BF - Bernice Summerfield - Series 1 - (vonG)

A Khureshian release

1.1. Oh No It Isn’t!

“The King’s balls get bigger every year!”

What could possibly go wrong on Professor Bernice Summerfield’s investigation into the lost civilisation of Perfecton? Nothing, it seems - until they leave the planet and spot a dirty great missile heading towards their ship. But instead of oblivion, Benny finds herself plunged into the strange world of - panto.

Written By: Paul Cornell
Directed By: Nicholas Briggs

Cast

Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield); Nicholas Courtney (Wolsey the Cat); Jo Castleton (Jayne Waspo/Bitchy); Jonathan Brüün (Michael Doran/Cute); Colin McIntyre (Captain Balsam/King Rupert); Nicholas Briggs (Lt Prince/Prince Charming); James Campbell (Professor Candy/Dame Candy); Mark Gatiss (The Grand Vizier); Alistair Lock (The Grel Master)

1.2. Beyond the Sun

“You’re on your own, Bernice”

Bernice Summerfield has drawn the short straw. Not for her the pleasures of intergalactic conferences and highbrow lecture tours. Oh no. She’s forced to take two overlooked freshers on their very first dig. And just when it seems things can’t get any worse, her no-good ex-husband Jason turns up, claiming that he is in deadly danger. Benny finally begins to believe his wild claims, but unfortunately only after he has been kidnapped from his hotel room.

Feeling guilty, she sets out to rescue him. Well, let’s face it, no one else is going to. Her only clue is a dusty artefact that Jason claimed was part of an ancient and powerful weapon. But Professor Bernice Summerfield PhD knows that’s just silly nonsense. She’s been an archaeologist long enough to know that lost alien civilisations do not leave their most powerful weapons lying around for any nutter to find. Do they?

Once again Benny is all that stands between Jason and his own mistakes, as she tries to prevent the wrong people acquiring this terrible and somewhat unlikely weapon - a weapon rumoured to have powers beyond the sun.

Written By: Matt Jones
Directed By: Gary Russell

Cast

Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield); Sophie Aldred (Miranda); Anneke Wills (Doctor Kitzinger); Stephen Fewell (Jason Kane); Jane Burke (Tameka Vito); Lewis Davis (Emile Mars-Smith); Nicholas Pegg (Scott); Barnaby Edwards (Leon)

1.3. Walking to Babylon

THE TIME RING TRILOGY: PART 1

“I’m scared of letting all these people down. At least if I get blown up as well, they can say I died heroically. Assuming I ever existed at all.”

The People are one of the most technologically advanced races in the Universe - except in the area of time travel. Professor Bernice Summerfield has a time ring. So does her ex-husband Jason Kane. Trouble is, they’re their wedding rings, and they won’t work unless they’re together.

Benny is surprised when Jason turns up to visit her at St Oscar’s, especially when she discovers that he has brought one of the People with him. She should have guessed that her good-for-nothing ex wasn’t just interested in her company…

Using the time rings, two People create a Time Path and travel back to ancient Babylon, taking an unwilling Jason with them. Benny has just 48 hours to find them and rescue her errant husband, before the People back in the 26th century send a singularity bomb to destroy the Path - and Babylon.

But someone else has discovered the Path and walked to Babylon - Edwardian time-sensitive John Lafayette. And Benny discovers her mission has a complication that she never dreamed of - romance.

Written By: Kate Orman
Directed By: Gary Russell

Cast

Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield); Elisabeth Sladen (Ninan-ashtammu); Stephen Fewell (Jason Kane); Barnaby Edwards (John Lafayette); Nigel Fairs (WiRgo!xu); Anthony Keech (!Ci!ci-tel); Steven Wickham (The Drone); Louise Morell (Miriam); Alex Canini (Babylonian Child)

1.4. Birthright

THE TIME RING TRILOGY: PART 2

“If the human race were to die tomorrow, insect life would carry on regardless. Insects might even become the dominant species!”

Thrown off the Time Path, Professor Bernice Summerfield is trapped in early 20th Century London, with only one of the pair of time rings she needs to get home. At the other end of time, her ex-husband Jason Kane finds himself stranded on a dead world, where the queen of the Charrl demands his help to save her dying race. But all he wants to do is find Benny, and return to the 26th Century.

In the East End a series of grisly murders has been committed - is this the work of the legendary Springheel Jack or, as Benny suspects, something even more sinister? Allied with a Russian detective, she determines to find out. But the master of a grand order of sorcerers has other plans for her…

Written By: Nigel Robinson
Directed By: Nicholas Briggs

Cast

Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield); Colin Baker (Mikhail Vladamir Popov); Stephen Fewell (Jason Kane); Barnaby Edwards (John Lafayette); John Wadmore (Jared Khan); Jane Shakespeare (Queen Ch’tizz); Jonathan Reason (Chf. Insp. Prior); Benjamin Roddy (Charlie)

1.5. Just War

THE TIME RING TRILOGY: PART 3

“Tomorrow belongs to us, not you. If you were really from the future, Miss Summerfield, you would be a Nazi.”

The Nazis occupy British soil and British citizens are being deported to European concentration camps. Those who do not co-operate with the Germans are shot.

This isn’t a parallel universe: this is Guernsey, 1941, and it’s where Bernice is stranded. With no sign of Jason, she has to endure the full horror of the situation, alone and afraid.

And something, somewhere has gone wrong. The Nazis are building a secret weapon, one that will have a decisive effect on the outcome of the war - and it’s up to Benny to put history back on course…

Written By: Lance Parkin
Directed By: Gary Russell

Cast

Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield), Stephen Fewell (Jason Kane), Michael Wade (Oberst Oskar Steinmann), Mark Gatiss (Standardtenfuhrer Joachim Wolff), Maggie Stables (Ma Doras), Nicky Golding (Nurse Rosa Kitzel), Anthony Keech (Private Franz Hutter), Simon Moore (Private Gerhard Flur)

1.6. Dragons’ Wrath

The Gamalian Dragon is ­ a jewel-encrusted statuette captured by the warlord Gamaliel from the legendary Knights of Jeneve after the Battle of Bocaro. It is now sought by Romolo Nusek, apparently Gamaliel’s descendent, to prove his right to assume his ancestor’s mantle as ruler of the Sector.

When Benny joins a group seeking to find the legendary stauette, she has a secret. No one can possibly find one on Stanturus because she’s already carrying it ­ left for her by a murdered colleague.

The trouble is, the expedition does find one and, as a result, most of them are mysteriously slaughtered. Benny realises she and historian Nicholas Clyde must discern the traitor in their midst. Could it be Gilder, the obsequious administrator from Benny’s own universiy? Could it be Truby Kamadrich, the famous archaologist? Or might it be the bizarre librarian Reddick, who never leaves Nusek’s vaults, protected by an inhospitable volcano?

Written By: Justin Richards
Directed By: Ed Salt

Cast

Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield), Richard Franklin (Romolo Nusek), Nigel Fairs (Nicholas Clyde), Jane Burke (Truby Kamadrich), Gary Russell (Mappin Gilder), Jez Fielder (Reddick)