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{{Infobox Story
{{Infobox Story SMW
|image           = Wrong Doctors cover.jpg
|image             = Wrong Doctors cover.jpg
|range           = Main Range
|range             = Main Range
|number in range = 169
|number in range   = 169
|series         = ''[[Main Range]]''
|series           = ''[[Main Range]]'' stories
|number         = 169  
|number           = 169  
|doctor         = Sixth Doctor
|doctor           = Sixth Doctor
|companions     = [[Melanie Bush|Mel]]
|companions       = [[Melanie Bush|Mel]]
|enemy           = [[Time demon|"Stapleton Petherbridge"]]
|featuring        = [[Christine Bush|Christine]]
|setting         = [[Pease Pottage]], [[1987]]  
|enemy             = [[Time demon]]
|writer         = [[Matt Fitton]]
|setting           = [[Pease Pottage]], [[summer]] [[1987]]  
|director       = [[Nicholas Briggs]]
|writer           = Matt Fitton
|producer = [[David Richardson]]
|director         = [[Nicholas Briggs]]
|music           = [[Simon Robinson]]
|producer         = [[David Richardson]]
|sound           = [[Simon Robinson]]
|music             = [[Simon Robinson]]
|cover           = [[Mark Plastow]]  
|sound             = [[Simon Robinson]]
|publisher       = Big Finish Productions
|cover             = [[Mark Plastow]]
|release date   = [[14 January (releases)|14 January]] [[2013 (releases)|2013]]
|epcount          = 4
|format         = 2 CDs, 4 Parts
|publisher         = Big Finish Productions
|isbn           = ISBN 978-1-78178-051-0
|release date     = 14 January 2013
|prev = Smuggling Tales (audio story)
|format           = 2 CDs<br/>Download
|next = Spaceport Fear (audio story)
|isbn             = ISBN 978-1-78178-051-0 (physical)<br/MISBN 978-1-78575-716-7 (digital)
|series2         =Big Finish ''Doctor Who'' audio releases
|production code  = BFPDWCD169
|prev2 = 1001 Nights (audio anthology)
|prev             = Smuggling Tales (audio story)
|next2 = Spaceport Fear (audio story)
|next             = Spaceport Fear (audio story)
|series2           = ''[[Main Range]]'' releases
|prev2             = 1001 Nights (audio anthology)
|next2             = Spaceport Fear (audio story)
|soundcloudtrailer = https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/doctor-who-the-wrong-doctors-trailer
|soundcloudtrailer = https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/doctor-who-the-wrong-doctors-trailer
}}{{audio stub}}
}}
'''''The Wrong Doctors''''' was the one hundred and sixty-ninth story in [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]]'s [[Main Range|monthly range]]. It was written by [[Matt Fitton]] and featured [[Colin Baker]] as the [[Sixth Doctor]] and [[Bonnie Langford]] as [[Melanie Bush]].
'''''The Wrong Doctors''''' was the one hundred and sixty-ninth story in [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]]'s [[Main Range|monthly range]]. It was written by [[Matt Fitton]] and featured [[Colin Baker]] as the [[Sixth Doctor]] and [[Bonnie Langford]] as [[Melanie Bush]].


== Publisher's summary ==
== Publisher's summary ==
With [[Evelyn Smythe|Evelyn]] gone, [[Sixth Doctor|the Doctor]] sets course for his destiny... in the form of his first meeting with Miss [[Melanie Bush]], a computer programmer from the village of [[Pease Pottage]], currently busy rehearsing with the local Amateur Dramatic Society — and blissfully unaware that her future is on its way, in [[The Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]].
With [[Evelyn Smythe|Evelyn]] gone, [[Sixth Doctor|the Doctor]] sets course for his [[destiny]]... in the form of his first meeting with [[Melanie Bush|Miss Melanie Bush]], a [[computer programmer]] from the [[village]] of [[Pease Pottage]], currently busy rehearsing with the local Amateur Dramatic Society — and blissfully unaware that her future is on its way, in [[The Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]].


