24 Carat (webcast)

24 Carat
Main character(s):	Melanie Bush
Featuring:	Seventh Doctor, Drinking Fountain
Main setting:	Mel's spacestation headquarters
Key crew
Writer:	Pete McTighe
Director:	Pete McTighe
Release details
Premiere broadcast:	21 January 2021
Premiere network:	YouTube
Format:	2 x 3 minutes 40 seconds minisode
Full video
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Doctor Who: The Collection mini-episodes
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24 Carat was a promotional minisode written by Pete McTighe and released in 2021. Labelled a mini-episode and entity unto itself by its creator McTighe, it was released as part of A Business Proposal for Mel!, a longer YouTube webcast which also included a trailer for the Doctor Who: The Collection — Season 24 Blu-ray (packaged in between the two halves of the minisode, acting as a sort of ad break) and interview clips with various actors who had appeared in Season 24.

The webcast was notable for featuring the live-action return of Bonnie Langford to the part of Melanie Bush (which she had previously reprised in audio format with Big Finish) and also featured Sylvester McCoy reprising his incarnation of the Doctor.

Summary

Several investors visit Melanie Bush to propose business ventures, and a mysterious old friend returns....

Plot

The minisode is presented as an episode of a reality television series, also titled 24 Carat, in which hopeful investors present their business proposals and prototype products in the hopes of securing a partnership with 24 Carat, an organisation run by Melanie Bush which began as a humble carrot juice business, but has since expanded into a technology, health and lifestyle empire which stretches right across the galaxy.

The first investor to appear is Drinking Fountain, former leader of the Blue Kangs and current CEO of Blue Kang Travel, who attempts to get Mel to invest in package holidays to the refurbished Paradise Towers. Mel is uneager to invest due to the tough time space travel is currently going through, and her lingering memories of the murderousness of many of Paradise Towers' robotic cleaners. Drinking Fountain attempts to quell Mel's concerns about the latter issue by explaining that the robotic cleaners now go through rigorous safety checks, but after she admits that a number of the cleaners still possess homicidal tendencies (with a pool attendant having been killed and a decorator having vanished down the waste disposal unit within the past year), Mel immediately declines the proposal, declaring it not to be a 24 Carat business.

The next investor to try their luck is a visitor from the Ice Colonies, who presents Mel with two different products; Mr Melty Face Peel, a beauty product which he claims is "guaranteed to strip away the ravages of time", and a "lifelike" ice sculpture (one of a range that he produces) that barely resembles Mel despite supposedly being based on her likeness. Mel is unimpressed by both products, and is visibly disturbed by the visitor's bizarre demeanour, causing her to decline the proposal, declaring both items not to be 24 Carat investments.

Derek the Tetrap fares no better, attempting to get Mel to invest in the Tetrap's bubble-trap bath through threats of liquefying her and feeding her to the Tetrap's hatchlings if she refuses. Mel is unfazed by these threats, and immediately calls for security, causing Derek to flee.

The final investor is a mysterious figure whose appearance is entirely concealed beneath a red cloak. When Mel asks what he has for her, he produces two spoons from his left hand, which he proceeds to play like musical instruments. Mel gradually begins to realise who the mysterious figure is, and he dynamically throws the cloak aside to confirm her suspicions; he is the Doctor, having come back to visit Mel again after many years apart. He presents Mel with a gift of a "holographic six-dimensional record" of their adventures together, with he and Mel then flying away together in the TARDIS to watch one of them.

Cast

• Narrator - Mark Halliley
• Melanie Bush - Bonnie Langford
• Drinking Fountain - Catherine Cusack
• Visitor from the Ice Colonies - Edward Peel
• Derek the Tetrap (Voice) - Richard Gauntlett
• Derek the Tetrap (Costume Performer) - Derek Handley
• Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy

Crew

• Writer, Director and Editor - Pete McTighe
• Gaffer - Mike Rothwell
• Lighting Design - David Bishop and Oliver Lifely
• Make-up - Sarah Burrows
• Sound - Jamine Allodi
• Director of Photography - Matt Patrick
• Camera operator - Paul Vanezis
• Camera assistant - Michael Mowbray
• Billboard VFX - Rob Ritchie
• Space Station VFX - Niel Bushnell
• Dubbing Mixer - Mark Ayres
• Producers - Jo Larmer and Russell Minton

Thanks to Richard Bignell, Stephen Cranford, Peter Crocker, Toby Hadoke, Derek Handley, Robin Joll, Richard Latto, The Backstage Centre and Artivation

Worldbuilding

• Derek tries to get Mel to invest in "bubble-trap bath".

The Doctor Who series

• The Doctor gives Mel a copy of Doctor Who The Collection Season 24 as a present. He calls it a "boxset" which contains a "holographic six-dimensional record" of his and Mel's adventures.

Notes

• This marked Sylvester McCoy's first official live-action return to the part of the Seventh Doctor since the 1996 TV movie (although he had reprised the part in audio plays as well as in a variety of unlicensed live-action productions, such as the film Gene Genius).
• Alongside Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford, the minisode also saw the return of several other actors from Season 24, with Catherine Cusack reprising her role as Drinking Fountain from Paradise Towers, Edward Peel, who had previously played Kane in Dragonfire, playing the unnamed visitor from the Ice Colonies, and Richard Gauntlett, who had previously voiced Urak in Time and the Rani, providing the voice of Derek the Tetrap.
• This was the first of Pete McTighe's minisodes released in conjunction with The Collection to include credits in the YouTube Release, previously they were exclusive to the version included on the Blu-ray release.
• In an article in DWM 561, Pete McTighe stated that Edward Peel was playing Kane's twin brother.

Continuity

• Drinking Fountain's business proposal for Mel is Paradise Towers as a hotel. Mel mentions the Towers' previous reputation, to which Drinking Fountain replies that "most" of the robotic cleaners aren't homicidal anymore. (TV: Paradise Towers)
• Doctor T. E. Hamster noted that Drinking Fountain was now the CEO of Blue Kang Travel in his article on Kroagnon's legacy. (PROSE: Reclaiming Kroagnon)