‘1001 NIGHTS’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Nyssa the Storyteller with the Fifth Doctor and the Sultan

Tim Bradley’s CD cover of ‘1001 Nights’ signed by Sarah Sutton and Alexander Siddig

Tim Bradley with Sarah Sutton at ‘celebrate 50 – The Peter Davison Years’ in Chiswick, London, April 2013

Tim Bradley with Alexander Siddig at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham, October 2018

I’ve heard ‘1001 Nights’ more than once now and I absolutely love hearing it! 🙂

This was a real Christmas treat for me as a ‘Doctor Who’ fan back in December 2012! 🙂 It was so lovely to hear Sarah Sutton as Nyssa again along with Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, and I consider this to be a very worthwhile Big Finish audio anthology to listen to.

‘1001 Nights’ is what would be considered a four single-episode stories audio anthology by Big Finish in a similar vein to ‘Circular Time’ and ‘The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories’. I loved those two audio anthologies when I first heard them, and hoped I’d enjoy this one.

And I did enjoy it. 🙂 Mind you, this is a rather different take on the four single-episode stories audio anthology format. Whilst having the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa as the chosen TARDIS duo for this release, ‘1001 Nights’ has an umbrella story arc for the entire anthology.

Essentially, ‘1001 Nights’ has an Arabian Nights setting to it, which is appealing to me. Beforehand, I was aware of Arabian Nights settings through the 1992 ‘Aladdin’ film by Disney as well as to a certain extent ‘The Horse and His Boy’ book with elements based on that.

The anthology is about Nyssa telling stories to an angry Sultan about her adventures in space and time with the Doctor in the TARDIS. She relates these stories to the Sultan to save the Doctor from certain death. This becomes challenging, as he wants to hear more.

The plot featured in ‘1001 Nights’ is something similar to ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’, except better. You have the ‘1001 Nights’ framing narrative throughout the four episodes featuring Nyssa and the Sultan and have mini-tales in the anthology’s first three episodes.

Sarah Sutton and Alexander Siddig in ‘1001 Nights’.

I’ve had my CD cover of ‘1001 Nights’ signed by the lovely Sarah Sutton at the ‘celebrate 50 – The Peter Davison Years’ event in Chiswick, London in April 2013. Beforehand, I saw Sarah at ‘Collectormania Glasgow 2012’ and I got to chat to her about this anthology. 😀

This was following the announcement of its release in August 2012, which was when I saw Sarah at ‘Collectormania Glasgow 2012’. I’ve also had the CD cover signed by Alexander Siddig at the ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ convention in October 2018.

Alexander Siddig plays the Sultan in ‘1001 Nights’, but more on him later. The audio anthology was recorded on the 7th and 8th of August 2012. I saw Sarah before and after this anthology was made. Before was at ‘Stars of Time’ in Weston-super-Mare, July 2012.

After was ‘Collectormania Glasgow 2012’, which happened on Saturday the 25th of August. I told Sarah how much I was looking forward to hearing ‘1001 Nights’ after seeing it advertised on the Big Finish website. I’m sure she was pleased to hear this when I told her.

I told Sarah I enjoyed ‘1001 Nights’ when I asked her to sign my CD cover of the anthology in April 2013. She was very pleased to hear that too. It helps that Sarah Sutton as Nyssa is the centre of attention of this audio anthology. This is especially as she’s the storyteller.

Teddy Kempner, Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Alexander Siddig, Nadim Sawalha and Malcolm Tierney in ‘1001 Nights’.

When I meet Sarah at conventions, she shares how much she enjoys the historical stories more than the futuristic ones. Sarah finds the historical stories ‘visual’ and easy to follow, especially when the tale is set on Earth, whether long ago in the past or in the recent past.

This I appreciate, as I enjoy checking out the earthbound ‘Doctor Who’ stories too, whether they’re in the past or in the present. This includes ‘Black Orchid’, as I enjoyed the story for being set in the 1920s and having a fun feel to it compared to dark and grim tales.

I love the CD cover for ‘1001 Nights’ with Nyssa’s portrait image taken from ‘Arc of Infinity’ adorned in the centre of Arabian temple-like shape. Sarah said the cover was ‘pretty’. I said it was ‘beautiful’. It still is ‘pretty beautiful’ after all these years, as Sarah makes it so.

