The Crooked Man (audio story): Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox Story SMW | |||
{{Infobox Story | |image = The Crooked Man cover.jpg | ||
|series = ''[[The Fourth Doctor Adventures]]'' | |||
|image | |range = The Fourth Doctor Adventures | ||
|series | |series in range = Series 3 (4DA) | ||
|number | |number in series = 3 | ||
|doctor | |number = 3.03 | ||
|companions | |doctor = Fourth Doctor | ||
|enemy | |companions = [[Leela]] | ||
|setting | |enemy = [[Crooked Man (The Crooked Man)|Crooked Man]] | ||
|writer = [[ | |setting = [[Eastwold]], [[21st century]];<br/>[[Land of Fiction]] | ||
| | |writer = John Dorney | ||
|music | |director = [[Nicholas Briggs]] | ||
|sound | |producer = [[David Richardson]] | ||
|publisher | |music = [[Jamie Robertson]] | ||
|release date | |sound = Jamie Robertson | ||
|format | |cover = [[Anthony Lamb]] | ||
|production code = | |publisher = Big Finish Productions | ||
|isbn | |release date = 14 March 2014 | ||
|prev | |format = 1 CD<br/>Download | ||
|next | |production code = BFPTOMCD016 | ||
|isbn = ISBN 978-1-78178-292-7 (physical); 978-1-78178-993-3 (digital) | |||
|prev = White Ghosts (audio story) | |||
|next = The Evil One (audio story) | |||
|soundcloudtrailer = https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/the-crooked-man-trailer | |soundcloudtrailer = https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/the-crooked-man-trailer | ||
}}{{you may|Crooked Man|n1=the creature that befriended the Eleventh Doctor}} | |epcount = 2 | ||
'''''The Crooked Man''''' was the third story in the third series of ''[[The Fourth Doctor Adventures]]''. | }}{{you may|Crooked Man (Hide)|n1=the creature that befriended the Eleventh Doctor}} | ||
'''''The Crooked Man''''' was the third story in the [[Series 3 (4DA)|third series]] of ''[[The Fourth Doctor Adventures]]'', produced by [[Big Finish Productions]]. It was written by [[John Dorney]] and featured [[Tom Baker]] as the [[Fourth Doctor]] and [[Louise Jameson]] as [[Leela]]. | |||
== Publisher's summary == | == Publisher's summary == | ||
Winter at the | [[Winter]] at the [[sea]]side. The [[wind]] blows. The waves crash. [[People]] are [[Death|dying]] and a strange spindly figure stalks the [[cold]], deserted [[street]]s. A typical [[holiday]] for [[Fourth Doctor|the Doctor]] and [[Leela]] in other words. | ||
When they stumble across a grotesque series of | When they stumble across a grotesque series of [[murder]]s at the [[coast]], [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] travellers realise the local [[Police|constabulary]] is out of its depth. Something [[supernatural]] has come to town, something [[evil]]. And it all seems to be tied in to a particular young [[family]]. | ||
[[Monster]]s lurk behind strange [[door]]s. Tragic secrets wait to be uncovered. And somewhere, deep within, the [[Crooked Man (The Crooked Man)|Crooked Man]] sits. He is waiting for you. | |||
== Plot == | == Plot == | ||
=== Part one === | === Part one === | ||
''to | [[Laura Corbett]] enters a [[bookshop]] to sell her deceased [[father]]'s [[book]]s and returns home to her [[husband]] [[Simon Corbett]] who cooks her [[dinner]]. The two are newly-wed with a [[child]] named Edward and attempting to fix up an old house that they've just moved into. Later that evening a [[murder]] occurs in the bookstore and the shop owner, [[Rance (The Crooked Man)|Rance]], is found dead with [[paper]] stuffed down his [[throat]]. The [[Fourth Doctor|Doctor]] and [[Leela]] investigate the crime scene at the book shop the very next day along with the dispatched [[Constable|police constable]] [[Ellis Andrews]]. The two decide to go around the neighbourhood and interview potential suspects about the murder while Ellis stays behind and runs into Laura, who had returned to the shop thinking she'd accidentally left a [[manuscript]] in the box of books she sold the previous day. The Doctor and Leela first try and interview [[Lesley King]] who throws them out of her [[house]]. They then try and interview head of [[Neighbourhood Watch|neighbourhood watch]] [[Celia Turner]] but she attempts to murder them using [[cyanide]] in their [[tea]] and the Doctor, catching the smell of [[almond]]s, bests her and he and Leela discover that she is a character from the [[Land of Fiction]] and watch as she is "killed" by the [[Crooked Man (The Crooked Man)|Crooked Man]] who tears the spine of her book and makes a getaway. The Doctor and Leela follow in pursuit. | ||
