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The Paradise Of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space to be Released on Exclusive Vinyl

Jon Pertwee’s final performance as the Third Doctor will be released on vinyl next month, alongside an extra radio adventure featuring his ever-popular incarnation of the Time Lord. As with previous instalments of this Vinyl Who collection, The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space will be available as a standard edition and a limited edition, exclusive to Amazon.

The Paradise of Death reunites the Third Doctor (Pertwee), Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), and the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) for an adventure that takes them from Hampstead Heath to the far-flung planet of Parrakon, where they face dangers aplenty from the hostile Freeth and Tragan.

Then, in The Ghosts of N-Space, Pertwee’s final performance as the Doctor, the Time Lord is in Sicily where he discovers trouble in the form of spectral monsters from another dimension.

And as you can see, the standard edition looks pretty darn beautiful.

Presented across 3LP x 12″ 180g heavyweight blue vinyl & 3LP x 12″ 180g heavyweight yellow vinyl, these two fast-paced adventures were specially written for radio by former producer, writer, and director, Barry Letts. Among the supporting cast for the stories are Maurice Denham, Sandra Dickinson, Harold Innocent, Peter Miles, Richard Pearce, Harry Town, and Stephen Thorne. Accompanying the coloured vinyl LPs are full episode billings, cast and credits, and six illustrated sleeves that form a superb double-sided artwork montage.

An Amazon exclusive, limited to 500 copies, is pressed on 3LP x 12″ 180g heavyweight space world splatter vinyl and 3LP x 12″ 180g heavyweight spectral splatter vinyl.

The adventures were originally released on cassette, and Colin Burden recalls:

“It’s nice to report that the Paradise of Death tapes played perfectly after 25 years and the quality was as good as the first listen. That was a relief.

“As for the content: pedantic old me got off on the wrong foot – it does jar a bit when a Third Doctor adventure is led in by the Peter Howell version of the theme tune. It’s a bit of an odd choice considering that in 1993 the ‘current’ or last version would have been the Marc Ayers’ one. But then, as Peter Howell was on incidental music duty, it doesn’t take long for the penny to drop. I also noticed a few bars re-used from Peter’s Meglos music, but I only noticed because it featured on Doctor Who: The Music which I played relentlessly back in the early 1980s.

“But then I get off on another wrong foot as the narrative starts: the terrible depiction of a group of ‘cockney yobs’ along with their “here we go!” chanting. One of them is even called Nobby! Thankfully, they get dispatched from the story quite quickly and the proper drama can carry on.”

Check out the gorgeous cover for the new LP in all its glory…

Vinyl Who‘s The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space is released on 28th February 2020, priced £89.99.

Philip Bates

Editor and co-founder of the Doctor Who Companion. When he’s not watching television, reading books ‘n’ Marvel comics, listening to The Killers, and obsessing over script ideas, Philip Bates pretends to be a freelance writer. He enjoys collecting everything. Writer of The Black Archive: The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang, The Silver Archive: The Stone Tape, and 100 Objects of Doctor Who.

The Paradise Of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space to be Released on Exclusive Vinyl

by Philip Bates time to read: 2 min
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