Regrets (audio story)

Regrets
Main character(s):	Cleo, Shawna, Abby
Main enemy:	Mutant rats
Main setting:	London and Torchwood House, 2023
Key crew
Publisher:	BBC Sounds
Writer:	Juno Dawson
Director:	Bethany Weimers
Producer:	James Goss
Sound:	Rob Harvey
Release details
Story number:	1
Release date:	18 September 2023
Format:	Podcast, 27 minutes
Doctor Who: Redacted
← Previous	Series 2 (Redacted)
Next →	Apex

Regrets was the first story in the second series of Doctor Who: Redacted, published by BBC Sounds and was written by Juno Dawson.

It starred Charlie Craggs as Cleo Proctor, Lois Chimimba as Abby McPhail and Holly Quin-Ankrah as Shawna Thompson.

Publisher's summary

Cleo Proctor is officially over it. Her life is a mess and her best friends – Abby and Shawna are lost in a lesbian love-in. Life sucks. She’s lonely. She wants the Doctor to take her away from all this, but they’re not returning her calls. Then Cleo discovers reports of mutant rats in London Docklands and things… get interesting.

Plot

On her show, Rani takes on the world, Rani Chandra broadcasts a clip of Cleo, Abby, and Shawna asking Mr. Degsy what's in the sausages coming out of his meat processing plant, as they seem to contain alien DNA, found only a year after the TARDIS landed nearby. She has all three girls, who are currently looking into Torchwood, on the show. They describe their views on what the 'Blue Box' is, but Rani tries to move them on as soon as Cleo mentions the Doctor, and the others do too when she talks about her own case, looking into reports of giant rats in Docklands.

Later, the other girls reassure Cleo that they believe her, even if they don't remember the Doctor themselves. Abby and Shawna share food, and Abby mentions that her mum has a new carer so Abby and Shawna can move in together. Cleo shows them a video of a woman, Esther Daley, talking about the giant rat that killed her dog, Benji.

Cleo meets Ed Hinge, who messages her asking to meet up, but he is acting weird when he implies he doesn't see her as a woman, and Cleo leaves. She goes home and sends a voice message to the Doctor, updating her on her life, and mentioning the giant rats. Abby and Shawna look into Torchwood more, finding there was a break-in to the old Torchwood house in Aberdeenshire, and the report about it disappeared. Cleo auditions for her college showcase by reading a Shakespeare monologue, but is interrupted and told that she shouldn't play Isabella, because she's a perfect and virtuous nun.

She calls Shawna while she waits in the park for mutant rats to appear. Shawna and Abby are on their way to the Torchwood estate, but haven't told Cleo, who assumes they're looking for wedding venues. Cleo makes a recording for the Blue Box about her exploits as she messages Esther, who lives on the Isle of Dogs. Abby and Shawna enter the Torchwood estate, which is "open to the public", and meet Morag, the curator of the house. She asks if they were sent by Archie from "the institute". Morag tells them that the intruders tried to get into the cellar.

Cast

• Cleo Proctor - Charlie Craggs
• Abby McPhail - Lois Chimimba
• Shawna Thompson - Holly Quin-Ankrah
• Rani Chandra - Anjli Mohindra
• Morag - Maggie Service
• Esther - Teri Ann Bobby-Baxter
• Ed - Sam Stafford

Crew

• Written by Juno Dawson
• Produced by James Goss
• Directed by Bethany Weimers
• Executive Producer: James Robinson
• Sound design by Rob Harvey
• Original Composition by David Devereux

A BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds

Worldbuilding

• Rani introduces herself as host of Rani Takes on the World.

• Cleo says that the Doctor has undiagnosed ADHD.
• Cleo's last partner faked his death to get out of a second date with her.
• Cleo says the time they all met the Doctor was last year.
• Torchwood house is used as a venue for weddings.

Notes

to be added

Continuity

• Abby mentions the blue box being present at Pompeii (TV: The Fires of Pompeii, AUDIO: The Fires of Vulcan) and on the Titanic. (TV: Rose)
• Abby mentions that Queen Victoria visited the Torchwood House. (TV: Tooth and Claw)
• Morag mentions Archie. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)
• Abby has heard the Torchwood House used to host an archive. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)

External links

• Official Regrets page on the Doctor Who website