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Revision as of 20:28, 9 November 2023
The War Factory was the third story in the audio anthology Agents of the Vulpreen, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Lizzie Hopley and featured Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart, Ingrid Oliver as Petronella Osgood, James Joyce as Josh Carter, Chris Lew Kum Hoi as Jimmy Tan, Tracy Wiles as Jacqui McGee, Mark Bonnar as the Eleven and Angela Bruce as Winifred Bambera.
Publisher's summary
Temporal anomalies strike in the present and the past - 19th century infantry at Belmarsh Prison in the present day, and Brigadier Winifred Bambera is confronted by Tudor warships on the Thames in the late 20th century.
Enquiries by UNIT past and present lead them to the site of Woolwich Arsenal, where the Eleven is trying to create a bridge to another world. And UNIT will learn he's not the only one on the side of their alien adversaries.
Plot
In 1997, Brigadier Bambera is investigating a cloud of gunpowder at the Thames Barrier when a Tudor warship sails towards her boat. In the 2010s, a temporal breach in Woolwich has caused the wall of Belmarsh Prison to temporarily disappear and deposited several 19th century soldiers to appear. Kate believes this to be the work of the Eleven.
At the epicentre of the temporal anomalies at the Royal Arsenal, Osgood sees the Eleven in a World War I uniform using a temporal tuning device on the Arch, which is disguised as part of a listed building. She is joined by Jacqui, who has Hasper's temporal disruptor and turns it, creating a time fracture which sends the Eleven back in time. She tells Osgood that it was an accident and pulls her into the fracture, claiming that it is pulling her in.
The Eleven meets Bambera and is put with the other people who have bled through time by Private Lauren Huff. He tells her that he came from the future and manipulates her into finding a map of the area at the military library before going back in time through the fracture.
Osgood and Jacqui arrive in the future and find that the Royal Arsenal has become a factory staffed with robots. The world is at war with the Vulpreen and Jacqui insists that she and Osgood look at humanity's weapons, allegedly so that UNIT can start manufacturing them in the past to be ready. Osgood goes to a holo-bank and downloads the information to a holo-drive. A Vulpreen chained up in a cupboard, Sorka, tells Jacqui that Lord Varliss gave the order to attack after an atomic bomb was detonated and tore through time. When Osgood realises that Jacqui is working for the Vulpreen, Jacqui returns to the future with the information and leaves her behind with the Vulpreen.
Kate and Josh pass through the fracture and meet Bambera, who tells them that the Eleven came through alone. They deduce that the Eleven is intending to steal the nuclear bomb made by Sir William Penney in an atomic site which would later be demolished and become Belmarsh Prison. Kate sends Josh back to the 2010s for the Eleven's arrival, hoping that she and Bambera will be able to trick him into going there. Bambera gets Lauren to shoot her in her ballistic plate to earn the Eleven's trust before she and the Eleven head off.
Lauren is pulled apart across time by the fracture and Kate shoots the Eleven, superficially wounding him before returning to the 2010s with him. Jacqui has already returned and told Josh that Osgood is dead, but Kate activates the holo-drive and hears Osgood's message stating her belief that Jacqui has been compromised. Osgood, after being saved from Sorka by Private Jane Huff, returns and seals the fracture with the temporal modulator. However, the Arches have aligned and a Vulpreen platoon arrives; the Vulpreen Commander kidnaps Kate and takes her through the Arch.
Cast
- Kate Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
- Osgood - Ingrid Oliver
- Captain Josh Carter - James Joyce
- Brigadier Winifred Bambera - Angela Bruce
- The Eleven - Mark Bonnar
- Jacqui McGee - Tracy Wiles
- Private Lauren Huff / Sorka - Yasmin Mwanza
- Jimmy Tan - Chris Lew Kum Hoi
- Vulpreen Commander - Glen McCready
Uncredited
- Private Jane Huff - Yasmin Mwanza (BFX: The War Factory)
Worldbuilding
- A 17th century cannon has appeared on the Elizabeth line of the London Underground, which has not yet opened.
- The Eleven uses a temporal tuning device which he says could pick up the original World Service that Osgood's granny listened to.
- Private Lauren Huff is nineteen and a new ordnance recruit. Lauren's father, Michael Anthony Huff, was a sapper. He lost his left leg up to the knee.
- The Eleven says that working with Lauren is like working with the Judoon.
- Osgood believes that Jacqui might be suffering from PTSD.
- Bambera is not with UNIT-UK. She is on attachment from Geneva.
- Ten thousand cannonballs arrive from the Tower of London, sent by Charles II.
- In 1947, Sir William Penney was instructed by Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee to design and build a British nuclear weapon. This was known as Project Hurricane.
Notes
- Lizzie Hopley was suggested to write this story by David Richardson. (BFX: The War Factory)
- Kate guesses that Bambera's time is "three or four decades" before her own time. This would place Kate's time between 2027 and 2037 or Bambera's in the 1970s or 1980s.
Continuity
- The Eleven describes Osgood as "sciency", the same word that the Eleventh Doctor once asked her if she was. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
- Jacqui took Hasper's temporal modulator. (AUDIO: The Man From Gallifrey)
- It has been a week since Bambera met the Brigadier. (TV: Battlefield)
- Bambera is not with UNIT-UK. She will later become their leader. (AUDIO: Rogue State)
External links
- Official The War Factory page at bigfinish.com