Make that two TARDISes. Because at that very moment, a slightly younger Doctor is flying into Pease Pottage, too — returning his future companion Melanie Bush to her rightful place and time, after they were flung together during the course of his [[Time Lord]] trial.
Make that two TARDISes. Because at that very moment, a slightly younger Doctor is flying into Pease Pottage, too — returning his future companion Melanie Bush to her rightful place and [[time]], after they were flung together during the course of his [[Time Lord]] trial.


Time travel is a complicated business — the iguanadon terrorising Pease Pottage being a case in point. But how much more complicated could things possibly become, if the wrong Doctor were to bump into the wrong Mel?
[[Time travel]] is a complicated business — the [[iguanadon]] terrorising Pease Pottage being a case in point. But how much more complicated could things possibly become, if the wrong Doctor were to bump into the wrong Mel?
 
== Part one audio ==
{{soundcloud|https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/podcast-january-2013-1-preview}}


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
=== Part one ===
=== Part one ===
The Doctor finishes the last piece of chocolate cake that [[Evelyn Smythe]] baked, noting that there won't be any more. Lonely, he thinks its time for Melanie Bush to enter his life. Meanwhile, Mel is auditioning with Mr. Petherbridge, who goes outside to deal with a driver, telling him he should have followed the detour signs as Pease Pottage is closed for heritage matters. The driver refuses to turn around and is attacked by a territorial iguanodon.
Having finished the last slice of [[Evelyn Smythe|Evelyn]]'s [[chocolate]] [[sponge cake]], [[Sixth Doctor|the Doctor]] heads to [[Pease Pottage]] to meet [[Melanie Bush|Mel]] whilst his younger self is dropping an older Mel home following [[The Doctor's trial (The Mysterious Planet)|his trial]], albeit at an earlier [[time]] than intended. The older Doctor hurries off after meeting the older Mel and the younger Doctor meets the younger Mel on her way to work at the [[Pease Pottage Radar Station|radar station]] as he investigates a [[car]] wrecked by an ''[[Iguanodon]]''. The wreck is ignored by Mel and disappears entirely when [[Muriel Wilberforce|Mrs Wilberforce]] orders the Doctor to leave the village.


The [[TARDIS]] arrives in the village: the Doctor is dropping Mel off in her correct time and place, following her relocation to [[Space Station Zenobia]] during [[The Ultimate Foe|his trial]]. After he leaves, Mel notices a cat similar to one she recalls from prior to her travels with the Doctor, and realises that they are one and the same: the Doctor has brought her to the wrong time. The future Doctor arrives at her house, and is surprised to find out Mel already knows him. She explains how the younger Doctor dropped her off after the events of the time lord trial. They both work out that this Doctor is older than the one that dropped off Mel, but younger than the Doctor Mel knows. The older Doctor quickly leaves the house, telling Mel to forget that she ever saw him.
The younger Doctor overhears [[Time demon|Mr Petherbridge]] ordering [[Jedediah Thurwell|Jed]], who is wearing old-fashioned [[clothes]], to hold up a [[carriage]] and sneaks into the radar station as the younger Mel is [[hoovering]], finding that Mr Petherbridge has been communicating with a [[spaceship]] in the woods. He goes to investigate what Mel casually refers to as a [[time explosion]] and encounters his older self, whom he saves from a trap on [[Horsham Road]] and makes [[contact]] with. They find that [[the Doctor's TARDIS|their TARDISes]] have disappeared.


