Bernice Summerfield
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Template:Doctorwhocharacter Bernice Surprise Summerfield is a fictional character originally created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion 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.
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2.1 Doctor Who - The New Adventures |
Bernice Summerfield history
A 25th 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 taken back by BBC Books. However, range editors Peter Darvill-Evans and Rebecca Levene decided to continue the series, without the Doctor Who name or the Doctor and any other BBC copyright characters featuring, with Summerfield as the new lead.
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 had 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 Summerfield books
Doctor Who - The New Adventures
- Love And War
- Transit
- The Highest Science
- The Pit
- Deceit
- Lucifer Rising
- White Darkness
- Shadowmind
- Birthright
- Blood Heat
- The Dimension Riders
- The Left-Handed Hummingbird
- Conundrum
- No Future
- Tragedy Day
- Legacy
- Theatre of War
- All-Consuming Fire
- Blood Harvest
- Strange England
- First Frontier
- St Anthony's Fire
- Falls the Shadow
- Parasite
- Warlock
- Set Piece
- Infinite Requiem
- Sanctuary
- Human Nature
- Original Sin
- Sky Pirates!
- Zamper
- Toy Soldiers
- Head Games
- The Also People
- Shakedown
- Just War
- Warchild
- SLEEPY
- Death and Diplomacy
- Happy Endings
- Return of the Living Dad
- Eternity Weeps
- The Dying Days
The Doctor first meets Benny in Love and War - she is a 30 year old archaeologist. She is the daughter of Admiral Summerfield - a high ranking Spacefleet officer. Her mother 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 searcing 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, 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 is set on the occaision of Bernice's wedding to Jason Kane. Bernice leaves the TARDIS after this novel having been given Time Rings by the Doctor.
In Return of the Living Dad, Bernice finally resolves the mystery of what happened to her father.
She appears again in Eternity Weeps,a novel which is focussed on her more than the Doctor.
The New Adventures
- Oh No It Isn't
- Dragon's 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
- Tears of the Oracle
- Return to the Fractured Planet
- The Joy Device
- Twilight of the Gods
In Oh No It Isn't Bernice becomes Professor of Archaeology at St Oscar's University on the planet Dellah. She has now put her failed marriage to Jason Kane behind her. In Dragon's Wrath she meets Irving Braxiatel for the first time (from his perspective), who features heavily in many of her future adventures.
Big Finish novels
- The Doomsday Manuscript
- The Gods of the Underworld
- The Squire's Crystal
- The Infernal Nexus
- The Glass Prison
Big Finish novellas
- The Big Hunt
- A Life in Pieces
Big Finish anthologies
- The Dead Men Diaries
- A Life of Surprises
- Life During Wartime
- A Life Worth Living
Bernice Summerfield audio plays
Season 1
- 1.1 - Oh No It Isn't
- 1.2 - Beyond the Sun
- 1.3 - Walking to Babylon
- 1.4 - Birthright
- 1.5 - Just War
- 1.6 - Dragon's Wrath
The first season of Bernice Summerfield audio plays are all adaptations of New Adventures novels originally published by Virgin Publishing. (Oh No It Isn't by Paul Cornell, Beyond the Sun by Matthew Jones, Walking to Babylon by Kate Orman, Birthright by Nigel Robinson, Just War by Lance Parkin and Dragon's Wrath by Justin Richards.) All six plays were adapted by Jacqueline Rayner. Each of the plays spans two CDs, except for Dragon's Wrath, which was issued on a single CD.
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.
Season 2
- 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. The experiment was largely successful, although fans who didn't collect the novels were initially confused to discover that Bernice Summerfield 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.
Season 3
- 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
Season 4
- 4.1 - The Bellotron Incident
- 4.2 - The Draconian Rage
- 4.3 - The Poison Seas
- 4.4 - Death and the Daleks
- Note: The appearance of the Daleks in the season four finale was kept a closely-guarded secret. When initially announced, and for over a year prior to its release, the title of story 4.4 was given as The Axis of Evil.
Season 5
- 5.1 - The Grel Escape
- 5.2 - The Bone of Contention
- 5.3 - The Relics of Jegg-Sau
- 5.4 - Masquerade of Death
Season 6
- 6.1 - The Heart's Desire
- 6.2 - The Kingdom of the Blind
- 6.3 - The Lost Museum
- 6.4 - The Crystal of Cantus
- 6.5 - The Goddess Quandry
Season 7
- 7.1 - The Tartarus Gate
- 7.2 - Last of the Drop Dead Divas
- (further titles to be confirmed)
Miscellaneous
- Buried Treasures
- The Shadow of the Scourge
- The Dark Flame
- The Plague Herds of Excelis
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.
See also
External link
- Big Finish Productions - Benny Summerfield (http://www.bigfinish.com/benny/index.shtml)