Winter of the Demon (audio story): Difference between revisions

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{{real world}}
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{{Infobox Story
{{Infobox Story SMW
|range          = In the Bleak Midwinter (audio anthology)
|range          = In the Bleak Midwinter (audio anthology)
|number in range = 3
|number in range = 3
|audio anthology = ''[[In the Bleak Midwinter (audio anthology)|In the Bleak Midwinter]]''
|audio anthology = In the Bleak Midwinter (audio anthology)
|number          = 3
|number          = 3
|doctor          = Eighth Doctor
|doctor          = Eighth Doctor
|companions      = [[Charlotte Pollard|Charley]], [[Audacity Montague|Audacity]]
|companions      = [[Charlotte Pollard|Charley]], [[Audacity Montague|Audacity]]
|enemy          =  
|enemy          = [[Donald Shaw]]
|setting        = [[Edinburgh]], [[19th century]]
|setting        = [[Edinburgh]], [[20 December|20]]-[[21 December]] [[1880s]]
|writer          = [[Roy Gill]]
|writer          = Roy Gill
|director        = [[Ken Bentley]]
|director        = [[Ken Bentley]]
|producer        = [[David Richardson]]
|producer        = [[David Richardson]]
Line 17: Line 17:
|publisher      = Big Finish Productions
|publisher      = Big Finish Productions
|epcount        = 1
|epcount        = 1
|release date    = [[5 December (releases)|5 December]] [[2023 (releases)|2023]]
|release date    = 5 December 2023
|format          = 1 CD<br/>Download<br/>3rd of 3 stories
|format          = 1 CD<br/>Download<br/>3rd of 3 stories
|production code = BFPDWDR0804
|production code = BFPDWDR0804
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|series          = ''[[The Eighth Doctor Adventures (audio series)|The Eighth Doctor Adventures]]''
|series          = ''[[The Eighth Doctor Adventures (audio series)|The Eighth Doctor Adventures]]''
|prev            = The Empty Man (audio story)
|prev            = The Empty Man (audio story)
|next            =  
|next            = Birdsong (audio story)
}}
}}
'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the third story in the audio anthology ''[[In the Bleak Midwinter (audio anthology)|In the Bleak Midwinter]]'', produced by [[Big Finish Productions]]. It was written by [[Roy Gill]] and featured [[Paul McGann]] as the [[Eighth Doctor]], [[India Fisher]] as [[Charlotte Pollard]] and [[Jaye Griffiths]] as [[Audacity Montague|Lady Audacity Montague]].
'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the third story in the audio anthology ''[[In the Bleak Midwinter (audio anthology)|In the Bleak Midwinter]]'', produced by [[Big Finish Productions]]. It was written by [[Roy Gill]] and featured [[Paul McGann]] as the [[Eighth Doctor]], [[India Fisher]] as [[Charlotte Pollard]] and [[Jaye Griffiths]] as [[Audacity Montague|Lady Audacity Montague]].


== Publisher's summary ==
== Publisher's summary ==
[[The Doctor's TARDIS|The TARDIS]] brings the travellers to [[Victorian era|victorian]] [[Edinburgh]]. Industrialist [[Donald Shaw]] plans to transform the city with [[Electricity|electric light]], but people are dying, found horribly burned...
[[The Doctor's TARDIS|The TARDIS]] brings the travellers to [[Victorian era|Victorian]] [[Edinburgh]]. Industrialist [[Donald Shaw]] plans to transform the city with [[Electricity|electric light]], but people are dying, found horribly burned...


What ancient power has Shaw summoned? Can [[Eighth Doctor|the Doctor]] prevent the Winter of the Demon?
What ancient power has Shaw summoned? Can [[Eighth Doctor|the Doctor]] prevent the Winter of the Demon?