I’m very pleased that Nyssa is at the centre of attention of the anthology’s CD cover as well as for the entire anthology itself. Sarah Sutton as Nyssa drives the plot forward and it’s good that she doesn’t get overlooked in terms of proving her worth as a companion. 🙂

I enjoyed the opening scene featuring Nyssa and the Fifth Doctor in ‘1001 Nights’. This is presented as a fantasy version of what happened to the Doctor and Nyssa when they arrived in Arabia, as Nyssa relates this story to the Sultan upon the Doctor being captured.

Hearing Nyssa refer to the TARDIS as ‘the Carpet’ and saying “Carpet, unfurl!” as well as “Carpet, hear me! Fly, Carpet! Fly!” was so funny to listen to. I was laughing out loud. Sarah manages to deliver the comedic scenes so well by playing it straight, which is good.

I enjoyed the stories featured in the collection. It’s a good collection, compiled by the anthology’s main writers Emma Beeby and Gordon Rennie. They wrote the overall framing story of ‘1001 Night’ set in Arabia, with two other writers penning two mini-tales in the set.

You may have come across Emma Beeby and Gordon Rennie before, as they wrote ‘The Doomsday Quatrain’, starring Sylvester McCoy. They would later write ‘Tomb Ship’, which also stars Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton. I’ve greatly enjoyed Emma and Gordon’s stories.

The two other writers penning two mini-tales in the set are Jonathan Barnes and Catherine Harvey. Jonathan Barnes wrote the second story called ‘The Interplanetarian’ whilst Catherine Harvey wrote the third story called ‘Smuggling Tales’, which I’ve enjoyed.

The entire anthology goes like this. There’s ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ penned by Emma Beeby and Gordon Rennie, ‘The Interplanetarian’ by Jonathan Barnes, ‘Smuggling Tales’ by Catherine Harvey, and the rest of the ‘1001 Nights’ framing story by Emma and Gordon. 🙂

It’s fascinating how the anthology is put together. You could easily forget it being a four single-episode stories anthology like ‘Circular Time’ and ‘The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories’. It can be treated as a standard four-part story with the Doctor and Nyssa. 🙂

I don’t mind this difference in approach in terms of doing the four single-episode stories audio anthology by Big Finish, as it’s refreshing to check out. It does provide more balance in terms of the narrative and how these mini-stories come together to form a big story arc.

Alexander Siddig in ‘1001 Nights’.

I was very excited to hear that Alexander Siddig (a.k.a. Dr. Julian Bashir from ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’) was going to appear in this ‘Doctor Who’ audio anthology as the villainous Sultan. It was nice to have a ‘Star Trek’ star appear in a ‘Doctor Who’ audio story.

It made my day and it makes for a very nice ‘Doctor Who’/‘Star Trek’ crossover. Of course, Alexander Siddig has done ‘Doctor Who’ audio stories by Big Finish before, since he was in ‘The Wreck of the Titan’ and ‘Legend of the Cybermen’, starring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.

When hearing ‘1001 Nights’, I was pleased to hear Sarah Sutton as Nyssa having scenes with Alexander Siddig as the Sultan, since he’s a such a fine actor when watching and hearing him. I chatted to Sarah about Alexander Siddig at ‘Collectormania Glasgow 2012’.

Sarah isn’t a Trekkie like me, but I’m glad she found Alexander a ‘really nice man’ to work with, which must be true. I found Alexander Siddig a friendly chap to chat to when he signed my ‘1001 Nights’ CD cover at the ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ event in 2018.

Alexander Siddig, Sarah Sutton and Nadim Sawalha in ‘1001 Nights’.

I was also pleased to discover that Nadim Sawalha was in this audio anthology. I’ve come across Nadim Sawalha before, as he starred in ‘The Nativity Story’ film from 2006. Ironically, both he and Alexander Siddig have appeared in ‘The Nativity Story’ film 2006. 🙂

Nadim Sawalha played one of the Wise Men named Melchior in the film and Alexander Siddig played the Angel Gabriel. I watch ‘The Nativity Story’ film every Christmas, you see. Nadim Sawalha is also the father of Julia Sawalha. I’m not joking. That’s truly amazing! 🙂

I’m pleased Nadim Sawalha played the old man in ‘1001 Nights’, who turned out to be the real Sultan instead of Alexander Siddig. Nadaim delivers a tremendous performance as the character he plays, and he shares some nice scenes with Peter Davison as the Doctor.

