The Enchantress of Numbers (audio story): Difference between revisions
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== Plot == | == Plot == | ||
=== Part one === | === Part one === | ||
[[Fourth Doctor|The Doctor]] pilots [[the TARDIS]] from [[1852]] [[London]] to [[Nottinghamshire]] in the same year, materialising in [[Newstead Abbey]]'s [[hedge maze]] and leaving [[K9 Mark II|K9]] inside to charge. They attempt to follow a [[plague doctor]] and meet [[Hettie Jacobs|Hettie]], a [[maid]] who denies having seen anybody and is called away by [[ | [[Fourth Doctor|The Doctor]] pilots [[the TARDIS]] from [[1852]] [[London]] to [[Nottinghamshire]] in the same year, materialising in [[Newstead Abbey]]'s [[hedge maze]] and leaving [[K9 Mark II|K9]] inside to charge. They attempt to follow a [[plague doctor]] and meet [[Hettie Jacobs|Hettie]], a [[maid]] who denies having seen anybody and is called away by [[butler]] [[Hobhouse]], who mistakes the Doctor for a [[physician]] and invites him and Ann into the abbey. [[Wildman|Colonel Wildman]] shows them to the unwell [[Ada Lovelace]], for whom the Doctor prescribes rest and Ann fetches a cold compress from the [[scullery]]. Whilst Ann is escorted there by Hobhouse and sees Hettie washing Ada's muddy [[nightgown]], the Doctor is given a tour of the grounds by Wildman and learns that Ada believes she is going [[insanity|insane]]. | ||
The Doctor tasks Ann with keeping an eye on the house and, having suspicions, acquires a [[map]] from Wildman. He joins Ada in playing [[cribbage]] at the [[Babblewick Arms]], where she has been [[gambling]] since [[William King|Lord King]] [[exile]]d her to Newstead Abbey for landing him in [[debt]] with a failed gambling syndicate. On their way back in Wildman's [[carriage]], the [[horse]] is spooked by a figure which Ada believes to be the [[ghost]] of her father, [[George Gordon Byron|Lord Byron]], whom only she had been able to see until now. Ann discovers that Ada is missing from the abbey and looks at her [[notebook]]s despite Hobhouse's protestations, finding drawings and numbers which she and Hobhouse have little time to interpret before they are forced to hide in the [[wardrobe]] from somebody. | |||
''to be completed'' | ''to be completed'' | ||
Revision as of 20:35, 3 July 2024
The Enchantress of Numbers was the third story in the eighth series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris and featured Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Jane Slavin as Ann Kelso.
Publisher's summary
The TARDIS lands in the grounds of Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, in 1850. Mistaken for a medic and his maid, the Doctor and Ann are brought to meet Ada Lovelace - the mother of computing and daughter of Lord Byron - who has recently fallen ill.
But the travellers are not here by chance. Something odd is happening on Earth, and they’ve determined that this place is the centre of it.
Strange figures are walking the land. Strange figures wearing bird-like masks. What do they want with Ada? And how will it change the future of humanity?
Plot
Part one
The Doctor pilots the TARDIS from 1852 London to Nottinghamshire in the same year, materialising in Newstead Abbey's hedge maze and leaving K9 inside to charge. They attempt to follow a plague doctor and meet Hettie, a maid who denies having seen anybody and is called away by butler Hobhouse, who mistakes the Doctor for a physician and invites him and Ann into the abbey. Colonel Wildman shows them to the unwell Ada Lovelace, for whom the Doctor prescribes rest and Ann fetches a cold compress from the scullery. Whilst Ann is escorted there by Hobhouse and sees Hettie washing Ada's muddy nightgown, the Doctor is given a tour of the grounds by Wildman and learns that Ada believes she is going insane.
The Doctor tasks Ann with keeping an eye on the house and, having suspicions, acquires a map from Wildman. He joins Ada in playing cribbage at the Babblewick Arms, where she has been gambling since Lord King exiled her to Newstead Abbey for landing him in debt with a failed gambling syndicate. On their way back in Wildman's carriage, the horse is spooked by a figure which Ada believes to be the ghost of her father, Lord Byron, whom only she had been able to see until now. Ann discovers that Ada is missing from the abbey and looks at her notebooks despite Hobhouse's protestations, finding drawings and numbers which she and Hobhouse have little time to interpret before they are forced to hide in the wardrobe from somebody.
to be completed
Part two
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Tom Baker
- Ann Kelso - Jane Slavin
- Ada Lovelace - Finty Williams
- Colonel Wildman - Andrew Havill
- Hettie / Lady Cleverley - Eve Webster
- Mr Hobhouse - Barnaby Edwards
- Edvard Scheutz / Lord Byron / Harry - Glen McCready
Worldbuilding
- Among elements "stolen" from history by the anti-virus are Charles Wheatstone, Wheatstones' residence at 168 Bleak Lane, the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and Albemarle Street, off Piccadilly, and the whole of Bloomsbury.
- Edvard Scheutz is Charles Babbage's biggest rival. Since Babbage's retirement, Scheutz has been working on his calculation engine, which he feels is an improvement upon Babbage's analytical engine.
- Scheutz has been acquiring Lovelace's private notebooks, stolen and sold to him by Hettie. The Doctor identifies recent pages' apparent "doodles" as Block Transfer Computations.
- The anti-virus software, manifesting as plague doctors, were sent as a temporal expeditionary force from the year 7073, during the time of the Block Transfer Wars.
- The Industrial Revolution took place recently, while the Computer Age is still "decades" away.
Notes
- Many of the minor characters are named for characters in Lord Byron's poetry. (BFX: The Enchantress of Numbers)
Continuity
- The Doctor would meet Ada again at an earlier point in her timeline in his thirteenth incarnation, but Ada's memories of that encounter were wiped. (TV: Spyfall)
Cover gallery
Textless cover
Alternate cover
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_Alt.jpeg)
External links
- Official The Enchantress of Numbers page at bigfinish.com
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