Good Night, Sweet Ladies (audio story)

Good Night, Sweet Ladies was the second full cast audio story in The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield audio anthology released in 2014 by Big Finish Productions.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

Bernice has come to the Moon of Adolin on a desperate mission. Instead, she finds an abandoned labyrinth, two confused survivors, and something ancient that needs her help.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Following Ace's trail to a ruined cathedral, Benny approaches the ruined and uninhabited Moon of Adolin in Renk's ship, which she has to land manually when it begins to be pulled in by something. She crashes and meets Claire and Steven Day, the latter of whom believes that the two women are ghosts and is eager to leave when Benny's ship finishes its auto-repairs.

Benny guesses the passcode for a locked door based on the dust on the keys and goes deeper into the cathedral, of which she has a map on a device which is inexplicably drained of power, with Day whilst Claire stays behind. She comes across Ace's explosives and learns that Day has been here for at least several weeks and met Claire only as Benny was crashing. They encounter and flee from a Dalek which paralyses Day's legs before Claire reopens the door and lets them out, claiming that the Dalek is unable to pass through it. Benny notes that it did not attack her.

Whilst looking around, Benny comes across a familiar doll. She and Day find a hospital where she hears the echoes of Daleks and a tree which falls and blocks their path, forcing them to take the long way around. The Dalek pursues them so Benny brings down the roof and realises that its vision has been impaired the entire time, hence why it has not taken the opportunity to kill them. It threatens them and leads them to the altar before it dies. They go through a hatch in the altar and find themselves in the wreck of a dying Dalek timeship over which the cathedral has been built. Benny sends Day to wait in her ship.

Benny realises that Claire is the voice of the Dalek timeship, that she brought Day here and that she is in the form of her mother, only aged. She comforts Benny as she cries about how she never returned after going back for her doll during a Dalek attack and plays her a message from Ace, asking not to be followed as she is sent to a forbidden world by the timeship. Claire offers to send Benny after Ace with the last vestige of the timeship's power, which Benny knows that she has to accept as Ace is real and her mother is not. She asks Claire to forgive her and leaves.

"Good night, sweet ladies," the Doctor says.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

• Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
• The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
• Ace - Sophie Aldred
• The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
• Claire - Sheila Reid
• Steven - John Finnemore

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

• Cover Art - Tom Webster
• Director - Scott Handcock
• Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
• Music and Sound Design - Steve Foxon
• Producer - James Goss
• Writer - Una McCormack
• Daleks created by Terry Nation

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

• The main religion was a form of ancestor worship. The Adolinese believed that their gods sent them messages through the ghosts of their ancestors.
• Steven Day has never previously encountered or heard of the Daleks.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

• Benny comes to Adolin on the Doctor's orders to find Ace. (AUDIO: The Revolution)
• Benny defeats a password by examining which keys have been used. (AUDIO: Paradise Frost)
• Whilst exploring the cathedral, Benny finds Ace's signature explosive. (TV: Dragonfire, etc.)
• The Dalek uses its gunstick to temporarily paralyse Steven Day's legs. (TV: The Daleks)
• Benny refers to a time machine she once knew, calling it an "old girl". (TV: The Time Warrior onwards)
• Benny tells Claire that she has a son. (PROSE: The Glass Prison)
• Benny recalls her mother's death whilst trying to fetch her doll. (PROSE: Love and War, Set Piece)
• Benny would eventually find Ace on Skaro. (AUDIO: Random Ghosts)

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

• Official Good Night, Sweet Ladies page at bigfinish.com