Catch-1782 (audio story): Difference between revisions

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{{real world}}
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{{Infobox Story
{{Infobox Story SMW
|image=Catch 1782 cover.jpg
|image           = Catch 1782 cover.jpg
|range          = Main Range
|range          = Main Range
|number in range = 68
|number in range = 68
|series=''[[Main Range]]''
|series         = ''[[Main Range]]''
|number= 68  
|number         = 68  
|doctor= Sixth Doctor
|doctor         = Sixth Doctor
|companions= [[Melanie Bush|Mel]]  
|companions     = [[Melanie Bush|Mel]], [[John Hallam|John]]
|enemy=  
|enemy           =  
|setting= [[Berkshire]], [[12 December]] [[2003]] and [[June]] [[1782]]
|setting         = [[Berkshire]], [[12 December]] [[2003]] and [[June]] [[1782]]
|writer= [[Alison Lawson]]  
|writer         = Alison Lawson
|director= [[Gary Russell]]  
|director        = [[Gary Russell]]
|sound = [[Gareth Jenkins]]  
|producer        = [[Gary Russell]] and [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]]
|music=[[Andy Hardwick]]
|sound           = [[Gareth Jenkins (sound designer)|Gareth Jenkins]]
|cover=[[Lee Binding]]
|music           = [[Andy Hardwick]]
|publisher= Big Finish Productions  
|cover           = [[Lee Binding]]
|release date= [[April (releases)|April]] [[2005 (releases)|2005]]
|publisher       = Big Finish Productions  
|format= 2 CDs<br/>Download  
|release date   = April 2005
|production code= [[List of production codes|7C/T]]  
|format         = 2 CDs<br/>Download
|isbn= ISBN 1-84435-135-1  
|production code = [[List of production codes|7C/T]]
|prev= Dreamtime (audio story)  
|isbn           = ISBN 978-1-84435-135-0 (physical)<br/>ISBN 978-1-78178-774-8 (digital)
|next= Three's a Crowd (audio story)
|prev           = Dreamtime (audio story)
|made prev = The Next Life (audio story)
|next           = Three's a Crowd (audio story)
|made next = The Game (audio story)
|made prev       = The Next Life (audio story)
|producer = [[Gary Russell]] and [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]]|epcount = 4}}'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the sixty-eighth story in [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]]'s [[Main Range|monthly range]]. It was written by [[Alison Lawson]] and featured [[Colin Baker]] as the [[Sixth Doctor]] and [[Bonnie Langford]] as [[Melanie Bush]].
|made next       = The Game (audio story)
|epcount         = 4}}
'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the sixty-eighth story in [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]]'s [[Main Range|monthly range]]. It was written by [[Alison Lawson]] and featured [[Colin Baker]] as the [[Sixth Doctor]] and [[Bonnie Langford]] as [[Melanie Bush]].


It was the third team-up between the the Sixth Doctor and Mel characters since their turn on television. It was notable for providing the first substantial details about Mel's family and general back story in performed ''Doctor Who''. It was also unusual for not having a "villain" ''per se'', and no real alien presence at all. Because of this, and its setting in [[2003]] and [[1782]], it was a "pure historical", even at the time of its release. The main "enemy" in the piece is actually the concept of the [[Temporal paradox|Grandfather Paradox]], and the Doctor's efforts to retrieve Mel from her family's past history without causing damage to Mel's personal timeline.
It was the third team-up between the the Sixth Doctor and Mel characters since their turn on television. It was notable for providing the first substantial details about Mel's family and general back story in performed ''Doctor Who''. It was also unusual for not having a "villain" ''per se'', and no real alien presence at all. Because of this, and its setting in [[2003]] and [[1782]], it was a "[[pure historical]]", even at the time of its release. The main "enemy" in the piece is actually the concept of the [[Temporal paradox|Grandfather Paradox]] and the Doctor's efforts to retrieve Mel from her family's past history without causing damage to Mel's personal timeline.


== Publisher's summary ==
== Publisher's summary ==
Line 41: Line 43:


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
=== Part one ===
[[Sixth Doctor|The Doctor]] acquires a [[letter]] sent to [[Melanie Bush|Mel]] from her uncle, [[John Hallam|Dr John Hallam]], in which he invites her to the [[National Foundation for Scientific Research]]'s centenary celebration in [[2003]] [[Berkshire]], on the way to which the Doctor hears a [[voice]] calling for help through a kink in [[time]]. A keen [[historian]], John shows the Doctor and Mel around [[Hallam House]], which [[Christine Bush's father|his father]] leased to the Foundation, and tells them how many claim to have seen the [[ghost]] of the mysterious Eleanor Hallam. The Doctor initially wonders if the phenomena is related to the kink in time, but rules it out.


