Welcome to ‘Swing Time’ in ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series of ‘Doctor Who’. This is the second story in the final season of Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy adventures by me. I originally wrote this four-part story from March to April 2014. It’s astonishing how time has flown by.
In my original plan for ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series, I was going to write a different story after ‘Neptune Connect’. It was going to be a political thriller with its working title of ‘Rebellion’, and it was going to have the Slitheen in it. Sadly, the story didn’t work for me. 😦
So, instead, I decided to go for a fun romp of an adventure, especially with the foreknowledge that ‘The Blood of Honos’ and ‘Orionis’ were going to be dark and grim adventures. It was better to have something cheerful for the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy.
The question was, what kind of fun romp of an adventure should this be? I looked back on my previous ‘Doctor Who’ stories and thought about ‘The Austen Code’, which had the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy meeting Jane Austen – one of my Mum’s favourite authors. 🙂
So, I decided, why not do a story about my TARDIS team meeting one of my Dad’s favourite heroes. I did think about Glenn Miller, who is one of my Dad’s favourite big band orchestra leaders. I thought of a story about Glenn Miller being in the future from the past.
But again, it wasn’t quite working for me. So, instead, I went for Judy Garland, who is one of my Dad’s favourite stars in the musical films of the 1930s and 1940s. Judy Garland did more than just ‘The Wizard of Oz’. She starred in many musical films with Mickey Rooney.
This includes ‘Babes in Arms’, ‘Strike Up the Band’, ‘Babes on Broadway’ and ‘Girl Crazy’. Since this was a musical romp of an adventure, I thought, why not have Mickey Rooney appear in my ‘Doctor Who’ story too. It was nice to revisit their films to help me write this story.
The story’s title is from the 1936 film ‘Swing Time’, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. I couldn’t think of any other better title to call this ‘Doctor Who’ story. 😀 As Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney are in this story, why not have Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in it too?
The idea of setting this story on a cruise ship was irresistible. It allowed many opportunities for comedic and adventurous moments. Like ‘The Romans’, I decided to have most of the comedy in ‘Part Three’, especially when our heroes end up on an island.
Speaking of our heroes, it was nice to write for the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy again and have them interact with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. Billy, who is a fan of musical films of the 1930s and 1940s, is an immediate fan of Judy Garland’s once he meets her. 🙂
Billy’s interactions with Judy Garland as a fan comes from my interactions with Sarah Sutton, who plays Nyssa in ‘Doctor Who’. I’m a huge fan of her ‘Doctor Who’ and non-‘Doctor Who’ work. So, it was nice to reflect my interactions with Sarah in Billy’s interaction with Judy.
To add peril in ‘Swing Time’, I decided to have our villains be evil duplicates of the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy. Essentially, they’re doppelgängers with American accents. This echoes ‘double trouble’ stories like ‘The Enemy of the World’, ‘Meglos’ and ‘Black Orchid’.
Pugsley is the Doctor’s doppelgänger, Snowy is Nyssa’s doppelgänger and Buster is Billy’s doppelgänger. I enjoyed writing Pugsley, Snowy and Buster as evil doubles of the Doctor, Nyssa and Billy. I’m sure Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton would’ve enjoyed these roles too. 😀
Of course, with this being a musical ‘Doctor Who’ adventure, I had to include songs from various films, including ones performed by Judy Garland, such as from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ with songs like ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. Hopefully, the songs help in servicing the story itself. 🙂
Whilst ‘Swing Time’ is considered a fun adventure, there’s a moment for Billy Walker at the story’s end where he’s told of something terrible about to happen to him. This will shock Billy to the core, especially when he’s on his honeymoon with Nyssa in this adventure.
I hope you’ll enjoy ‘Swing Time’ and find it a fascinating musical romp of a ‘Doctor Who’ adventure featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy meeting Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. I had fun writing it back in 2014 and I’m very pleased I wrote it for my Dad back then.
TIM BRADLEY, September 2025
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