I like how hints are revealed about who Nadim Sawalha’s character truly is and how it progresses in the overall story. By the time we get to the fourth episode of ‘1001 Nights’, the revelation of what happened to Nadim as the real Sultan is heartbreaking to listen to.

In the first three episodes of ‘1001 Nights’, there are three different stories told by Nyssa when she’s sharing them to the Sultan, who listens intently. It was fascinating to have a variety of stories told by Nyssa in the first three episodes contrasting with the overall story.

In the first story called ‘My Brother’s Keeper’, the Doctor and Nyssa visit a prison on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere. There’s one prisoner who gets tortured repeatedly. What crime has this prisoner committed? And who is the mysterious warden that’s there?

I liked the reference made by Nyssa when she declared she had enough of prisons on Folly. A nice reference to ‘Doing Time’, the third story in ‘The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories’. I found the ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ tale very gripping and horrific to listen to.

This is especially when the Doctor and Nyssa are involved and they’re trying to save the life of one prisoner who seems to be treated badly by the warden. It’s very fascinating how the tale unravels to reveal how the prisoner and the warden characters are connected. 🙂

Malcolm Tierney is superb as the warden in ‘My Brother’s Keeper’. Or is it ‘Warder’ according to the credits on the back of the CD as well as on the Big Finish website. Malcolm Tierney has been in ‘Terror of the Vervoids’ in ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ season. 🙂

The prisoner is played Teddy Kempner, who also played Nazar, the Sultan’s bodyguard in the story. Teddy Kempner has done plenty of ‘Doctor Who’ audio stories by Big Finish over the years, including ‘Iterations of I’ and ‘Castle of Fear’, both of which I’ve enjoyed a lot. 🙂

Kim Ismay and Debbie Leigh-Simmons in ‘1001 Nights’.

The second story of the anthology called ‘The Interplanetarian’ is a period story set in Norwood near London in England in 1892. In the story, Nyssa gets possessed (again!) by an alien, allowing Sarah to deliver a fantastic performance as a crazed-possessed Nyssa.

Sarah has said in the behind-the-scenes interviews as well as to me at conventions that she doesn’t care for nor does she like doing the possession scenes when being Nyssa in ‘Doctor Who’. I don’t mind the possession scenes, though I do find evil Nyssa pretty scary.

It can be argued that Sarah does go over-the-top in her performance as Nyssa when possessed by the alien being called the Interplanetarian. Mind you, it depends on how you look it at, especially when the alien gets to possess somebody else in the form of Mr. Hill.

Nyssa is kept in a house owned by Debbie Leigh-Simmons as Elizabeth Spinnaker. She has her butler, Oliver Coopersmith as Mr. Hill, to keep her company whilst they look after Nyssa before they’re visited by the Doctor who comes to save his friend from the alien. 🙂

I liked the subtle love story going on between Elizabeth Spinnaker and Mr. Hill, especially when they interact with the Doctor and Nyssa, who by this point has been cured. Mr. Hill gets possessed by the alien being too, but thankfully, thanks to a cup of tea, it gets expelled. 🙂

Oliver Coopersmith and Christopher Luscombe in ‘1001 Nights’.

The third story of the anthology called ‘Smuggling Tales’ is set on an alien planet where storytelling is part of the currency of everyday life. The planet is called Fabula. Apparently, there’s a planet dedicated to storytelling and there’s a planet dedicated to joke-telling. 😀

It’s quite an unusual concept to get your head around, especially when the Doctor and Nyssa visit Fabula. I enjoyed listening to this mini-story in the anthology. I wonder whether my storytelling would enable me to buy a meal and drink when ordering at a restaurant. 😀

It gets tense when characters like the Doctor and Nyssa are trying to please their audiences with stories. The Doctor and Nyssa get to be winners when visiting a tavern. This is after they find a dead man in the rain and a joke book fell from of one of his coat pockets.

