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{{Infobox Story
{{Infobox Story SMW
|image            = Absent Friends.jpg  
|image            = Absent Friends.jpg
|anthology        = ''[[Doom Coalition 3 (audio anthology)|Doom Coalition 3]]''
|range          = Doom Coalition (audio series)
|series in range = Doom Coalition 3
|series number in range = 3
|number in series = 1
|audio anthology  = Doom Coalition 3
|number          = 3.1
|number          = 3.1
|doctor          = Eighth Doctor
|doctor          = Eighth Doctor
|companions      = [[Liv Chenka|Liv]], [[Helen Sinclair|Helen]]
|companions      = [[Liv Chenka|Liv]], [[Helen Sinclair|Helen]]
|enemy            =  
|enemy            =  
|setting          = [[Calcot]], [[August]] [[1998]]
|setting          = [[Calcot]] and [[London]], [[August]] [[1998]]
|writer          = [[John Dorney]]
|writer          = John Dorney
|director        = [[Ken Bentley]]
|director        = [[Ken Bentley]]
|producer        = [[David Richardson]]
|music            = [[Jamie Robertson]]
|music            = [[Jamie Robertson]]
|sound            = [[Benji Clifford]]
|sound            = [[Benji Clifford]]
|publisher        = Big Finish Productions
|publisher        = Big Finish Productions
|cover            = [[Tom Webster]]
|cover            = [[Tom Webster]]
|release date    = [[22 September (releases)|22 September]] [[2016 (releases)|2016]]
|release date    = 22 September 2016
|format          = 1 X 1 hour
|format          = 1 X 1 hour
|production code  =  
|production code  =  
Line 22: Line 27:
|prev            = The Sonomancer (audio story)
|prev            = The Sonomancer (audio story)
|next            = The Eighth Piece (audio story)
|next            = The Eighth Piece (audio story)
}}
}}{{you may|Absent Friends (Torchwood audio story)|n1=the cancelled Torchwood audio story}}
'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the first audio story in the anthology ''[[Doom Coalition 3 (audio anthology)|Doom Coalition 3]]''. It starred [[Paul McGann]] as the [[Eighth Doctor]], [[Nicola Walker]] as [[Liv Chenka]], and [[Hattie Morahan]] as [[Helen Sinclair]].
'''''Absent Friends''''' was the first story in the audio anthology ''[[Doom Coalition 3]]'', produced by [[Big Finish Productions]]. It was written by [[John Dorney]] and featured [[Paul McGann]] as the [[Eighth Doctor]], [[Nicola Walker]] as [[Liv Chenka]] and [[Hattie Morahan]] as [[Helen Sinclair]].


== Publisher's summary ==
== Publisher's summary ==
[[Earth]]. The late [[20th century]]. Across the world, the [[mobile phone]] is gaining popularity as more and more people decide to join the digital age. But for the residents of a sleepy [[England|English]] town sitting in the shade of a new transmission mast, that ubiquity has a troubling cost.
[[Earth]]. The late [[20th century]]. Across the world, the [[mobile phone]] is gaining popularity as more and more people decide to join the digital age. But for the residents of a sleepy [[England|English]] [[town]] sitting in the shade of a new transmission mast, that ubiquity has a troubling cost.


When [[the TARDIS]] veers off-course, [[Eighth Doctor|the Doctor]] and his companions find themselves in the middle of a mystery. Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you. And sometimes the future does as well.
When [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] veers off-course, [[Eighth Doctor|the Doctor]] and his [[companion]]s find themselves in the middle of a mystery. Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you. And sometimes the future does as well.


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
''to be added''
In [[1998]], [[Angus Selwyn|Mr Selwyn]] of [[Superville Com]] watches a press conference that he recently gave, apologising for the eyesore of a transmission mast being put up in [[Calcot]] and offering each of the residents there a free [[mobile phone]] which he believes will change their minds. He receives a phone call and tells [[Superville|his boss]] that he believes everything went according to plan.
 
