Incoming Message (2020 webcast)

Incoming Message
Main character(s):	Yvonne Hartman
Main enemy:	COVID-19
Main setting:	England
Key crew
Writer:	Russell T Davies
Release details
Premiere broadcast:	26 March 2020
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You may be looking for the 2021 webcast.

Incoming Message was a short webcast scripted by Russell T Davies and released by him on his Twitter account in 2020 as one of the special web-releases which flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this case, the webcast even directly commented on the crisis, with the main character (Davies' creation Yvonne Hartman) commenting on a crisis which, though it is not confirmed in-story to be the COVID pandemic, at least shares many of its features.

Though not explicit in the webcast itself, Davies clarified the webcast's place in the Doctor Who universe and its chronology, confirming on Twitter that the Yvonne Hartman in the webcast is the version from Pete's World, as featured in Big Finish's Aliens Among Us.

Publisher's summary

++ INCOMING ++ from Yvonne Hartman, CEO of Torchwood ++

Plot

In the face of a worldwide crisis, Yvonne Hartman releases a public broadcast where she introduces herself to the public as Head of Torchwood. Noting that these are "unprecedented times," Hartman urges the public to stay calm, stay safe, and self-isolate.

On a much more threatening note, she adds that if any member of the population doesn't respect those guidelines, she will have to send people to their house — "which won't be nearly as much fun" — before she slips back into a kinder voice to thank her viewers for their "kindness and understanding".

Cast

• Tracy Ann Oberman - Yvonne Hartman

Crew

• Writer - Russell T Davies

Worldbuilding

• When introducing herself as head of Torchwood One, Yvonne holds up her badge.

Story notes

• This webcast constituted the first appearance of Pete's World's Yvonne Hartman in live action. It is not clear whether it is set in Pete's World or the prime universe, however her claim to work for Torchwood One would suggest the former.
• Russell T Davies stated on Twitter that Tracy Ann Oberman was able to do this, because she kept all of Yvonne's props at home.
• This webcast implied that the crisis not only affected the prime universe Earth, but could travel across dimensions too.

Continuity

• One world's version of Yvonne Hartman is still alive. (AUDIO: The Empty Hand, Thoughts and Prayers, etc.)
• Yvonne Hartman says that the population must abide Torchwood's guidelines "for Queen and Country", quoting the oft-repeated mantra of her parallel self. (TV: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday)

External links

• Incoming Message on Russel T Davies' official Twitter account