Meanwhile, the younger Doctor is on his way back to his TARDIS when he notices smoke. He also notices that it is a bright, warm day but no one is outside. He follows the smoke and finds the crushed vehicle with the driver still inside. He notices the claw marks on the vehicle and recognises that they belong to an iguanodon. He is stopped by the younger Mel, who accidentally hits him with her bike. He finds out that this younger Mel works at the radar station but doesn’t know about computers, which the older Mel knew lots about. After the younger Mel leaves, the younger Doctor is stopped by Mrs. Wilberforce. Both the younger Mel and Mrs. Wilberforce fail to notice the fatal crash which has happened right in front of them, which immediately disappears right after the younger Doctor mentions it to Mrs. Wilberforce.
The older Mel meets Mrs Wilberforce, who explains that she has been looking after her whilst [[Christine Bush|her mother]] and [[Alan Bush|father]] are on a [[cruise]] but also that she died in [[1964]]. Mrs Wilberforce recognises that this Mel is from the future and decides to take her to Mr Petherbridge, encountering both an ''Iguanodon'' and a ''[[Baryonyx]]'' outside. Although she is unsurprised to see the [[dinosaur]]s, she, like Mel, who memorised 150 species of dinosaur at the age of eight, knows that ''Baryonyx'' is carnivorous and they run away from it.


The younger Mel arrives at the radar station interrupting Petherbridge contacting someone: she fails to notice this. Just after, Jedediah Thurwell knocks on the door. The younger Mel asks Petherbridge not to answer it: she and Thurwell had a fall out and now she refuses to talk to him. Petherbridge goes outside to speak to Thurwell, who apologises for not turning up to the auditions. Petherbridge instructs Therwell to hold up a carriage, which Thurwell agrees to. The younger Doctor overhears their conversation and, using the information the younger Mel gave him, assumes that Petherbridge is one of these men after Thurwell calls him ‘Mr. P’. He also notices that Thurwell is wearing clothes not from the current time period. Once Petherbridge and Thurwell have gone, the younger Doctor sneaks into the radar station, where the younger Mel is cleaning. Against the younger Mel’s protests, the younger Doctor interferes with the equipment and discovers that the radar station is contacting a spaceship in the woods a few miles away. These were the people Petherbridge was talking to. Suddenly, a time explosion goes off, but the younger Mel says it’s nothing to worry about and that Petherbridge told her what it was. The younger Doctor begins to suspect Petherbridge. He leaves to investigate, telling the younger Mel to stay.
=== Part two ===
The older Mel and Mrs Wilberforce take refuge in [[Beresford (The Wrong Doctors)|Mr Beresford]]'s [[bungalow]] with Jedediah and watch as the younger Doctor uses [[K9]]'s [[dog whistle]] to distract the ''Baryonyx'' until it fades away. He learns that Jed, who goes to hold up a carriage carrying [[gunpowder]], died in [[1884]] and goes with the older Mel to meet up with their other selves in the woods. The older Doctor suspects that the younger Mel is under [[mind control]] given that she claims to have no knowledge of [[computer]]s when he meets her at the radar station and tempts her into coming after him once she calls Mr Petherbridge.


On the Mardaxs’ spaceship, Captain Ksllak contacts Vaneesh. He explains how his troops are ready and asks if her presentation is ready. She explains how it is but there’s a lot of slides. Ksllak reveals that their mission was originally a training flight but they had to change it.
The two Doctors, deducing that they are within [[cauterised time]], keep the younger Mel from seeing her older self and decide to split up. The younger pair find that the spaceship belongs to a group of [[Mardak]]s led by [[Vaneesh]], who provide services by transporting goods through the [[Time Vortex]] with unstable [[valanxium]] channels. The Doctor threatens Vaneesh into leaving the [[planet]] but, when she identifies him as a higher life form, she assumes that he is a competitor and orders [[Ksllak]] to incinerate him.


The younger Doctor is looking around for where the explosion could have come from and sees the older Doctor, who falls into a trap hidden in the middle of the street. The younger Doctor runs up to him and asks if he’s the Doctor or not. He answers his question by contacting him telepathically.
As the younger Mel seems enthralled by Mr Petherbridge, the older pair locate him in the village hall and demand to know where the TARDISes are. He demonstrates his powers by showing them [[Victoria|Queen Victoria]]'s [[1837]] visit to Pease Pottage and the transportation of prisoners, including Jed, to [[Lewes Naval Prison]]. He frees the younger Jed, [[Pete (The Wrong Doctors)|Pete]] and other prisoners and has them capture Mel and tie the Doctor to a cart full of gunpowder, handing Jed a flint to light the fuse. Not believing that he has any choice, Jed sets the rope attached to the cart alight.