Their chasing leads them back to Laura and Simon's house where as they arrive, Simon, Laura and Ellis (the latter two having just arrived as Ellis offered to safely walk her home) discover more books amassing around the house despite Laura selling off all her father's old collected books yesterday. They are then contacted through the baby monitor by the Crooked Man who speaks to the Doctor and warns him that the Land of Fiction is coming... | |||
=== Part two === | === Part two === | ||
''to be | The Crooked Man [[Kidnapping|kidnaps]] baby Edward and escapes into his world, dubbed "The Crooked World" by the Doctor and the Doctor, Leela, Laura, Simon and Ellis chase after him. They venture further into the Crooked Man's world and encounter several strange creatures that seem to be made of [[Papier mâché|paper-mache]]. Simon manages to defeat their adversaries with ease, displaying an almost inhuman bout of strength, piquing the Doctor's interest but they press on further. They eventually manage to find the Crooked Man who reveals that he managed to break into reality through a portal he found and has lured them into a [[trap]]. The Doctor, who had questioned Laura earlier, asks her to explain how she knew so much about the Crooked Man and she finally reveals that her father used to be a writer and wrote unconventionally scary stories that he would sometimes frighten her with (she explained they did not get along well), one of them being the Crooked Man's story, a story about a [[demon]] that ate people's imaginations and loved to kill and the Doctor surmises this creature had the power to step through [[dimension]]s due to having such incredible powers. They find the Crooked Man who reveals it was a trap, which the Doctor suspected, but as he controls his world he uses his powers to start draining their minds, however, Simon breaks free and confronts the Crooked Man, freeing the others from his control. Ellis then finds the manuscript for the story and they manage to defeat the Crooked Man by destroying it. They then hear the other inhabitants of the Crooked World from the Land of Fiction trying to escape back to reality but the Doctor says they cannot be allowed out as they kill humans in order to survive. | ||
While the others think that with the Crooked Man's death the breach between the Land of Fiction and reality will close, the Doctor realises this isn't the case and goads Laura into revealing her real secret. The truth is that her husband Simon, an ideal husband, further demonstrated by even taking her last name, is actually the construct of her imagination. It turns out that PC Ellis was actually the one who got Laura [[Pregnancy|pregnant]] and then left her for another woman and in her distress, Laura had imagined a husband that she would describe to others so vividly that he was born in the Land of Fiction as Simon, and she had imagined him as the kind of husband who would stop at nothing to be there for his son, "not even the walls of reality". Simon, the cause of the breach, realises he must stay behind to properly close the breach, much to Laura's anger and resentment. They all manage to escape just in time with Edward safely in his room again. | |||
Leela is perplexed that Laura would, despite knowing the truth that her husband wasn't real, would live in denial for so long, with the Doctor reassuring her that everything will work out and that they should go try out [[crazy golf]]. | |||
Laura finishes the story for Edward and says that although it was how his first father passed on, he has a new father who, although not perfect, loves him very much. She then wishes him a goodnight. | |||
== Cast == | == Cast == | ||
* [[Fourth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Tom Baker]] | * [[Fourth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Tom Baker]] | ||
* [[Leela]] - [[Louise Jameson]] | * [[Leela]] - [[Louise Jameson]] | ||
* [[Crooked Man ( | * [[Crooked Man (The Crooked Man)|The Crooked Man]] / [[Geoff Corbett]] - [[Neil Stuke]] | ||
* [[Laura Corbett]] - [[Sarah Smart]] | * [[Laura Corbett]] - [[Sarah Smart]] | ||
* [[Simon Corbett]]/[[Reporter (The Crooked Man)|Reporter]] - [[Robin Pearce]] | * [[Simon Corbett]] / [[Reporter (The Crooked Man)|Reporter]] - [[Robin Pearce]] | ||
* [[Ellis Andrews]]/[[Rance (The Crooked Man)|Rance]] - [[Richard Earl]] | * [[Ellis Andrews]] / [[Rance (The Crooked Man)|Rance]] - [[Richard Earl]] | ||
* [[Celia Turner]]/[[Lesley King]] - [[Lizzie Roper]] | * [[Celia Turner]] / [[Lesley King]] - [[Lizzie Roper]] | ||
== | == Worldbuilding == | ||
* PC Ellis Andrews refers to the Doctor as "a loony in a [[The Doctor's scarf|scarf]]." | * PC Ellis Andrews refers to the Doctor as "a loony in a [[The Doctor's scarf|scarf]]." | ||
* The Doctor refers to | * The Doctor refers to [[YouTube]]. | ||
* [[Celia Turner]] is from ''[[Hearts and Minds 2: Turner's Revenge]]''. | |||
