(later '''Professor Bernice Summerfield''' or just '''Benny''') is a of the
Seventh Doctor in
Virgin Publishing 's range of original full-length ''
Doctor Who '' novels, the ''
New Adventures ''. The ''New Adventures'' were fully-licensed novels carrying on from where the ''Doctor Who'' television series had left off, and Summerfield was introduced in Cornell's novel ''Love and War'' in
1992 .
The
Canonicity of the novels and audio dramas, like other ''Doctor Who''
Spin-off media, is unclear.
A
26th Century Archeologist , Summerfield became a hugely popular character amongst fans of the books, and was present right up until their end in
1997 . She officially stopped travelling with the Doctor in ''Happy Endings'' but returned a few times thereafter, including the last Virgin New Adventure, ''
The Dying Days ''. That year, Virgin had lost the licence to publish ''Doctor Who'' fiction, which was not renewed by the BBC. However, range editors
Peter Darvill-Evans and
Rebecca Levene decided to continue the series with Summerfield as the new lead and without the ''Doctor Who'' name, the Doctor or any other
BBC copyright characters featuring.
These Bernice-led ''New Adventures'' continued until
1999 , when the Virgin fiction department closed down. The previous year, however, audio production company
Big Finish Productions begun issuing full-cast, officially licensed professional audio dramas starring the character on CD, and they continued to do so. The character is played in all Big Finish's productions by actress
Lisa Bowerman . After they gained the license to produce ''Doctor Who'' audio dramas in
1999 , Big Finish twice featured Bernice in ''Doctor Who'' stories set during the run of the ''New Adventures'' novels.
As of
2005 , Big Finish are still regularly producing Bernice Summerfield audio dramas and the company has also published various novels and short story collections featuring the character. They have also announced provisional plans to produce a straight-to-video film production based around her.
Bernice also appeared in several comic strips in ''
Doctor Who Magazine '', with Virgin and the magazine co-operating on her visual depiction.
The Doctor first meets Benny in ''Love and War'' - she is a 30 year old archaeologist. She was born in
2540 and is the daughter of
Admiral Isaac Douglas Summerfield - a high ranking Spacefleet officer. Her mother, Claire Summerfield, died when Daleks attacked their homeworld of Beta Carisis, an Earth colony. She has not seen her father for many years and has spent much of her life searching for him.
At times she falsely claims to have a degree from Heidelberg University. She published an archaelogical book called ''Down Among the Dead Men'' in the year
2566 .
''Theatre of War'' features the first encounter between Bernice and
Irving Braxiatel (from her perspective). He later becomes a regular character in the Bernice Summerfield-only New Adventures.
In ''Sanctuary'' Bernice falls in love with Guy de Carnac, a former
Knight Templar . Unfortunately he is killed later in the novel.
In ''Death and Diplomacy'' she meets her future husband
Jason Kane , who she marries in the very next novel, ''Happy Endings''. ''Happy Endings'' is set on the occasion of Bernice's wedding to Jason Kane. Bernice leaves the TARDIS after this novel having been given Time Rings by the Doctor, but she appears in certain subsequent ''Doctor Who'' novels.
In ''Return of the Living Dad'', Bernice finally resolves the mystery of what happened to her father.
Virgin had long considered a non-''Doctor Who'' spin-off series, but plans were moved forwards when they lost the license from the BBC. A number of preparations were made for the transition to Bernice-led New Adventures (see below). As Virgin felt Bernice would make a better lead as a single woman, her marriage to Jason Kane was split up. Thus, she appears again in ''Eternity Weeps'', a novel which describes the breakdown of her marriage and is also focused on her more than the Doctor as a prototype for the Doctor-free novels to come. Likewise, the last New Adventure, ''The Dying Days'', is again focused on Bernice more than the Doctor, with the Doctor absent from a substantial portion of the book. ''The Dying Days'' also features an ambiguous epilogue which can be taken to imply that the Doctor and Bernice have sex.
This same epilogue also has the Doctor indicating that Benny is his longest-serving companion, although exactly how long she travelled with the Doctor has never been firmly established.
- '' Oh No It Isn't! ''
- '' Dragons' Wrath ''
- '' Beyond The Sun ''
- ''Ship of Fools''
- ''Down''
- ''Deadfall''
- ''Ghost Devices''
- ''Mean Streets''
- ''Tempest''
- '' Walking To Babylon ''
- ''Oblivion''
- ''The Medusa Effect''
- ''Dry Pilgrimage''
- ''The Sword of Forever''
- ''Another Girl, Another Planet''
- ''Beige Planet Mars''
- ''Where Angels Fear''
- ''The Mary Sue Extrusion''
- ''Dead Romance'' (''Bernice Summerfield does not appear'')
- ''Tears of the Oracle''
- ''Return to the Fractured Planet''
- ''The Joy Device''
- ''Twilight of the Gods''
Originally published monthly, the New Adventures went bimonthly.