Although [[Eighth Doctor|the Doctor]] intended on returning to [[Gallifrey]] to inform [[Padrac]] of recent events, [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] materialises in Calcot, which [[Helen Sinclair|Helen]] immediately recognises as [[England]]. The Doctor decides to give the TARDIS a complete overhaul whilst [[Liv Chenka|Liv]] and Helen enjoy a weekend in the country, taking them to get rooms at the local [[pub]] and giving them [[debit card]]s. Thanks to [[River Song|an archaeologist]] having left without paying there are two rooms, but Helen instead decides to go to [[London]] to see her family. Liv, although hesitant, agrees to cover for her.
 
[[Phillip Cook|Phillip]] knocks on the TARDIS door and assumes that the Doctor is a [[police officer|policeman]] sent to deal with nuisance calls that began when the mast was put up. Having found nothing wrong with the TARDIS, the Doctor heads to the pub.
 
On her way out, Liv hears the [[landlord|landlady]], [[Kate Drury|Kate]], on the phone with somebody who keeps pretending to be [[Kate Drury's son|her dead son]] and lets her know that she can talk to her. Liv bumps into the Doctor, who tells her that the TARDIS must have been brought to Calcot by an external force, and claims that Helen is [[sleep]]ing and should not be disturbed. They head to the TARDIS.
 
In London, Helen tries to pay her [[taxi]] fare with her debit card and is confused by the decimal system. She arrives at her childhood home, which has since become [[flat]]s, and calls the agent to find out who lives there.
 
Liv tells the Doctor about Kate's nuisance call and the free mobile phones, raising the Doctor's suspicions and prompting him to go with Liv to speak to Phillip.
 
Helen rings the [[doorbell]] and meets her brother [[George Sinclair|George]], claiming to be her own daughter and using the name Ruth.
 
Phillip tells the Doctor and Liv that he has been receiving phone calls from someone doing a flawless impression of his ex, [[Colin (Absent Friends)|Colin]], who died in a [[car crash]] in the late [[1980s]] and sounds like he did when they met twenty years prior. He also tells them of Kate's son, who died at the age of eight at a [[level crossing]], and that Superville Com have an [[office]] at the mast.
 
George tells "Ruth" that he is not happy to see her as Helen's alleged robbery at the [[National Museum]] had tarnished the family name and the Sinclairs' reputation before disappearing. He apologises for treating her poorly for the sins of her mother when she goes to leave and insists that she stay, fetching some [[photo album]]s.
 
The Doctor and Liv meet Mr Selwyn, posing as freelance [[journalist]]s, and, on the way to his office, learn that there is a locked office apparently containing sensitive information. The Doctor asks Mr Selwyn about the phone calls and he and Liv are both given free mobile phones to see what they think of them. Once they have parted, Mr Selwyn asks [[Angus Selwyn's secretary|his secretary]] to call the boss. The Doctor inspects his phone and he and Liv discuss how artificial Mr Selwyn and the others at the office looked.
 
George shows "Ruth" a photo album, telling her of the deaths of [[Helen Sinclair's mother|his mother]], [[Helen Sinclair's father|father]] and [[Harry Sinclair|brother]] and that [[George Sinclair's fiancée|his secret fiancée]]'s [[George Sinclair's fiancée's father|father]] forbade their [[marriage]] after Helen's disappearance. She tells George that their father was cruel to Helen and their mother and that she is glad that he was driven to an early grave, prompting George to tell her to leave despite her saying that she had not meant it.
 
The Doctor's [[The Doctor's sonic screwdriver|sonic screwdriver]] is unable to detect anything wrong with the mobile phones, suggesting that the transmitter is the problem. When the phone starts ringing, he tells Liv to answer it as he knows who will be calling him and he does not want to talk to them. She does so and speaks to [[Kal Chenka|her father]], asking him what he said to her when she asked why he was not afraid of falling when they went mountain climbing on [[Kaldor]]. She puts the phone down and leaves after telling the Doctor that whoever is behind it must have used her [[memory]].
 
Caught up by the Doctor, Liv tells him that he is not good with people and that she blames herself for not having diagnosed her father's illness because she was away. The Doctor says that they will break into the office at night and put a stop to it. That evening, they get into the locked office and the Doctor hacks into a [[computer]] before being caught by Mr Selwyn. They realise that the people at the office look artificial only because they are businessmen and that the company's name comes not from "[[supervillain]]" but because the boss, Mr Superville, is [[France|French]]. Mr Selwyn is guilty only of [[insider trading]].
 