=== Part one ===
Whilst the Doctor talks to [[David Munro|Professor David Munro]], an old friend and the director of the Foundation, Mel learns from her uncle how the [[time capsule]] that the Foundation is burying is made of a new and unique [[alloy]] and goes to his study to look at his notes on the family history. David finds an object whilst burying the canister and the Doctor and John take it to the [[laboratory]] for analysis, discovering that it is an [[18th century]] [[box]] containing the prototype canister which, impossibly, is in John's study. Mel and the canister in the study are relocated by a [[time disturbance]] and the Doctor enters [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]], finding that there has been an explosion in the [[TARDIS control room|control room]].
[[Melanie Bush|Mel]] has been invited by her uncle, [[John Hallam|Dr. John Hallam]], to the [[National Foundation for Scientific Research]] centenary celebration in [[Berkshire]] and the [[Sixth Doctor|Doctor]] insists they go. Just as Mel leaves to get changed, the Doctor hears a strange voice coming from the [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] console but it disappears when Mel returns, dubbing it to himself a "kink in time". He assures her it was nothing, although still suspicious himself, and they go on their way. They arrive in John's house where he is happy to see Mel as they are reunited. He gives Mel and the Doctor a tour of the old house that belongs to the Foundation and now him, which is also incidentally where he is working on what Mel claims is a "[[carbon dating]]" project but she doesn't know much about it since it's top secret. He takes them to the library and when they comment on feeling at ease, John explains about the various [[ghost]] stories surrounding the house but the odd thing is, the victims all described seeing a similar ghost. He further talks about Eleanor Hallam and the Hallam family history and how the house was passed through the generations as well as an unknown figure in one of the portraits of [[Henry Hallam]], next to him. The Doctor suspects it to be the "kink in time" but they depart before he can investigate as the reception is about to start.


The Doctor bumps into Professor [[David Munro]] and they get into deep conversation so Mel and her uncle head off to chat and he explains to her the purpose of the event, to bury a "time capsule" made from a newly discovered [[alloy]] to celebrate the centenary. Mel asks if she can sneak off back to John's studies to read up on their family history from the notes John had been making and had showed them earlier and bemused, gives her the room key and tells her to have fun, as well as to check out the proto-type alloy he has on the study desk. Mel sneaks off while the Doctor and John watch the burial but are surprised when a capsule buried there is already discovered while digging. The Doctor and John decide to take it back to his carbon dating machine to investigate. The noise from the machine makes it difficult to hear Mel scream, as she hears a voice and suddenly disappears, but they manage to hear the last few moments. They then discover that inside the unearthed capsule is the proto-type alloy canister, which John claims is impossible as it is sitting on the desk in his studies. They search for Mel but she is nowhere to be find. The Doctor goes inside the TARDIS only to find it filled with smoke, and a bewildered John demands to know who the Doctor is and his relation to Melanie.... 
=== Part two ===
=== Part two ===
Mel awakens with a groggy head and is discovered by [[McGregor|Mrs McGregor]] where she finds out she has landed in [[1781]] and decides to take advantage and speak with her ancestor, Henry Hallam, before she reckons the Doctor turns up to save her. The Doctor, meanwhile, explains to John that they're time-travelers and what he suspects is going on as well as the "kink in time" he is trying to investigate (which he didn't tell Mel about in order to not ruin her reunion with her uncle). He realises the canister has chrono capabilities and the TARDIS tried to reach out and warn Melanie through its [[telepathic circuits]] but ended up interacting with the canister causing Mel to travel back in time to the time period and person (Eleanor Hallam) she was thinking about, which they discover through the notes Mel was looking at is 1782, although oddly enough, the pages corresponding to that year have been ripped out of Henry Hallam's journal. They set off in the TARDIS. Mel meets Henry but begins losing her memories. He begins to suspect her over the course of their conversation as she seems to know private thoughts and details about Henry that nobody knows except him and what he wrote in his journals. She collapses and Henry orders McGregor to fetch a doctor for her, saying that she reminds him of his late wife [[Jane Hallam|Jane]]. [[Wallace|Doctor Michael Wallace]] arrives and a delirious Mel asks to be taken to the study but when she sees that the TARDIS is missing she realises she's trapped in 1781...          
The Doctor deduces that the new alloy, created by the Foundation from [[element]]s supplied by the [[United Kingdom Space Agency|Space Agency]], was activated by its proximity to the TARDIS and sent Mel back in time, but the TARDIS attempted to warn her with its [[telepathic circuits]]. He and John look through the notes on the Hallam family and head off in the TARDIS to find Mel upon learning that the mysterious Eleanor arrived at Hallam Hall exactly 222 years earlier during a period which [[Henry Hallam]] tore from his [[journal]].
 