The New Adventures continued with Bernice generally in the leading role. ''Oh No It Isn't'' provides the set-up for subsequent stories, with Bernice becoming Professor of Archaeology at St Oscar's University on the planet Dellah. She has now put her failed marriage to Jason Kane behind her. ''Oh No It Isn't'' also re-introduces the People, a highly advanced alien race from the ''Doctor Who'' New Adventures. In ''Ghost Devices'', we meet Clarence (named after the angel in ''
It's A Wonderful Life ''). Clarence appears in the form of an angel, but is an artificial intelligence from the People who is eventually (in ''Tears of the Oracle'') revealed to be a character from ''The Also People''. In ''Dragons' Wrath'', Bernice meets Irving Braxiatel for the first time (from his perspective). ''Beyond the Sun'' introduces another recurring character,
Emile Mars-Smith . Emile, Clarence and the People appear in a number of subsequent New Adventures, while Braxiatel appears in both further New Adventures and Benny stories from Big Finish.
''Where Angels Fear'' starts the Gods arc, a loose overarching story that finishes in ''Twilight of the Gods''. Along the way, Dellah is destroyed and Bernice is uprooted and loses her memory. ''Twilight of the Gods'' finishes with a new set-up for subsequent stories involving Bernice, Emile and others, but this was not used as Virgin stopped publishing the series.
As well as continuing the New Adventures after losing the ''Doctor Who'' license, Virgin also continued with their ''Decalog'' series. These had been ''Doctor Who'' short story anthologies, but ''Decalog 5: Wonders'' featured a Benny short story (''The Judgement of Solomon'') by
Lawrence Miles along side other shorts not set in the New Adventures continuity.
- ''The Doomsday Manuscript''
- ''The Gods of the Underworld''
- ''The Squire's Crystal''
- ''The Infernal Nexus''
- ''The Glass Prison''
Big Finish licensed the character of Bernice Summerfield from Paul Cornell, Irving Braxiatel from Justin Richards and Jason Kane from Dave Stone, but other elements of the Virgin New Adventures' fictional universe were not obtained. Instead,
Gary Russell ,
Jac Rayner and Cornell developed a new background and character ensemble, introduced in the anthology ''The Dead Men Diaries'' and developed in the initial run of paperbacks.
The most notable development in Big Finish's paperback novels was Bernice's pregnancy and the birth of her son in ''The Glass Prison''.
The paperback novels proved uneconomic and Big Finish stopped publishing them, subsequently re-launching their Benny books in hardback with the anthology ''A Life of Surprises''.
- ''The Big Hunt''
- ''The Tree of Life''
- ''Genius Loci''
- ''A Life in Pieces'' — a collection of three novellas in one book
- ''Parallel Lives'' — a collection of three novellas in one book
- ''The Dead Men Diaries''
- ''A Life of Surprises''
- ''Life During Wartime''
- ''A Life Worth Living''
- ''Something Changed''
The plays deviate from the original novels, in terms of plot and characters, to varying degrees. This is particularly evident with the productions of ''Birthright'' and ''Just War'', both of which were originally Doctor Who novels. These changes were necessary because, at the time of their production,
Big Finish Productions weren't licensed to produce Doctor Who audio plays.
Actor and photographer
Lisa Bowerman was cast in the role of Bernice Summerfield. Bowerman had previously appeared in the Doctor Who story ''
Survival '' (1989). The first series also co-starred
Stephen Fewell as Jason Kane. A variety of actors familiar to Doctor Who fans played guest roles in many of the plays, including
Colin Baker ,
Sophie Aldred ,
Nicholas Courtney ,
Elisabeth Sladen ,
Anneke Wills and
Richard Franklin .
- 2.1 - The Secret of Cassandra
- 2.2 - The Stone's Lament
- 2.3 - The Extinction Event
- 2.4 - The Skymines of Karthos
For the second season of Bernice Summerfield audio plays, Big Finish Productions experimented by developing ongoing character arcs that alternated between two different mediums — the audio plays and novels. Fans who did not collect the novels were initially confused to discover that Benny was pregnant during the final audio play of the season, ''The Skymines of Karthos''. The pregnancy was explained in the novel ''The Squire's Crystal'' by
Jacqueline Rayner .
