[singlepic id=729 w=208 h=208 float=right]One of the most memorable villains of the classic series of Doctor Who makes a welcome return this month courtesy of Big Finish.
Sil, played by actor Nabil Shaban, first appeared in the TV series in January 1985 in a story by well-known writer Philip Martin, Vengeance on Varos. The character, a ruthless money-grabbing envoy from the Galatron Mining Corporation, is on Varos negotiating a deal to buy the planet’s only export, zeiton 7 ore, which the mining company has convinced the authorities is almost worthless. In reality the ore is extremely rare and valuable and Galatron has been paying off corrupt local officials for years in order to buy it for next to nothing. Unfortunately for Sil the Doctor and Peri arrive on Varos in search of the ore, which the Doctor needs to repair the TARDIS, forcing Sil and his cronies to resort to ever more drastic measures to prevent the Time Lord revealing the ore’s true value.
Sil’s first outing proved so popular that he was brought back in October 1986 for the second story of the Trial of a Time Lord season, Mindwarp, again penned by Martin. This time the Doctor and Peri encounter Sil on his home planet of Thoros Beta where Kiv the leader of his race, the Mentors, is dying and in desperate need of a life-saving brain transplant operation from a scientist named Crozier. Into this chaos come the Doctor and Peri who soon become caught between their old adversary Sil, the ruthless scientist Crozier, and rebels led by a very angry Krontep Warrior King called Yrcanos. With one eye on the leader’s throne and another on the warpfold relay what wouldn’t Sil do to finally dispose of the Doctor, seize power and turn a huge profit?
Sadly this was Sil’s final appearance in the classic TV series but the character returned in 2009 for the Big Finish audio adaptation of Mission to Magnus. The Philip Martin script was one of the original stories planned for Season 23 which were abandoned when the production team decided to go with the Trial of a Time Lord concept.
Now in 2014 Sil makes a welcome return in a brand new audio adventure, Antidote to Oblivion, written by the character’s creator Philip Martin.
Sil remains one of the most memorable and much-loved characters in the long history of Doctor Who, largely due to Nabil Shaban’s unique and inspired interpretation of the role, so it’s no surprise that many fans would like to see his character brought back in the new series. Hopefully the success of this audio adventure will bring that reality one step closer.
Written by Mike Nuttall
SYNOPSIS:
Future Britain is bankrupt, its corporate owners facing financial ruin. Fortunately, the Universal Monetary Fund, and its slimy representative Sil, are willing to give its President a multi-billion credit bail-out… but terms and conditions apply, and Sil’s proposed austerity measures go far beyond mere benefit cuts.
Responding to a distress call, the Doctor and his companion Flip land in a London whose pacified population has been driven largely underground. But the horrors down there in the dark are as nothing to the horrors that await them at ConCorp HQ, where a young biochemist in Sil’s employ is working on a permanent solution to the nation’s terminal unprofitability.
Because in the final account, Sil plans to make a killing…
CAST:
Colin Baker (The Doctor), Lisa Greenwood (Flip Jackson), Nabil Shaban (Sil), Dawn Murphy, David Dobson (Pan/Lord Mav), Mary-Ann Cafferkey (Cerise), Scott Joseph (Boscoe/Voda/Knight Marshal), Mandy Weston (Kristal/Mistress Na/Velena)
Written By: Philip Martin
Directed By: Nicholas Briggs