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
''to be added''
[[The TARDIS]] materialises in [[Princes Street Gardens]] in [[Edinburgh]] in the [[19th century]] and [[Eighth Doctor|the Doctor]], [[Charlotte Pollard|Charley]] and [[Audacity Montague|Audacity]] learn from a [[newspaper]] of a series of inexplicable [[death]]s for which the season has been named the Winter of the Demon. The Doctor visits the [[mortuary]] and disagrees with [[Joe Coghill]]'s death being put down to [[electrocution]] rather than intense heat, believing that he might have disturbed something in the [[tunnel]]s beneath [[Calton Hill]] where he was installing cabling and found an ancient [[coin]].
 
Deciding to investigate Coghill's employer, Charley and Audacity go to an [[Edinburgh Power Corporation]] [[party]] with [[Archie McClellan|Captain Archie McClellan]] of the [[Scots Guard]]. Audacity meets [[Maggie MacKenzie]], an [[archaeologist]], and Charley manages to charm [[Donald Shaw|Sir Donald Shaw]] into allowing her and her friends to stay at the party despite them not having been invited. When the Doctor arrives at the party, he questions Sir Donald about the Edinburgh Power Corporation's connection to each of the deaths and decides to investigate Maggie's dig at [[Cramond]] where other [[Rome|Roman]] coins have been found.
 
The next day, Charley and Archie look into the [[Monument Power Station]], which runs despite not seeming to receive any consignments of [[coal]] or [[wood]], and are kicked out upon being discovered by Sir Donald. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Audacity meet with Maggie in Cramond and are shown a [[Cramond Lioness|lioness]]-shaped [[grave]] guardian dating back to the [[Roman Empire]]. The lioness previously held a golden [[crown]] which Sir Donald, who funds the dig, has confiscated and Maggie shows her [[sketch]]es of it to the Doctor, to whom the lioness seems familiar. The crown has two engravings, with one in [[Latin]] warning that its wearer will become the body of [[Sol Invictus]], the unconquerable sun.
 
The second engraving is in [[hieroglyph]]s which the [[translation circuit]] does not decipher. Maggie's rubbing of the hieroglyphs is inexplicably pulled towards her [[fireplace]] and singed, but the flame triggers a partial translation which shows the Doctor a glimpse of something old before the lioness comes to life and searches for the crown. The Doctor has Audacity pull a [[Christmas cracker]] and puts on the gold paper crown from inside to distract the lioness, but it kills Maggie for being responsible for the crown's removal and jumps after the paper crown when the Doctor throws it into the [[sea]]. Being made of molten rock, the lioness solidifies and, the Doctor remembers, will one day be unearthed and placed in the [[National Museum of Scotland]].
 
Charley and Archie join the Doctor and Audacity and the four of them go to the TARDIS where the [[telepathic circuits]] complete and translate Maggie's rubbing, indicating that the crown will turn Sir Donald into a fire demon when he tries to use it at his power station to light up Edinburgh. They deduce that Sir Donald will have to use the [[time ball]] on Calton Hill to determine the moment of the [[winter solstice]], when fusion will be at its most powerful, and that [[iron]], which the lioness's claws were made of, could be used to counter Sir Donald. The Doctor sends Charley and Archie to prepare a [[cannonball]] at the [[armoury]] whilst he and Audacity alter the time ball to delay Sir Donald's incarnation.
 
The Doctor alters the timing mechanism with [[Seventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver|his sonic screwdriver]] and Audacity allows herself to be caught by Sir Donald to buy him time, giving her the opportunity to confront him about sacrificing seven people as part of his ritual and warn him that putting on the crown will destroy the [[planet]]. Sir Donald does not believe it, even when the Doctor joins them and points out that Calton Hill is a [[volcano|volcanic]] plug, and is taken over by the demon when he puts on the crown. Charley and Archie are caught by [[Darrow (Winter of the Demon)|Private Darrow]] and they fail to convince him to help them fire a [[cannon]] at the observatory to kill the demon, but it fires anyway thanks to the Doctor reconnecting the cannon to the observatory clock.
 
Charley [[kiss]]es Archie, who declines the Doctor's offer of a trip in the TARDIS, and gets the Doctor to take him back to his parents for [[Christmas]]. The Doctor and Audacity agree to spending Christmas with the McClellans and Audacity asks if they have any more crackers aboard.