Meanwhile, the older Mel is sitting in her house when Mrs. Wilberforce comes in. The older Mel is confused: she’s never met Mrs. Wilberforce in her entire life. She explains that she’s looking after Mel while her parents are on a cruise. Mrs. Wilberforce notices that Mel looks older and before she can explain, Mrs. Wilberforce finds out that the older Mel is from the future. Mrs. Wilberforce tells the older Mel her life story and that she died in 1964 at the age of 80. Mrs. Wilberforce suggests to the older Mel that they ask Petherbridge about there being two Mels.
=== Part three ===
Discovering that she is somehow able to alter causality, the older Mel suggests that Jed might have tied a [[slipknot]] and makes it so, allowing the older Doctor to get free and stop the explosion. They head to the radar station, which Mel has no memory of ever working at, and the Doctor deduces that the younger Mel is being used by Mr Petherbridge for her [[eidetic memory]] to control [[alternate timeline]]s and manipulate [[reality]]. The older Mel leaves and the Doctor is confronted by Mr Petherbridge, a time demon from the vortex.


The older Doctor, now rescued, escorts the younger Doctor back to where he parked the TARDIS, telling him that the longer he stays, the more Mel’s future is at risk. They return to where both of their TARDISes were parked to find them both gone.
Ksllak reminds Vaneesh that [[Mardak Home Corp]] approval is required for the incineration of competitors and the younger Doctor allows them to believe that he has been sent by the Home Corp to test them. The Doctor sends the younger Mel, who is [[invisibility|invisible]] to the Mardak, to tell the older Doctor about the valanxium channel whilst he goes with Vaneesh to the spaceship where he programmes the channel to shut down. Mel forgets about her mission and meets the older Mel, who questions why she is not at [[university]] and goes with her to the village hall to rehearse for Mr Petherbridge's heritage celebration. The Doctor is shown the Mardaks' mine at the [[golf course]], which is full of gunpowder planted there by Mr Petherbridge and the [[Women's Institute]].


The older Mel and Mrs. Wilberforce step out onto the street to find the iguanodon chewing plants and a barryonix, which is carnivorous. The barryonix sees the older Mel and Mrs. Wilberforce and chases them down the street.
Mr Petherbridge reveals to the older Doctor that his plan is to kill the younger Doctor and feed off of the chaos that his death will cause to the timelines, namely the erasure of his adventures with Evelyn, [[Thomas Brewster|Brewster]] and future [[companion]]s. The older Doctor will remain as an [[anachronism]] to be consumed by the creatures of the vortex. He runs and finds the two Mels in the village hall, singing a song and counting down.


=== Part two ===
=== Part four ===
Thurwell sees the older Mel and Mrs. Wilberforce being chased down the street and the three quickly hide inside Thurwell’s house. Before the barryonix can break down the door, the younger Doctor appears and uses K9’s old dog whistle to try and calm the dinosaur. Instead, the barryonix turns to the younger Doctor before disappearing just like the vehicle. The younger Doctor enters the house to make sure everyone’s alright and he and the older Mel meet Thurwell and Mrs. Wilberforce properly. The older Mel is puzzled by Thurwell’s name and he confesses it’s from the 1800’s and that he died in 1884. Thurwell quickly leaves, leaving everyone else puzzled on why he had to go so quickly. The younger Doctor asks what’s happening and Mrs. Wilberforce says he should ask Petherbridge. The younger Doctor and the older Mel then leave. While walking down the street, the younger Doctor tells her that his older self is getting the younger Mel and meeting them, that both their TARDISes have gone and that Pease Pottage has been taken out of time.
The older Doctor arrives at the village hall and Mel knocks her younger self out with a punch to keep the Doctor's past from being erased. He gets Mel to have gunpowder taken to the radio station by Jed and deduces thanks to her and Mrs Wilberforce that Mr Petherbridge has put together a temporal [[daisy chain]] of people stretching from the death of the real [[Stapleton Petherbridge]] in the late [[18th century]] to Mel. With Mrs Wilberforce's blessing, the older Mel returns her to her death, but the Doctor refuses to allow her to further strain herself by doing the same for Jed and Mr Petherbridge and sends her to tell the younger Doctor that he knows where his TARDIS is.
 
