The Hourglass Killers (audio story)

The Hourglass Killers
Main character(s):	Henry Gordon Jago Professor George Litefoot Leela
Featuring:	Ellie Higson Sgt. Quick Professor Claudius Dark
Main enemy:	Mr Kempston Mr Hardwick
Main setting:	London and Kempston-Hardwick, Bedfordshire, the 1890s
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::Big Finish Productions]]
Writer:	Justin Richards
Director:	Lisa Bowerman
Release details
Release number:	4.4
Release date:	March 2012
Format:	1 CD
Production code:	BFPJLCD04
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-562-4
Jago and Litefoot
← Previous	The Lonely Clock

The Hourglass Killers is the sixteenth Big Finish Productions audio drama in the Jago and Litefoot series and the final episode of Series Four.

Publisher's summary

The sands of time are running… and they are in pursuit of Jago, Litefoot, Leela and Ellie. As the final battle gets underway, the infernal investigators make the decision of their lives…

Cast

• Henry Gordon Jago - Christopher Benjamin
• George Litefoot - Trevor Baxter
• Leela - Louise Jameson
• Ellie Higson - Lisa Bowerman
• Sgt. Quick - Conrad Asquith
• Lord Ampthill - Terry Molloy
• Abigail Woburn - Elizabeth Counsell
• Mr Kempston - Christopher Beeny
• Mr Hardwick - Mike Grady

and

• Professor Claudius Dark - Colin Baker

References

• The Doctor used the alias "Professor Claudius Dark" in order to mislead Mr Kempston and Mr Hardwick.
• The Doctor laments that he does not have access to a scanning electron microscope in the 1890s.
• From the high clay content of the soil from which the Sandmen are made, the Doctor determines that the soil was taken from Bedfordshire. Litefoot recalls that there is a village named Kempston-Hardwick in Bedfordshire.
• The Doctor sank the TARDIS to the bottom of the mud in the River Thames to hide it from Mr Kempston and Mr Hardwick. He intends to retrieve it using a Stattenheim remote control. However, Mr Kempston and Mr Hardwick have learned the location of the TARDIS and are aware that Professor Dark is actually the Doctor.
• Mr Kempston and Mr Hardwick are capable of duplicating themselves. Furthermore, they can observe everything through the soil which they obtained from Kempston-Hardwick.
• In order to convince Mr Kempston and Mr Hardwick that they have remained in London, Jago and Ellie disguise themselves as the Doctor and Leela.
• Lord Ampthill owns the quarry in Kempston-Hardwick from which the soil used to create the Sandmen was obtained. The Doctor, Litefoot and Leela discover Lord Ampthill trapped in a giant hourglass with the sand up to his neck. Leela rescues him by smashing the hourglass with a chair.
• Lord Ampthill's workmen discovered a Temperon vessel which was dragged to the 1890s by Payne's temporal experiments. Unlike the Time Lords, the Temperons lack true time travel. The Doctor claims that, in a sense, Mr Kempston and Mr Hardwick are the vessel's pilots whereas, in another sense, they are part of the ship itself. They seek to absorb the artron energy from the TARDIS so as to access the Time Vortex.
• The Doctor notes that they are a little too early for Werner Heisenberg.
• The Temperons' empire is expanding and the Doctor believes that they may have set their sights on Earth.
• The Doctor states that the Sandmen are "unfinished" compared to Mr Kempston and Mr Hardwick as creating them requires a great deal of energy from the Temperon vessel.
• Jago's erstwhile fiancé Abigail Woburn was created by Mr Kempston and Mr Hardwick from the soil in the same manner in which they manifested themselves and created their duplicates. Her name was taken from Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire.
• The roof of the tunnel which Mr Kempston and Mr Hardwick have built underneath the River Thames collapses under the weight of the water, causing the two of them, their various duplicates and all of the other Sandmen to be diluted.
• The Doctor has an appointment in the Horsehead Nebula in the 29th century.
• As her Time Ring is operational again, Leela returns to Gallifrey.
• The Doctor invites Jago and Litefoot to join him as his latest companions, an offer which they graciously accept. However, Jago is concerned about travelling in the TARDIS due to motion sickness.

Story notes

• Terry Molloy (Lord Ampthill) is best known for playing Davros, the creator of the Daleks, in DW: Resurrection of the Daleks, DW: Revelation of the Daleks and DW: Remembrance of the Daleks as well as numerous other Big Finish audio dramas. Furthermore, he played Russell in DW: Attack of the Cybermen as well as Magus Riga in BFA: Kingdom of Silver, Examiner 2 in BFA: Keepsake and Dr. Christopher Wallace and the Rat King in BFA: Rat Trap.

Continuity

• This is Jago and Litefoot's first encounter with the Doctor since the Weng-Chiang Incident in 1889. (DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang)
• Litefoot tells the Doctor that he and Jago previously destroyed a Sandman. (JAL: Jago in Love)
• The Doctor congratulates Sgt. Quick on his promotion. (JAL: The Bloodless Soldier)
• Jago refers to the metal spheres from the future which damaged Litefoot's house. (JAL: Chronoclasm) Litefoot complains that it is still undergoing repairs. (JAL: Jago in Love, JAL: Beautiful Things)
• The Doctor makes use of a Stattenheim remote control. (DW: The Mark of the Rani, DW: The Two Doctors)
• Litefoot refers to Winnie O'Connor's time cracker. (JAL: The Lonely Clock)
• Like the Temperon vessel, the TARDIS was dragged to the 1890s as a result of Payne's temporal experiments. His experiments also prevented Leela's Time Ring from functioning. (JAL: Chronoclasm)

Timeline

• The Hourglass Killers occurs immediately after JAL: The Lonely Clock

External links

• Official The Hourglass Killers - Series Four Box Set page at bigfinish.com