Mel finds herself in [[1781]] and is taken by the [[housekeeper]], [[McGregor (Catch-1782)|Mrs McGregor]], to the master of Hallam Hall, Henry. She claims to be a member of [[Jane Hallam|his late wife]]'s [[sewing]] circle and forgets her name and home, vaguely remembering a [[doctor]] and collapsing on her way to the study to be saved by him. [[Michael Wallace|Dr Michael Wallace]] suspects that she might be attempting to exploit Henry's charity but diagnoses her with a [[concussion]] and suggests that they humour her by taking her to the study as she keeps asking. There, Mel says that she is in the wrong time and that she needs to go home.


=== Part three ===
=== Part three ===
Mel becomes hysterical and is sedated by Michael after rejecting Henry's offer to stay in the hall as a guest since she doesn't know where she is. The Doctor and John land and go searching for her. Some time has passed since Mel's arrival and it is now [[June]] [[1782]], and Dr Michael comes frequently to check on her. He and Henry have a chat in which he suggests he have her committed to an [[Asylum (hospital)|asylum]] as he suspects that someone "dumped" her on Henry and she is taking advantage of his kind nature but he refuses, saying that in her moments of lucidity she is a clam and charming woman. They go to check on her. The Doctor and John, meanwhile, arrive and are greeted by McGregor who takes them to meet Henry. The two discover the Doctor has medical expertise and ask him for a second opinion of their "patient". John and McGregor chat over a cup of [[tea]] and she explains that she lost her husband and the death of her mistress, Henry's wife, brought the two closer, perhaps more than appropriate for a master and servant. McGregor explains that their relationship was disrupted six months ago with the arrival of a certain "Eleanor". The Doctor meanwhile goes to see the patient "Nel" (Henry believes this to be Mel's name after a misunderstanding) and discovers it is Mel. He "plays along" pretending not to know her, deeply upsetting her and meets with Henry and Dr Wallace afterwards, explaining that he thinks he can help, but discovers they have been giving Mel [[laudanum]] to sedate her.  
The Doctor and John arrive in [[June]] [[1782]], by which point Mel (referred to by the misheard name of Nell or Eleanor) has been living with Henry for several months and treated with [[laudanum]] by Dr Wallace. Whilst John drinks [[tea]] with Mrs McGregor, the Doctor [[apology|apologises]] to the confused Mel for arriving late because of interference caused to the TARDIS systems by the canister and gives her [[medicine]] from [[Xanthus IV]]. He suggests that Mel be removed from the house, but Henry comes to suspect that he and Dr Wallace are attempting to have Mel, whom he [[love]]s, committed to an [[Psychiatric hospital|asylum]].


He requests a private audience which they grant. Once alone with Mel, the Doctor profusely apologises, explaining that the alloy canister had damaged the [[TARDIS control console|TARDIS console]] and was interfering with the navigation. He further explains that before he can remove her from the premises, he first has to find and destroy the alloy canister as it is extremely dangerous and asks her to just hold on a bit longer, although he notices that Mel seems to be slightly disoriented and occasionally slips into calling herself "Eleanor". The Doctor discusses the possibility of taking Mel away for treatment (under the guise of getting her out of Hallam hall carefully so as not to damage Mel's personal time-line as they do not know what happens in 1782 due to the missing diary page) with Henry and Dr. Wallace but over the course of the conversation it is revealed that Henry has fallen in [[love]] with Mel, which worries the Doctor and disgusts Dr. Wallace, as Henry begins acting irrationally, suspecting them of staging the whole visit so that they can have Mel committed to an asylum, and swiftly kicks them out. While leaving they are rejoined by John and the Doctor makes a plan to try and get Mel out. Mel is visited by McGregor and she asks her to stay and talk. She seems sane at first to McGregor but when she tries to explain that she is a time traveler and has been displaced through time, McGregor laughs and claims that they have been through this before and Mel must be in one of her strange fits again. Henry then enters and when Mel asks about the Doctor, Henry explains he has banished him and Dr. Wallace both from the hall suspecting them of wanting to have her committed. Mel is distraught and is not sure which memories she can trust anymore. The Doctor and John explain the situation to Dr. Wallace, surprising John himself, but the Doctor then reveals that they may have to leave Mel here to live out the rest of her life less they interfere and damage her personal timeline as she has now become part of the history...      
Henry kicks the Doctor, John and Dr Wallace out of the house. Mel has benefitted from the Doctor's medicine and talks with Mrs McGregor about how a violent fit at [[Christmas]] led to her being treated by Dr Wallace and that she is a [[time traveller]], becoming distraught upon learning that the Doctor has been banished as she expected that he would rescue her. Outside of the grounds, the Doctor tells John that Mel has now become part of history and must be left behind to live out her life as Eleanor Hallam.