The run of plays from the second season onwards take part in what has become known as the Collection continuity. A number of regular characters are introduced for the first time, most notably Irving Braxiatel. First referenced in the
1979 ''Doctor Who'' story ''
City Of Death '' (written by
Douglas Adams and Graham Williams), Braxiatel first appeared in person in the New Adventures novel ''Theatre of War''.
- 3.1 - The Greatest Shop in the Galaxy
- 3.2 - The Green-Eyed Monsters
- 3.3 - The Dance of the Dead
- 3.4 - The Mirror Effect
Whereas the previous seasons had focused primarily on the character of Bernice Summerfield, Big Finish used the third season as an opportunity to introduce an
Ensemble feel to the productions. This is most evident in ''The Green-Eyed Monsters'' and ''The Mirror Effect'' where the characters Jason Kane, Adrian Wall and Irving Braxiatel are significantly developed. The latter, in particular, suggests that Braxiatel has a darker, more mysterious past than the audience has previously been led to believe.
The other two plays that comprise the third season focus more specifically on Bernice. ''The Greatest Shop in the Galaxy'' remains the most light-hearted play of the season, while ''The Dance of the Dead'' reintroduces the
Ice Warrior s from ''Doctor Who''.
While not officially part of the third season (at least as far as the numbering is concerned), the Bernice Summerfield audio play ''
The Plague Herds Of Excelis '' (the fourth play in Big Finish's ''Excelis'' series; the first three plays fall under the ''Doctor Who'' umbrella) takes place between ''The Green-Eyed Monsters'' and ''The Dance of the Dead''. Chronologically, the short story anthology ''A Life of Surprises'' also falls within this gap.
- 4.1 - The Bellotron Incident
- 4.2 - The Draconian Rage
- 4.3 - The Poison Seas
- 4.4 - Death and the Daleks
The fourth season was unofficially dubbed the "classic Who monsters" season, with each play featuring an alien adversary that previously appeared in the ''Doctor Who'' television series. ''The Bellotron Incident'' predominantly features the
Rutan Host (their major enemies, the
Sontaran s, are also referred to but don't actually appear), ''The Draconian Rage'' features the
Draconians , ''The Poison Seas'' casts a more sympathetic light on the
Sea Devil s, while ''Death and the Daleks'' (the first double CD release in the series since ''Just War'') sees the first appearance of the
Dalek s within the Bernice Summerfield series. Prior to its release, ''Death and the Daleks'' was entitled ''The Axis of Evil'' to keep the appearance of the Daleks a secret.
Big Finish also published an anthology of short stories, entitled ''Life During Wartime'', that was specially written as a prelude to the ''Death and the Daleks'' audio play.
Paul Cornell , the anthology's editor, described ''Life During Wartime'' as "a novel written by multiple authors". Each of the collection's stories are told in chronological order, detailing events that occur when the Collection is occupied by a powerful alien force. The anthology ends on a cliff-hanger that is resolved in ''Death and the Daleks''.
- 5.1 - The Grel Escape
- 5.2 - The Bone of Contention
- 5.3 - The Relics of Jegg-Sau
- 5.4 - The Masquerade of Death
The previous season's tradition of using classic monsters continues into the fifth season, with the Grel (previously heard in ''Oh No It Isn't!'') returning in ''The Grel Escape'', a knowing pastiche of ''
The Chase ''. ''The Bone of Contention'' features the Galyari, who appeared in the ''Doctor Who'' audio play ''The Sandman'', while the title and plot of ''The Relics of Jegg-Sau'' was inspired by a 1970s ''Doctor Who'' licensed
Jigsaw Puzzle that depicted a scene with giant robots identical to the one that appeared in ''
Robot ''.
''The Masquerade of Death'' brings the fifth season to a close in a suitably dark and surreal fashion.
- 6.1 - The Heart's Desire
- 6.2 - The Kingdom of the Blind
- 6.3 - The Lost Museum
- 6.4 - The Goddess Quandary
- 6.5 - The Crystal of Cantus
- 7.1 - The Tartarus Gate
- 7.2 - Last of the Drop Dead Divas
- ''(further titles to be confirmed)''
Both ''The Shadow of the Scourge'' and ''The Dark Flame'' were part of Big Finish's ongoing ''
Doctor Who '' line. Based in the continuity of the Virgin New Adventures, both feature Lisa Bowerman as Bernice alongside
Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor and
Sophie Aldred as Ace. ''The Plague Herds of Excelis'' was the epilogue to the three part Excelis cycle of ''Doctor Who'' audios, and features
Iris Wildthyme , a recurring character in the ''Doctor Who'' BBC novels and Big Finish audio plays. ''Silver Lining'' was an exclusive audio drama featuring the
Cybermen that came free with ''
Doctor Who Magazine '' issue 351.
''Doctor Who'' Spin-offs