Walking free, the Doctor suggests that nobody is behind the calls and that it is a natural result of [[time distortion]], meaning that Liv really did talk to her father. As Liv talks about how guilty she feels for being rude to him, Helen arrives and tells the Doctor that he has to take her back home.
 
The Doctor scolds Helen for visiting her brother and tells her that her future is fixed and he cannot change time. A phone rings and Liv answers it after being warned by the Doctor not to try to save him. Her father asks if she will be home for [[Liv Chenka's mother|her mother]]'s [[birthday]] and she tells him that she loves him. The Doctor and Helen leave for the TARDIS, giving Liv space to stay at the pub for the night.
 
The Doctor and Helen are led to a clock in Phillip's shop by the sonic screwdriver, a clock which Phillip tells them has attachments that go nowhere and [[cog]]s that do not connect, as though it is part of a larger clock. Attempting to scan it blows up the screwdriver. They go to Liv and tell her that the clock, which has been boosted with [[artron energy]], has been causing the phone calls by warping [[spacetime]], and which the Doctor says they will be taking to [[Midge (Lost Property)|an alien friend]] in London. Before leaving, Liv convinces Kate to answer the phone to her son and say goodbye to him.
 
In London, Liv and Helen wait for the Doctor to finish with his friend. Helen holds onto her phone, regretting proving her father right about her and hoping that her mother will call so that she can apologise. Liv convinces her to visit George, but Helen then receives a call from him and realises that he died shortly after she left him. She gives the phone to the Doctor and heads off for the train, followed by Liv. The phone starts ringing in the Doctor's hands and, despite saying that he will not answer it, he does so.


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
Line 37: Line 74:
* [[Liv Chenka]] - [[Nicola Walker]]
* [[Liv Chenka]] - [[Nicola Walker]]
* [[Helen Sinclair]] - [[Hattie Morahan]]
* [[Helen Sinclair]] - [[Hattie Morahan]]
* [[George Sinclair|George]] - [[Jeremy Clyde]]
* [[George Sinclair|George]] - [[Jeremy Clyde]]
* [[Angus Selwyn]] - [[Ian Puleston-Davies]]  
* [[Angus Selwyn]] - [[Ian Puleston-Davies]]
* [[Phillip Cook]]/[[Kal Chenka|Kal]] - [[Richard Hope]]  
* [[Phillip Cook]] / [[Kal Chenka|Kal]] - [[Richard Hope]]
* [[Kate Drury]] - [[Anna Acton]]  
* [[Kate Drury]] - [[Anna Acton]]


== References ==
== Worldbuilding ==
''to be added''
* [[Sandwich]]es are served at the press conference.
* [[Calcot]] has a village green, a [[church]] and a [[pub]]. It is not far from [[London]]
* After the [[Second World War]], Helen went on holidays to the [[Lake District]].
* The Doctor gives Liv and Helen [[debit card]]s with the [[PIN]] "[[23 November (releases)|23]][[November (releases)|11]]".
* Helen gets a [[return ticket]].
* The Doctor runs a [[diagnostic check]] on the TARDIS.
* Helen asks [[taxi driver (Absent Friends)|a taxi driver]] what "2.50" is in [[shilling]]s.
* Phillip receives calls from his ex, [[Colin (Absent Friends)|Colin]], who died in a car crash in the late [[1980s]]. They met in the armed forces circa the [[1960s]].
* George gets Helen a cup of [[tea]].
* George says that [[Helen Sinclair's mother|Mrs Sinclair]] would have loved to have a granddaughter.
* Mr Selwyn offers the Doctor and Liv tea, [[coffee]] and [[water]]. He says that he is partial to a [[HobNob]].
* The Doctor and Liv have a [[ginger beer]] and a [[fizzy water]].
* Mr Selwyn is guilty of [[insider trading]].
* The Doctor says that they will take the clock to [[Midge (Lost Property)|a friend]] who runs a lost property office at the [[London Underground]].


