The Blue Tooth (audio story)

Stand well clear, Jo!

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The Blue Tooth
Main character(s):	Liz Shaw
Featuring:	Third Doctor, the Brig, Benton, Yates
Main enemy:	Gareth Arnold
Main setting:	England and Cambridge, the 1970s
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Nigel Fairs
Director:	Mark J Thompson
Producer:	Sharon Gosling
Music:	Lawrence Oakley
Sound:	Lawrence Oakley and Robert Dunlop
Cover by:	Simon Holub
Release details
Release number:	1.3
Release date:	February 2007
Format:	4 episodes on 1 CD
Production code:	BFPDWCC03
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-265-4
The Companion Chronicles
← Previous	Fear of the Daleks
Next →	The Beautiful People

The Blue Tooth was the third story in the first series of The Companion Chronicles. It was produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Nigel Fairs and featured Liz Shaw. It was notable for being the one of the few stories to pit the Third Doctor against the Cybermen. Until the publication of The Piper in 2015, this was the only Third Doctor story to use the Cybermen as its main antagonists.

Publisher's summary

"I suppose that was one of the Doctor's most endearing qualities: the ability to make the bizarre and the terrifying seem utterly normal."

When Liz Shaw's friend Jean goes missing, the Doctor and U.N.I.T. are drawn to the scene to investigate. Soon Liz discovers a potential alien invasion that will have far-reaching affects on her life... and the Doctor is unexpectedly re-united with an old enemy...

Plot

Part one

Liz recalls her first meeting with Jean Baisemore and her time with UNIT and why she left. She recalls a time when she was working for UNIT and during a day off she went to the visit Jean and they were to meet and have lunch at the Copper Kettle. However, when she didn't turn up, Liz went to investigate, starting with Jean's cottage in Oakridge. She finds the interior a mess and Jean's dead cat and attempts to contact the Doctor, who alerts her that he was already on his way with the Brigadier, informing her that it's not the first as a string of deaths related to Cambridge scientists has appeared within the last week. The Doctor arrives and they investigate. Eventually he discovers teethmarks...

Part two

The Doctor and Liz search for the source of where the teeth-marks may have come from and eventually find a small tunnel dug in the garden. They join the Brigadier in a similar crime scene but for property not belonging to a scientist which throws a wrench in the Doctor's theory, until he shows them that all the victims had the same dentist, the university dentist. Liz reminisces about more times with Jean at Cambridge until she is awoken by the Doctor who informs her there'll be split up and she'll be going with Captain Yates to investigate the dentist.

Cast

• Liz Shaw - Caroline John
• The Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs

References

UNIT

• The electricity board threatens to cut off the power at UNIT HQ because the Doctor is using large amounts of power for his experiment on the TARDIS.

Individuals

• Liz was at the University of Cambridge in the 1960s alongside Jean Baisemore.
• Liz doesn't like dentists.

The Doctor

• The Doctor went shopping and picks up a purple cloak.

Notes

Textless cover art

• This story was recorded at The Moat Studios.
• While originally set for release in January 2006, it was announced on 1 February that the release of the first series of Companion Chronicles was to be delayed until 5 February. The announcement of their release came on 19 February, however this followed a gap of communications since the original announcement that release was delayed, so it is difficult to pinpoint a more precise release date than February.
• This marks the first appearances of Liz Shaw, Sergeant Benton and Captain Mike Yates in an audio drama.
• To date, this is the only appearance of the Cybermen in the Companion Chronicles.
• Aside from a brief appearance in AUDIO: Zagreus, this is the first Big Finish audio drama to feature the Third Doctor.
• Liz refers to Mike Yates as "Captain Yates", which is at odds with his rank as given in PROSE: The Scales of Injustice but consistent with AUDIO: Vengeance of the Stones.
• This story takes place after TV: Inferno.
• Unlike most Companion Chronicles, this episode is divided into four 15-20 minute parts as opposed to two 30 minute parts. As a result, it is slightly longer than most single-disc releases.
• This story was told from Liz's perspective.
• Liz had a choice between Newnham College and Girton College. She chose Newnham.

Continuity

• Liz says she lived with her mother whilst studying for her undergraduate degree. (AUDIO: The Last Post)
• Later in his timeline, the Third Doctor would briefly encounter the Cybermen on the Death Zone on Gallifrey, (TV: The Five Doctors) and a longer encounter on the human colony of Burnt Salt with Jo Grant. (AUDIO: The Tyrants of Logic)
• Liz emphasizes her disdain for UNIT throughout the story, and even mockingly mentions invisible ink, a line she smugly tells Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart during their first meeting. (TV: Spearhead from Space)
• The Doctor arrives in Bessie. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians )

External links

• Official The Blue Tooth page at bigfinish.com
• The Blue Tooth at the Doctor Who Reference Guide