The younger Mel is still in the radar station when the older Doctor appears. The younger Mel mistakes him for the younger Doctor and asks if he wants to see Petherbridge. He refuses and tampers with the equipment again and finds out that the radar station is contacting the spaceship in the woods. The younger Mel is confused since the younger Doctor had already worked this out. Suddenly, another time explosion goes off. The younger Mel explains to the older Doctor that Petherbridge said it comes from the woods: the same place the spaceship is. The older Doctor decides to explore the woods and asks the younger Mel to come with him. She agrees but says she must tell Petherbridge first. While the younger Mel phones him, the older Doctor leaves. Over the phone, Petherbridge tells the younger Mel that she can go. She hangs up the phone and afterwards Petherbridge reveals his true nature and that he got rid of the dinosaurs and the vehicle.
 
Thurwell meets up with his accomplice, Pete, after telling him that Petherbridge wants them to hold up the carriage which has gold in it. It eventually arrives and Thurwell, Pete and a few others stop it. Pete and the others open the crates, which only has black powder in them. Just then, the soldiers on the carriage disappear. Pete and the others question what Petherbridge has got them into. Thurwell reveals it was a trap for them Pete and the others disappear until only Thurwell, the carriage, the powder and the horses remain. Thurwell meets up with Petherbridge and gives him the powder. Mrs. Wilberforce arrives on a vehicle and Petherbridge tells her and Thurwell to go to the radar site with concrete.
 
The two Doctors and the older Mel meet up. The older Doctor explains how the younger Mel will be along and that they’ll investigate the woods. The younger Doctor suggests he should go instead, which everyone agrees on. The younger Mel arrives and the two Doctors quickly push the older Mel into a bush so they can’t see each other because it might overload their minds. The younger Doctor goes with the younger Mel towards the woods while the older Doctor and the older Mel try to find Petherbridge.
 
The younger Doctor and the younger Mel journey into the woods and find a golf course where they find the spaceship. The younger Doctor tells the younger Mel that the Mardax are business consultants. On the spaceship, Vaneesh gives her business presentation, which no one likes. Ksllak releases his troops, who carry digging equipment. The younger Doctor and the younger Mel see the troops, and the younger Doctor wants to get their attention. He picks up a dropped golf ball and throws it at them. It gets the attention of Vaneesh. The younger Doctor tells her to leave the planet. She finds out he’s a Time Lord and prepares to incinerate him because he’s a higher species and threat to them.


The older Doctor and the older Mel find Petherbridge in the hall. The older Doctor demands to know where the TARDIS is. A group of people suddenly appear cheering. Petherbridge says it was the Queen’s visit in 1887. A wagon also appears with people getting off it. One of them is Thurwell. The other Thurwell, who has just arrived, is shocked. Petherbridge tells him to go to the woods, which he does. The other men with Thurwell are Pete and the others. Thurwell grabs the older Mel while Pete grabs the older Doctor. Pete ties the older Doctor to a cart full of gunpowder. Petherbridge gives Thurwell a stick with fire on it and Thurwell lights the rope attached to the gunpowder.
The younger Doctor realises that the Maraks have detected the trace of a future valanxium deposit which will only come to be thanks to them being buried and attempts to persuade Vaneesh not to accept Mr Petherbridge's offer of [[human]] [[slave]]s to assist them in mining it. The older Doctor sends both Mr Petherbridge and Jed to their proper places in time to die by taking Mel's place, but Mr Petherbridge refuses to go gently and the younger Mel helps by forcing him into a [[temporal cul-de-sac]]. The younger Doctor makes Ksllak an [[assessor]], tasking him with filling the pit dug at the golf course with the Mardak's supply of valanxium, and the younger Mel dies in the older Doctor's arms.