* The Doctor reads a line from [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]'s book ''[[The Great Gatsby]]''. | |||
* Ellis used to read ''[[Choose Your Own Adventure]]'' books. | |||
* Laura comments that the crooked man's world is very [[M. C. Escher]]-esque. | |||
* The Doctor comments "Lead on, [[Macduff]]", a line from [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Macbeth]]'', however he points out that it's really a misquote. | |||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
[[File:The Crooked Man clean.jpg|thumb|Textless cover art]] | [[File:The Crooked Man clean.jpg|thumb|Textless cover art]] | ||
* This story was recorded on [[23 May (production)|23 May]] [[2012 (production)|2012]] at [[Audio Sorcery]]. | |||
* The Doctor jokes that Ellis must not get out much when he reveals he watches a lot of ''[[Professor X]]''. | |||
* The Doctor quips that it's a good sign when people try to kill him as it usually means he's on the right track. There are several notable examples where he quips something similar to this, such as in [[TV]]: ''[[City of Death (TV story)|City of Death]]'' "What a wonderful butler, he's so violent!" (the butler had previously tried to murder him, [[Romana]] and [[Duggan]]) among many other occasions. | |||
* Leela asks why the Doctor wears such a silly [[The Doctor's scarf|scarf]] if they do so much running. This is an in-joke as [[Tom Baker]] used to trip over the scarf often during production. | |||
* During the writing stage, [[Nicholas Briggs]] found some elements in the initial script to be "so horrid" that he asked [[John Dorney]] to tone them down. ([[BFX]]: ''The Crooked Man'') | |||
* [[David Richardson]]'s brief for the story was "the [[Land of Fiction]] invades a house". ([[BFX]]: ''The Crooked Man'') | |||
== Continuity == | == Continuity == | ||
* Leela once again refers to the police as "blue guards." ([[TV]]: ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TV story)|The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]''; [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Foe from the Future (audio story)|The Foe from the Future]]'', ''[[Energy of the Daleks (audio story)|Energy of the Daleks]]'') | * Leela once again refers to the police as "blue guards." ([[TV]]: ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TV story)|The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]''; [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Foe from the Future (audio story)|The Foe from the Future]]'', ''[[Energy of the Daleks (audio story)|Energy of the Daleks]]'') | ||
| Line 62: | Line 86: | ||
* Ellis is a fan of ''[[Professor X]]''. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future (novel)|No Future]]'') | * Ellis is a fan of ''[[Professor X]]''. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future (novel)|No Future]]'') | ||
* Leela mentions that her father [[Sole (The Face of Evil)|Sole]] risked his life for her when he took the [[Test of the Horda]] in her place. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Face of Evil (TV story)|The Face of Evil]]'') | * Leela mentions that her father [[Sole (The Face of Evil)|Sole]] risked his life for her when he took the [[Test of the Horda]] in her place. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Face of Evil (TV story)|The Face of Evil]]'') | ||
* The Doctor reads the first line from "''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]''" by [[Charles Dickens]]. He would later meet Charles Dickens in his ninth incarnation in [[Cardiff]] in 1856. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Unquiet Dead (TV story)|The Unquiet Dead]]'') | |||
* When the Doctor accidentally interprets Ellis' question of being alright as directed at him, he states that "a few bruises and scratches but otherwise nothing that requires [[regeneration]]". The Doctor as a [[Time Lord]] is able to regenerate. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet (TV story)|The Tenth Planet]]'', ''[[The War Games (TV story)|The War Games]]'', ''et al''.) | |||
== External links == | == External links == | ||
{{bigfinish|releases/v/the-crooked-man-800}} | |||
{{BF 4DA}} | {{BF 4DA}} | ||
{{Land of Fiction stories}} | |||
{{TitleSort}} | {{TitleSort}} | ||
[[Category:Series 3 (4DA) audio stories]] | |||
[[Category: | |||
[[Category:Stories set in England]] | [[Category:Stories set in England]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Audio stories set in the Land of Fiction]] | ||
[[Category:Stories set in the 21st century]] | [[Category:Stories set in the 21st century]] | ||
[[fr:The Crooked Man]] | |||
Latest revision as of 22:53, 2 March 2024
- You may be looking for the creature that befriended the Eleventh Doctor.
