Quick and useful blog post this morning. I’m looking after Tom for most of today, and then going to a get-together of comickers in the evening. So I’ve arranged for James Goss, the showrunner of Big Finish’s Bernice Summerfield range, to guest, and announce some of the many delights planned for Benny’s anniversary with Big Finish next year. There’s also an exclusive money off offer for readers of this blog and a prize contest at the end.

If you haven’t encountered Bernice before, she made her debut in 1992 in the Doctor Who New Adventures novel Love and War, which I wrote. I created her to be the 7th Doctor’s new companion, and she was for a few years, then when Virgin Books lost the licence for the Doctor, she took over as the lead character in the range, from 1997 until 1999. From 1998, she had also been featuring in her own line of audio plays from Big Finish, starring Lisa Bowerman (hence her twentieth anniversary there next year). These have continued, alongside novels and short story collections, until now, and show no signs of stopping. I think a twenty-six year legacy is pretty good for a spin-off companion, and I look forward to all the many, many things I’ve heard from Big Finish about what they’re doing next year.

But let me now hand you over to James Goss, for…

TWENTY YEARS OF BERNICE SUMMERFIELD (AGAIN)

Like royalty, Bernice Summerfield has two birthdays. September 2018 sees the 20th anniversary of Bernice Summerfield’s time at Big Finish. While someone boring is marching around going ‘I think you’ll find that she first appeared in 1992’ (Oh dear – Paul) , I think we should just have a sit down in the corner and think about 1998.

Twenty years of an audio range built around a single central character played by the same person. I’ve scratched my head trying to think of parallels for this, and the only ones I can come up with are the cast of The Archers – and even then, it’s an ensemble show where any of the regulars can have a cow land on them at a moment’s notice (or, lest we forget, fall off the roof of Lower Loxley as the worst way of seeing in the New Year anyone’s ever thought of).

My point is that Bernice Summerfield is unique. There have been radio Sherlocks, Marples, and Paul Temples, but runs of these have come and gone, casts have changed. Bernice Summerfield has persevered.

Benny has endured because Paul Cornell created such a perfect, likeably flawed character. Who doesn’t love a time-travelling archaeologist? She’s remarkably future-proofed. She’s a strong female character (so now). She aces the Bechdel test – men talk about HER (again, so now). She’s not afraid to show off her knowledge (again, 2017). And, bonus, she likes cats.

Benny has endured because she’s played by Lisa Bowerman. Handed the impossible task of sounding like someone readers had an idea of in our heads, she’s been perfect right from the start. She has the voice of the sensible older sister, the dangerous best friend, the fun one. Lisa’s love for the character is boundless – she doesn’t just love the fans, she knows as much about the character as they do.

Benny has endured because of Big Finish. Big Finish started off as a firm who wanted to make occasional science fiction audio dramas about Bernice Summerfield. They made them in a damp basement in South London at weekends. Now Big Finish is the UK’s largest creator of original audio drama outside of Radio Four. They do everything from Doctor Who to Captain Scarlet, from Torchwood to King Lear. They give countless aspiring actors, writers, directors and editors their big break. They win awards. They no longer work in a damp basement.

In the time I’ve written that paragraph they’ve released at least three things (only some of them starring Sir Derek Jacobi). But the one thing that Big Finish always does? It’s Bernice Summerfield. Because she got them started, and they’re always grateful to her. Just ask Jason Haigh-Ellery – Big Finish is just one of several dozen firms he runs; he’s doing deals at the ends of the Earth. But he’s always got time for Benny. When humans land on Mars, Jason will already be there to recommend a good hotel saying ‘Welcome to Mars. In 1998, Big Finish got our start with Bernice Summerfield…’

Anyway, next year, Paul Cornell’s Bernice Summerfield celebrates 20 years of Big Finish at Lisa Bowerman. Or something. Big Finish will be celebrating in style – there’ll be a very special series of adventures; we’ll be unearthing some forgotten treasures of the Benny archive; there’ll be a documentary; and there’ll be a cake. Being Bernice, she’ll probably set fire to the cake, but for very good reasons.

In her honour, and to thank you for getting to the bottom of this article, Big Finish are offering a 40% discount on Benny CDs series 1-11 and the first 5 boxsets (basically all Benny branded Boxsets and CDs on the site, not including Doctor Who: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield), running for until 23:59 UK Time 20th December. Code: BENNY40PC (code applicable at login).

Happy second twentieth birthday Bernice Summerfield.

James Goss.

Thank you, James, for those kind words and that glimpse of what to expect next year. So, get over to the Big Finish site quickly for some Benny bargains. In the meantime, we also have a contest for you. I have three copies of the latest Bernice hardback anthology, True Stories (edited by Xanna Eve Chown), to give away. All you have to do is send the answer to the following question to webcornell@gmail.com before 23:59 UK Time 20th December (winners will be drawn randomly and notified by email, as well as named in the last of the 12 Blogs):

What was the name of Bernice’s cat?

Good luck, everyone, and thanks to Big Finish for the offer and the prizes! See you tomorrow for a run down of my own work this year, and another prize contest!