Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Tonight's show: 15 years of Professor Bernice Summerfield

Tonight at 8pm on Resonance 104.4FM in an hour long Clear Spot, Alex Fitch investigates the best science fiction heroine most people have never heard (of) - Professor Bernice Summerfield, Benny to her friends.
Starting off as a Doctor Who companion in the novels published by Virgin books after the original TV series was cancelled in 1989, Benny has since appeared in over a hundred books, over 60 without the Doctor and 40 full cast 'radio' plays released on CD in specialist shops. Alex talks to the actress who plays Benny - Lisa Bowerman - the actor who plays her fictional husband - Stephen Fewell - and outgoing producer of the series, Simon Guerrier. Simon in turn interviews actress Sophie Aldred who appeared alongside Lisa in a few of the dramas and Gareth Roberts (Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Code) who has written Benny adventures. Finally, Sci-Fi critic and writer Graham Sleight interviews the character's creator Paul Cornell plus there's even a preview of Benny's next adventure and a competition as well...

Links: Wikipedia entry on Bernice Summerfield
Read the Doctor Who novels: Human Nature and The Dying Days which feature Benny
Buy Benny books and audio CDs from Big Finish
Simon's blog
Graham's website
Paul's blog

2 comments:

Michele said...

That was a thoroughly fascinating show for me. I've only lately discovered Benny Summerfield, via the eBook of "Human Nature" and then some "Classic Who" novels and Big Finish Short Story collections, so I learnt a lot from this show. Congratulations to everyone involved.

Alex said...

Thanks!