10 Doctor Who Stories That Would Make Great Musicals

9. Castrovalva

The idea behind a new Doctor is to turn a fresh page in the book of Who. And Peter Davison's Fifth certainly did that. Before him there was Tom Baker with his springy hair and floppy bohemian fashions. The first thing Davison did was put on a jumper and go for a lie down. Castrovalva might be an odd title for the ticket touts of London to shout on the street but the elements of the story are almost sonnet-like. Christopher H Bidmead crafted a tale that went over more childrens' heads than a paper aeroplane but the basics are sound. Arriving at the self-contained Escher-inspired city, the Time Lord and his friends found themselves caught in a diabolical trap set by the Portreeve, aka the Master (who could be David Essex). "Recursive Occlusion" makes a great name for a song and the idea of a place that doubles back dimensionally on itself would look stunning on the boards. However, who is going to take the part of the dashing Doctor? Davison has form for this sort of thing - he appeared in Spamalot and is currently to be seen in Gypsy alongside Imelda Staunton. But all the running around looking baffled could soon take it out of him. The fifth TARDIS traveller is cosmic vanilla, perhaps the Cliff Richard of the line up. Cliff is on the wrinkly side. But what about Darren Day? This former enfant terrible of the tabloid circuit has more stage experience than you could shake a sink plunger at. His musical credits are as long as the Nestene's Consciousness's arm. Summer Holiday, Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grease, Rocky Horror, We Will Rock You... He's done them all! Doctor Who would make a fine string to his top-billed bow.