A Thousand Tiny Wings (audio story)

A Thousand Tiny Wings
Doctor:	[[doctor::Seventh Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Elizabeth Klein
Main enemy:	The Cheylis
Main setting:	British Kenya, Africa, 1953
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::Big Finish Productions]]
Writer:	Andy Lane
Director:	Lisa Bowerman
Producer:	Richard Fox and Lauren Yason
Release details
Release number:	130
Release date:	January 2010
Format:	2 CDs
Production code:	7Z/E
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-433-7
Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories
← Previous	Plague of the Daleks
Next →	Klein's Story

A Thousand Tiny Wings was a Big Finish Doctor Who audio story featuring the Seventh Doctor. It was released in January 2010.

Publisher's summary

1950s Kenya. The Mau Mau uprising. A disparate group of women lie low in a remote house in the jungle, waiting for a resolution or for rescue. Among these British imperialists is Elizabeth Klein, a refugee from a timeline that no longer exists… thanks to the Doctor.

Reunited, the Doctor and Klein are forced to set aside their differences by terrifying circumstances. People are dying in this remote place. One by one. And there's something out there, in the jungle, accompanied only by the flutter of a thousand tiny wings…

Cast

• Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
• Elizabeth Klein - Tracey Childs
• Mrs Sylvia O'Donnell - Ann Bell
• Mrs Denise Waterford - Abigail McKern
• Miss Lucy Watts - Joannah Tincey
• Joshua Sembeke - Chukwudi Iwuji
• Abraham - Alex Mallinson

References

• More than two weeks after the beginning of the Mau Mau Uprising, there is still very little coverage of the conflict on the BBC World Service. Instead, they are playing the music of the American composer Scott Joplin. Klein later sardonically remarks that in the event of a nuclear war wiping out all of humanity, the BBC World Service would still be broadcasting light entertainment to the mutated cockroaches.
• Mrs Sylvia O'Donnell, who met her husband Heinrich in Munich in 1933, expresses the view that Great Britain had no business entering the Second World War. She blames the Mau Mau Uprising on the Prime Minister Winston Churchill, whom she describes as "a senile old man."
• The Doctor is wearing his linen suit and is wistful about travelling alone.
• When Klein inquires as to the whereabouts of "Miss McShane," the Doctor tells her that Ace has left the TARDIS but does not go into details.
• Klein is fervent that the Doctor destroyed her world and that her timeline is the proper one.
• Klein refers to the Allies' victory in the Second World War as being "farcical." In 1945, she escaped to South America as did many other National Socialists including Han De Flores. Klein claims that, in her timeline, De Flores was "always the Führer's favourite." Klein hopes that he will succeed Hitler as the Führer when the Fourth Reich is established.
• Klein mentions the German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun.
• Mrs O'Donnell tells Klein that her husband Heinrich was a Waffen-SS officer who was stationed near Colditz Castle during the Second World War. They were acquainted with the Mitford sisters in the 1930s.
• Klein, whose first doctorate was in physics, re-qualified as a medical doctor during her time in South America. She received her training from one of the many German doctors who escaped to that continent after 1945.
• Klein tells the Doctor that when the Mau Mau Uprising occurred in her timeline, the Luftwaffe was sent in immediately. On Hitler's orders, they proceeded to carpet-bomb the tribal areas and wipe out most of the native population. Within three years, a virulent plague had broken out in Kenya which killed many German soldiers. In 1957, Hitler placed Klein in command of a team of medical doctors and scientists who attempted to discover the cause of the plague. However, they were unable to do so.
• The Doctor refers to the TARDIS' universal translation abilities. However, it cannot translate Esperanto.
• Mrs O'Donnell mentions the architectural achievements of Albert Speer in Berlin during the 1930s.

Notes

• Although the feather on the cover is yellow, the feathers in the story itself are repeatedly described as being blue.
• Chukwudi Iwuji (Joshua Sembeke) would later play Carl Peterson in DW: The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon.
• This audio drama was recorded on 25 and 26 June 2009.

Continuity

• Lucy refers to the Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, which documented the Russians' defence against Napoléon Bonaparte's forces in 1812. Both the First Doctor and Iris Wildthyme met Napoléon in Russia at that time. (CC: Mother Russia, BFIW: The Panda Invasion, BFIW: The Panda Invasion)
• Klein mentions the events of BFA: Colditz.
• The Doctor recalls meeting the Neo-Nazi Hans De Flores in November 1988. (DW: Silver Nemesis)
• The Doctor tells Mrs O'Donnell that he has fond memories of driving vintage cars. (DW: Spearhead from Space, et. al)
• Klein’s erasure from the timeline in BFA: The Architects of History altered the events of this story somewhat. The Klein from the proper timeline briefly mentioned that the Doctor had been in Kenya in 1953. No doubt the outcome of his visit stayed the same despite Klein’s absence.

Timeline

For the Doctor

• A Thousand Tiny Wings occurs after BFA: Kingdom of Silver
• A Thousand Tiny Wings occurs before BFA: Klein's Story

For Klein

• A Thousand Tiny Wings occurs nine years after BFA: Colditz
• A Thousand Tiny Wings occurs before BFA: Klein's Story

External links

• A Thousand Tiny Wings at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• Official A Thousand Tiny Wings page at bigfinish.com