Doctor Who: Sleepers In The Dust

By: Darren Jones

Narrated by: Arthur Darvill

The TARDIS touches down on Nadurniss, a planet under quarantine. A joint Nadurni/human mission has recently landed on the planet to survey it for possible re-colonisation. Two millennia have passed since the Nadurni Empire fell at the end of the Prokarian War, and Nadurniss seems to be a lifeless, barren world - but a mysterious illness is infecting the Nadurni, and now the whole team is in danger. The nature of the infection becomes clear when the sickest Nadurni dies and an amorphous creature emerges from its dried-up body. A shambling mound of bacteria, acting as one being - a Prokarian - it has been on the planet all along, sleeping in the dust. As the Prokarians attack, Amy is infected. The Doctor can do nothing to help her - until he realises that the cure could lie in the past. He and Rory must travel back more than 2000 years to try and save her life... Written specially for audio by Darren Jones, Sleepers in the Dust features the Doctor, Amy and Rory, as played by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill in the acclaimed hit series from BBC TV.

Critic reviews

The tale is narrated in the first person by Rory, and with Arthur Darvill revisiting his role, this is a very effective reading. Evocative sound effects bring the scenes in the present, and Nadurniss’ past, vividly to life... a very welcome addition to the canon of Amy and Rory’s travels (Stephen Elsden)

Great

Good story in a very short time. Enjoyable felt like an episode. Enjoy it 😁

Actually a story

I was surprised that this had such a complete story arc for so short a story. It plays out well, like an episode, as opposed to some that build up too slow or just crash and burn at the end. Sleepers in the Dust had a nice introduction that wasn't too long, and explained the action well. You get to the last 5 or 10 minutes and you don't see how they're going to get out of this situation, but just like an episode of Doctor Who, it all resolves at the very end. There was also enough denouement for everything to make sense and that was it. I thought it was one of the better short stories.

And everything is improved by Arthur Darvill's narration. He should do them all. This one was different in that it was told first-person from Rory's perspective, but I don't think the story suffered at all from this style.