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
* [[Eighth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Paul McGann]]
* [[Eighth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Paul McGann]]
* [[Charlotte Pollard]] - [[India Fisher]]
* [[Charlotte Pollard|Charley Pollard]] - [[India Fisher]]
* [[Audacity Montague]] - [[Jaye Griffiths]]
* [[Audacity Montague|Lady Audacity Montague]] - [[Jaye Griffiths]]
* [[Donald Shaw|Sir Donald Shaw]] - [[David Robb]]
* [[Donald Shaw|Sir Donald Shaw]] / [[Demon (Winter of the Demon)|Demon]] - [[David Robb]]
''to be added''
* [[Archie McClellan|Captain Archie McClellan]] - [[John Scougall]]
* [[Maggie MacKenzie]] / [[Cramond Lioness|Lioness]] - [[Lucy Goldie]]


== Worldbuilding ==
== Worldbuilding ==
''to be added''
* [[Joe Coghill]] was the seventh victim. He was a [[labourer]] at the [[Cowgate]] and was installing cabling in a [[tunnel]] beneath [[Calton Hill]] when he died.
* The Doctor describes [[Joseph Bell]] as a man with a forensic mind.
* [[Donald Shaw]] belongs to the [[Edinburgh Power Corporation]].
* Shaw mentions [[Saturnalia]].
* [[Cramond]] is a coastal [[village]] where Maggie has been working.
* [[Alan (Winter of the Demon)|Alan]] and [[Thomas (Winter of the Demon)|Thomas]] work with Maggie.
* Charley and Archie travel in a [[hansom cab]].
* The Cramond Lioness will one day be dredged up from the harbour and placed in the [[National Museum of Scotland]]. The Doctor and [[Romana]] saw it there in [[1999]].
* Romana always liked [[cat]]s.
* Audacity has read [[alchemy]] as well as [[astronomy]] and knows about [[sympathetic magic]].
* Archie's aunt [[Flora (Winter of the Demon)|Flora]] believed that an [[iron]] [[horseshoe]] could keep demons out.
* Archie is afraid of being [[court martial]]led.
* Archie wants to be a [[painter]].
* The Doctor uses [[Seventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver|his sonic screwdriver]] to unlock a box and alter the timing mechanism at the [[observatory]].
* [[Darrow (Winter of the Demon)|Private Darrow]] wears a [[kilt]].
* The Doctor fetches [[oven glove]]s and [[tongs]] from the [[TARDIS kitchen]].
* Archie's family live on [[Lower Granton Terrace]].


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
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== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
''to be added''
* The Doctor has a [[Christmas cracker]] left over from the [[Christmas]] party at [[107 Baker Street]] in {{cs|Twenty-Four Doors in December (audio story)}}.
* The TARDIS took the Doctor, Charley and Audacity to Christmas [[1947]] in {{cs|The Empty Man (audio story)}} because it was trying to get them to 1880s Edinburgh to stop Sir Donald.
* Audacity has "lost [her] appetite" for observing heavenly bodies after the events of {{cs|The Devouring (audio story)}}.


== External links ==
== External links ==
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{{BF EDA}}
{{BF EDA}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:In the Bleak Midwinter audio stories]]
[[Category:Charlotte Pollard audio stories]]
[[Category:Charlotte Pollard audio stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Stories set in the 19th century]]

Latest revision as of 10:19, 16 May 2024

RealWorld.png

Winter of the Demon was the third story in the audio anthology In the Bleak Midwinter, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Roy Gill and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, India Fisher as Charlotte Pollard and Jaye Griffiths as Lady Audacity Montague.

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

The TARDIS brings the travellers to Victorian Edinburgh. Industrialist Donald Shaw plans to transform the city with electric light, but people are dying, found horribly burned...

