Doctor Who: The Forever Trap

By: Dan Abnett

Narrated by: Catherine Tate

When the TARDIS is invaded by a holographic marketing scam, the Doctor and Donna find themselves trapped on the Edifice, a purpose-built complex of luxury apartments in space. Their new environs leave much to be desired: millions of beings from across the Universe have been gathered to live side by side in similar apartments. Instead of creating neighbourly affection, it’s led to terrible battles being waged in the corridors and on the stairwells. The Doctor and Donna must cross the paths of deadly alien mobs as they search for the Edifice’s ultimate authority. Who - or what - lies at the heart of the incredible complex? What destructive scourge is eating away at the Edifice itself? And are the Doctor and Donna trapped forever in this living hell? Doctor Who: The Forever Trap features the Doctor and Donna, as played by David Tennant and Catherine Tate in the hit BBC Television series Doctor Who. Written specially for audio by Dan Abnett, it is read by Catherine Tate.©2008 Dan Abnett; (P)2008 BBC Audiovbooks Ltd

Critic reviews

What really made The Forever Trap stand out for me... was the quality of the production... Catherine Tate’s narration is outstanding

Long live the Doctor!

If you like the Doctor and Donna, you will love this! Catherine Tate keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the story and does an amazing impression of David Tennant as the Doctor. The imagery is perfectly detailed, and the sounds/music (while a little cheesy) help make it a classic DW.

Great Doctor Who

This is probably my favorite doctor who audio story. It's a lot of fun, Catherine Tate is amazing. Highly recommended.

Donna Noble For The Win!

What does Catherine Tate bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

If it weren't for Catherine Tate narrating this particular story, I wouldn't have been laughing out loud in my car on Highway 80 on my long commute home. Believe me, that alone changes lives around here. :)

Brilliant story read by brilliant woman. Who could ask for more?

A Great Listen

These 2 1/2 hour audiobooks are realy great. This is the second that I've read (listened).The stories are better with the extra Ninety minutes to spread out in. It's also better when one of the acting cast narrate the book. Seeing as they know the characters better than anyone else. I will definitely buy others and reccomended to all who fans.

Brilliant performance

Listening to this, I keep thinking that Catherine Tate must be one wicked party guest. First, she's an excellent reader in general, clear and well-paced. Second, she is an incredible voice mimic. She can't always produce David-Tennant-as-the-10th-Doctor's tone of voice (sometimes the way she lowers her pitch to delineate him sounds slightly odd), but she precisely duplicates every nuance of his delivery. In fact, she mimics Tennant better than he mimics her...as the Doctor-Donna would triumphantly remark, "HA!"

And of course she knows how to speak as Donna Noble, so no problems there. There are various minor characters; each one is distinct and interesting.

The story itself is solid. The dialogue is snappy, and the vibe is pure Doctor Who. When the performance is this top-notch I don't mind some narrative lapses, but this tale is coherent and presents a nice variety of scenes that build on each other and hold my interest in their own right. This is Doctor Who, folks - if you want Dostoevsky or Stephen Hawking or some perfect and glorious combination of the two, go to another section. (Or better still - write your own, and dazzle us mere mortals.) Many of the story threads are derivative of other DW scenarios, but when it's mixed-and-matched to this degree and done this well, it's part of the fun. (Anyway - try coming up with something completely original in Doctor Who after nearly 50 years.) Plus, I loved the overall concept.

I'll be able to listen to this multiple times without getting tired of it. Very glad to have it.