great story! Brilliant drama – but I was ready to take arms against the Doctor on Valarie’s behalf.
So you demanded to write the next one?
LM: I had to, for my own sanity.
Is there a time jump between All of Time and Space and Everywhere and Anywhere that this naturally fits into?
AS: There’s a few time gaps built into the series, just in case. I like the idea that it isn’t like Harry Sullivan where they just have one very long weekend together. Valarie goes through a lot of stuff but I like to imagine that in between the interesting, dramatic adventures that we’re seeing, there are some nice ones. So, there was always a time jump there. And also, our plans had to change for the latter half of the series, which is why there’s the real-world gap. But Broken Hearts now ties it all together quite nicely. And it still doesn’t go directly into the Christmas special. There’s still a post-Broken Hearts, pre-Spirit of the Season gap.
LM: They need to get a sandwich or something.
AS: Yeah – why do they never eat?
LM: That does actually bother me. They never eat, do they? You never see them just having a pot noodle or something. It’s not very interesting, but it does worry me.
AS: It might all happen off-screen! But yeah, it’s not a case of directly tying up the chronology. It needed that extra moment that we were all very keen to make happen. And luckily, we were allowed!
Could you sum up Broken Hearts in a nutshell?
LM: Justice for Valarie! Her kicking back and saying, “screw you, this isn’t right. You can’t just treat people like sonic screwdrivers and psychic paper.” The companion is more than just an addendum, more than just something for the Doctor to use in their ongoing bid to save the universe. The idea that the Doctor can just say, “sorry! But it’s alright, we stopped a big war,” is not enough. Their relationship is broken, and how do you even begin to put that back together? It gets worse before it gets better.
Does Valarie want reconciliation or revenge?
LM: She wants out, really. And away, and time and space – badum-tish. This person that she thought she’d got to know very well, she realises that she didn’t really know them at all.
And there’s a statue of Paul McGann!
LM: The statue is there. The Eighth Doctor is not there, but there is a statue to him which prompts questions and conversation.
AS: In Curiosity Shop, the Doctor goes through all the Doctors, but Valarie doesn’t actually know about all the other Doctors, it’s just the Doctor being different people. So we actually address that.
LM: Because Valarie doesn’t know about regeneration or any of that stuff!
AS: This is an Eleven who thinks he’s it, he’s the last one. So that conversation’s not really come up, so it touches upon the Doctor’s past, hence the statue of Eight, and it ties into regeneration and Valarie learning more about that side of the Doctor.
What was your initial pitch for this episode, Lisa?
LM: I think the text I sent you was, “are you telling me that the Doctor paid a woman for her body and then used the component parts to build a weapon?” and that’s when I lost my mind.
AS: Yeah, when you put it like that, it was a bit of a… I’m going to sit in the doghouse on that one.
LM: So if we hadn’t been allowed to do this episode I would have just been writing it in a corner and probably posting it across the internet.
Obviously you’ve said there’s no Paul McGann in this – is it a two-hander?
AS: Jacob [Dudman] and Safiyya [Ingar] are the only actors, but they both play two roles.
LM: There’s another story that runs alongside and joins up. The other characters are robots. They’re little rescue and recovery bots. They have their own little story that then ties in. They’re adorable.
This had to stand alone. Because people had bought the boxsets, you had to be able to do without it, because otherwise it feels like you’re coercing people into buying something else. So, it can’t be a piece of the puzzle that is integral to the arc of the entire series. It had to stand alone and apart from itself. It’s there if you want more Valarie and the Eleventh Doctor – and who doesn’t!
AS: If you don’t get it, it was very sad, the Doctor apologised, cut to Christmas, and it’s all good.
Just like the TV show!
AS: Yeah, it was a bit TV show-y. Which is why it was quite nice that we got the opportunity to go and do what Big Finish has done with other Doctor-companion relationships with things that got skipped over, but this time do it with our own range while it’s still happening. This is sort of the ‘reunion special’, like the new series of Frasier, or the Friends reunion. This is the Eleventh Doctor Chronicles reunion, but we’ve got it out ahead of time!
We’ve added a line to one of the other volumes that calls back to it, but that was to a plot point that already existed, so if you don’t get it then it’ll just be like referencing a missing adventure. Jake and Saf loved it as well, and Helen [Goldwyn, director] and everyone else was really enthused by it.
LM: If you love Valarie and you need her to get some justice…
AS: It’s just a really lovely character piece fixing the relationship.
LM: It’s therapy for me more than anything!
The response to the first two boxsets in this run of Eleventh Doctor Chronicles has been overwhelmingly positive. Has this been reassuring going into the second half of the series?
AS: One of the bits of feedback we got on the first two sets was that a load of people online hated that the Doctor always called the TARDIS ‘sexy’. So, we have a little moment where the Doctor is called out on that, and it doesn’t appear in Volumes 5 and 6. But we do address it.
LM: It ties in really nicely with the way Valarie is feeling about the whole thing.
So would this be considered the Doctor working on himself, trying to self-improve?
LM: It’s almost Valarie grabbing him by the scruff and going, “you need to sort yourself out, mate”.
Lisa, was it important as a female writer that these things were addressed – and not by a man?
LM: That sort of furious feminism fuels a lot of the stuff that I write anyway. There was a definite element of that in there.
Can you sum up a brief tease of Broken Hearts?
AS: It’s a poignant repairing of friendships.
LM: The title says it all, really.
AS: Even though it’s got the bleakest title, the least amount of trauma happens to Valarie in the whole thing. It’s probably the most heart-warming out of the whole run.
LM: It’s a story of healing.
Many thanks to Lisa and Alfie for speaking to us. Broken Hearts is due out on the 28th November, and can be pre-ordered now from bigfinish.com.
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