This week, the Time Scoop performs another of its increasingly unpredictable acts of temporal mischief, bringing aboard Tracey Eddon ,stunt performer, stunt double and one of the remarkable, often unseen figures behind some of cinema and television’s most memorable moments. Tracey’s extraordinary career includes doubling for Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, as well as stunt work across productions including An American Werewolf in London, Labyrinth, Superman III, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Johnny English and Paddington 2. Her work on Return of the Jedi extended beyond doubling for Leia: she also doubled for Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and performed other stunt and character work during the production.
Joining Sophie on the Sofa of Infinite Understanding, Tracey looks back across a career spent quite literally stepping into other people’s stories. Falling, fighting, flying, running and occasionally doing things that most sensible people would regard as a particularly poor use of an afternoon. For Sophie, however, this is also a reunion with someone who occupied a very special place in the world of Doctor Who: the woman who doubled for her as Ace. The conversation explores the peculiar relationship between actor and double, the extraordinary demands of stunt work and the strange business of being present in some of cinema’s most famous moments while remaining, deliberately, almost invisible.
Meanwhile, the Ffantaface opens its doors to Laura Burns, whose own journey demonstrates that sometimes the things we love when we are young can take us somewhere wonderfully unexpected. A lifelong Doctor Who fan, Laura found that fascination with science fiction becoming part of a much larger journey into science, technology and space, ultimately leading to a career connected with the world of NASA. Her professional life has encompassed engineering, technology and the development of ideas for the future, while her involvement in speculative fiction communities has included work with the Parsec Awards.
With Sophie, Laura talks about the remarkable path from being inspired by imaginary worlds to helping shape real ones: the science, the work, the possibilities and the enduring power of Doctor Who to make a young person look upwards and wonder what might be possible. It is a particularly fitting conversation for a series in which the impossible is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from reality.
And aboard the Nosferatu 2.5, something else has appeared.
A library containing every book ever written or, perhaps, every book that ever will be written. Its shelves seem to stretch beyond the dimensions of the ship itself, its stories appear to know things they shouldn’t, and its sudden disappearance may be more troubling than its arrival.
Sophie and Hobbes have discovered that stories within the Neverwhen may possess a power of their own.
Sophie Aldred's Ace Odyssey stars Sophie Aldred with James Showers as Hobbes.
Special Guests- Tracey Eddon and Laura Burns
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Music by Graeme Allan
Sound Effects & Sound Design by Gavin Rymill
Programme Assistant Liz Whitmore
Written, Produced and Directed by Paul Carmichael
You can follow Graeme Allan on Bluesky @graemeallan and listen to more of his music at www.youtube.com/brassbandit
You can follow Gavin Rymill on Twitter & Bluesky @themindrobber, and you can watch his superb Dr.Who series Terry Nation Army on www.youtube.com/dalek6388
You can follow Paul Carmichael on Bluesky @paulcarmichaeluk and on Threads @paul.carmichael.1213
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