The Crooked Man was the third story in the third series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by John Dorney and featured Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
Winter at the seaside. The wind blows. The waves crash. People are dying and a strange spindly figure stalks the cold, deserted streets. A typical holiday for the Doctor and Leela in other words.
When they stumble across a grotesque series of murders at the coast, the TARDIS travellers realise the local constabulary is out of its depth. Something supernatural has come to town, something evil. And it all seems to be tied in to a particular young family.
Monsters lurk behind strange doors. Tragic secrets wait to be uncovered. And somewhere, deep within, the Crooked Man sits. He is waiting for you.
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
Part one[[edit] | [edit source]]
Laura Corbett enters a bookshop to sell her deceased father's books and returns home to her husband Simon Corbett who cooks her dinner. The two are newly-wed with a child named Edward and attempting to fix up an old house that they've just moved into. Later that evening a murder occurs in the bookstore and the shop owner, Rance, is found dead with paper stuffed down his throat. The Doctor and Leela investigate the crime scene at the book shop the very next day along with the dispatched police constable Ellis Andrews. The two decide to go around the neighbourhood and interview potential suspects about the murder while Ellis stays behind and runs into Laura, who had returned to the shop thinking she'd accidentally left a manuscript in the box of books she sold the previous day. The Doctor and Leela first try and interview Lesley King who throws them out of her house. They then try and interview head of neighbourhood watch Celia Turner but she attempts to murder them using cyanide in their tea and the Doctor, catching the smell of almonds, bests her and he and Leela discover that she is a character from the Land of Fiction and watch as she is "killed" by the Crooked Man who tears the spine of her book and makes a getaway. The Doctor and Leela follow in pursuit.
Their chasing leads them back to Laura and Simon's house where as they arrive, Simon, Laura and Ellis (the latter two having just arrived as Ellis offered to safely walk her home) discover more books amassing around the house despite Laura selling off all her father's old collected books yesterday. They are then contacted through the baby monitor by the Crooked Man who speaks to the Doctor and warns him that the Land of Fiction is coming...
Part two[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Crooked Man kidnaps baby Edward and escapes into his world, dubbed "The Crooked World" by the Doctor and the Doctor, Leela, Laura, Simon and Ellis chase after him. They venture further into the Crooked Man's world and encounter several strange creatures that seem to be made of paper-mache. Simon manages to defeat their adversaries with ease, displaying an almost inhuman bout of strength, piquing the Doctor's interest but they press on further. They eventually manage to find the Crooked Man who reveals that he managed to break into reality through a portal he found and has lured them into a trap. The Doctor, who had questioned Laura earlier, asks her to explain how she knew so much about the Crooked Man and she finally reveals that her father used to be a writer and wrote unconventionally scary stories that he would sometimes frighten her with (she explained they did not get along well), one of them being the Crooked Man's story, a story about a demon that ate people's imaginations and loved to kill and the Doctor surmises this creature had the power to step through dimensions due to having such incredible powers. They find the Crooked Man who reveals it was a trap, which the Doctor suspected, but as he controls his world he uses his powers to start draining their minds, however, Simon breaks free and confronts the Crooked Man, freeing the others from his control. Ellis then finds the manuscript for the story and they manage to defeat the Crooked Man by destroying it. They then hear the other inhabitants of the Crooked World from the Land of Fiction trying to escape back to reality but the Doctor says they cannot be allowed out as they kill humans in order to survive.