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
* This story won an Audio Award in the category of Best Online Only Audio Drama in January 2017.<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5Ynb3jN3yHTz7BwDJVpbXyr/the-list-of-2017-winners</ref>
* This story won a BBC Audio Award in the category of Best Online Only Audio Drama in January 2017.<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5Ynb3jN3yHTz7BwDJVpbXyr/the-list-of-2017-winners</ref>
* This story was recorded at [[The Moat Studios]].
* This story was recorded at [[The Moat Studios]].


== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
* Liv says that she has been to [[London]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[A Life in the Day (audio story)|A Life in the Day]]'', ''[[The Red Lady (audio story)|The Red Lady]]'') and the [[coast]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Beachhead (audio story)|Beachhead]]'') and might as well do "the bit in-between".
* Liv recalls seeing [[mobile phone]]s in [[Stegmoor]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Beachhead (audio story)|Beachhead]]'')
* Helen mentions being on the run with the police. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Red Lady (audio story)|The Red Lady]]'')
* Helen mentions being on the run with the police. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Red Lady (audio story)|The Red Lady]]'')
* Helen pretends to be her daughter when she meets her brother George. [[Molly O'Sullivan]] did the same when she met an older [[David Walker]] in the [[1970s]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Eyes of the Master (audio story)|Eyes of the Master]]'')
* Liv mentions climbing mountains on [[Kaldor]] with her father. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Sonomancer (audio story)|The Sonomancer]]'')
* The Doctor told Helen not to contact her family in Stegmoor. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Beachhead (audio story)|Beachhead]]'')
* The clock was previously discovered by [[River Song]] in ''[[The Sonomancer (audio story)|The Sonomancer]]''.
* The Doctor's alien friend appears in ''[[Lost Property (audio story)|Lost Property]]'', in which he is named [[Midge (Lost Property)|Midge]].


== External links ==
== External links ==
* {{bigfinish|releases/v/1223|Doom Coalition 3}}
{{bigfinish|releases/v/doom-coalition-3-1223}}
 
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}


== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{BF EDA}}
{{BF EDA}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}


[[Category:Eighth Doctor Adventures audio stories]]
[[Category:Doom Coalition 3 audio stories]]
[[Category:2016 audio stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in England]]
[[Category:Stories set in England]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1998]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1998]]
[[Category:Pseudo-historical stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in London]]
[[Category:Audio stories that use the David Arnold theme]]
[[Category:Audio stubs]]

Latest revision as of 20:08, 4 March 2024

RealWorld.png

You may be looking for the cancelled Torchwood audio story.

Absent Friends was the first story in the audio anthology Doom Coalition 3, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by John Dorney and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, Nicola Walker as Liv Chenka and Hattie Morahan as Helen Sinclair.

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

Earth. The late 20th century. Across the world, the mobile phone is gaining popularity as more and more people decide to join the digital age. But for the residents of a sleepy English town sitting in the shade of a new transmission mast, that ubiquity has a troubling cost.

When the TARDIS veers off-course, the Doctor and his companions find themselves in the middle of a mystery. Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you. And sometimes the future does as well.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

In 1998, Mr Selwyn of Superville Com watches a press conference that he recently gave, apologising for the eyesore of a transmission mast being put up in Calcot and offering each of the residents there a free mobile phone which he believes will change their minds. He receives a phone call and tells his boss that he believes everything went according to plan.

Although the Doctor intended on returning to Gallifrey to inform Padrac of recent events, the TARDIS materialises in Calcot, which Helen immediately recognises as England. The Doctor decides to give the TARDIS a complete overhaul whilst Liv and Helen enjoy a weekend in the country, taking them to get rooms at the local pub and giving them debit cards. Thanks to an archaeologist having left without paying there are two rooms, but Helen instead decides to go to London to see her family. Liv, although hesitant, agrees to cover for her.

Phillip knocks on the TARDIS door and assumes that the Doctor is a policeman sent to deal with nuisance calls that began when the mast was put up. Having found nothing wrong with the TARDIS, the Doctor heads to the pub.

On her way out, Liv hears the landlady, Kate, on the phone with somebody who keeps pretending to be her dead son and lets her know that she can talk to her. Liv bumps into the Doctor, who tells her that the TARDIS must have been brought to Calcot by an external force, and claims that Helen is sleeping and should not be disturbed. They head to the TARDIS.