=== Part three ===
The older Doctor decides that he will return to wearing his patchwork coat as it was the one that the younger Mel preferred. The two TARDISes, used to anchor the pocket dimension, are recovered and the younger Doctor departs with Mel, advised by his older self to visit [[Sheffield Hallam University]]. The older Doctor realises that the younger Mel has been removed from time by the [[Blinovitch Limitation Effect]] and reconstructs her as the older Mel using his TARDIS and the radio station. In 36 Downview Crescent, Mel wakes up and is berated by her mother for napping.
''to be added''
 
=== Part four ===
''to be added''


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
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* [[Ksllak]] - [[John Banks]]
* [[Ksllak]] - [[John Banks]]


== References ==
== Crew ==
 
* Cover Art - [[Mark Plastow]]
* Director - [[Nicholas Briggs]]
* Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]]
* Music and Sound Design - [[Simon Robinson]]
* Producer - [[David Richardson]]
* Script Editor - [[Alan Barnes]]
* Writer - [[Matt Fitton]]
 
== Worldbuilding ==
* When the older Doctor realises that he has crossed his timestream, he is relieved that it is not another incarnation with their [[Fourth Doctor|scarves]], [[Third Doctor|frills]] or [[Fifth Doctor|celery]].
* When the older Doctor realises that he has crossed his timestream, he is relieved that it is not another incarnation with their [[Fourth Doctor|scarves]], [[Third Doctor|frills]] or [[Fifth Doctor|celery]].
* When she first met the younger Doctor, the younger Mel believed that he was going to audition for ''[[Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]]''.
* When she first met the younger Doctor, the younger Mel believed that he was going to audition for ''[[Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]]''.
Line 100: Line 100:


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
* This marks the first appearance of [[Bonnie Langford]] as [[Melanie Bush]] in a Big Finish audio drama since ''[[The Vanity Box (audio story)|The Vanity Box]]'' in July 2007, while also, technically, being as the first chronological story of the character in the DWU.
* This marks the first appearance of [[Bonnie Langford]] as [[Melanie Bush]] in a Big Finish audio drama since ''[[The Vanity Box (audio story)|The Vanity Box]]'' in July 2007, while also, technically, being the first chronological story of the character in the DWU.
* This audio drama was recorded on [[1 May (production)|1]] and [[2 May (production)|2 May]] 2012
* This audio drama was recorded on [[1 May (production)|1]] and [[2 May (production)|2 May]] [[2012 (releases)|2012]] at the [[The Moat Studios|Moat Studios]].
* This story has some resemblance to the second serial of ''Sapphire and Steel'', where an entity makes deals with deceased people and manipulates time.
* This story has some resemblance to the second serial of ''Sapphire and Steel'', where an entity makes deals with deceased people and manipulates time.
* Big Finish released [https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/podcast-january-2013-1-preview?in=big-finish/sets/big-finish-podcasts the first episode] of the story as a podcast prior to release.
* Big Finish released [https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/podcast-january-2013-1-preview?in=big-finish/sets/big-finish-podcasts the first episode] of the story as a podcast prior to release.
* The cover for this story features a new version of the Doctor Who logo, which appears in a motif similar to the title sequence from the William Hartnell era, and was also used for other Doctor Who related merchandise.
* The cover for this story features a new version of the ''Doctor Who'' logo, which appears in a motif similar to the title sequence from the [[William Hartnell]] era, and was also used for other ''Doctor Who'' related merchandise.


== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
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[[Category:Sixth Doctor Main Range audio stories]]
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[[Category:2013 Main Range audio stories]]
[[Category:2013 Main Range audio stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in Sussex]]
[[cy:The Wrong Doctors (stori sain)]]

Latest revision as of 19:53, 23 March 2024

RealWorld.png

The Wrong Doctors was the one hundred and sixty-ninth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Matt Fitton and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush.

