Doctor Who and the Iron Legion was the first story in The Comic Strip Adaptations: Volume One. It was adapted by Alan Barnes from the original story by Pat Mills and John Wagner.

Publisher's summary[]

1979 AD! Led by the terrible General Ironicus, the mighty Iron Legion – robot veterans of the Eternal War – have come, seen and conquered the English village of Stockbridge!

Caught up in the mayhem, the Doctor pursues the Legion back through the great Dimension Duct to their place of origin – an alternative Earth where Rome never fell...

But can he survive the horrors of the gladiatorial Hyp-Arena long enough to uncover the terrifying secret at the heart of the Galactic Roman Empire?

Plot[]

to be added

Cast[]

• The Doctor - Tom Baker
• General Ironicus / Milkman - Brian Protheroe
• Juno / Magog - Christine Kavanagh
• Morris / Centurion - Joseph Kloska
• Vesuvius / Grubb / Overseer - Toby Longworth
• Adolphus Caesar - Luke Franks
• Babiyon - Alistair Lock
• Doug / Barbarius / Alien Guard - Steve Hansell
• Viv / Commentator - Esther Hall

Crew[]

• Cover Art - Will Brooks
• Script Editor & Director - Nicholas Briggs
• Executive Producer - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
• Music and Sound Design - Alistair Lock
• Producer - Jamie Anderson
• Writers - Pat Mills and John Wagner, adapted by Alan Barnes
• Comic Book Artist - Dave Gibbons

Deviations from the comic story[]

• The unnamed village of the original story is explicitly identified as Stockbridge in the audio adaptation.
• Doug and Viv are new additions to the adaptation, the latter's parallel counterpart replacing Maximus Bilious as the commentator at the Colosseum.
• Grubb attempts to defend himself rather than simply hiding from the android legionnaires. He served in the home guard.
• When the village is invaded, the Doctor makes mention of the space-time telegraph he gifted to the Brigadier and considers using it to deal with the Iron Legion menace.
• Prior to opening the Games, Adolphus's choice of leisure is changed from a toy rocket to a video game. He's also explicitly identified as 16-years-old, while his comic counterpart looks a handful of years younger.
• Morris rather than the Doctor makes the "parrot face" jibe to General Ironicus, threatening him with the bact-gun.
• Searching through his database of alien species, the Doctor mentions Morax, created for Series 11 in 2018.
• Vesuvius retains his memory in the original story, revealing Magog's place of power before Morris' demise.
• The Doctor "supes-up" Morris' bionic arm with his sonic screwdriver, whereas in the original story Morris did it himself, previously serving as a gladiator in both versions. In the adaptation Morris frightens off the overseer. Originally he incapacitated the eponymous overseer with a grate from the air-galley's hull.
• The Doctor uses everlasting matches rather than a welding torch to relight Vesuvius' flame.
• Morris is fatally wounded by an overloaded bacterial cartridge of a bact gun, whereas in the original story he is wounded in the explosion of the chariot's engine caused by a corrosively impaired legionnaire. The Doctor purposefully lands in the adaptation, but in the original it was beyond his control.

Worldbuilding[]

to be added

Notes[]

to be added

Continuity[]

• The Fourth Doctor's binary vascular system confuses the automaton's scanners. (AUDIO: Escape from Kaldor)
• The Doctor tells General Ironicus that he visited "the real Rome" in 64 during the reign of Nero. (TV: The Romans)
• The Doctor uses Promethean Everlasting Matches. (PROSE: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks, et al.)

External links[]

• Official Doctor Who and the Iron Legion page at bigfinish.com