While the others think that with the Crooked Man's death the breach between the Land of Fiction and reality will close, the Doctor realises this isn't the case and goads Laura into revealing her real secret. The truth is that her husband Simon, an ideal husband, further demonstrated by even taking her last name, is actually the construct of her imagination. It turns out that PC Ellis was actually the one who got Laura pregnant and then left her for another woman and in her distress, Laura had imagined a husband that she would describe to others so vividly that he was born in the Land of Fiction as Simon, and she had imagined him as the kind of husband who would stop at nothing to be there for his son, "not even the walls of reality". Simon, the cause of the breach, realises he must stay behind to properly close the breach, much to Laura's anger and resentment. They all manage to escape just in time with Edward safely in his room again.
Leela is perplexed that Laura would, despite knowing the truth that her husband wasn't real, would live in denial for so long, with the Doctor reassuring her that everything will work out and that they should go try out crazy golf.
Laura finishes the story for Edward and says that although it was how his first father passed on, he has a new father who, although not perfect, loves him very much. She then wishes him a goodnight.
Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Doctor - Tom Baker
- Leela - Louise Jameson
- The Crooked Man / Geoff Corbett - Neil Stuke
- Laura Corbett - Sarah Smart
- Simon Corbett / Reporter - Robin Pearce
- Ellis Andrews / Rance - Richard Earl
- Celia Turner / Lesley King - Lizzie Roper
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- PC Ellis Andrews refers to the Doctor as "a loony in a scarf."
- The Doctor refers to YouTube.
- Celia Turner is from Hearts and Minds 2: Turner's Revenge.
- The Doctor reads a line from F. Scott Fitzgerald's book The Great Gatsby.
- Ellis used to read Choose Your Own Adventure books.
- Laura comments that the crooked man's world is very M. C. Escher-esque.
- The Doctor comments "Lead on, Macduff", a line from Shakespeare's play Macbeth, however he points out that it's really a misquote.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- This story was recorded on 23 May 2012 at Audio Sorcery.
- The Doctor jokes that Ellis must not get out much when he reveals he watches a lot of Professor X.
- The Doctor quips that it's a good sign when people try to kill him as it usually means he's on the right track. There are several notable examples where he quips something similar to this, such as in TV: City of Death "What a wonderful butler, he's so violent!" (the butler had previously tried to murder him, Romana and Duggan) among many other occasions.
- Leela asks why the Doctor wears such a silly scarf if they do so much running. This is an in-joke as Tom Baker used to trip over the scarf often during production.
- During the writing stage, Nicholas Briggs found some elements in the initial script to be "so horrid" that he asked John Dorney to tone them down. (BFX: The Crooked Man)
- David Richardson's brief for the story was "the Land of Fiction invades a house". (BFX: The Crooked Man)
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Leela once again refers to the police as "blue guards." (TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang; AUDIO: The Foe from the Future, Energy of the Daleks)
- While covering the BAFTAs, the reporter refers to Sir Jack Merrivale and Martin Ashcroft. The Fifth Doctor would later serve as the technical adviser of the 1976 portmanteau film Doctor Demonic's Tales of Terror. Merrivale starred in the film (as did the Doctor's companion Nyssa) while Ashcroft directed it. (AUDIO: Special Features)
- The Doctor mentions his visit to the Land of Fiction and meeting Lemuel Gulliver and Rapunzel during his second incarnation. (TV: The Mind Robber) He would later visit it again during his sixth (AUDIO: City of Spires, Night's Black Agents, The Wreck of the Titan, Legend of the Cybermen) and seventh incarnations (PROSE: Conundrum, Head Games).
- Leela refers to Xoanon. (TV: The Face of Evil)
- Ellis is a fan of Professor X. (PROSE: No Future)
- Leela mentions that her father Sole risked his life for her when he took the Test of the Horda in her place. (TV: The Face of Evil)
- The Doctor reads the first line from "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. He would later meet Charles Dickens in his ninth incarnation in Cardiff in 1856. (TV: The Unquiet Dead)
- When the Doctor accidentally interprets Ellis' question of being alright as directed at him, he states that "a few bruises and scratches but otherwise nothing that requires regeneration". The Doctor as a Time Lord is able to regenerate. (TV: The Tenth Planet, The War Games, et al.)
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Official The Crooked Man page at bigfinish.com
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