Welcome to ‘The Matter of Reality’ of the ‘Zorbius’ series by Tim Bradley!

The third story of this supposed 50th anniversary series of ‘Doctor Who’ stories by me was originally meant to be a ‘Companion Chronicle’ adventure featuring Jo Grant. The story was to have Jo meeting Salvador, a villain that I created for in ‘The Salvador Trilogy’ of ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series.

I wrote ‘The Matter of Reality’ in March 2013. I wanted to include everything that felt reassuringly familiar about the Third Doctor era including Bessie, U.N.I.T., the Brigadier, Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton as well as Jo and the Doctor themselves. It was great fun writing this adventure for this era. 🙂

I watched plenty of U.N.I.T. stories from the Jon Pertwee era to get a feel for what I wanted in terms of setting the story in an earthbound atmosphere as well as getting the relationships between the characters. The Third Doctor and Jo’s relationship was something I especially wanted to write for here.

I have written for Jo Grant’s character before when she was in ‘The Robots of Lonmar’ with Nyssa, Billy, Victoria and Ace and when she was Jo Jones in ‘City of Monsters’ with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy. Writing for Jo’s character in this tale was easy to write for with Katy Manning’s voice in mind.

It was also great fun to write the Third Doctor, the Brigadier, Mike Yates and Benton for the first time. I wish I could’ve met Nicholas Courtney at conventions as it wasn’t long that he passed away by the time I attended conventions. Around March 2013, I met Richard Franklin at a convention in Tunbridge Wells.

In many ways, ‘The Matter of Reality’ is a prequel/sequel to ‘The Salvador Trilogy’ which includes ‘The Austen Code’, ‘Junglos 4198’ and ‘Chieftain Caves’. I re-read ‘The Salvador Trilogy’ again in order to recall what Salvador’s character was like and what his relationship with the Doctor was for this tale. 🙂

With Salvador included in this story of the ‘Zorbius’ series, it was relatively easy to find out what part he played in the Zorbius crystal’s making. It was also an opportunity to include another character from the Third Doctor era for this story. I’m sure you know who it is, but I’ll let you read the tale to find out.

I enjoyed writing ‘The Matter of Reality’. My Mum enjoyed the story when she read it and I’m sure you will too. I hope this adventure will evoke fond memories and nostalgia from the Third Doctor era. It’ll be nice to write for the Third Doctor and Jo again, whether it’s another U.N.I.T. story or not. 😀

TIM BRADLEY, March 2020