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

With Evelyn gone, the Doctor sets course for his destiny... in the form of his first meeting with Miss Melanie Bush, a computer programmer from the village of Pease Pottage, currently busy rehearsing with the local Amateur Dramatic Society — and blissfully unaware that her future is on its way, in his TARDIS.

Make that two TARDISes. Because at that very moment, a slightly younger Doctor is flying into Pease Pottage, too — returning his future companion Melanie Bush to her rightful place and time, after they were flung together during the course of his Time Lord trial.

Time travel is a complicated business — the iguanadon terrorising Pease Pottage being a case in point. But how much more complicated could things possibly become, if the wrong Doctor were to bump into the wrong Mel?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

Having finished the last slice of Evelyn's chocolate sponge cake, the Doctor heads to Pease Pottage to meet Mel whilst his younger self is dropping an older Mel home following his trial, albeit at an earlier time than intended. The older Doctor hurries off after meeting the older Mel and the younger Doctor meets the younger Mel on her way to work at the radar station as he investigates a car wrecked by an Iguanodon. The wreck is ignored by Mel and disappears entirely when Mrs Wilberforce orders the Doctor to leave the village.

The younger Doctor overhears Mr Petherbridge ordering Jed, who is wearing old-fashioned clothes, to hold up a carriage and sneaks into the radar station as the younger Mel is hoovering, finding that Mr Petherbridge has been communicating with a spaceship in the woods. He goes to investigate what Mel casually refers to as a time explosion and encounters his older self, whom he saves from a trap on Horsham Road and makes contact with. They find that their TARDISes have disappeared.

The older Mel meets Mrs Wilberforce, who explains that she has been looking after her whilst her mother and father are on a cruise but also that she died in 1964. Mrs Wilberforce recognises that this Mel is from the future and decides to take her to Mr Petherbridge, encountering both an Iguanodon and a Baryonyx outside. Although she is unsurprised to see the dinosaurs, she, like Mel, who memorised 150 species of dinosaur at the age of eight, knows that Baryonyx is carnivorous and they run away from it.

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

The older Mel and Mrs Wilberforce take refuge in Mr Beresford's bungalow with Jedediah and watch as the younger Doctor uses K9's dog whistle to distract the Baryonyx until it fades away. He learns that Jed, who goes to hold up a carriage carrying gunpowder, died in 1884 and goes with the older Mel to meet up with their other selves in the woods. The older Doctor suspects that the younger Mel is under mind control given that she claims to have no knowledge of computers when he meets her at the radar station and tempts her into coming after him once she calls Mr Petherbridge.

The two Doctors, deducing that they are within cauterised time, keep the younger Mel from seeing her older self and decide to split up. The younger pair find that the spaceship belongs to a group of Mardaks led by Vaneesh, who provide services by transporting goods through the Time Vortex with unstable valanxium channels. The Doctor threatens Vaneesh into leaving the planet but, when she identifies him as a higher life form, she assumes that he is a competitor and orders Ksllak to incinerate him.

As the younger Mel seems enthralled by Mr Petherbridge, the older pair locate him in the village hall and demand to know where the TARDISes are. He demonstrates his powers by showing them Queen Victoria's 1837 visit to Pease Pottage and the transportation of prisoners, including Jed, to Lewes Naval Prison. He frees the younger Jed, Pete and other prisoners and has them capture Mel and tie the Doctor to a cart full of gunpowder, handing Jed a flint to light the fuse. Not believing that he has any choice, Jed sets the rope attached to the cart alight.

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

Discovering that she is somehow able to alter causality, the older Mel suggests that Jed might have tied a slipknot and makes it so, allowing the older Doctor to get free and stop the explosion. They head to the radar station, which Mel has no memory of ever working at, and the Doctor deduces that the younger Mel is being used by Mr Petherbridge for her eidetic memory to control alternate timelines and manipulate reality. The older Mel leaves and the Doctor is confronted by Mr Petherbridge, a time demon from the vortex.