In London, Helen tries to pay her taxi fare with her debit card and is confused by the decimal system. She arrives at her childhood home, which has since become flats, and calls the agent to find out who lives there.

Liv tells the Doctor about Kate's nuisance call and the free mobile phones, raising the Doctor's suspicions and prompting him to go with Liv to speak to Phillip.

Helen rings the doorbell and meets her brother George, claiming to be her own daughter and using the name Ruth.

Phillip tells the Doctor and Liv that he has been receiving phone calls from someone doing a flawless impression of his ex, Colin, who died in a car crash in the late 1980s and sounds like he did when they met twenty years prior. He also tells them of Kate's son, who died at the age of eight at a level crossing, and that Superville Com have an office at the mast.

George tells "Ruth" that he is not happy to see her as Helen's alleged robbery at the National Museum had tarnished the family name and the Sinclairs' reputation before disappearing. He apologises for treating her poorly for the sins of her mother when she goes to leave and insists that she stay, fetching some photo albums.

The Doctor and Liv meet Mr Selwyn, posing as freelance journalists, and, on the way to his office, learn that there is a locked office apparently containing sensitive information. The Doctor asks Mr Selwyn about the phone calls and he and Liv are both given free mobile phones to see what they think of them. Once they have parted, Mr Selwyn asks his secretary to call the boss. The Doctor inspects his phone and he and Liv discuss how artificial Mr Selwyn and the others at the office looked.

George shows "Ruth" a photo album, telling her of the deaths of his mother, father and brother and that his secret fiancée's father forbade their marriage after Helen's disappearance. She tells George that their father was cruel to Helen and their mother and that she is glad that he was driven to an early grave, prompting George to tell her to leave despite her saying that she had not meant it.

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver is unable to detect anything wrong with the mobile phones, suggesting that the transmitter is the problem. When the phone starts ringing, he tells Liv to answer it as he knows who will be calling him and he does not want to talk to them. She does so and speaks to her father, asking him what he said to her when she asked why he was not afraid of falling when they went mountain climbing on Kaldor. She puts the phone down and leaves after telling the Doctor that whoever is behind it must have used her memory.

Caught up by the Doctor, Liv tells him that he is not good with people and that she blames herself for not having diagnosed her father's illness because she was away. The Doctor says that they will break into the office at night and put a stop to it. That evening, they get into the locked office and the Doctor hacks into a computer before being caught by Mr Selwyn. They realise that the people at the office look artificial only because they are businessmen and that the company's name comes not from "supervillain" but because the boss, Mr Superville, is French. Mr Selwyn is guilty only of insider trading.

Walking free, the Doctor suggests that nobody is behind the calls and that it is a natural result of time distortion, meaning that Liv really did talk to her father. As Liv talks about how guilty she feels for being rude to him, Helen arrives and tells the Doctor that he has to take her back home.

The Doctor scolds Helen for visiting her brother and tells her that her future is fixed and he cannot change time. A phone rings and Liv answers it after being warned by the Doctor not to try to save him. Her father asks if she will be home for her mother's birthday and she tells him that she loves him. The Doctor and Helen leave for the TARDIS, giving Liv space to stay at the pub for the night.

The Doctor and Helen are led to a clock in Phillip's shop by the sonic screwdriver, a clock which Phillip tells them has attachments that go nowhere and cogs that do not connect, as though it is part of a larger clock. Attempting to scan it blows up the screwdriver. They go to Liv and tell her that the clock, which has been boosted with artron energy, has been causing the phone calls by warping spacetime, and which the Doctor says they will be taking to an alien friend in London. Before leaving, Liv convinces Kate to answer the phone to her son and say goodbye to him.

In London, Liv and Helen wait for the Doctor to finish with his friend. Helen holds onto her phone, regretting proving her father right about her and hoping that her mother will call so that she can apologise. Liv convinces her to visit George, but Helen then receives a call from him and realises that he died shortly after she left him. She gives the phone to the Doctor and heads off for the train, followed by Liv. The phone starts ringing in the Doctor's hands and, despite saying that he will not answer it, he does so.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • This story won a BBC Audio Award in the category of Best Online Only Audio Drama in January 2017.[1]
  • This story was recorded at The Moat Studios.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]