=== Part four ===
=== Part four ===
Mel inquires about Eleanor Hallam and discovers she might be the very one. Henry proposes [[Marriage proposal|marriage]] to her and she tries to turn him down but he seems to be slightly unhinged and threatens her under the guise of telling her to think it over. The Doctor theorises that Henry, having not taken the time to heal after losing his wife and suddenly devoting his efforts and energy to helping Mel, has become unhinged under the stress and would explain his current behaviour. The three of them hatch a plan, both to rescue Mel and to bury the unstable canister that brought Mel back in time. McGregor is summoned by Henry and asked to deliver a letter to Dr. Wallace relieving him of duty to Mel but over the course of their conversation learns he is to marry Mel, making her distraught, and politely expresses her concern to Henry who tells her it's unfounded and calming down from his rage asks her to go about her duties.  
Mel refuses Henry's [[marriage proposal]] as she does not love him nor know for sure that he has not taken advantage of her, but he insists that she think on it and she wonders if the Doctor has left her to become his second wife. The Doctor is unwilling to leave her behind and, whilst Dr Wallace digs a hole for the prototype canister to be buried in, sneaks into the house with John and finds Mrs McGregor distraught after learning of Henry's proposal. Having hoped to marry him herself, she helps John rescue Mel and they regroup with the Doctor and Dr Wallace, who bury the canister in a [[sewing box]] to be dug up in 2003. Mel points out that she cannot leave as Eleanor supposedly died in [[1811]], but the Doctor believes that Eleanor's life is a fiction and her death symbolic and takes Mel and John back to 2003.


The Doctor and John sneak inside Hallam hall and find McGregor crying, explaining she had hoped to marry Henry and they assure her that they have come to take Mel/ Eleanor home so that she can and she gladly agrees to help them. The Doctor detours to Henry's studies where they find the canister but he is met by Henry and thrown out with a final warning. John meanwhile gets Mel out with the help of McGregor. As they are fleeing, McGregor tries to give Melanie a dress but Mel refuses, saying McGregor should have it and wear it to confess to Henry. McGregor then offers Mel a sewing box that belonged to the previous mistress. They find the Doctor who is with Wallace as he has just dug the hole to bury the canister. The Doctor realises they need a box and John recognises that the sewing box McGregor gave Melanie is the one they need to use to bury the canister. They prepare to, however, Mel points out a problem, since if she leaves Eleanor Hallam will cease to exist and so she won't be recorded in the notes of her uncle John so that on reading the notes she won't be thinking about Eleanor Hallam when the TARDIS ends up interacting with the canister sending her back in the first place, but she doesn't want to stay and live out the remainder of Eleanor Hallam's life until her recorded death in 1811. The Doctor discovers a loop-hole, realising that Eleanor Hallam's "life", as recorded by Henry, is a fiction and her "death" is merely symbolic since no proper record of her death, or a body, was ever recorded. Thus Mel can return to the present. Doctor Wallace says he will go visit Henry as they are friends and Mel reminds him that he has an ally in McGregor. They take off, with Mel still weary about where she belongs but relieved to be leaving. McGregor confesses to Henry and explains that the people who visited earlier were Mel's "family" here to take her home. Henry is distraught and refuses to believe her, going so far as to attack her but is found in time by Dr. Wallace who reels him off her. Henry breaks down as he cries Jane's name over and over as Wallace realises the Doctor was right and he still hasn't recovered from the death of wife. Dr. Wallace and McGregor agree to take care of him as per the Doctor's instructions to help him get better.
Henry attacks Mrs McGregor when she confesses her feelings and tells him that Mel has returned home, but Dr Wallace stops him and he breaks down over the death of his wife, never having got over it and needing rest. In 2003, John decides to destroy the prototype canister to prevent any further incidents and the trio deduce that Mrs McGregor went on to marry Henry and removed the entries in his diary from the time of his breakdown. Mel decides that she needs to spend some time at the [[seaside]] to recuperate, although she has very little memory of her time in the 18th century, and together she and John insist that the Doctor go with them back to the Foundation's celebrations.
 