Ksllak reminds Vaneesh that Mardak Home Corp approval is required for the incineration of competitors and the younger Doctor allows them to believe that he has been sent by the Home Corp to test them. The Doctor sends the younger Mel, who is invisible to the Mardak, to tell the older Doctor about the valanxium channel whilst he goes with Vaneesh to the spaceship where he programmes the channel to shut down. Mel forgets about her mission and meets the older Mel, who questions why she is not at university and goes with her to the village hall to rehearse for Mr Petherbridge's heritage celebration. The Doctor is shown the Mardaks' mine at the golf course, which is full of gunpowder planted there by Mr Petherbridge and the Women's Institute.

Mr Petherbridge reveals to the older Doctor that his plan is to kill the younger Doctor and feed off of the chaos that his death will cause to the timelines, namely the erasure of his adventures with Evelyn, Brewster and future companions. The older Doctor will remain as an anachronism to be consumed by the creatures of the vortex. He runs and finds the two Mels in the village hall, singing a song and counting down.

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

The older Doctor arrives at the village hall and Mel knocks her younger self out with a punch to keep the Doctor's past from being erased. He gets Mel to have gunpowder taken to the radio station by Jed and deduces thanks to her and Mrs Wilberforce that Mr Petherbridge has put together a temporal daisy chain of people stretching from the death of the real Stapleton Petherbridge in the late 18th century to Mel. With Mrs Wilberforce's blessing, the older Mel returns her to her death, but the Doctor refuses to allow her to further strain herself by doing the same for Jed and Mr Petherbridge and sends her to tell the younger Doctor that he knows where his TARDIS is.

The younger Doctor realises that the Maraks have detected the trace of a future valanxium deposit which will only come to be thanks to them being buried and attempts to persuade Vaneesh not to accept Mr Petherbridge's offer of human slaves to assist them in mining it. The older Doctor sends both Mr Petherbridge and Jed to their proper places in time to die by taking Mel's place, but Mr Petherbridge refuses to go gently and the younger Mel helps by forcing him into a temporal cul-de-sac. The younger Doctor makes Ksllak an assessor, tasking him with filling the pit dug at the golf course with the Mardak's supply of valanxium, and the younger Mel dies in the older Doctor's arms.

The older Doctor decides that he will return to wearing his patchwork coat as it was the one that the younger Mel preferred. The two TARDISes, used to anchor the pocket dimension, are recovered and the younger Doctor departs with Mel, advised by his older self to visit Sheffield Hallam University. The older Doctor realises that the younger Mel has been removed from time by the Blinovitch Limitation Effect and reconstructs her as the older Mel using his TARDIS and the radio station. In 36 Downview Crescent, Mel wakes up and is berated by her mother for napping.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • This marks the first appearance of Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush in a Big Finish audio drama since The Vanity Box in July 2007, while also, technically, being the first chronological story of the character in the DWU.
  • This audio drama was recorded on 1 and 2 May 2012 at the Moat Studios.
  • This story has some resemblance to the second serial of Sapphire and Steel, where an entity makes deals with deceased people and manipulates time.
  • Big Finish released the first episode of the story as a podcast prior to release.
  • The cover for this story features a new version of the Doctor Who logo, which appears in a motif similar to the title sequence from the William Hartnell era, and was also used for other Doctor Who related merchandise.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

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Fifth Doctor
Adric, Nyssa, Tegan
Nyssa
Nyssa, Brewster
Nyssa, Hannah
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Tegan, Leela
Turlough
Peri
Peri, Erimem
Amy
Vicki, Steven
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Sixth Doctor
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Evelyn
Evelyn, Brewster
Frobisher
Charley
"Jamie"
Flip
Constance
Constance, Flip
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Jamie, Zoe
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Seventh Doctor
Mel
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Ace, Benny
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Ace, Hex, Lysandra, Sally
Ace, Hex, Sally
Ace, Mel
Mags
Klein
Klein, Will
Jo
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Mary Shelley
Charley
Charley, C'rizz
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