Written by Victor Pemberton (1931-2017), this two-part
adventure is notable for being the first Doctor Who audio
drama ever produced, and was released by Argo (Decca) on
vinyl LP in 1976 (between TV seasons thirteen and fourteen)
and cassette in 1986. Silva Screen Records issued the first
CD version in 1991, followed by BBC releases in 2005 and
2011, and Demon Records' forthcoming remastered edition.
Running at forty-six minutes (the equivalent of two television
episodes), the story starred the current Doctor and companion,
Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen (as Sarah Jane), with
Canadian voice actor Bill Mitchell as the Pescaton leader, Zor.
Overlooked by the parent programme, The Pescatons is worthy
of further interest beyond it's novelty value, due to it's Doctor
Who credentials, and it could even be argued that this release
is a precursor of the later Big Finish dramas.
Pemberton's lost TV story, Fury from the Deep, was itself loosely
based on his own 1966 radio serial, The Slide, which itself
originated as a submission to David Whitaker for the classic
series in 1964. This seven-part play saw an English coastal
community under attack from sentient mud, released from
fissures after an earthquake, and was rejected by Whitaker as
being too similar to Nigel Kneale's work. Indeed, both The Slide
and The Pescatons clearly display their Quatermass roots. The
former play featured the first actor to portray the Master, Roger
Delgado, Maurice Denham, David Spenser, Miriam Margolyes,
and Michael Kilgarriff.
Pemberton also had a minor acting role (as Jules Faure) in The
Moonbase, and went on to story edit The Tomb of the Cybermen
(both 1967). He novelised The Pescatons for the Target book
range in 1991.
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