The Doctor, Mel and John arrive back in the house in [[2003]] and the Doctor instructs John to dismantle the capsule lest it cause any more harm. They realise that the woman in the painting they saw earlier, the "Eleanor" there was actually McGregor and reckon that they had a happy ending after all, and Henry must have removed the pages of 1782 from his diary lest anyone find out about him suffering his mental instability at that time. Then, reluctantly, but at Mel's behest, the Doctor joins Mel and John back downstairs to attend the remainder of the celebration.


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
* [[Sixth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Colin Baker]]
* [[Sixth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Colin Baker]]
* [[Melanie Bush]] - [[Bonnie Langford]]
* [[Melanie Bush]] - [[Bonnie Langford]]
* [[John Hallam|Dr. John Hallam]] - [[Derek Benfield]]
* [[John Hallam|Dr John Hallam]] - [[Derek Benfield]]
* [[Wallace|Dr. Wallace]] - [[Michael Chance]]
* [[Michael Wallace|Dr Wallace]] - [[Michael Chance]]
* [[Henry Hallam]] - [[Keith Drinkel]]
* [[Henry Hallam]] - [[Keith Drinkel]]
* Professor [[David Munro]] - [[Ian Fairburn]]
* [[David Munro|Professor David Munro]] - [[Ian Fairburn]]
* [[Rachel (Catch-1782)|Rachel]] - [[Rhiannon Meades]]
* [[Rachel (Catch-1782)|Rachel]] - [[Rhiannon Meades]]
* [[McGregor|Mrs McGregor]] - [[Jillie Meers]]
* [[McGregor (Catch-1782)|Mrs McGregor]] - [[Jillie Meers]]


== References ==
== Crew ==
* The Doctor has a pill he picked up as a hangover cure from [[Zanthas IV]] which successfully counteracts the effects of [[laudanum]].
 
*[[Royal Mail|Royal mail]] doesn't deliver to "out here" (implied to be [[Space|outer space]] or wherever the TARDIS is when the Doctor reveals he has Mel's uncle John's letter and invitation).
* Cover Art - [[Lee Binding]]
*The Doctor mentions being friends with [[Richard Dawkins]] and [[David Munro]].
* Director - [[Gary Russell]]
*Doctor Hallam's cat Jupiter is named after the planet [[Jupiter]].
* Music - [[Andy Hardwick]]
*Doctor Hallam is a [[historian]] but has an interest in [[chemistry]] and dabbles in it.
* Producers - Gary Russell and [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]]
*David Munro and the Doctor worked on a [[NMR|Nuclear Magnetic Resonance]] imaging project together many years ago for the Foundation. It investigated the course of disease evolution. (14:30)
* Sound Design - [[Gareth Jenkins (sound designer)|Gareth Jenkins]]
*John mentions [[electron microscope]]s.
* Writer - [[Alison Lawson]]
*John refers to the TARDIS as a [[police box]].
 
*John mentions the secret project of the Foundation involves [[particle physics]] and unstable [[Chrono|chrono atoms]].
== Worldbuilding ==
*Mel drinks some [[brandy]].
* The Doctor has pills that he picked up on [[Xanthus IV]]. They are a [[cure]] for [[hangover]]s and similar [[sickness|maladies]], which successfully counteracts the effects of [[laudanum]] on Mel.
*The Doctor claims to be an expert on diseases of the mind, including [[mania]], [[schizophrenia]], [[hysteria]], [[delusion]]s, [[neurosis]], [[dimentia]].
* [[Royal Mail|Royal mail]] doesn't deliver to "out here" (implied to be [[Space|outer space]] or wherever the TARDIS is when the Doctor reveals he has Mel's uncle John's letter and invitation).
*Mel has an [[eidetic memory]].
* The Doctor mentions being friends with [[Richard Dawkins (in-universe)|Richard Dawkins]] and [[David Munro]].
* Doctor Hallam's cat [[Jupiter (Catch-1782)|Jupiter]] is named after the planet [[Jupiter]].
* Doctor Hallam is a [[historian]] but has an interest in [[chemistry]] and dabbles in it.
* David Munro and the Doctor worked on a [[NMR|Nuclear Magnetic Resonance]] imaging project together many years ago for the Foundation. It investigated the course of disease evolution. (14:30)
* John mentions [[electron microscope]]s.
* John refers to the TARDIS as a [[police box]].
* John mentions the secret project of the Foundation involves [[particle physics]] and unstable [[Chrono|chrono atoms]].
* Mel drinks some [[brandy]].
* [[Daisy (Catch-1782)|Daisy]] is a [[servant]] at Hallam Hall.
* The Doctor claims to be an expert on diseases of the mind, including [[mania]], [[schizophrenia]], [[hysteria]], [[delusion]]s, [[neurosis]] and [[dementia]].
* Mel has an [[eidetic memory]].