The guest cast includes Kim Ismay as Lottie, who appears to be an old haggard woman with a stinking pipe before she reveals to be nothing of the sort once the Doctor and Nyssa encounter her late at night. There’s also Debbie Leigh-Simmons as Bessie the bartender.

Christopher Luscombe guest stars as Balladeer, a hopeless storyteller who ends up being Bessie’s accomplice when they try to steal the Doctor for the stories he can tell. And there’s Oliver Coopersmith as Archie. He happens to be a plagiarist within the tavern.

Malcolm Tierney, Sarah Sutton, Alexander Siddig, Nadim Sawalha and Teddy Kempner in ‘1001 Nights’.

Like I said, the fourth episode of ‘1001 Nights’ rounds up the whole Arabian Nights or Scheherazade framing story very nicely. This is where we get to learn that Alexander Siddig as the Sultan happens to be a Shanaki, a being which can steal people’s identities.

He stolen the real Sultan’s identity, as played by Nadim Sawalha, and through Nyssa’s storytelling, he attempts to steal the Doctor’s identity. It’s intriguing how Nyssa’s stories get to provide the Sultan with what he needs to adopt the Time Lord’s identity and be him.

It was mesmerising to hear Alexander Siddig as the fake Sultan be the Doctor once he acquires the real Doctor’s memories and mannerisms. His scenes with Nyssa are equally mesmerising in the anthology’s last episode, especially when they travel in the TARDIS. 😐

It became tense when the Sultan Doctor didn’t seem to be behaving as Nyssa would expect him to. They leave behind a group of people in trouble on an alien world that call for help. The Sultan Doctor ignores them, not understanding why he needed to save them.

Eventually, it becomes too much for the Sultan when he tries to change back but can’t. Nyssa returns the TARDIS back to Arabia where she reunites with the Doctor, who has been helped by the Gantha, aliens who restore his memory and are looking for the Sultan.

I don’t know when the stories in ‘1001 Nights’ take place during the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa’s timelines. I assume they occur between ‘The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories’ and ‘1963: Fanfare For The Common Men’, but I’m speculating that to be the case.

It illustrates how extended and flexible Nyssa’s travels in the TARDIS are compared to how the TV series did things with her character. It makes me long for more stories by Big Finish featuring the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa when they come, and I’m very pleased to hear them.

‘1001 Nights’ was a Christmas gift I enjoyed immensely in 2012, and it was well-worth waiting for. I was captivated by all four episodes. Chatting to Sarah Sutton at conventions about ‘1001 Nights’ as well as her working with Alexander Siddig made it very worthwhile.

I’m very pleased that Sarah enjoys the acting challenges given to her as Nyssa in ‘Doctor Who’ by Big Finish. ‘1001 Nights’ is a good example of showcasing Sarah’s talents as an actress. It’s good that she gets to bounce off people like Peter Davison as the Doctor in this.

The CD extras are as follows. At the end of Disc 1, there’s a suite of incidental music to enjoy, which includes a lovely rendition of Nyssa’s theme music from ‘The Keeper of Traken’ that was a joy and treat for me. 🙂 At the end of Disc 2, there’s a trailer for ‘The Wrong Doctors’, starring Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford. There are also behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews with Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Alexander Siddig. I’m pleased that Alexander mentioned how lovely Sarah is as well as Sarah mentioning her being pleased to be part of ‘Doctor Who’. Peter also hints of something about to happen with ‘Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary, which turned out to be ‘The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot’, no doubt. 😀

If you subscribe to Big Finish for ‘1001 Nights’ via a 6 or 12 download subscription, you’ll get the following extras. There’s a bonus ‘Doctor Who’ audio adventure called ‘Night of the Stormcrow’, starring Tom Baker and Louise Jameson, both as an mp3 and audiobook release. There’s the two-part making-of documentary called ‘The Fourth Doctor Adventures Retrospective’ with behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews. There’s the bonus Short Trip audio adventure called ‘Only Connect’ with the Fourth Doctor, read by John Banks, both as an mp3 and audiobook release. There’s a PDF script and extended extras of ‘1001 Nights’, and there’s a PDF script of ‘Night of the Stormcrow’.

‘1001 Nights’ rating – 9/10