What ancient power has Shaw summoned? Can the Doctor prevent the Winter of the Demon?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

The TARDIS materialises in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh in the 19th century and the Doctor, Charley and Audacity learn from a newspaper of a series of inexplicable deaths for which the season has been named the Winter of the Demon. The Doctor visits the mortuary and disagrees with Joe Coghill's death being put down to electrocution rather than intense heat, believing that he might have disturbed something in the tunnels beneath Calton Hill where he was installing cabling and found an ancient coin.

Deciding to investigate Coghill's employer, Charley and Audacity go to an Edinburgh Power Corporation party with Captain Archie McClellan of the Scots Guard. Audacity meets Maggie MacKenzie, an archaeologist, and Charley manages to charm Sir Donald Shaw into allowing her and her friends to stay at the party despite them not having been invited. When the Doctor arrives at the party, he questions Sir Donald about the Edinburgh Power Corporation's connection to each of the deaths and decides to investigate Maggie's dig at Cramond where other Roman coins have been found.

The next day, Charley and Archie look into the Monument Power Station, which runs despite not seeming to receive any consignments of coal or wood, and are kicked out upon being discovered by Sir Donald. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Audacity meet with Maggie in Cramond and are shown a lioness-shaped grave guardian dating back to the Roman Empire. The lioness previously held a golden crown which Sir Donald, who funds the dig, has confiscated and Maggie shows her sketches of it to the Doctor, to whom the lioness seems familiar. The crown has two engravings, with one in Latin warning that its wearer will become the body of Sol Invictus, the unconquerable sun.

The second engraving is in hieroglyphs which the translation circuit does not decipher. Maggie's rubbing of the hieroglyphs is inexplicably pulled towards her fireplace and singed, but the flame triggers a partial translation which shows the Doctor a glimpse of something old before the lioness comes to life and searches for the crown. The Doctor has Audacity pull a Christmas cracker and puts on the gold paper crown from inside to distract the lioness, but it kills Maggie for being responsible for the crown's removal and jumps after the paper crown when the Doctor throws it into the sea. Being made of molten rock, the lioness solidifies and, the Doctor remembers, will one day be unearthed and placed in the National Museum of Scotland.

Charley and Archie join the Doctor and Audacity and the four of them go to the TARDIS where the telepathic circuits complete and translate Maggie's rubbing, indicating that the crown will turn Sir Donald into a fire demon when he tries to use it at his power station to light up Edinburgh. They deduce that Sir Donald will have to use the time ball on Calton Hill to determine the moment of the winter solstice, when fusion will be at its most powerful, and that iron, which the lioness's claws were made of, could be used to counter Sir Donald. The Doctor sends Charley and Archie to prepare a cannonball at the armoury whilst he and Audacity alter the time ball to delay Sir Donald's incarnation.

The Doctor alters the timing mechanism with his sonic screwdriver and Audacity allows herself to be caught by Sir Donald to buy him time, giving her the opportunity to confront him about sacrificing seven people as part of his ritual and warn him that putting on the crown will destroy the planet. Sir Donald does not believe it, even when the Doctor joins them and points out that Calton Hill is a volcanic plug, and is taken over by the demon when he puts on the crown. Charley and Archie are caught by Private Darrow and they fail to convince him to help them fire a cannon at the observatory to kill the demon, but it fires anyway thanks to the Doctor reconnecting the cannon to the observatory clock.

Charley kisses Archie, who declines the Doctor's offer of a trip in the TARDIS, and gets the Doctor to take him back to his parents for Christmas. The Doctor and Audacity agree to spending Christmas with the McClellans and Audacity asks if they have any more crackers aboard.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor has a Christmas cracker left over from the Christmas party at 107 Baker Street in Twenty-Four Doors in December [+]Loading...["Twenty-Four Doors in December (audio story)"].
  • The TARDIS took the Doctor, Charley and Audacity to Christmas 1947 in The Empty Man [+]Loading...["The Empty Man (audio story)"] because it was trying to get them to 1880s Edinburgh to stop Sir Donald.
  • Audacity has "lost [her] appetite" for observing heavenly bodies after the events of The Devouring [+]Loading...["The Devouring (audio story)"].

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