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
* The name is an obvious pun on {{wi|Catch-22}}, a [[book]] published in 1961. When explaining the apparent dichotomy of leaving Hallam hall, Mel comments that she's stuck in a "Catch-22". This is a phrase used to describe a paradoxical situation
* The title is a reference to {{wi|Catch-22}}, a [[book]] published in 1961. When describing the apparent dichotomy of leaving Hallam hall, Mel comments that she's stuck in a "Catch-22". This is a phrase used to describe a paradoxical situation.
* The implication of the initial interior TARDIS scene is that Mel insisted that the Doctor change his outfit to attend the centenary celebration at the [[National Foundation for Scientific Research]], and that he testily obeyed. Thus he likely was not wearing his traditional multi-coloured outfit for this adventure. However, the audio never makes clear exactly what he changed into, though the celebration was described as a "black tie affair."
* The implication of the initial interior TARDIS scene is that Mel insisted that the Doctor change his outfit to attend the centenary celebration at the [[National Foundation for Scientific Research]], and that he testily obeyed. Thus he likely was not wearing his traditional multi-coloured outfit for this adventure. However, the audio never makes clear exactly what he changed into, though the celebration was described as a "black tie affair."
* This audio drama was recorded on [[25 October (production)|25]] and [[26 October (production)|26 October]] [[2004 (production)|2004]] at [[The Moat Studios]].
* This audio drama was recorded on [[25 October (production)|25]]<ref name=":0">'Backstage' tab of [https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-catch-1782-234 the official ''Catch-1782'' page] at [https://www.bigfinish.com/ bigfinish.com].</ref> and [[26 October (production)|26 October]] [[2004 (production)|2004]]<ref name=":0" /><ref>[https://www.instagram.com/bigfinishprod/p/DBmGC2OM88Y/ 20 years ago today, #DoctorWho: Catch-1782 was recorded!] [https://www.instagram.com/bigfinishprod @bigfinishprod] on [https://www.instagram.com Instagram.com], posted 26 October 2024.</ref> at [[the Moat Studios]].<ref name=":0" />
* This story is set between ''[[The Trial of a Time Lord (TV story)|The Trial of a Time Lord]]'' and ''[[Time and the Rani (TV story)|Time and the Rani]]'', and after ''[[The Juggernauts (audio story)|The Juggernauts]]''.<ref name=":0" />


== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
* During her childhood, Mel often visited the museum with her uncle John. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Wrong Doctors (audio story)|The Wrong Doctors]]'')
* During her childhood, [[Melanie Bush|Mel]] often visited the museum with [[John Hallam|her uncle John]]. She would mention this again in [[AUDIO]]: {{Cite source|The Wrong Doctors (audio story)}} and talk more of John in [[PROSE]]: {{Cite source|Spiral Scratch (novel)}}.
* Gallifrey is mentioned to be in [[Ireland]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Hand of Fear (TV story)|The Hand of Fear]]'')
* [[Gallifrey]] is mentioned to be in [[Ireland]], a running gag which began in [[TV]]: {{Cite source|The Hand of Fear (TV story)}}'','' and has appeared in [[TV]]: {{cs|The Hand of Fear (TV story)}}, [[TV]]: {{cs|The Invisible Enemy (TV story)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{Cite source|Human Nature (novel)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Dream a Little Dream for Me (short story)}}, [[TV]]: {{cs|Human Nature (TV story)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Fugitives (audio story)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Warren Legacy (audio story)}}, [[COMIC]]: {{cs|Gaze of the Medusa (comic story)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{Cite source|The Scent of Blood (audio story)}}, and [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Lagoon Monsters (audio story)}}''.''
*The Doctor claims to be a doctor of "practically everything", including [[medicine]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Moonbase (TV story)|The Moonbase]]'', [[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|''Spearhead from Space'']], ''[[The God Complex (TV story)|The God Complex]]'' ''et al.'')
* The Doctor claims to be a doctor of "practically everything", including [[medicine]].
** In [[TV]]: {{Cite source|The Moonbase (TV story)}}, the [[Second Doctor]] said he earned a medical degree under [[Joseph Lister]], in [[Glasgow]], [[1888]], although the [[Fourth Doctor]] would claim it dated to [[1880]] when putting Lister on his [[CV]] in [[PROSE]]: {{Cite source|System Shock (novel)}}. Regardless, the [[Fifth Doctor]] would cite it as reason for him being more than qualified to administer medical services in [[PROSE]]: {{Cite source|Blood and Hope (novel)}}, though also said he was not a medical doctor in [[AUDIO]]: {{Cite source|Red Dawn (audio story)}}.
** The [[First Doctor]] claimed to be a medical doctor and "numerous other disciplines" in [[AUDIO]]: {{Cite source|Last of the Romanovs (audio story)}}, and according to [[AUDIO]]: {{Cite source|Farewell, Great Macedon (audio story)}}, had studied [[medicine]] for two years. The [[Eleventh Doctor]] also claimed to have a [[doctorate]] in medicine, as well as having a doctorate in [[cheesemaking]], in [[TV]]: {{Cite source|The God Complex (TV story)}} The [[Thirteenth Doctor]] said she was a doctor of medicine, alongside "[[science]], [[engineering]], [[candy floss]], [[LEGO]], [[philosophy]], [[music]], [[problem]]s, [[Person|people]] and [[hope]], but mostly hope" in [[TV]]: {{Cite source|The Tsuranga Conundrum (TV story)}}, and would state in [[COMIC]]: {{Cite source|Herald of Madness (comic story)}} that she earned a doctorate at the [[University of Gallifrey]].
** The [[Third Doctor]] also said he was a doctor of "practically everything" to [[Liz Shaw]] when she asked him in [[TV]]: {{Cite source|Spearhead from Space (TV story)}}. The Fourth Doctor said he was a doctor of "just about everything", emphasising "just about", in [[AUDIO]]: {{Cite source|The Darkness of Glass (audio story)}}. The [[Tenth Doctor]] introduced himself as a doctor "of everything" to [[Yana|Professor Yana]] in [[TV]]: {{Cite source|Utopia (TV story)}}.


== External links ==
== External links ==
{{bigfinish|releases/v/catch-1782-234|Catch-1782}}
{{bigfinish|releases/v/catch-1782-234|Catch-1782}}
{{dwrefguide|who_bf68.htm|Catch-1782}}
{{dwrefguide|who_bf68.htm|Catch-1782}}
* {{tetrap|6/catch1782.html|Catch-1782}}
{{tetrap|6/catch1782.html|Catch-1782}}
 
== Footnotes ==
{{Reflist}}


{{BFA monthly}}
{{BFA monthly}}

Latest revision as of 23:13, 17 November 2024

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Catch-1782 was the sixty-eighth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Alison Lawson and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush.

It was the third team-up between the the Sixth Doctor and Mel characters since their turn on television. It was notable for providing the first substantial details about Mel's family and general back story in performed Doctor Who. It was also unusual for not having a "villain" per se, and no real alien presence at all. Because of this, and its setting in 2003 and 1782, it was a "pure historical", even at the time of its release. The main "enemy" in the piece is actually the concept of the Grandfather Paradox and the Doctor's efforts to retrieve Mel from her family's past history without causing damage to Mel's personal timeline.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

When the Doctor and Mel visit the National Foundation for Scientific Research as it celebrates its centenary, Mel expects only to be able to catch up with her uncle. She doesn't expect to meet her own ancestors...

What is buried in the grounds of the Foundation?

What secret has Henry Hallam kept from his descendants for three hundred years?

Can Mel escape her own past?

Visiting your relatives can sometimes be trying, but surely it should never be this difficult?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Part one[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor acquires a letter sent to Mel from her uncle, Dr John Hallam, in which he invites her to the National Foundation for Scientific Research's centenary celebration in 2003 Berkshire, on the way to which the Doctor hears a voice calling for help through a kink in time. A keen historian, John shows the Doctor and Mel around Hallam House, which his father leased to the Foundation, and tells them how many claim to have seen the ghost of the mysterious Eleanor Hallam. The Doctor initially wonders if the phenomena is related to the kink in time, but rules it out.

Whilst the Doctor talks to Professor David Munro, an old friend and the director of the Foundation, Mel learns from her uncle how the time capsule that the Foundation is burying is made of a new and unique alloy and goes to his study to look at his notes on the family history. David finds an object whilst burying the canister and the Doctor and John take it to the laboratory for analysis, discovering that it is an 18th century box containing the prototype canister which, impossibly, is in John's study. Mel and the canister in the study are relocated by a time disturbance and the Doctor enters the TARDIS, finding that there has been an explosion in the control room.

Part two[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor deduces that the new alloy, created by the Foundation from elements supplied by the Space Agency, was activated by its proximity to the TARDIS and sent Mel back in time, but the TARDIS attempted to warn her with its telepathic circuits. He and John look through the notes on the Hallam family and head off in the TARDIS to find Mel upon learning that the mysterious Eleanor arrived at Hallam Hall exactly 222 years earlier during a period which Henry Hallam tore from his journal.

Mel finds herself in 1781 and is taken by the housekeeper, Mrs McGregor, to the master of Hallam Hall, Henry. She claims to be a member of his late wife's sewing circle and forgets her name and home, vaguely remembering a doctor and collapsing on her way to the study to be saved by him. Dr Michael Wallace suspects that she might be attempting to exploit Henry's charity but diagnoses her with a concussion and suggests that they humour her by taking her to the study as she keeps asking. There, Mel says that she is in the wrong time and that she needs to go home.

Part three[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor and John arrive in June 1782, by which point Mel (referred to by the misheard name of Nell or Eleanor) has been living with Henry for several months and treated with laudanum by Dr Wallace. Whilst John drinks tea with Mrs McGregor, the Doctor apologises to the confused Mel for arriving late because of interference caused to the TARDIS systems by the canister and gives her medicine from Xanthus IV. He suggests that Mel be removed from the house, but Henry comes to suspect that he and Dr Wallace are attempting to have Mel, whom he loves, committed to an asylum.

Henry kicks the Doctor, John and Dr Wallace out of the house. Mel has benefitted from the Doctor's medicine and talks with Mrs McGregor about how a violent fit at Christmas led to her being treated by Dr Wallace and that she is a time traveller, becoming distraught upon learning that the Doctor has been banished as she expected that he would rescue her. Outside of the grounds, the Doctor tells John that Mel has now become part of history and must be left behind to live out her life as Eleanor Hallam.

Part four[[edit] | [edit source]]

Mel refuses Henry's marriage proposal as she does not love him nor know for sure that he has not taken advantage of her, but he insists that she think on it and she wonders if the Doctor has left her to become his second wife. The Doctor is unwilling to leave her behind and, whilst Dr Wallace digs a hole for the prototype canister to be buried in, sneaks into the house with John and finds Mrs McGregor distraught after learning of Henry's proposal. Having hoped to marry him herself, she helps John rescue Mel and they regroup with the Doctor and Dr Wallace, who bury the canister in a sewing box to be dug up in 2003. Mel points out that she cannot leave as Eleanor supposedly died in 1811, but the Doctor believes that Eleanor's life is a fiction and her death symbolic and takes Mel and John back to 2003.

Henry attacks Mrs McGregor when she confesses her feelings and tells him that Mel has returned home, but Dr Wallace stops him and he breaks down over the death of his wife, never having got over it and needing rest. In 2003, John decides to destroy the prototype canister to prevent any further incidents and the trio deduce that Mrs McGregor went on to marry Henry and removed the entries in his diary from the time of his breakdown. Mel decides that she needs to spend some time at the seaside to recuperate, although she has very little memory of her time in the 18th century, and together she and John insist that the Doctor go with them back to the Foundation's celebrations.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The title is a reference to Catch-22, a book published in 1961. When describing the apparent dichotomy of leaving Hallam hall, Mel comments that she's stuck in a "Catch-22". This is a phrase used to describe a paradoxical situation.
  • The implication of the initial interior TARDIS scene is that Mel insisted that the Doctor change his outfit to attend the centenary celebration at the National Foundation for Scientific Research, and that he testily obeyed. Thus he likely was not wearing his traditional multi-coloured outfit for this adventure. However, the audio never makes clear exactly what he changed into, though the celebration was described as a "black tie affair."
  • This audio drama was recorded on 25[1] and 26 October 2004[1][2] at the Moat Studios.[1]
  • This story is set between The Trial of a Time Lord and Time and the Rani, and after The Juggernauts.[1]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 'Backstage' tab of the official Catch-1782 page at bigfinish.com.
  2. ↑ 20 years ago today, #DoctorWho: Catch-1782 was recorded! @bigfinishprod on Instagram.com, posted 26 October 2024.
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